Best Scrivener 3 alternatives for Mac
Scrivener 3 is a paid app in Writing & notes. We found 18 Mac apps that cover the same ground. Of those, 6 are completely free, 8 are free to start and 4 are open source. Bear leads on overlap and community votes, followed by Craft and Pages.
The app you want to replace
Scrivener 3
Writing studio for long projects
$59.99 · Writing & notes
18 alternatives to Scrivener 3
How we picked: every app here shares at least one category with Scrivener 3. Apps that also share features rank higher, and community upvotes break ties. Price and licence never buy a better spot. How we rank apps
- 1
Bear
Markdown notes that feel effortless
178Free + in-appWriting & notes- Also in Writing & notes
- Free to start
- 2Featured
Craft
Docs and notes with beautiful structure
163Free + in-appProductivity- Also in Writing & notes
- Free to start
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
Day One
Private journal with photos and places
74Free + in-appLifestyle- Also in Writing & notes
- Free to start
- 7
- 8
- 9
NotePlan
Markdown notes, tasks and calendar together
49SubscriptionProductivity- Also in Writing & notes
- 10
- 11
- 12
Drafts
Capture text first, decide later
38Free + in-appProductivity- Also in Writing & notes
- Free to start
- 13
Notion
Docs, wikis and projects in one workspace
35Free + in-appProductivity- Also in Writing & notes
- Free to start
- 14
BBEdit
Professional text and code editor
25Free + in-appDeveloper tools- Also in Writing & notes
- Free to start
- 15
Obsidian
Markdown notes stored on your own disk
23Free + in-appProductivity- Also in Writing & notes
- Free to start
- 16
Joplin
Open-source notes with encrypted sync
16FreeWriting & notes- Also in Writing & notes
- Free
- Open source
- 17
CotEditor
Plain-text editor built for macOS
14FreeDeveloper tools- Also in Writing & notes
- Free
- Open source
- 18
Frequently asked questions
- What is the best alternative to Scrivener 3 on Mac?
- Bear is our top pick. It shares Writing & notes with Scrivener 3 and has 178 upvotes from the community. Craft and Pages are close behind.
- What is the best free alternative to Scrivener 3 on Mac?
- Pages is the best-ranked free alternative to Scrivener 3. 6 of the alternatives listed here are completely free.
- Is there an open-source alternative to Scrivener 3?
- Yes. 4 alternatives are open source, including MarkEdit, Logseq and Joplin.
- How many alternatives to Scrivener 3 are there for Mac?
- Mac App Index lists 18 apps that share a category with Scrivener 3: 6 completely free, 8 free to start and 4 open source.