Final Draft vs Ulysses

Final Draft9.4Visit Ulysses7.4Visit

Higher score Final Draft #1 in Writing Apps 9.4/10 5-day trial Free trial✓ 5 of 5 features Visit Final Draft

vs

Ulysses #21 in Writing Apps 7.4/10 7-day trial Free trial✓ 4 of 5 features Visit Ulysses

• Final Draft fits best

  Professional screenwriters and production teams

• Ulysses fits best

  Writers working across Mac, iPad, and iPhone

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Side by side

Feature	Final Draft 9.4/10 Visit ↗	Ulysses 7.4/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.4	7.4
Ranking	#1 in Writing Apps	#21 in Writing Apps
Best for	Professional screenwriters and production teams	Writers working across Mac, iPad, and iPhone
Pricing model	Paid	Paid
Starting price	$99.99/yr	$39.99/user/yr
Free plan	—	—
Free trial	5 days	7 days
Free trial length	5 days	7 days
Deployment	Cloud, Desktop, Mobile	Desktop, Mobile
Platforms	Web, Windows, macOS, iOS	macOS, iOS
Integrations	5 integrations	7 integrations
Features Final Draft 5/5 · Ulysses 4/5
Publishing tools	✓	✓
Real-time collaboration	✓ (best)	—
Version history	✓	✓
Offline mode	✓	✓
Mobile apps	✓	✓
Specs
Export formats	Extensive	Advanced
Our review
Pros	Automatically formats and paginates screenplays to industry standards. Combines beat planning, outlining, tracked revisions, and commenting. Adds production reports, collaboration, and cloud version restoration.	Organizes projects with groups, sheets, and filters Checks grammar and style in over 20 languages Exports to six formats and publishes to supported platforms
Cons	The one-time Final Draft 13 purchase does not include Final Draft Cloud. Suite Monthly costs more per month than the annual Suite plan. Desktop sign-in requires internet access initially.	Requires a paid subscription after the 7-day free trial Available only on macOS and iOS Does not include collaboration features
Our verdict	Final Draft is screenwriting software for professional and aspiring screenwriters, filmmakers, producers, playwrights, and production teams. Its core purpose is to handle screenplay conventions while supporting story planning and the work… Read the review →	Ulysses is a writing workspace for authors, bloggers, students, and other writers using Mac, iPad, or iPhone. Its markup-based editor supports long-form work such as books and articles, while projects, groups, sheets, and filters help keep… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Final Draft — where it wins

  • Automatically formats and paginates screenplays to industry standards.
  • Combines beat planning, outlining, tracked revisions, and commenting.
  • Adds production reports, collaboration, and cloud version restoration.

  Where it doesn't

  • The one-time Final Draft 13 purchase does not include Final Draft Cloud.
  • Suite Monthly costs more per month than the annual Suite plan.
  • Desktop sign-in requires internet access initially.

• Ulysses — where it wins

  • Organizes projects with groups, sheets, and filters
  • Checks grammar and style in over 20 languages
  • Exports to six formats and publishes to supported platforms

  Where it doesn't

  • Requires a paid subscription after the 7-day free trial
  • Available only on macOS and iOS
  • Does not include collaboration features

• Final Draft9.4/10 · 5-day trial

  A screenplay-focused toolkit with deep planning, production, revision, and collaboration features.

  Visit Final DraftFull verdict →
• Ulysses7.4/10 · 7-day trial

  A structured writing workspace for Apple users, with goals, language checks, exports, and publishing.

  Visit UlyssesFull verdict →