7 best essay writing apps
for Mac
Paper
Super-clean writing space with a lot of configurability that stays out of sight when you don’t need it.
- Gorgeous writing space
- Silky-smooth typing
- Deep personalization (Pro)
- Markdown or Plain Text
- Syncs with iCloud
- Writes and edits texts with ChatGPT AI
- Publishes drafts to Medium, WordPress, or Ghost
- Exports to PDF, HTML, RTF, DOCX, image, or clipboard
- Works seamlessly across your iPhone, iPad, and Mac
Scrivener
Scrivener takes tools familiar to writers everywhere and integrates them in new and exciting ways.
For writing. And writing. And writing.
Scrivener is the go-to app for writers of all kinds, used every day by best-selling novelists, screenwriters, non-fiction writers, students, academics, lawyers, journalists, translators and more. Scrivener won't tell you how to write—it simply provides everything you need to start writing and keep writing.
Grow your manuscript your way
Tailor-made for long writing projects, Scrivener banishes page fright by allowing you to compose your text in any order, in sections as large or small as you like. Got a great idea but don't know where it fits? Write when inspiration strikes and find its place later. Grow your manuscript organically, idea by idea.
See the forest or the trees
Whether you plan or plunge, Scrivener works your way: hammer out every last detail before typing a word, or carve out a draft and restructure later. Or mix your methods and do a bit of both. In Scrivener, everything you write is integrated into an easy-to-use project outline. So working with an overview of your manuscript is only ever a click away, and turning Chapter Four into Chapter One is as simple as drag and drop.
Research within reach
Need to refer to research? In Scrivener, your background material is always at hand, and you can open it right next to your work. Write a description based on a photograph. Transcribe an interview. Take notes about a PDF file or web page. Or check for consistency by referencing an earlier chapter alongside the one in progress.
Getting it out there
Once you're ready to share your work with the world, compile everything into a single document for printing, self-publishing, or exporting to popular formats such as Word, PDF, Final Draft or plain text. You can even share using different formatting, so that you can write in your favorite font and still satisfy those submission guidelines.
Craft
Create documents, make impact. When your work needs to wow, Craft gives you the tools to make it magnificent.
Don't just process words - build documents
Craft brings structure to your documents - and gives you the tools and freedom to do it your way. Seamlessly combine images, text, media or tables for the perfect experience. Drive deep understanding and engagement by allowing the reader to consume your document just as they would a website. Add your brand and personal touches on top for the prefect document.
Big on impact, teensy weensy on effort
Organizing your workflow, writing your report, creating your code or mapping your masterplan; whatever you’re doing, the freedom to do it your way matters. Tables, toggles, markdown and blocks, back-linking, forward-thinking, in, out and shake it all about - Craft’s ingeniously rich feature-set gives you endless possibilities to love how you work. Just click and create for amazingly beautiful docs in minutes, then bring it all together in your own unique way.
One beautiful experience. All of your devices.
At your desk, on the go, on or offline, enjoy Craft’s powerful performance and legendary UI across your entire toolkit, courtesy of the native app experience. Lose the lag and fall in love with instant sync; quickly jump into any document on any device; and free your creativity with the same beautiful experience whatever device you’re on. We’ve even got a web-based app so you’ll never drop the ball again.
And plenty of ways to share the love
Why keep your brilliant work to yourself when we’ve made it really simple to share? Secret Linking, shared spaces, external guests, and fast, easy export; inspire action across teams, clients, and everyone who’s anyone with the kind of content that’ll make you look way more wow than yet another Google Doc. Or Word doc. Or (insert app you’re using here).
iA Writer
Get focused. iA Writer offers a unique writing experience that lets you concentrate and clarify your message. Used by half a million people worldwide, its powerful interface is crafted to cut out noise, let you focus on what you want to say, and help you structure and trim your text. Available for Mac, iOS, Windows, and Android.
Simple and Powerful
No rulers, no formatting bars. iA Writer provides the crisp, uncluttered environment you need to write well, supported by discrete, powerful features, from Content Blocks, to Syntax Highlighting.
Focus and Flow
Focus is the key to good writing, and the guiding principle behind iA Writer. With shortcuts and simplified settings, you can keep your hands on the keyboard and your mind in the text.
