Kindling is described as 'Free, open-source writing app for plotters. Import your outline from Scrivener, Plottr, yWriter, or Obsidian — then draft with your scene beats, character notes, and story structure visible alongside your prose. No AI, no subscription, no cloud' and is a Novel Authoring tool in the news & books category. There are more than 50 alternatives to Kindling for a variety of platforms, including Mac, Windows, Web-based, Linux and iPhone apps. The best Kindling alternative is Manuskript, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like Kindling are Scrivener, Pinery, Ulysses and novelWriter.
Open-source software offering a hierarchical outliner, distraction-free editor, character management, plot tools, Snowflake method support, section multi-organization, customizable writing workflows, cross-platform availability, and export to standard formats.
France
EU
Tailored for extensive writing, this tool offers flexible structure and organization, integrates project outlines, supports various formats, and allows reorganization through drag and drop, ensuring research materials are within reach for efficient work.
United Kingdom
Combines Markdown writing, live preview, and powerful design controls with instant exports in ePub, PDF, and HTML formats. Open format Markdown file storage, no vendor lock-in, customizable themes, and full privacy with local or iCloud storage on Mac.
Brazil
Ulysses is a text editor for creative writers. Used by bloggers, poets, students and published novelists all over the world, it offers an integrated environment to brainstorm, draft, revise and even submit text on a professional level.
GermanyEU
novelWriter is a Markdown-like text editor designed for writing novels and larger projects of many smaller plain text documents. It uses its own flavor of Markdown that supports a meta data syntax for comments, synopsis and cross-referencing between files.
Free offline worldbuilding and story creation tool with dozens of templates, complex tagging options, document linking, and project-wide search. Template examples: characters, places, events, religions, currencies, magic, species, languages.
Focus on your words not the interface. Quoll Writer is a writing application that helps you focus on your words. Clean and uncluttered. Feature rich. Features are where you would expect them to be.
Australia
OmniOutliner is a start-to-finish writing app. Perfect for collecting information, outlining Big Ideas, adding structure to any sort of writing, and much more. From grocery lists to email drafts to long-form composition.
United States
Cloud-based novel writing platform with tree-structured binder, corkboard, outliner, detailed character sheets, mind mapping, DOCX import with auto chapters, PDF/DOCX/EPUB export, built-in encyclopedia, distraction-free writing, and multilingual support.
ItalyEU
Consolidates tracking for writing projects, drafts, goals, submissions, market records, agent and editor contacts, session logs, reminders, rights, payments, contracts, stats, streaks, and heatmaps—streamlining the whole writing workflow and submission process.
United Kingdom
The only app you'll need to write your novels and build your worlds. Organize your thoughts and cross-reference anything at any time.
United States
Untold Novel is a fresh new approach to planning your next bestseller. It helps you keep all your notes, ideas, characters, locations, and much more organized in one convenient place.
