Writer Studio

Writer Studio is a free desktop novel-writing app from Authr that puts scenes, chapters, characters, locations and plotlines in one project on your own computer. Each scene is saved as an ordinary Markdown file with a JSON sidecar, so the manuscript opens in any text editor, with or without the app.

What You Get#

• Scene-based structure: Chapters and parts are optional, scenes drag to reorder, and a corkboard shows each chapter as cards. One project can hold several books.
• Book Wiki: Cards for characters, locations and custom types; a character's card lists every scene they appear in. Works within one book only; a shared series bible is planned.
• Import and export: Imports DOCX, TXT, Markdown and Scrivener .scriv projects, splitting them into chapters and scenes. Exports DOCX, EPUB 3, FB2, PDF and Markdown, with front matter.
• Version history and backups: Autosave, a restorable trash, per-scene version comparison, and hourly or manual backups that keep the last ten.
• Offline proofreading: A rule-based checker for spelling, grammar, punctuation, style and typography that runs on your machine. The developer says Russian gets the most attention and English is "best-effort."
• Beta-reader links: Share a draft through a private, unlisted link; readers leave inline comments and reactions. Sharing needs a free account, and per-chapter completion and drop-off analytics come with Authr Plus (the free tier shows a total view count).
• Extras: 14 story-structure templates, daily word goals, sprints and a cross-project streak.

Who It's For#

• Writers who want to own their files: Plain Markdown on your own disk means you can leave without converting anything.
• Linux users: AppImage and .deb builds ship alongside the Windows and Mac installers.
• Authors writing in Russian: FB2 export, Russian typography and metadata for LitRes, Litnet and Author.Today are built in.

Pricing: Everything local and AI on your own API key are free, with no account needed. One live beta-reader publication with a total view count is also free but needs a free account. The optional Authr Plus subscription adds managed AI (no key of your own), more live publications and detailed reader analytics. It costs $9.99 (Starter), $14.99 (Author) or $24.99 (Master) a month, and the three plans differ only in monthly AI allowance. There is no self-serve checkout yet: you open a support ticket and the developer turns on your plan by hand. If a subscription lapses, nothing on your computer changes.

Strengths#

• No lock-in: Files are not encrypted or compressed; the app's database is a rebuildable search index.
• Opt-in AI: No language model is active until you choose a provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, DeepSeek, any compatible endpoint, or a fully local Ollama). Every change the AI suggests waits for your approval.
• Frequent releases: The public GitHub releases page lists seventeen 1.x releases, v1.0.0 to v1.13.0, between August 2 and October 6, 2026, after public 0.x builds going back to March 2026.

Limitations#

• Alpha software: The developer warns of "unfinished features and occasional incompatibilities between releases" and tells you to keep a backup outside the app.
• Desktop only: There is no mobile app, web version or sync between devices.
• No co-editing: Beta readers can comment, but editor comments and tracked changes only happen after you export to DOCX.
• Telemetry on by default: Anonymous usage counts (sent to Yandex Metrica) and crash reports are on until you turn them off; the first-run agreement screen says so. Manuscript text is never included.
• Small, unproven vendor: The operator is a sole proprietorship (individual entrepreneur) registered in Armenia, there are no independent reviews yet, and the app is proprietary freeware rather than open source.

Alternatives#

Scrivener is the mature choice, with nearly 20 years of development and an iOS app, but it costs money and uses its own project format. NovelPad also runs on Linux and supports collaboration, but it is paid. yWriter is the other free scene-based option, though it is Windows-first and looks dated.