A Scrivener alternative that works in your browser

Scrivener is a desktop writing app for long projects. It gives you a binder for chapters and scenes, a corkboard of index cards and a compile step that turns the whole project into a book. If you want those things in a browser, on more than one computer, or without paying per platform, here’s how the options compare.

What Scrivener does well, and where writers look elsewhere

Scrivener breaks a long project into small pieces you can move around. You write each scene in its own document, see them all in the binder, plan on index cards and compile the lot into one manuscript or ebook. Its compile settings can produce Word, PDF, EPUB, Final Draft and Fountain files.

It’s also a desktop app with a one-time license. On its store page, Scrivener 3 costs US$59.99 for macOS, US$59.99 for Windows and US$23.99 for iPhone and iPad, and each license covers one platform. Its overview lists Mac, Windows and iOS versions, with no web, Android or Linux version.

Writers usually look for an alternative for one of four reasons:

• They write on a Chromebook, a borrowed laptop or a phone, and need a browser.
• They switch between a Mac and a Windows machine and don’t want two licenses.
• They want to share a draft with an editor or a writing group without sending files.
• They find the compile settings hard and want export to be one step.

Scrivener alternatives compared

Scrivener’s makers say Scrivener contains no AI. Any writing prompts you see on a Mac come from macOS. Missa Docs has no AI writing either, and its spelling, grammar and style checks run on your device. See how Missa keeps your writing.

Move a Scrivener project into Missa Docs

You don’t have to start again. Missa Docs reads a zipped Scrivener project and keeps its structure.

1. 1
   In Finder or File Explorer, find your .scriv project and make a zip of it. Keep the original where it is.
2. 2
   In Missa Docs, choose Import and drop the zip in.
3. 3
   Check what it found: each document in your binder becomes a tab, and each folder a tab with tabs inside it. Nothing is saved until you choose Open project.
4. 4
   Open the project and check a few chapters: the first, one in the middle and the last. Check your notes and cards came across.
5. 5
   Keep using Scrivener until you’re happy with the copy.

Missa Docs also opens Word files, PDFs and plain text, so a manuscript you already exported from Scrivener comes in too. A whole book in one Word file can be cut into chapters with Split here.

Plan a novel in Missa Docs

A Missa project works like a binder. Each chapter or scene is its own tab, and tabs can sit inside parts and folders three levels deep. You can read the whole book in one long view, find and replace across every chapter, and split or merge chapters as the draft changes.

The Plan panel holds cards for characters, places and scenes, an outline and a corkboard you can drag cards around. Set a daily goal in words and see how far you got.

When the draft is ready, open Plan, choose Export, keep Whole manuscript and choose Export. Add a title page, chapter titles and a print layout in a common trim size under Options and preview, then download it as DOCX, standard manuscript format or EPUB.

You can also download everything at any time as one ZIP, with each document as DOCX and plain text.

When to stay with Scrivener

Stay with Scrivener if you already know its compile settings and mostly write on one computer. You can work there without an internet connection, and you’ve already paid for it. If you only want a backup or a way to share chapters, export from Scrivener and keep your project as the master copy.

Try Missa Docs if you want the binder and cards in a browser, on any device, at no cost. Bring one project across, write in it for a week, and decide then.