Dabble vs Ellipsus

Dabble

• Novelists who want plotting, notes and the manuscript in one place
• Writers who move between a computer, a tablet and a phone
• Co-authors working on the same manuscript
• Writers who want a tool without generative AI

Ellipsus

• Co-authors, editors and beta readers working on fiction together
• Fan fiction writers who publish to AO3
• Writers who want a tool with no generative AI
• People who would sooner own a license than rent one

Dabble

• There is no free plan. Without a subscription, projects stay viewable and exportable but become read-only.
• Comments, track changes, sticky notes, advanced grammar checks and Read-to-Me need the Author plan at $29 a month or higher.
• On phones and tablets Dabble is a web app added to the home screen from the browser; it is not in the App Store or Google Play.
• The pricing page lists monthly prices only and says annual billing saves 20%, without showing the annual amounts.

Ellipsus

• Browser-based only: there is no mobile or desktop app yet, though the help center suggests setting it up as a PWA.
• Offline access and tables are listed as still to come.
• On the free plan, version history covers 30 days and image uploads are capped at 512 KB.
• Collaborator chat is moving to Plus and becomes read-only for free users.

Dabble

Plot Grid

Lays out plot lines and plot points against scenes so a story's structure can be planned as fully or as loosely as wanted, with the editor open alongside the plan.

Story notes and characters

Keeps character profiles, worldbuilding details and research beside the manuscript, and can share characters, locations and lore across the books in a series.

Manuscript editor and goals

Scenes and chapters are numbered and formatted automatically and reordered by drag and drop, with focus mode, daily word-count goals, stats and a writing timer.

Editing tools

Comments, sticky notes, highlighting, track changes and Read-to-Me, plus grammar and style checks powered by ProWritingAid. These start on the Author plan.

Co-authoring

Invited co-authors work on the same manuscript in real time. Writer allows 5 collaborators per project; Author, Bestseller and lifetime plans allow 100.

Offline-first sync

Every edit saves to the device first and syncs to the account once a connection is available, so writing continues offline on any installed copy.

Ellipsus

Linked drafts

A document can branch into as many drafts as needed for trying ideas or working with editors. Drafts stay linked to their document, so there are no separate files to manage.

Compare and merge

Drafts can be viewed side by side to check what changed, and the writer chooses which edits are merged into the main document.

Collaboration and feedback

Unlimited collaborators can write in the same draft, comment and react. Collaborator roles and share links control what each person can do.

Version history

Past versions of a piece can be viewed and restored: 30 days of history on the free plan, unlimited on Plus.

Publishing and export

Posts new works and chapters to AO3, exports PDF, HTML, Markdown and rich text, and creates reader links that can be opened without an account.

Emboss and writing insights

Plus adds shareable authorship badges, public version history and writing insights such as sentence length, passive voice and word frequency, computed on the device without AI.

Dabble

• Writer$19

  per month, billed monthly (20% less when paid annually)

  Unlimited manuscripts, cloud backup and sync, Plot Grid, story notes and character profiles, goals and stats, co-authoring and versioning.

• Author$29

  per month, billed monthly (20% less when paid annually)

  Adds comments, track changes, sticky notes, text highlighting, advanced grammar and style checks, Read-to-Me, and priority support by chat and email.

• Bestseller$49

  per month, billed monthly (20% less when paid annually)

  Everything in Author plus DabbleU Academy: live monthly workshops, a library of courses and more than 70 hours of workshop recordings.

• Lifetime Author Access$699

  one-time payment

  All Author features permanently, including future Author updates and features. No additional discounts apply.

Ellipsus

• Free$0

  Unlimited docs, drafts and collaborators, with 30-day version history, 512 KB image uploads and 37 themes.

• Plus, monthly$6

  per month for 24 months ($144 in total)

  Subscribe-to-own: after 24 monthly payments the Plus license is owned outright. Adds custom themes, writing insights, unlimited version history and 5 MB images.

• Plus, annual$60

  per year for 2 years ($120 in total)

  Two annual payments buy the Plus license outright, which the page describes as 4 months free compared with paying monthly.

• Plus, one-time$99

  one-time payment

  The Plus license bought upfront and owned immediately, including future Plus features, updates and maintenance.

Dabble

• Annual discount

  Save 20% with annual billing

  Dabble's pricing page says paying annually saves 20% compared with the monthly prices of $19, $29 and $49.

• Lifetime license

  Lifetime Author Access for $699

  A one-time payment of $699 gives every Author feature permanently, which Dabble describes as about the price of two years of Author. No other discounts apply.

• Education

  30% off for teachers and students

  Teachers and students with an academic email address can save 30% by applying through Dabble's partner, Student App Centre.

Ellipsus

• Lifetime license

  Own Plus outright for $99

  A single $99 payment buys the Plus license for good, including future Plus features and updates. It is the lowest total of the three ways to pay.

• Annual discount

  Annual plan totals $120 instead of $144

  Paying annually takes two payments of $60, $120 in all, against $144 over 24 monthly payments. The pricing page calls this 4 months free.