# World Anvil

> Web-based worldbuilding platform for writers and game masters

World Anvil is a web-based worldbuilding platform for fiction writers and tabletop game masters. A setting is built from template-based articles that link to one another, with interactive maps, timelines, family trees and diplomacy webs alongside. A free Freeman account has content limits, and paid guild memberships add features such as Manuscripts for drafting a novel and Notebooks for loose notes.

- **Category:** Writing Tools
- **Made by:** World Anvil (since 2017)
- **Website:** https://www.worldanvil.com
- **Runs on:** Web
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 6, 2026

## Pricing

World Anvil's current pricing could not be confirmed from its own site.


## Key features

- **Articles and templates:** A world is written as articles built on templates with prompts, such as characters, organizations, languages, plots and prose, then sorted into categories and folders. The Autolinker links articles to each other.
- **Interactive maps:** Maps take markers and layers, and the world search covers map markers along with articles, images, timelines and events.
- **Timelines and historical events:** Timelines collect dated events from a world's history, and events can be filed in folders with the rest of a world's content.
- **Family trees and diplomacy webs:** Family trees are generated from the parents set on character articles. Diplomacy webs chart relations between factions, countries and other organizations.
- **Manuscripts:** A paid feature for writing fiction such as a novel. The Plot and Prose article templates, used for outlining and for short stories and scenes, are free.
- **Tabletop campaign tools:** RPG campaigns and statblocks are kept in the same account as the worldbuilding. The 2024 free-account limits allow one campaign and 20 statblocks.

## Good for

- Fantasy and science-fiction writers documenting a setting as linked articles
- Game masters who keep campaign notes, maps and statblocks with their lore
- Worldbuilders who want to present a setting to readers as a themed site

## Worth knowing

- Free accounts are capped: the April 2024 announcement listed 2 worlds, 42 articles, 5 drafts, 2 maps with 10 markers and 100 MB of images.
- A free account over its limits can view, export and delete content but cannot edit until it is back under them.
- World Anvil describes Manuscripts and Notebooks as features for paying guild members.
- URL embeds were removed from free accounts in April 2024 and need a paid guild account.

**Tags:** Long-form writing, Templates

## Alternatives

- [Campfire](https://toolgpa.com/tools/campfire): Modular novel writing and worldbuilding app with per-module pricing. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/campfire-vs-world-anvil)
- [Plottr](https://toolgpa.com/tools/plottr): Visual book outlining and series bible software. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/plottr-vs-world-anvil)
- [Novelcrafter](https://toolgpa.com/tools/novelcrafter): Novel writing platform with a story wiki and optional AI. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/novelcrafter-vs-world-anvil)
- [Scrivener](https://toolgpa.com/tools/scrivener): Manuscript writing app with a binder, corkboard and outliner. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/scrivener-vs-world-anvil)
- [LivingWriter](https://toolgpa.com/tools/livingwriter): Cloud writing app for books and screenplays with planning boards. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/livingwriter-vs-world-anvil)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 6, 2026:

- https://blog.worldanvil.com/announcements/update-free-account-changes/
- https://blog.worldanvil.com/newsletter/world-anvil-news-september-2026/
- https://blog.worldanvil.com/newsletter/world-anvil-news-june-2026/
- https://blog.worldanvil.com/worldanvil/dev-news/world-anvil-new-features-2025/
- https://blog.worldanvil.com/webinar-manuscripts-more-writing-fiction-on-world-anvil/
- https://blog.worldanvil.com/worldanvil/family-trees-for-writing-and-gaming-now-on-world-anvil/
- https://blog.worldanvil.com/announcements/birthday-megastream-4-years-of-world-anvil/

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/world-anvil
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).