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Novlr or Dabble? Which Writing Tool is Right For You?

Novlr is a distraction-free creative writing platform dedicated to helping writers achieve their writing goals, while Dabble offers a suite of writing tools to help writers build their plots from the ground up.

Both Dabble and Novlr are web apps that boast cloud-saving features to keep your words on hand whenever you need them, but each platform has a slightly different focus, whatever your writing needs.

Novlr focuses on the writing process itself, with in-depth analytics and goal-tracking tools to monitor your progress, and learn about your writing habits. With writers achieving their goals as a focus, you can set your own goals, and also improve your craft with a host of integrated courses covering everything from idea generation, landing a publishing deal to building a sustainable writing habit. With an automatic focus mode, Novlr allows you to focus solely on your words and keep you in the zone, and with Novlr’s Standard plan, it’s completely free to use!

While both tools allow you to create unlimited projects and include dark mode and font choice as standard, Dabble lets you keep track of notes from different projects, including those within a series. It also has a downloadable app that works offline. For plotting, Dabble offers a plot grid that lets you build your story from the ground up, and Dabble’s goal tracking also lets you set days off, for when you know you won’t have any writing time. 

Pricing

NovlrDabble
Starter: 
Free
5 Projects
Import
Export
Goals and Targets
Novels, Poetry, Short Stories, Non-fiction Project Types
Dark Mode
Fullscreen Focus Mode
Scene Cards
Notes
Success Nudges
Writing Streaks
Link sharing
Versioning (7 days)
Basic:
$10/month USD
Unlimited manuscripts
Goals and stats
Manuscript Organization
Spell check
Plus:
$5/month USD
Includes everything in Starter, plus:
Unlimited Projects
Writing Analytics
Versioning (30 days)
Comments
Standard
$15/month USD
Includes everything in Basic plus:
Plot Grid
Story notes
Focus mode
Dark mode
Sticky notes
Comments
Pro:
$18/month USD
Includes everything in Plus, plus:
Unlimited Versioning
Advanced Grammar Checker (powered by Pro Writing Aid)
Thesaurus (powered by Pro Writing Aid)
Proof Reader (powered by Pro Writing Aid)
Rephrase suggestions (powered by Pro Writing Aid)
Google Drive Integration
Dropbox Integration
Publish to Ebook
10% OFF Novlr Academy & Services
Premium:
$20/month USD
Includes everything in Standard plus:
Advanced grammar and style checks
Co-authoring

Feature comparisons

NovlrDabble
Free = Starter$ = Basic
$ = Plus$$ = Standard
$$$ = Pro$$$ = Premium

NovlrDabble
Writing tools
Focus modeFree$$
Scene cardsFree$$
NotesFree$$
Spell check$$$$
Advanced grammar and style$$$$$$
Comments$$$
Version historyFree (7 days, 30 days, or unlimited)
Markdown supportFree (limited)
Project types (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, etc)Free
Plotting tools$$
Productivity
Focus modeFree$$
FullscreenFree$$
GoalsFree$$
Writing analytics$
Success nudgesFree
Custom goals$
Dark modeFree$$
Learning
Writing resourcesFree$
Integrated coursesFree
Online communityFree$
App features
Drive and Dropbox backup$$$
Web AppFree$
Native app$
Collaboration
Link sharing$$
Co-authoring$$$

Both Novlr and Dabble offer great features to help writers bring their words to the page. Novlr is developing new features rapidly and has a strong community of writers behind it. Ultimately, the choice comes down to personal preference and what features matter most to you. If distraction-free writing and a platform dedicated to helping you reach your writing goals sound like something you need, then give Novlr a try today, completely free.

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