Scrivener alternative

A Scrivener alternative that formats the book too.

Scrivener is the tool writers reach for to organize a long manuscript, and it earns that. Where it stops is the finished file; Calamus keeps going.

Scrivener’s Binder, Outliner, and Corkboard are why it has kept novelists for years, and Calamus is built in that tradition rather than against it: you get the same see-the-whole-book structure. The difference is what happens when the draft is done.

In Scrivener, a retailer-ready book means exporting the manuscript and finishing it somewhere else, usually Vellum or Atticus. That handoff is where formatting breaks, and it is a second app to buy and learn. Calamus compiles the book itself, to a paginated EPUB and print PDF at real trim sizes, with over 1,900 typefaces embedded properly in the file. There is no second program and no handoff.

It is also lighter to live in day to day: native Mac and iPad apps that work offline and sync on their own, so you can close the Mac mid-sentence and open the iPad where you left off, without a file service in the middle.

Scrivener compared with Calamus
Feature	Scrivener	Calamus
Platforms	Mac, Windows, iOS	Mac, iPad, iPhone, browser
Write on your iPad	$23.99 extra	Included
Sync between devices	Dropbox or iCloud required	Built in
Compile a retailer-ready EPUB / PDF	Limited	Yes, at real trim sizes
Typefaces embedded in the export	System	1,900+
World-building	Folders and templates	Structured Codex
Buying model	$59.99, plus a formatter	$189 one-time, formatting included

Scrivener compared, in detail

What Scrivener does that nothing else does as well

It is worth saying this first, because a comparison that pretends the other tool is bad is not a comparison. Scrivener has been the serious novelist's manuscript organizer for close to 20 years, and the reason is the Binder: a book as a tree of documents you can reorder by dragging, with a Corkboard and an Outliner reading from the same structure. Nothing about that model has aged. Calamus is built in the same tradition rather than against it, and a Scrivener user will find the Binder, Outliner and Corkboard sitting where they expect them.

Scrivener is also genuinely deep in ways a newer tool is not. Its compile system is scriptable to a degree Calamus does not attempt, its scrivenings mode for editing several documents as one continuous text is excellent, and its snapshots predate almost everyone. If what you want is a manuscript organizer and you are happy finishing the book somewhere else, Scrivener at $59.99 is a reasonable answer and has been for years.

The real difference: what happens when the draft is finished

Scrivener stops at the manuscript. Compiling out of it gives you a document, not a book a retailer will take without argument, which is why the standard advice in every writing forum is to export from Scrivener and finish in Vellum or Atticus. That advice is correct, and it is also the whole problem: it means a second program to buy, a second program to learn, and a handoff between them where formatting decisions get lost.

Calamus compiles the finished book itself. A paginated EPUB and a print PDF at real trim sizes, with running heads, chapter openers that begin where a reader expects them, and over 1,900 typefaces embedded properly in the exported file. The manuscript you drafted is the manuscript that gets typeset; there is no export, no re-import, and no version of the book that is more finished than another.

Counted in money rather than steps: Scrivener plus Vellum is $308.99, and Scrivener plus Atticus is $206.99, before you have written a word in either of the second programs. Calamus is $189 and does both halves.

Does Calamus sync between devices without Dropbox?

Yes, and this is the complaint that brings most people to a search for a Scrivener alternative in the first place. Scrivener's iOS app is a separate $23.99 purchase, and it syncs by putting your project in a folder that Dropbox or iCloud watches. When it works it is invisible. When it does not, you get a conflicted copy, and conflicted copies of a novel are a genuinely frightening thing to find at 11pm.

Calamus syncs itself. Your account holds the book, the Mac and iPad apps keep a local copy and work with no connection at all, and they reconcile when you are back online. There is no folder to configure, no third-party storage service in the middle, and no conflicted copy to resolve, because the two apps are not two files pretending to be one.

No Dropbox or iCloud account required, and nothing to configure
The Mac and iPad apps work fully offline and catch up on their own
Calamus Ideas for iPhone carries ideas, quotes, a focus timer and your writing log
The browser version is there for a borrowed computer

Can I import my Scrivener project into Calamus?

Yes. Import brings a manuscript in from Scrivener, and also from Word, Pages, Google Docs and Markdown, and Calamus reads the chapter breaks out of the manuscript itself rather than making you mark them by hand. You do not rebuild the book by pasting scenes into a new Binder.

What you should do first, and what you should do before switching to anything, is take a full export out of Scrivener and keep it. Not because import is unreliable, but because a manuscript that exists in one program is a manuscript with a single point of failure. That advice is the same whatever you decide here.

What Calamus has that Scrivener does not

Some of this is the second half of the job that Scrivener was never trying to do, and some of it is newer than Scrivener's design.

Compile: EPUB and print PDF at retailer trim sizes, from the same file you wrote in
A world-building Codex with 14 kinds of entry, tagged straight from your prose and consistent across a series
A writing log that counts words written and words cut separately, with a streak that belongs to you rather than to a pen name
Moodboards, for the look of the book beside the writing of it
A social queue that posts quotes you marked while drafting
Two-factor authentication, checked on every request rather than only at the login screen
Pen names, each with their own books, series and dashboard

Who should stay with Scrivener

If you are on Windows, stay. Calamus runs in a browser on Windows, and that works, but the native apps are Mac and iPad and a Windows writer is better served by a program built for their machine.

If you have years of Scrivener projects, custom compile formats you have tuned, and a workflow that already ends somewhere you are happy with, the honest answer is that switching costs you more than it gains. Scrivener is not a tool anybody needs rescuing from.

The person this page is for is the one who has bought Scrivener, then bought Vellum or Atticus on top, and is tired of the seam between them.

Common questions

Switching from Scrivener.

Is Calamus a good Scrivener alternative?

Yes, especially if the part you dread is turning the finished manuscript into a file a store will accept. Calamus keeps the drafting depth Scrivener is loved for, the Binder, the Outliner, the Corkboard, and adds the formatting step Scrivener leaves to Vellum or Atticus, on the same file.

Can I move my Scrivener project into Calamus?

Yes. Import from Scrivener, Word, Pages, Google Docs, or Markdown. Calamus reads the chapter breaks out of the manuscript itself rather than asking you to mark them by hand.

Does Calamus work on iPad like Scrivener?

Calamus has a native iPad app included in the one price, and it works offline. Scrivener's iOS app is a separate $23.99 purchase and syncs through Dropbox or iCloud, which is a long-running source of sync trouble.

How much does Calamus cost next to Scrivener?

Calamus is $189, once, with formatting included. Scrivener is $59.99, but a retailer-ready book usually means buying a formatter such as Vellum ($249) or Atticus ($147) on top.

See the full book writing software comparison, or how Calamus compares to Vellum and Atticus.

Ideas, Writing, Creative Vibing, Compiling, and Marketing: One Tool.

Calamus is in Beta testing; join the waitlist, learn about how Calamus will help you grow as a writer, and be the first to know when you can start writing and publishing with Calamus.