Slate vs Scrivener for writing a novel.
Scrivener is the writer's workshop: research, notes, cards and manuscript in one binder, and a compiler that turns it into a finished book. Slate is narrower and newer. It's built around one thing Scrivener handles only lightly — rewriting.
Written by the people who make Slate — bias disclosed, details from literatureandlatte.com as of October 2026, corrections welcome at support@slatescript.app.
The short version: if you need to publish — EPUB, Kindle, print-ready files — or you keep research, PDFs and images alongside the manuscript, Scrivener does that and Slate doesn't. If you write screenplays as well as books, or you want to try a bolder version of a chapter and merge back only what works, Slate does that better, in one app.
Side by side
| Slate | Scrivener 3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $79/year, 30-day free trial (no card) | One-time purchase per platform (about $60 for the Mac), free trial |
| Platforms | Mac only — macOS 14 or later (Apple Silicon & Intel) | Mac, Windows and iOS (separate licences) |
| Try a rewrite without risking the draft | Drafts of the whole book: branch, compare word by word, merge what works | Snapshots of a section, with compare |
| Working with an editor or co-writer | Proposed revisions you review line by line and merge; comments in the margin | Comments and annotations; share files |
| Planning | Beats, a board, and a storyboard — with chapters, sections and beats | Corkboard, outliner, binder |
| Research | Notes beside each beat; Obsidian notes folder | PDFs, images, web pages and notes inside the project |
| Publishing | None yet — no EPUB or print export | Compile to EPUB, Kindle, Word, PDF and more |
| Screenplays | A full screenplay editor with Final Draft pagination, .fdx in and out, production locks | A scriptwriting mode with Final Draft export |
| Where your book lives | On your disk as a plain .md file, readable in any editor | A Scrivener project folder |
Scrivener details summarized from literatureandlatte.com as of October 2026 — check their pages for current pricing and features.
What Scrivener does better
- Getting the book out. Compile turns your manuscript into EPUB, Kindle, Word or PDF. Slate is a writing surface, not a publishing tool, and has no EPUB or print export yet.
- Research in the project. PDFs, images and web pages live next to the chapters that use them.
- Platforms and price. Windows and iOS versions, and a one-time price.
- Maturity. Scrivener has been the novelist's default for well over a decade.
What Slate does better
- Rewriting a whole book safely. Start a draft, rework the middle third, compare it word by word against the original, and merge only the chapters that got better. Scrivener's snapshots save a section; Slate's drafts hold the whole book.
- Working with an editor or co-author. They send a proposed revision on their own draft. You read every change, answer in the margin, and merge or decline. Reviewing is free for them.
- Screenplays and novels in one app. A real screenplay editor — the pages break the way Final Draft breaks them — on one shelf, and your book on the next one.
- A real page while you write. Books sit on a 6×9 page with book margins, and Slate measures where each page ends instead of guessing.
- Files that outlive us. Every book is kept as a plain Markdown file next to it. No account, and no AI anywhere.
The fair test: bring in a chapter, start a draft, and rewrite it the way you've been afraid to. If comparing and merging doesn't change how you revise, delete Slate and keep your $79.
Download Slate — free for 30 days, no cardAlso: Screenwriting software for Mac — every option · Slate vs Highland