Writing Software for macOS 2025

Ollie Ander

Is probably just a couple cats in a trench-coat—the hair shedding and sunlight napping are highly suspect.

There are many reasons one might choose to purchase a Mac computer: their hardware’s simplicity, software performance, high def display screen, and extended battery life. PCs give the option to upgrade or modify specs, but when customizability isn’t a priority, it makes sense to pick something reliable. Macs offer high performance for creative softwares, so if all you’re doing is writing, marketing, or moodboards, there’s a strong case for picking the security Apple provides.
The caveat with Macs, however, is how they lock you into the Apple ecosystem. Apple products may integrate seamlessly with each other, but they simultaneously exclude all non-Apple-applicable programs. So before you commit to a Mac, it’s important to know what writing software is available to you. Here’s a list of all the exclusive and the best compatible writing software for Mac computers.
Vellum﻿$ Vellum$  is the writing software everyone thinks of which is only available on MacOS. It’s easy to import any word document into Vellum and it will keep all your previous formatting. That said, it is generally recommended to import your near-to-finish draft, as the flexibility in large cut/paste edits is not its strong point—and I’ve seen no mention of version backups, though you can use Vellum offline.
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Vellum is also a publishing software, which means you can write your book in it and produce applicable file formats when you’re ready to publish. Vellum offers 8 pre-designed book format styles, and a variety of formatting options, from font types to style of the opening paragraphs: drop caps, lead-in text, etc. Vellum allows you to insert your own images, and import custom designs for ornamental scene breaks.
Vellum is completely free to download and use up until the point of publication. Once you’re ready to export your book, you’ll need to buy a license. Vellum Ebooks is a $199.99 purchase, which allows unlimited export of ebooks only. Vellum Press costs $249.99 and offers unlimited export of ebooks and print-ready files for paperback books. 
Vellum is a software that offers clean, adjustable, and easy-to-use publication templates, which is great for authors intending to write multiple books, but it isn’t a top choice for accessibility while writing and editing the book itself.
Ulysses﻿$ Ulysses$  is an Apple exclusive writing software. Ulysses can be used on Mac, iPad, or iPhone, so it’s more versatile as a writing app than Vellum (which is publishing focused) and can be taken with you across other devices in your Apple ecosystem.
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Ulysses’ main draw is its "Sheets" feature. On the far left of the application are folders of your main projects, next to the folders are the "Sheets" which serve as a scrollable overview, allowing for quick navigation through the manuscript. 
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Sheets can be tagged as "Research Material" and thus excluded from the main document—but personally, I like to keep things more separate than that.
The right-most space of the Ulysses screen is functionally the same as any other writing document, and can be toggled into full-screen so it is the only thing visible. Ulysses works in "Markdown" format rather than offering a drop-down tab with bold, italics, etc. so there is that little learning curve. Ulysses has a built-in grammar checker and wordcount tracking features.
When exporting, Ulysses formats everything from Markdown accordingly, and allows you to pick export styles, on top of the file type: Text, HTML, ePub, PDF, DOCX.
Ulysses is available as a $39.99 yearly subscription, or $5.99 per month, with reduced pricing for students and a fully-functional cross-device free trial.
Pages﻿$ Pages$  is a free word processor available on all Macs and across the Apple ecosystem (iPads, iPhones, anything that can run iWork). Pages is the Mac-equivalent to Microsoft Word. Older devices can download pages for free from the app store if it does not come pre-installed.
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The word processor is simple, but everything it needs to be. You can customize the font, size, and spacing of everything (from headers to body text) in the Format tab—which can always be closed while writing, offering less distraction. Headers, footers, stylization, it’s got all the basics. One thing it beats Word in outright is the seamless movement when doing picture integration. 
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Pages also has a Page Layout Mode. Be careful switching between Word Processor and Page Layout, as Layout will erase the regular body-text that flows across pages, instead creating a blank canvas where smaller, varying text/image elements can be added manually (more like designing a flier). Flowing text boxes can be re-added, linked, and adjusted as you move them around.
Pages documents can be exported in PDF, Word, ePub, Plain Text, and RTF. Although Pages doesn’t have the same easy-navigation as Ulysses, it’s a far cheaper alternative, and a good option to use as your word processor before importing to Vellum.
Bear﻿$ Bear$  is a newer writing software for MacOS and iOS (iPad and iPhone) which leans into providing a multi-media workspace. Bear works online, offline, and has cross-device support (with Pro).
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Bear is the most customizable option of all the Mac-exclusive writing softwares. You can organize everything by your own custom folders, tags, and icons in the navigable side bar. All notes can include text + images, tables, hyperlinks, etc. Bear works in Markdown, which offers more flexibility and options in-document for those doing anything other than just writing. 
Bear allows you to add separate, specific widgets on your device for ease of access to your documents. Bear can be anything you want it to be, but it isn’t optimized specifically for writing—it is highly searchable, but it is not inherently inclined to scene/chapter navigation, and doesn’t limit its function as a word-processor to a clean, distraction-free flow. Although, if scribbling is part of your process, you can use a touch-screen to draw in documents, which is a neat feature. Bear is the most security-forward app on this list, allowing you to password protect individual files.
Bear has a free version which does not include syncing, exporting, or additional themes. Their subscription plan for Pro is $2.99 a month or $14.99 per year. Bear offers export options in TXT, Markdown, RTF, PDF, HTML, DOCX, JPG, ePub and more, though it is not specifically designed to format your book (with font templates, scene breaks, etc) like other publishing programs.
Notes﻿$ Notes$  is available with iCloud, across the Apple device ecosystem (MacOS, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Apple Vision). 
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Apple Notes is not exclusively a writing processor, though you can write in it like any other word document. Apple Notes also offers multi-media inclusion, from checklists to images and sketches. If your writing process includes a lot of external/meta notes, you can consolidate the mess with Apple Notes’ ability to scan documents and handwritten pages. 
You can customize how you organize Apple Notes into folders, sub-folders, etc. which adds a lot of flexibility, but isn’t streamlined for writing, or offer structure for long, sectioned texts. Notes is a great place to organize large projects, but perhaps not to house an entire novel. Apple Notes is completely free to use on all applicable Apple devices.
Honourable MentionsIn this article I focused on Mac exclusive software that cannot be used on other Operating Systems, but there are a number of writing apps out there that can be downloaded for Mac, or used in-browser, including: Google Drive, Scrivener, Reedsy Studio, Atticus + more.
Novelpad﻿$ Novelpad$  is available for use on Mac, in-browser or as a downloadable app (including offline accessibility). Novelpad is the perfect middle-ground to all the aforementioned apps, as it's specifically designed for writing and workflow. Where Vellum is publishing focused, Pages is a bare-bones word processor, and Bear is everything to the point of being too much, Novelpad is $ writing project oriented$ .
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Novelpad has several story-structure tabs for organization, navigability (Chapters, $ Scenes$ ), and additional tagging (Characters, Locations—with colour-coding). The $ Insight board$  allows you to compare scenes across your novel, to $ check pacing and relevance$ , and Notes offers a separate space to keep all additional data that doesn’t belong in the manuscript itself. Novelpad is dedicated to encouraging the act of writing itself, with a clean word processor, and a $ Goals feature$  to track progress and keep completion in sight.
Novelpad is available for $15 monthly, or $120 (USD) with an annual subscription. You can get a $ two week free trial of NovelPad$  when you sign up for an account and test out all the software’s features for yourself!
Now, if you’re not restricted to MacOS-applicable software and are just shopping around to see what writing apps there are, you should also check out this article on $ Writing Software for Windows 2025$ .