Scrivener vs. Ulysses: Which is best for you in 2025?

Writing projects feels more fun when the ideas are popping up in your head, but the actual writing can feel tiresome and less engaging. While I personally focus on staying creative, the process is more enjoyable if I can work faster. Maybe you've heard that Scrivener can help. Or, you found out Ulysses could simplify your project.

In this article, I’m diving into the Scrivener vs. Ulysses debate, keeping it chill and unbiased. I’ll share everything you need to know to pick the right writing app for your project in 2025.

Let's take a quick look at why these tools are such a hit and check out what they have in common and how they differ before we get into details:

App DNA	Scrivener	Ulysses
Top features	Corkboard rearrangement with live text updates; snapshot-based version control; one-click formatting with industry templates	Split-view previews for target media; custom keyword tagging for organization; direct CMS publishing with metadata retention
Best for	Long-form writing projects (books, research, screenplays)	Distraction-free writing, blogging, and fast publishing
Interface	Feature-rich but complex (uses binder, corkboard)	Minimal, elegant, clean interface
Content library	Video tutorials	Text- and knowledge-base articles; collection of user stories
Availability	Windows, macOS and iOS	macOS, iOS

Scrivener review: The tool’s basics

Scrivener is a really great writing app for anyone who writes often, and it’s available on macOS. It has a nice mix of tools to help you stay organized and make edits, plus it comes with templates for traditional publishing formats.

Core Scrivener features include:

• Corkboard with index cards and colored lines for posting and arranging idea portions
• Snapshots for saving section versions during revisions
• Speech feature to help you hear what your writing sounds like (great for speeches)
• Formatting templates for screenplays, whitepapers, theses, reports, and more
• Goal setting and progress tracking features to encourage consistency

My first impression: I see Scrivener as a great tool for commercial writers who work on different kinds of projects. It's especially useful for freelance ghostwriters dealing with all sorts of tasks for various clients, like content marketing blogs, pitch decks, social media posts, fiction, and more. It helps them stay organized and quickly access templates to dive into whatever they’re working on.

Ulysses review: The tool’s basics

Ulysses is a writing app that speeds up digital content creation and delivery. It helps you polish your unfinished pieces, getting them closer to being release-ready with some simple design and preview options that work well with the main writing tools. It feels like writing on a blank page when you use Ulysses, which really helps you tune out distractions and focus on what’s important to improve your writing skills.

Core Ulysses features include:

• Multi-lingual proofreading (20+ languages) and editing assistant to help finetune spellings, grammar, redundancies, tone, semantics, and more
• Integrated publishing to platforms like Medium, WordPress, and more
• Multiple export styles, including eBooks, Word manuscripts, blog posts, PDFs, and more
• Monitoring tools for achieving daily goals and meeting deadlines
• Simplified image incorporation

My first impression: Ulysses is great for anyone who needs to think about how their document looks while they write. It lets you style things like images, excerpts, sidenotes, and other things more easily.

Differences between Scrivener and Ulysses: What does writing feel like?

Let’s be honest: a Scrivener review is just going to gush about Scrivener, and a Ulysses review will be all about how great Ulysses is. So, why not break down what each of them brings to the table when it comes to writing apps?

Feature battle

Both apps have pretty much the same goal, but they’ve got some unique features that can help you decide which one to use in terms of features.

Organization and formatting

While I like the binder approach, I feel the corkboard is what truly unlocks Scrivener’s file management and document structuring strengths. It helps you create a map of your project and freely move things around as you progress.

Ulysses focuses more on the actual writing page, keeping its complementary features out of the way so you can cover more ground. However, I still believe its folders and keyword tagging are enough for managing multiple writing projects. When uploading content, the keywords can also be converted to readable tags for WordPress or Ghost.

Editing and compiling

Scrivener's split-screen feature is pretty impressive. I often write long texts, and it can get tricky keeping track of the overall style and tone of each page. Believe me, word frequency searches are barely enough. But by putting pages side by side, I can quickly see which one sounds too academic or too casual and make them sound more cohesive.

Ulysses also has a split view, but it is spiced up with live previewing. I find this very helpful for people who write for print and other formats that diverge from the original soft copy page layout. For instance, if you’re targeting paperback, you can easily see whether you’re falling short, filling the page, or exceeding it. The same goes for digital newsletters and magazines. You don’t have to keep recalling word count estimates.

Assistive features

Scrivener and Ulysses both have text-to-speech capabilities. Scrivener relies on the platform on which it's running, so the experience might not be consistent across platforms. Ulysses relies on Apple's dictation, so the feature will be quite similar across different Apple devices.

