Ellipsus vs LivingWriter

Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.

Ellipsus

Collaborative writing tool for creative writers

Free plan · from $6/mo

LivingWriter

Cloud writing app for books and screenplays with planning boards

Free plan · from $15/mo

Where they differ

Ellipsus starts at $6 per month for 24 months, or $99 one-time. LivingWriter starts at $15 per month, billed monthly (Pro).
Only LivingWriter lists macOS, Windows, iOS and Android apps.
Ellipsus also covers documents.
LivingWriter also covers chat assistant and templates.

In commonFree planWebReal-time collaborationLong-form writing

	Ellipsus	LivingWriter
Pricing	Free plan	Free plan
Starts at	$6 per month for 24 months, or $99 one-time	$15 per month, billed monthly (Pro)
Free plan	Unlimited docs, drafts, folders and collaborators, comments, real-time collaboration, 30 days of version history, 512 KB image uploads and 37 themes.	One manuscript with a limited word count, outlines and templates, notes and to-dos, a basic Elements board, a small AI allowance and basic PDF export.
Free trial	7-day free trial of Plus, no payment information required	7-day trial of Pro or Pro + AI; the button calls it free while the card says "Try for $0.99"
Web
macOS
Windows
iOS
Android
Made by	Ellipsus GmbH	LivingWriter
Price read from	ellipsus.com	livingwriter.com
Checked	Oct 9, 2026	Oct 6, 2026

Ellipsus

LivingWriter

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.

LivingWriter

The Free plan covers one manuscript with a limited word count and exports only basic PDF.
Sharing and collaboration, the full Boards system and the Canva and Google Drive integrations need Pro.
Manuscript chat, AI outlines, rewrites, analysis and cover images are listed under the $30 Pro + AI plan.
Quarterly and annual billing exist, but the public pricing page shows only the monthly prices.

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.

LivingWriter

Boards: Manuscript, Planning, Elements and Research boards lay out chapters, scenes, story elements and sources as cards that can be dragged into a new order.
Linked story elements: Characters, settings and objects get reusable profiles with aliases and relations. Auto-completion connects them to the text as you write, and each profile lists where it appears.
Outline templates: Ready-made structures include Story Circle, Hero's Journey, the 27 Chapter Method and Romancing the Beat, along with memoir, biography and PhD thesis outlines.
Screenwriting: A screenplay mode formats scene headings, action, characters, dialogue, parentheticals and transitions automatically, and an AI tool converts prose into a script.
AI writing assistant: Optional tools for outlines, rewriting, summaries, manuscript analysis and a chat that knows the manuscript. LivingWriter says manuscripts are not used to train AI models.
Version history and export: Earlier versions can be viewed, compared and restored. Manuscripts export to DOCX, PDF, EPUB and Amazon KDP formats, and existing documents can be imported.

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.

LivingWriter

Free$0
A first book with a limited word count, outlines, notes and to-dos, a taste of the AI tools and basic PDF export.
Pro$15
per month, billed monthly; quarterly and annual also offered
Unlimited manuscripts and screenplays, the full Boards system, sharing and collaboration, pro export formats, and Canva and Google Drive integration.
Pro + AI$30
per month; the card itself shows no billing period
Everything in Pro plus the full AI set: manuscript chat, outlines, rewrites, analysis, manuscript-to-screenplay, and cover and element images.

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.

LivingWriter

No public discounts listed.