okay many people are tired of google docs and their fucked up privacy policies so i went into my own search for alternatives but most of them are online with a subscription plan and i refuse to spend my money on that. also, most of the alternatives out there have ai plugged in in one way or another, so i've decided to curate my own list of recomendations.
this is the criteria:
has to be free, possibly offline as i don't fully trust clouds
has to be free of ai, or, in the worst case, it doesn't have to be one of the main features
lots of templates to choose from, very clearly catered towards fic writers
has a feature to include collaborators so you can share it with beta readers and they can comment on the doc
plenty of customization options
the only big downside i see (for now) is that it's still in beta so we don't really know how the monetization will work yet. they stated that the current free features will stay free, so it's a matter of trust i guess.
if you're the type that needs boards and timelines and such you will need something else to do that
also the spellchecker is still a work in progress
online, web based, although it works locally so it doesn't hoard any of your data
has an option to sync with google drive
many planning features if that's your jam, boards and sticky notes and such
i'm not sure if it works properly offline
not many customizations options if that's a must for you
it has an ai option, tho it's optional and you have to sign up for that
offline, but you can easily set up your own sync
plenty of options to export
many tools for planning and managing bigger stories
it's the one i'm currently using it and i think it's severely underrated!!!
the ui might not be the prettiest for your likes, tho, again, is highly customizable
if you're the kind of person who gets overwhelmed when there are too much options this might not be for you
you might have to download your own spellcheckers if you write in anything else than english
similar to word or google docs
offline, available for any os
as it is offline none of your data is stored or used to train ai
you can easily set it with your own cloud service
some people don't really like the ui, but i think it's gotten a lot better and user friendly
the spellcheckers aren't as good as microsoft words for what i've seen, at least if you write in something else than english
offiline, the same as before tho many people prefer it over LibreOffice in regards to the ui
it has a paid cloud service but also easy to set up with your own or selfhost
has ai integration, i don't know how invasive it is
if you're more inclined to markdown editors but also would like to avoid notion due to privacy or anti-ai reasons, these are some options
very useful for worldbuilding, plotting and planning in general
offline first, available for any os. you can either pay for obsidian sync or set up your own sync system.
truly customizable, with the right set of plugins you can turn it into your own personal writing suite. the most used by authors i've seen are Longform, Readability Score, LanguageTool and KeepTheRhything, and there are plenty of videos of authors sharing their own set ups
if you're the kind of person who procrastinates by customizing things and trying to find the perfect set of tools before even starting, you'll probably have to be careful of falling into the rabbit hole of obsidian vids.
it isn't really made for long writing so you might feel some friction with that even with the right amount of plugins
it's easy to get overwhelmed by the variety of tools that it offers and that maybe serve not purpose to your writer needs
offline, but as any other can be easily synced by your own means
minimalistic but it has some writer oriented features like stats and outlines
it's mostly for linux, with a portable app for windows and on mac you gotta do your own compiling
i think it doesn't come with it's own spellchecker
offline, with a paid cloud plan and plenty of resources to sync it by yourself
similar to obsidian, very customizable and a jack of all trades
it might have a steeper learning curve as the ui isn't as friendly as obsidian
again, you might get lost in the rabbithole of endless customization
for the techies out there…
has plenty of easily accesible extensions
i've seen someone say it has a really neat export to markdown tool, big if true
there are some tutorials out there for you freaks
it's owned by microsoft so expect your usual telemetry and ai integration
i don't know just because you can it doesn't mean you should
endless customization options
if you wanted an excuse to dig your nails into emacs this is your chance
there are many tutorials of people helping you set up your writing enviroment
if you're not into tinkering and getting your hands on the mud for your software then this might be actually scary
i don't know i tried one tutorial and failed ok
the same, the possibilities are endless
big if you hate to use the mouse
i don't know i haven't even tried but i've seen people use it so. it can be done ig
ALTERNATIVES FOR THE CLOUD
if you refuse to pay for another cloud service, many people use the ones they already have, or selfhost if they're more tech savvy.
i personally use Syncthing which works end-to-end on my local network, synchronizing my desktop pc with my laptop. it only works when they're both online, so if you need immediate access to changes this might not work for you, but on my side i only use it to have a backup.
if you are still using Google Drive for some reason or another, you can as well install it on your computer and use it as a backup for any of the offline apps. i think Dropbox works the same. Proton Drive also has been gaining popularity between the privacy enthusiasts, and it has 5GB free it seems. other people use iCloud, tho i don't own any apple products so idk about that. whichever of these you choose, you're still dependant of those companies to keep your files safe, so always have a local backup if possible.
lastly, i've seen many people (mostly the one's that use obsidian or something from the techie section) use git and upload it to a private github repository or another service for git management.
you always have the choice to host your own server, tho i can't really guide you on that there are plenty of tutorials and documentation online, and the only downside if that maybe you don't have the same safety net as the Big Companies tm in case your server breaks
