Comparisons, checked 17 October 2026

Onwarder vs Novelcrafter

Q: What does Onwarder cost?

Writing is free. Cloud fixed prices: £8 a month or £79 a year in pounds sterling; €9 a month or €89 a year in euros; $10 a month or $99 a year in US dollars. Checkout confirms the currency.

A browser-based novel workspace with a Codex of characters and lore, and optional connections to AI models you choose.Source [4]Source [5]Source [9]

Novelcrafter offers a Codex and optional AI connections; Onwarder checks continuity without AI and makes the ebook and paperback files.Source [4]Source [8]Source [9]

Side by side.

Onwarder and Novelcrafter, question by question
	Onwarder	Novelcrafter
Price	Free for good, with no account. Cloud is $10 a month or $99 a year.	Scribe $4, Hobbyist $8, Artisan $14 and Specialist $20 a month. A 21-day free trial.Source [1]
Runs on	On the web, Mac, Windows and Linux, with iPhone in beta, and Android coming.	Web, installable as a web app.Source [3]Source [4]
Writing with no connection	Books kept on your device open and save with no connection in the desktop and phone apps.	Novelcrafter says it currently needs an internet connection.Source [2]
Story bible linked to the book	Characters, places, factions and items, a click from the page.	The Codex: characters, places and lore, linked to the manuscript automatically, with progressions over time.Source [5]Source [6]
Checks the book against your notes	Built in, no AI: warns when a dead character acts or a lost item turns up again.	No automatic fact check found; its guides use the Codex and AI context to keep books consistent.Source [7]
Ebook and paperback files	EPUB, Word, Markdown and PDF, and paperback interiors at three trim sizes.	Word and Markdown export, Codex included. No publishing-format workflow yet.Source [10]Source [11]
AI, and training on your writing	Optional and off for every book. Bring your own. Never used to train AI.	Optional; you connect your own models. Novelcrafter says it does not use users' creative content to train AI.Source [8]Source [9]Source [13]
Getting your work out	Every book exports whole, at any time, on any plan.	Your books live in its cloud; export the novel with its Codex.Source [10]

Where Novelcrafter is better

A configurable AI workflow: many models, custom prompts and previews, if you want AI to write with you.Source [4]Source [5]Source [6]
A series-aware Codex with aliases, custom fields and progressions over time.Source [4]Source [5]Source [6]
Matrix and point-of-view views that show who appears where across a long book.Source [4]Source [5]Source [6]

Choose Novelcrafter if

You want AI to draft and revise prose with you, under your own control.Source [2]Source [3]Source [9]
You are always online and like a single web workspace.Source [2]Source [3]Source [9]

Choose Onwarder if

You want the story bible, recorded story events and a continuity check beside the manuscript, with no AI needed.
You want everything for writing free, on any computer or phone, with no account and no time limit.
You want the ebook and the paperback interior from the same place you wrote the book.

Try it with one chapter, free

Questions.

Can I move my book from Novelcrafter?

Export it as a Word document and import that into Onwarder; it keeps chapters, headings, bold and italics. Start with a copy of one chapter, and keep your original until you are happy. We do not promise to carry over every other tool's notes, links or formatting.

Do I need AI to use Onwarder?

No. Writing, planning, the continuity check and Finishing all work without AI. If you connect your own AI, it is off for every book until you allow it, and Onwarder never uses your writing to train AI.

What does Onwarder cost?

Free for good, with no account. Cloud is $10 a month or $99 a year.

Sources, all opened 17 October 2026

Competitor prices are as shown on the linked pages, in US dollars where stated, before tax. Product names identify the tools compared and do not imply endorsement.

Product names are trademarks of their owners. Facts are from each maker's own pages, checked on the date shown. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we'll fix it.