Ulysses
PaidLong-form writing environment for Apple devices with a sheet-based library, writing goals, and one-tap publishing straight to your blog.
β¨ Key Features
Sheet-based project library
Goals for words and time
Distraction-free typing mode
Attachments for research
Publishes to WordPress and Ghost
Export to DOCX, PDF, and ePub
Pros
- Best long-form writing flow on Apple
- Library scales to book projects
- Flexible export pipeline
Cons
- Subscription only
- Locked to the Apple ecosystem
π About Ulysses
Ulysses treats writing as a practice rather than a document. Substantial projects split into sheets that can be reordered like index cards, and goals for length or session time give long books a gentle cadence. The distraction-free editor stays out of the way until you ask for markup.
Research lives beside the prose as attachments, notes, and keywords, and finished work exports cleanly to DOCX, PDF, and ePub or publishes directly to WordPress, Ghost, and Medium.
In 2026 it remains the committed writerβs environment on Mac, iPad, and iPhone, with everything synced seamlessly through iCloud. The subscription is the main objection, but for novelists, bloggers, and essayists producing copy every week, very few tools keep the momentum better. A free trial and student pricing soften the entry cost.
Alternatives & Related Tools
iA Writer
Minimalist Markdown editor famous for Focus Mode and style highlights that strip writing down to pure thought on Mac, Windows, and iOS.
Claude
Anthropic's AI assistant known for thoughtful writing, careful analysis, and strong coding with large context windows.
Obsidian
Powerful local-first knowledge base built on plain Markdown files with bidirectional links, a graph view, and thousands of community plugins.
Scrivener
Long-form writing studio for novelists and researchers that organizes research, chapters, and drafts, then compiles them to any format.