Ulysses vs Scrivener: A Detailed Comparison for 2024
Are you a serious writer looking for the best app to support your creative process from first ideas to finished manuscript? If so, you‘ve probably come across Ulysses and Scrivener, two of the most powerful and popular options available. But which one is right for you?
In this in-depth comparison, we‘ll analyze the strengths and weaknesses of Ulysses and Scrivener, and help you decide which of these feature-packed writing environments is the best fit for your needs. Whether you‘re working on a novel, non-fiction book, script, academic paper, or article, by the end you‘ll have a clear idea of which app will help you be a more productive and focused writer.
Interface and Design
At first glance, Ulysses and Scrivener offer a similar interface – a library or binder of documents on the left, and the editor on the right. But their design philosophies and visual styles are quite different.
Ulysses has a streamlined, minimalist aesthetic that looks very much like a modern Mac app. Nearly everything is done with a few simple icons, keeping toolbars and menus to the bare minimum. Even formatting controls are tucked away unless you need them, relying instead on Markdown syntax. It‘s a clean and focused interface that lets you immerse yourself in your words without distractions.
Scrivener, on the other hand, embraces a much more traditional design with rich toolbars, customizable sidebars, and plentiful menu options always at the ready. While every element can be hidden for distraction-free writing, Scrivener‘s interface is all about giving you quick access to its arsenal of powerful features. The trade-off is a steeper learning curve compared to Ulysses.
Another key difference is that Ulysses houses all your writing in a single library, while Scrivener uses separate project files you open from the File menu. Ulysses‘ unified library keeps everything a keyboard shortcut away, while Scrivener‘s self-contained projects may be better for organization and focus.
The Writing Experience
Of course, the most crucial part of any writing app is how it feels to actually write in it. Here Ulysses and Scrivener both shine, but in different ways.
Many writers find Ulysses‘ plain text editor with Markdown the most conducive for unleashing a flood of new words. Inline formatting and structural markup stay out of the way unless specifically invoked via shortcut keys, so you can get in a fast and uninterrupted flow state. The app automatically saves versions, lets you publish directly to blogs and websites, and offers a robust set of export styles when you need them.
Scrivener‘s editor provides the comfort of the familiar rich text environment found in mainstream word processors. Applying formatting and styles is a totally visual process using menus and keyboard shortcuts, with no special syntax required. Some writers may find this more intuitive than Markdown. And Scrivener offers its signature Scrivenings mode that temporarily combines individual documents into a single editing view – very useful for reading through long works.
Both Ulysses and Scrivener offer a variety of gorgeous themes, typefaces, and distraction-free modes to customize the writing environment to your tastes. You really can‘t go wrong with either one. Ultimately, the choice comes down to whether you prefer plaintext/Markdown or rich text as your baseline.
Organizing Documents
Long-form writing projects like novels and non-fiction books aren‘t just single massive chunks of text. They require splitting things up into chapters, scenes, sections, research notes, character profiles, and more to be manageable. Ulysses and Scrivener take fairly different approaches to structuring and organizing large projects.
In Ulysses, everything is built around the concept of "sheets", which are essentially individual plaintext documents for each section or chapter. These sheets can be grouped together in hierarchical folders to create the structure of a book or other large project. Sheets can be rearranged by drag and drop, tagged, and even given word count goals and deadlines. It‘s a very flexible system, but not as visual as what Scrivener offers.
Scrivener‘s organizational system is built around the Binder, a powerful sidebar that contains every piece of your project in a nested folder structure. But Scrivener goes beyond just folders with its unique "Scrivenings" – special files that combine the text of multiple documents together when opened. This allows you to write in small chunks, but edit and review your work as a whole.
In addition, Scrivener offers an innovative Corkboard view that displays index cards for each document, perfect for storyboarding and rearranging scenes. And its Outliner provides a more traditional structured overview of your project. These tools make Scrivener unmatched for managing the complexities of book-length works.
Progress Tracking
Staying on track is crucial for meeting deadlines and avoiding procrastination. Both Ulysses and Scrivener offer useful tools for setting goals and measuring progress.
