Dabble vs Gingko Writer

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

Gingko Writer

• Writers who outline and draft at the same time
• Long projects such as a thesis, a novel or a legal brief
• People who lose track of structure in a single long document

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.

Gingko Writer

• There is no free plan: after the 14-day trial the app needs a subscription.
• The vendor's FAQ, last updated about four years ago, says collaboration and LaTeX are not supported yet and points to the legacy gingkoapp.com version for both.
• Images cannot be uploaded: the FAQ says they are added by linking to a file hosted elsewhere with Markdown image syntax.
• The current version is a web app. An older desktop version is still on GitHub, but the vendor says it has not been brought up to date.

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.

Gingko Writer

Documents as a tree of cards

Text is written in small chunks called cards, so a novel, thesis or legal brief is worked on one piece at a time instead of as a single long page.

Notes, outline and draft in one view

The overall premise, the outline and the detailed text stay on screen together, so an idea for a specific scene can be written down without leaving the big picture.

Organize while writing

There is no separate outlining mode: cards are written and arranged in the same place, so the structure can change as the draft grows.

Export and print

A draft can be exported to conventional document formats or printed. Anything placed between HTML comment markers in a card is left out of the output.

Import from the older Gingko

Trees from a legacy gingkoapp.com account can be brought in from the File menu, or as a JSON export for very large trees.

Templates by duplication

Any tree can be duplicated from the sidebar, which is how the vendor suggests making a reusable template for new documents.

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.

Gingko Writer

• Pay Yearly$9.75

  per month, billed yearly ($117)

  The full app, billed once per year. The pricing page puts the saving against monthly billing at $36.

• Pay Monthly$12.75

  per month, billed monthly

  The full app with monthly billing. It can be canceled at any time, and refunds are given on request.

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.

Gingko Writer

• Annual discount

  Save $36 a year with yearly billing

  The pricing page lists $117 billed once per year against $12.75 a month, and states the saving as $36.