Scrivener pricing vs. Ulysses pricing

Scrivener has pretty simple pricing, with one-time purchase plans available starting at $50.99. You’ll need macOS 13 or later to get it up and running. Plus, it offers 30-day free trial to test the app.

Ulysses is available from $9.99 a month via Setapp. The platform hooks you up with over 250 macOS and iOS apps for writing, productivity, creativity, and more, all rolled into one subscription. Besides Ulysses, you can check out other writing tools like MarsEdit for offline editing or MonsterWriter for tackling more complex text easily. It’s a solid deal for anyone who loves useful apps. You can also check them out with your 7-day free trial.

Ease of use of writing tool

Ulysses is usually a lot easier to use since it has a clean, simple design and lets you do many editing tasks with quick shortcuts. On the other hand, Scrivener can do more but might confuse newcomers. It requires more time to learn, which can really cut into your writing time.

Is Scrivener better than Ulysses? Pros and cons

Now that you’ve got a good grasp of what Scrivener and Ulysses have in common and how they differ, let’s break down the pros and cons of each app.

Scrivener: Best for writing projects

Scrivener will undoubtedly give you tools to do a lot more, but it could also hold you back in certain ways, so let me explain.

What’s cool:

• Multi-platform availability (macOS, Windows and iOS)
• Features like the Binder and Corkboard allow for efficient organization and rearrangement of writing projects
• Multi-media file importing for your research folder
• One-click section compiling to avoid repeated copying and pasting for long reads
• Numerous themes for customizing the writing interface

What’s not:

• Limited spelling and grammar checking capabilities since it lacks advanced grammar checks
• Needs time to get conversant with organizational features like the binder system and corkboard
• Lacks smooth native synchronizing as users often rely on Dropbox

Evidently, Scrivener was made to cover as many people and scenarios as possible. Ultimately, it empowers those looking to blend writing with project management frequently.

Ulysses: Best for pleasant UI writing

Too lean for some at first glance, but just perfect for others. Let me tell you what you might come to like about Ulysses and what may throw you off.

What’s cool:

• Apple-powered dictation and text-to-speech features
• Comprehensive writing and styling approach for faster publishing (Markdown support)
• Easy synchronizing to keep project changes up-to-date across all devices
• Visually appealing interface with minimal distractions
• Customizable keyword tagging and revision mode to smoothly find projects or sections

What’s not:

• Only available in the Apple ecosystem
• Limited templates for common publication types
• Writing dependent on iCloud storage may pose challenges for users with limited iCloud or those who prefer alternative cloud services

Ulysses stands out in making the writing process simpler by decluttering workflows while still sufficiently assisting when needed. This app generally speaks more to less demanding solo projects, where it’s largely about hitting the word count, but it still helps those who want to do more.

Which app should you choose?

As someone making a living primarily from writing, I have to be ready for whatever a client throws my way. But, I also have to remain passionate and try to work how I prefer to, so let me tell you which of these tools adequately serves certain people and situations.

When to choose Scrivener:

• Multi-project handlers: If you work on multiple unrelated and continuous commercial projects, opt for Scrivener. It’ll help you plan how to tackle each of them and incorporate those plans into a broader one that evolves as each project progresses. If you deal with books, documentary narrations, and screenplays, Scrivener will help you adapt your text to each of them.
• Cross-platform writing: If you like being able to write on various devices and platforms, choose Scrivener. It will also help if you have an assortment of research materials to draw from and a variety of media through which you’ll publish.

When to choose Ulysses:

• Apple users: If you prefer the cohesion of devices and apps native to the Apple ecosystem, go for Ulysses. You won’t have to worry about the experience varying from one device and OS to another.
• Focused writing: If you want to focus on putting down as many words as possible, go with Ulysses. For people like me who have attention issues, Ulysses can eliminate distractions and help you do more quickly.
• Short learning curve: If you’re looking for a perfect balance between manual editing shortcuts and assisted editing, get Ulysses. You’ll be able to use Markdown to quickly tune up your text and get more suggestions on making it flow better.

Scrivener vs. Ulysses: Which one is the future of writing?

The Scrivener vs. Ulysses debate is interesting since these two apps are built on totally different philosophies. Scrivener helps you do more with different kinds of projects, while Ulysses lets you get going quickly. Scrivener has more templates, organization, and import and export options, while Ulysses has a simple user experience with greater assistive features.

I personally lean toward Ulysses because of its AI-based features, but if Scrivener rolls out more AI-powered writing and editing features, I might reconsider. Are you with that trend, or are you still skeptical about having AI combing through your writing ideas? If you see Ulysses as the future, you can get it on Setapp. It’s a platform that helps you discover, install, and manage life-changing Mac apps. It’ll help you get Ulysses and many other apps at a fraction of what you’d pay for them separately.