Ownership and Control
We think every craftsperson should own their own tools, so when you download iA Writer, you own it. No forced subscriptions, microtransactions, or compatibility concerns. Your work, your files, your app.
Hack Your Syntax
Highlight parts of speech to improve your writing. Spot superfluous adjectives, weak verbs, and unwanted repetitions. Developers have long used syntax highlighting to improve their code. Now you can hack your text.
Power of Style Check
Style Check is like having a personal editor-in-chief on your device, carefully reviewing your text for redundancies, clichés and filler words as you type. It’s simple, different, and powerful.
The Original Focus Mode
Focus only on the sentence or paragraph that you’re working on. Introduced in 2010 with the original iA Writer, Focus Mode has since been copied by many writing apps. This is the original, and still (we think) the best.
Flexible Content Blocks
Swap sections around, add media, and construct your content with flexible building blocks of text, .csv tables and image files. Stitch separate chapters together into one master file. Express yourself through experimentation.
Optimized Typeface
We have created an innovative typeface for iA Writer, specifically designed to enhance the writing experience. The family comes in three flavors: classic Mono, Duo for larger screens, and Quattro for small devices.
Parallel PDF Preview
iA Writer now offers a live, paginated PDF preview, parallel to the text you are editing. Instantly see how your document translates into PDF pages, as you edit.
Advanced Markdown to Word Export
iA Writer features one of the most advanced Markdown-to-Word export functions available anywhere. Quickly export your Markdown documents to MS Word (and back too!). Includes support for tables, images and footnotes.
Ulysses
The Ultimate Writing App for Mac, iPad and iPhone. Powerful features and a pleasant, focused writing experience combined in one tool, made for people who love to write and write a lot — this is Ulysses.
Like 12 Fingers, 25 Hours a Day
Some things simply work better when you’ve got the right tool. Ulysses’ well thought-out features boost your productivity through the entire writing process; its distraction-free interface keeps you in the flow so you can get things done.
Projects Cannot Get Too Big
Be it college essays, blog posts, or the next Great American Novel: No matter what you’re working on, Ulysses is equipped for managing writing projects of all sizes and ambitions.
Built-In Proofreader and Editing Assistant
Write with confidence: Ulysses’ built-in grammar and style check helps you avoid mistakes and meet the right tone. Available for over 20 languages, it offers suggestions for capitalization, punctuation, semantics, redundancy, style and more.
Let Your Words Shine
After you’re done writing, Ulysses can turn your texts into beautiful PDFs, Word documents, ebooks and even blog posts. Everything is just a click away, with on-the-fly switching of styles and a live preview built right in.
Focused
Get Focused, start writing. We think Focused is the new benchmark for markdown writing apps that will enable you to really focus on your work.
Distraction-Free
No clutter, no distractions. Just a perfectly crafted set of tools to help you write and stay focused on the task at hand.
Word Count
Need to hit a word count, or stick to a character limit? Focused keeps you on target without cluttering your workspace.
Versions
The dog will never eat your homework again - Auto Save keeps your content safe, with Versions support to retrieve an edit.
Soundtracks
Filter out life’s distractions with 8 calming soundtracks that aid your focus, allowing you to concentrate on your writing.
Sharing
Focused is built to help you write for the web without the need to know any code - Focused generates it all for you.
Shortcuts
Never leave the keyboard again, with comprehensive keyboard shortcuts to help you structure and format.
Zen Mode
Whether you’re writing a paper or a blog post, you’re at your most productive when you focus. In addition to Focused’s minimal design, Zen Mode heightens your focus with a choice of eight carefully selected soundtracks. Perfect to help you relax and create great content, no matter what your deadline may be.
Typewriter Mode
Stay focused on the paragraph (or sentence) at hand with typewriter mode. Vertically center your copy and choose whether you want to fade out the surrounding text for even fewer distractions.
iWriter Pro
iWriter Pro is elegant and minimalist text editor with built-in MultiMarkdown support.
Clean and Simple
iWriter Pro is designed to be easy yet powerful text editing app. It provides distraction-free writing experience with a bunch of handy features.
Markdown Highlighting
Markdown is a good way to format your text, apply styles, insert lists and block quotes. iWriter Pro automatically highlights text as you type.
iCloud Support
Use iCloud to store your documents. You can easily create, view and edit your files on Mac, iPad and iPhone devices.