The best free novel writing software in October 2026 is novelWriter: open source, on Linux, Windows and macOS, and it shipped a release eight days ago. If you'd rather not install anything, Reedsy Studio runs in the browser and its core writing and formatting features cost nothing. Manuskript, bibisco and yWriter are still free and still work, but check the release dates below before you put 90,000 words into one of them.
A novel takes a year or three, and the tool you start in should still be getting fixes when you finish.
Free novel writing software, with the date of its last release
Checked October 2026: release dates come from each project's own release feed or download page on 19 October 2026. "Free" means the writing program itself; a paid upgrade is listed where one exists.
| Program | Runs on | Licence | Last release | Your book leaves as | Paid upgrade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| novelWriter | Linux, Windows, macOS | GPL-3.0, open source | 2026.2.2, 11 Oct 2026 | .odt, .docx, PDF, HTML, EPUB, Markdown, plain text | None (optional donation) |
| Reedsy Studio | Any browser | Proprietary | Web app, no versions | EPUB, print-ready PDF | Add-ons: $4.99/mo or $7.99/mo |
| Manuskript | Linux, macOS, Windows | GPL-3.0, open source | 0.17.0, 27 Aug 2025; the one before was Dec 2023 | HTML, ePub, OpenDocument, .docx and more | None |
| bibisco Community Edition | Desktop | GPL-3.0, open source | Repository updated to 4.0.0 on 27 Sep 2024 | PDF, .docx, .txt | Supporters Edition (price not readable on bibisco's site) |
| yWriter7 | Windows 7 SP1+ (Linux via Wine) | Freeware, closed source | Not published | RTF, LaTeX, EPUB, Mobi | Optional registration |
For scale: Scrivener, the paid program most of these get compared to, has a 30-day trial and the iOS version is $23.99 on Literature & Latte's store. The desktop price loads at checkout; Reedsy's July 2026 roundup puts it at $59.99, one-off.
Which free novel writing software is still maintained
novelWriter is the clear yes. Its release feed shows 2026.2 on 5 September, 2026.2.1 on 26 September and 2026.2.2 on 11 October, after betas and a release candidate in August. It stores your project as plain text files, which means that if the program vanished tomorrow you could still open every chapter in Notepad. One catch: its site says the macOS download (the .dmg) was dropped in 2026.1, so on a Mac you install it through Python's package manager. That's ten minutes if you've used a terminal and an afternoon if you haven't.
Manuskript is alive but slow. 0.17.0 came out in August 2025, twenty months after 0.16.1. It's written in Python 3 and PyQt5, and its README lists import and export for HTML, ePub, OpenDocument and .docx. Fine to use; just don't expect a bug you hit to be fixed this year.
bibisco is harder to read. The open-source Community Edition lives on GitHub under GPL-3.0, and its last tagged GitHub release is 2.4.0 from June 2022. The commit history goes further: "Update to version 4.0.0" on 27 September 2024, nothing since. bibisco's own site and help pages need JavaScript and wouldn't load for us, so we can't tell you the current Supporters Edition price or whether newer versions ship only there. Third-party reviews quote prices that disagree with each other, so check the site yourself before you pay.
yWriter7 is "free to download and use", and its author, Simon Haynes, still keeps the Spacejock site up (the page was last modified 1 August 2026). But neither the site nor the download page gives a version number or release date for yWriter7, so "is it maintained" has no answer we can verify. It is Windows software first; the site says it's been tested on Linux with Wine, and lists Android, iOS and macOS versions with the Mac one "in progress".
Free novel writing software in the browser: Reedsy Studio
If you write on more than one machine and don't want to manage files, the browser is the honest answer, and Reedsy Studio is the free one that's built for books. Reedsy's page says "Studio's core writing and formatting features are completely free." The paid add-ons are Studio Essential at $4.99 a month and Outlining at $7.99 a month, with a 30-day trial that needs no card. Export is EPUB and print-ready PDF; the page doesn't mention .docx, and there's no dedicated mobile app, only the mobile browser.
The trade-off with any web tool: your manuscript lives on someone else's server. Export a copy every few chapters, whatever you use.
Where the free options fall short
None of them write for you. That's a feature for some writers and the whole problem for others. Nothing on the pages we read for these five offers an AI that drafts or rewrites prose.
The open-source desktop programs are maintained by small teams, and support is a GitHub issue page. If the program won't start after an operating system update, you're the one fixing it.
bibisco and yWriter keep some of their features or their goodwill behind a paid edition or a registration. Neither is a trick, but read what the free edition leaves out before you build a series bible in it.
A program that turns up in an old roundup but has no current official page we could check isn't in the table.
When you want AI help: the step after free
Be wary of anything sold as a "free AI novel writer". Running a model costs money, so somebody pays: you, through a subscription or credits, or the company, until it stops.
KudoWrite is the step up that doesn't make you start over. The draft you began in novelWriter, Manuskript or Reedsy comes in as .docx, .odt, .md, .txt, .rtf, .epub or a Scrivener zip, with its chapters and scene breaks found for free. From there you sketch the next beat, a line or a full passage, and the AI writes it out, keeping your words and adding around them; a story bible and a summary of the whole book keep up as you write.
Like Reedsy Studio it runs in the browser, and the book saves to your account as you write. Nothing bills monthly: one free credit to try it once you confirm your email, then one-off packs of $3.50 for 100 credits (about a short novel), $7.50 for 500 (about a full book) or $12.50 for 1,000. And by this page's own test, how your book can leave, it leaves as EPUB 3, PDF, Markdown, a single HTML page or plain text, whenever you want.
If you're weighing the paid AI tools against each other, our comparison of AI novel writing software has the prices for six of them. If November is the deadline, how to write a novel in 30 days covers the plan and the NaNoWriMo alternatives list the challenges still running.
Pick one and start
On a desktop and want it to last: install novelWriter. In a browser: open Reedsy Studio. On Windows and used to yWriter: it still runs, but keep exports. Then export a copy of chapter one on the first day, in .docx or .odt, so you know your book can leave. When you want a model to draft or expand a beat with the rest of the book in view, bring that file into KudoWrite and try it on the free credit.