Ulysses‘ progress tracking is tightly integrated into the app‘s visual design. Each sheet, group, and the entire library show color-coded completion bars based on a target word count and deadline you can specify. It‘s very motivating to watch the bars turn from red to green as you write each day and get closer to your goal.
Scrivener doesn‘t provide constant visual feedback, but its Project Targets tool is extremely customizable. You can set a word count or page count goal for the entire manuscript, as well as for each individual section. Options let you specify how the time remaining should be calculated – based on a deadline, number of days, or writing days per week. And the app shows detailed statistics about your writing history to keep you on track.
Research and Brainstorming
Writing isn‘t just about churning out words – it also requires gathering research, taking notes, brainstorming ideas, and referring back to it all as you compose. For managing and utilizing reference material alongside your writing, Scrivener is by far the most powerful option.
While Ulysses lets you attach keywords, images and PDFs to individual sheets, Scrivener offers a dedicated Research folder right in each project‘s binder. Here you can store text files, images, web pages, and other media, all easily accessible and searchable.
And that‘s not all – Scrivener lets you view research documents and images right alongside your manuscript as you write in its innovative split view. You can also take notes in the Inspector pane connected to each section of your work-in-progress. With all your reference material at your fingertips, you may find your desk far less cluttered.
Exporting and Publishing
Once your manuscript is finished, both Ulysses and Scrivener provide plenty of options for exporting and publishing your work, whether you‘re a novelist, screenwriter, academic, or blogger.
One of Ulysses‘ standout features is its gorgeously styled export presets for a variety of formats. With a single click, you can turn your manuscript into a PDF, Word document, ebook, or web page, with layout and typography settings pre-configured. And Ulysses can publish directly to WordPress, Medium, or Ghost blogs.
Scrivener‘s Compile feature is incredibly powerful and flexible, allowing you to generate complex manuscript formats for submission to agents and publishers. The app includes many industry-standard templates for novels, scripts, academic papers, and more. And you have complete control over page layout, fonts, styling, and front/back matter.
Of the two, most writers will find Ulysses‘ exporting quicker and easier to use, while Scrivener provides the most flexibility and advanced options for power users.
Pricing and Platforms
Ulysses switched to a subscription-based pricing model in 2017, which costs $49.99 per year or $5.99 per month. This unlocks the app on all your Macs and iOS devices, with a single purchase and seamless iCloud sync.
Scrivener, meanwhile, is a traditional paid up front app, costing $49 for the desktop version (a bit less for students and academics), and an additional $19.99 for the iOS version. A Windows version is also available, sold separately for the same price.
Ulysses requires a Mac or iOS device (there is no web version), while Scrivener is available for Mac, iOS, and Windows. However, only Ulysses offers seamless syncing between your devices with iCloud. With Scrivener, you must manually move your projects between devices using Dropbox or a similar service.
Which One is Right for You?
With their many specialized writing tools, either Ulysses or Scrivener will be a major upgrade from mainstream word processors like Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, and Google Docs.
Ulysses‘ core strength is its sleek, uncluttered interface that keeps you focused on your words above all else. Combined with its excellent Markdown support, Ulysses is lightning fast for getting thoughts down and formatting them on the fly. And its unified library and seamless syncing across Apple devices makes it perfect for shorter form writing you want available anywhere, anytime.
Writers looking for the most comprehensive app for long-form and complex projects will find Scrivener‘s feature set unmatched. Its Binder, Corkboard, Outliner, and other organizational tools are perfect for managing books and scripts, academic works, and other projects that require wrangling lots of moving parts. And you can get it on Windows, which isn‘t true of Ulysses.
Here‘s a breakdown of which app is likely the best fit by use case:
Blog posts, articles, newsletters – Ulysses
Short stories – Ulysses
Novels and non-fiction books – Scrivener
Screenplays and stageplays – Scrivener
Academic papers and research projects – Scrivener
Whichever one you choose, both Ulysses and Scrivener provide free trials. So you can take them for a spin with your work-in-progress and see which one feels right before investing in a purchase. Every writer‘s needs are unique, and these are two of the most flexible and powerful apps to support any creative workflow.
Happy writing!