Are you looking for best writing tools for mac? If yes, then you’re at the right place. I think that good writer needs good words processing software to produce excellent content. Each of us is looking for best free word processor for mac. Here I’ve listed some of the best writing software which also compatible with windows.
There are available tools online for mac users. In this post, I introduce you to best writing tools out there.
ProWritingAid
Best for long-form writers trying to perfect their writing style.
ProWritingAid comes very close, next to Grammarly when it comes to grammar/editing tools. Unlike Grammarly, it generates a whopping 25 reports to analyze your content on. The suggestions it highlights, are more in-line with improving the overall flow of your written prose than it is to highlight individual errors and mistakes.
This is precisely why we recommend this tool to long-form content writers who want to improve the style of their content and make it more compelling to readers.
It analyses your content on the basis of clarity, redundancies, readability and so much more. However, the features it provides can be a bit overwhelming for novice users. Its user interface is also pretty jarring and confusing to use.
Features:
- Grammar checker
- Spell checker
- Plagiarism checker
- Dictionary/Thesaurus
- Text editor
- Style check
Verdict: We recommend ProWritingAid as a grammar checking tool for long-form content writers. It is comparatively way more affordable than Grammarly and provides more features than its counterpart. However, the absence of its mobile app does stick out like a sore thumb.
Price: 14-day free trial, the paid version is categorized as follows: $20 per month, $79 per year, $299 lifetime.=> Visit ProWritingAid Website
A Soft Murmur
Best for producing ambient sound to focus on writing.
A Soft Murmur is technically not a writing app, but it does help in creating a distraction-free environment, which is needed when embarking on a creative journey. Writing, in particular, is a vocation that requires utmost focus from writers.
A Soft Murmur ensures that by producing an ambient sound changes the mood of your surroundings and allows you to engage more with the process of writing. Mesmerizing sounds of waves, wind, rain, birds, etc. can be used effectively to improve your focus.
Features:
- Fully offline operability
- Mix multiple sounds
- Create your own sound
- Play in the background
- Smooth gapless playback
Verdict: A Soft Murmur is not your traditional writing app. It has nothing to do with writing but does help in creating a mood for effective writing. We highly recommend this app to create an environment that will help you focus more, especially if you are a creative writer.
Price: Free
Website: A Soft Murmur
Scrivener
Scrivener ($45) was our previous pick for the best long-form writing app, and it’s done nothing to lose that crown. Unfortunately for Scrivener, Ulysses has just gotten a lot better. With the ePub export in Ulysses being so good, Scrivener is no longer the default choice when you want to publish an ebook. To be fair, Scrivener still does give you a lot more power and options when exporting, and is still your best option if you want to export to the Kindle format.
Scrivener also has an iPad version ($19.99) which is very good. It was even featured in the Best of the App Store in 2016, but requires that you use Dropbox to sync your Scrivener projects instead of iCloud. This makes sync a little more cumbersome, and we still think Ulysses is a better choice for most writing projects.
iA Writer Pro
iA Writer Pro offers a couple unique features like Syntax Control, which scans your document and highlights your adjectives, nouns, adverbs, verbs, prepositions, or conjunctions. This allows you to see if your sentences are balanced. This feature is not limited to just English and supports several other languages as well. iA Writer Pro also has a Focus Mode that highlights one sentence at a time by making the surrounding text fade into the background, reducing the temptation to edit.
iA Writer is $28.99 on the Mac App Store and has companion apps for both iOS ($8.99) and Android (Free). There’s also a Windows version which is $19.99 and offers an installable extension for syncing to iCloud. If you use a PC or Android device and want to write on the go, check out iA Writer as it is the only app we reviewed (besides Microsoft Word and Scrivener) that has support outside the Apple ecosystem.
Focused
Focused has one incredibly awesome feature that makes it worth noting called “Zen Mode.” We published an article over at Tools and Toys on music to help you focus, but Focused actually bakes this right into the app itself by providing curated soundtracks designed to help you focus and concentrate on your writing. I personally listen to a lot of the music mentioned in the Tools and Toys article when I write, and the ability to launch it from the writing app and not have to open Spotify or Apple Music (or rely on an internet connection) is a really cool idea.
