Final Draft vs Story Architect

Final Draft

• Screenwriters who need scripts in industry-standard format
• Productions that rely on tracked revisions and production reports
• Writers who would rather buy a desktop license once than subscribe

Story Architect

• Screenwriters who want standard script formatting on a free plan
• Writers keeping every episode of a series in one project
• Authors who work across screenplays, comics, plays and novels

Final Draft

• The one-time Final Draft 13 license does not include Final Draft Cloud, which comes only with the Suite subscription.
• Final Draft 13 needs macOS 12 or later or Windows 11 or later, and is not available on Chromebook.
• The iPhone and iPad app, Final Draft Go, is a separate subscription at $3.99 a month or $19.99 a year.
• A license can be signed in on two computers at once; a third sign-in requires signing out of another.

Story Architect

• The pricing page shows prices on annual billing only; 1-, 3- and 6-month terms exist, but their prices are not listed there.
• Sync covers desktop apps for now: the pricing page lists mobile sync as in development.
• Corkboard, timeline, mind maps and extended statistics need Pro; collaboration and script breakdown need Creator.
• The software is pre-1.0: the desktop apps are at version 0.8.3 and the mobile apps at 0.2.0, with several features still planned.

Final Draft

Automatic script formatting

Paginates and formats a script to entertainment-industry standards for film, TV, theater and other media, so layout does not have to be set by hand.

Story planning tools

The Beat Board, Outline Editor and Structure Lines are used to brainstorm and outline a story inside the script file, alone or with writing partners in real time.

Revisions and production reports

Tracked revisions, built-in commenting and automatic version saving support rewrites, and production reports can be run from the script.

Final Draft Cloud

Part of the Suite: an online editor called Final Draft Writer, a Vault for storing and sharing files, ScriptNotes comments and asynchronous collaboration.

Reader Mode

People invited to a script in Final Draft Cloud can view and comment on it free of charge, with no credit card, but cannot edit it.

Writing goals and focus modes

Final Draft 13 includes Writing Goals and Productivity Stats along with Midnight and Typewriter modes.

Story Architect

Editors for several story formats

Separate editors for screenplays, comics, audio dramas, stage plays and novels apply industry-standard formatting, with Tab and Enter switching between paragraph types.

Shared project bible

Characters, locations and worlds are described once and shared by every story in a project, including all episodes of a series. Pro adds relationship editors, maps and extended profiles.

Corkboard and timeline

On Pro, screenplays and novels get a card board and a timeline. Cards can be colour-tagged and grouped by act, and changes show up in the script text and the reverse.

Mind maps

A mind map tool for brainstorming and planning is part of the Pro plan, alongside an image gallery and presentations.

AI Assistant

Paraphrases, shortens, expands, summarizes, translates and generates text using credits; one credit covers 1,000 words or 10 images. Extra credits start at $10 for 50.

Sync and collaboration

Creator adds 5 GB of cloud storage, sync and real-time co-writing. Co-authors can join on any plan, with editing limited to the modules their own plan includes.

Final Draft

• Final Draft Go$3.99

  per month, or $19.99 per year, in the App Store

  A separate subscription app for writing, editing and reading Final Draft scripts on iPhone and iPad.

• Final Draft Suite$99.99

  per year, or $16.99 per month

  Final Draft 13 for desktop plus Final Draft Cloud, the online workspace with cloud storage, sharing and collaboration.

• Final Draft 13 Educational$129.99

  one-time purchase

  All the features of Final Draft 13 for students and teachers. Verification is required to buy.

• Final Draft 13 Upgrade$129.99

  one-time purchase

  For owners of any previous desktop version, who must give a registered customer number or email.

• Final Draft 13$249.99

  one-time purchase

  The desktop app for Mac and Windows, with activation on two computers. Does not include Final Draft Cloud.

• Volume licensingCustom

  Multi-user licenses for studios, production companies, schools and nonprofits, arranged with the sales team.

Story Architect

• Free$0

  Unlimited projects and documents, every script and novel editor, import and export, basic statistics and basic character, location and world info.

• Pro$4.17

  per month, billed annually; or $150 lifetime

  Adds mind maps, image gallery, presentations, corkboard, timeline, character relations, location and world maps, extended statistics and 5 AI credits a month.

• Creator$8.34

  per month, billed annually

  Everything in Pro plus sync between desktop devices, real-time collaboration, 5 GB of cloud storage, script breakdown, showrunner tools and 10 AI credits a month.

Final Draft

• Other savings

  Sale price of $199.99 on Final Draft 13

  The US store listed Final Draft 13 at $199.99 against its regular $249.99 when the page was captured on 2026-09-29.

• Annual discount

  Annual Suite plan costs about half of monthly

  Final Draft Suite is $99.99 a year, against $203.88 for twelve payments on the $16.99 monthly plan.

• Education

  Educational edition for students and teachers

  Final Draft 13 Educational has a regular price of $129.99, against $249.99 for the standard license, and was on sale at $99.99 on 2026-08-30. Verification is required.

• Other savings

  Military and first responder price of $129.99

  Members of the military, veterans and first responders can buy Final Draft 13 for $129.99 instead of the regular $249.99.

• Other savings

  Upgrade pricing for existing owners

  Owners of any earlier desktop version can move to Final Draft 13 for a regular price of $129.99; the upgrade was on sale at $99.99 on 2026-09-22.

Story Architect

• Lifetime license

  Pro lifetime license for $150

  Pro can be bought with a single $150 payment instead of a subscription, and comes with 120 AI credits. Creator has no lifetime option.

• Education

  50% off any plan for students and professors

  University students and professors get 50% off the base price of any subscription plan after proving their status by institutional email or an ID card.