Novelcrafter vs Type.ai

Novelcrafter

• Novelists and series writers who want a story bible tied to the manuscript
• Writers who want to pick and pay for their own AI models
• Co-authors and writing groups, on the Specialist plan

Type.ai

• Novelists and screenwriters drafting with AI assistance
• Writers revising an existing manuscript imported from Word
• People who want chat and the draft in one window

Novelcrafter

• There is no free plan. Without an active subscription, data stays viewable and exportable but cannot be added to or edited.
• AI starts at the Hobbyist plan and is bring-your-own-key, so model usage is paid separately to the AI provider unless local models are used.
• Workshop Chat needs Artisan, and inviting collaborators or creating teams needs Specialist. Each user needs a subscription of their own.
• It runs in the browser with nothing to install, and is described as mobile compatible; no desktop or mobile app is listed.

Type.ai

• The Free plan's credits do not replenish; after they run out, AI features stop until a paid plan is bought.
• Paid plans' monthly credits reset on the renewal date and do not roll over, and every AI feature draws on them.
• There is no native iOS or Android app, only a mobile web version that can be added to the home screen.
• A document is limited to 150,000 words, and the editor offers a single font with no size options.

Novelcrafter

The Codex

A wiki for characters, locations and lore with aliases, relations, tags and progressions over time. It finds mentions across scenes and can be shared by every book in a series.

Planning views

The Grid reorders acts, chapters and scenes by drag and drop, the Matrix shows the whole story as a spreadsheet-like table, and the Outline is a single-page summary.

Manuscript editor

A rich text editor with focus mode, highlighter markers, sections for alternative ideas, revision history, and import from Word, Markdown or HTML files.

Bring-your-own-key AI

From Hobbyist up, connects to services such as OpenAI, Anthropic and OpenRouter or to local models through LM Studio and Ollama, with custom prompts and a prompt preview.

Workshop Chat

On Artisan and above, a chat for feedback and brainstorming that can take the outline, a scene or the full novel as context and extract scene beats or Codex entries from the reply.

Collaboration and teams

Any account can be invited as a viewer, and editing needs a paid plan. Inviting others to a novel or series, and creating teams, needs the Specialist plan.

Type.ai

Type Chat beside the draft

A chat assistant in the right pane reads the draft and can research, give feedback, brainstorm ideas or rewrite passages without copying text between tools.

Inline commands and Brushes

Pressing / opens a command palette that writes at the cursor. Highlighted text can be rewritten with a preset Brush or a custom prompt, then accepted or rejected inline.

Notes on the story

Notes hold details about characters, settings and scenes. They can be edited by hand or through chat, and are taken into account in writing help.

Custom Styles

A Style is a set of writing rules, generated from an uploaded sample of earlier work or built from scratch, that can be applied to new drafts.

Import, export and narration

Imports DOCX files, PDFs, images or a URL, and exports PDF, DOCX, HTML or Markdown, a view-only link, or an AI-narrated audio track.

Offline mode and version history

Writing and editing continue without a connection and sync across devices once back online. AI features do not work offline.

Novelcrafter

• Scribe$4

  per month, or $40 billed annually

  Unlimited books, the Codex, series and basic review tools. No AI features.

• Hobbyist$8

  per month, or $80 billed annually

  Adds AI with your own API key or local models: scene summarization, character extraction and generating prose from scene beats, plus live chat support.

• Artisan$14

  per month, or $140 billed annually

  Adds Workshop Chat for feedback and brainstorming on scenes. Advanced review tools are listed for this tier but marked as planned.

• Specialist$20

  per month, or $200 billed annually

  Adds inviting other users to novels and series, creating and managing teams, and priority support.

Type.ai

• Free$0

  Every feature with a limited, one-time grant of credits that never expire. Once they are spent, AI features pause but drafts stay accessible.

• Basic$8

  per month, billed annually ($96); $12 billed monthly

  500,000 credits a month, pitched at shorter content and stories, with premium AI models and priority email support.

• Pro$16

  per month, billed annually ($192); $24 billed monthly

  1,500,000 credits a month, three times the Basic allowance, pitched at longer works such as a novel or screenplay.

• Max$64

  per month, billed annually ($768); $96 billed monthly

  6,000,000 credits a month, twelve times the Basic allowance, pitched at writers producing several books a year.

Novelcrafter

• Annual discount

  2 months off with annual billing

  Annual billing costs ten times the monthly price: $40 for Scribe, $80 for Hobbyist, $140 for Artisan and $200 for Specialist, against $4, $8, $14 and $20 a month.

Type.ai

• Annual discount

  Save 33% with annual billing

  Paying annually cuts Basic from $12 to $8 a month, Pro from $24 to $16 and Max from $96 to $64. The pricing page labels this a 33% saving.