Focused is $19.99 and in our opinion doesn’t offer the same level of writing assistance that Ulysses does, but is still a very polished app. Focused is also a part of SetApp, so if you have a SetApp subscription you can try both Ulysses and Focused for yourself and see which one is right for you.
Byword
We previously selected Byword as our favorite Markdown writing app, and it can certainly be used as a pro writing app today. We believe that Ulysses just offers a few more tools and UI enhancements that make it a better choice for more lengthy writing projects.
Byword is an excellent application, and at $10.99 for the Mac app and $5.99 for the iOS version, it’s a great option for a writer looking to upgrade their tools on a budget. The lower price does mean that Byword receives less frequent updates though, and while the current apps aren’t lacking anything, they don’t get updated nearly as often as Ulysses does. Both the Mac and iOS apps do have an available “Publishing” in-app purchase that must be purchased for each version that allows you to publish your writing straight to an external source (like WordPress). It also offers iCloud sync which works flawlessly (in our testing) between the Mac and iOS versions.
Bear
Bear really isn’t a pure pro writing, but it can be used for smaller writing projects and supports Markdown formatting. It has a beautiful user interface and at $1.49/month or $14.99/year, it is a much more affordable option if you don’t need all the power that Ulysses offers.
Bear is limited in its export options though, and you won’t be able to publish straight from Bear, but it does offer some unique features, like cross-linking between notes, todos, and browser extensions to quickly clip things into Bear. Bear is really a note-taking app (one we think does an excellent job), but it’s so well done that it at least deserves a mention here.
Microsoft Word
We’re including this in the list only because this is what a lot of people think of when they need to write a document, but in our opinion it’s one of the worst options available. Not only is Microsoft Word very expensive (it starts at $70/year with Office 365 and goes up from there), but as we outlined above it locks you into a proprietary file format that is difficult to publish from (if you use the features that it offers). If you don’t use these extra features, then there’s really no reason to use Word as the myriad of features just clutter up the screen.
Word used to be the de facto option for sharing text documents throughout an office, but (thankfully) with the advent of plain text (and Markdown in particular), that is changing. We recommend that you use a tool that affords you the flexibility that these other formats offer.
Pages
Pages is also not a great option for the same reasons listed for Word, but at least it’s free on the Mac App Store and offers you an easy way to get started. It’s actually pretty powerful as word processors go, but still has the same drawbacks inherent with that application type we outlined earlier.
Pages does have free iOS versions that sync reliably with iCloud, so you’ll be able to sync your documents wherever you go with your iPhone or iPad. If you just bought a shiny new MacBook and want something that will allow you write on the go but you don’t have any money to spend on a fancy writing app, Pages will work, but you will run into formatting issues.
Freedom
Best for blocking websites, apps, notifications to avoid distraction while writing.
It’s not just your physical surrounding that can be antagonistic to your writing, the system you are working on can also be a source of constant irritation due to tons and tons of pop-ups, email notification, update alerts, etc. Freedom literally provides you freedom from such mundane annoyances by blocking websites, apps, and notification permanently, temporarily, or for a specific period of time.
With none of those things to disturb, you can focus on writing compelling content for your blog, business, or book. Writing is about to focus as much as it is about language and grammatical skills, Freedom takes care of the former so you can focus on the latter.
Features:
- Choose apps, websites to block
- Choose the time you would like the websites and apps to remain blocked for
- Select when to start and end the block
- Block across multiple mobile and computer devices
Verdict: Many well-known authors and journalists credit Freedom for their newly found productivity in writing. So if you seek to be more productive with your writing, then we highly recommend Freedom.
Price: Free trial for first seven sessions, $6.99 per month, $29.04 per year, $129 for lifetime use.
Website: Freedom
Conclusion
Best Writing Tools for Mac is a software that makes writing a lot easier and more organized. It does it in a simple way, but with the help from features like split screen, right click to save images from websites, bookmarklet, and shortcuts. It’s a simple tool, but has the features of the expensive tools.