Security, ownership, and cost

• Plain Markdown library you own — readable in any editor, no proprietary database

  Obsidian and Trove both store plain Markdown on disk. Ulysses uses Markdown inside its own library; Scrivener wraps RTF inside .scriv; Atticus is a browser app; Word saves OOXML; Google Docs is cloud-native.

• Lifetime app works without an account or hosted service

  Trove keeps the writing app separate from Guild. Scrivener and Obsidian also work locally. Ulysses defaults to iCloud; Atticus and Google Docs are account-led; Word can run offline but Microsoft 365 pushes sign-in.

• Pay-once writing app — subscription not required to keep drafting

  Trove is £49 lifetime, with a lower founders window. Guild is optional for hosted sync, Society for the community surface. Ulysses is subscription-only. Obsidian is free for personal use; sync and Publish are paid add-ons. Scrivener and Atticus are one-off purchases. Word is sold mainly through Microsoft 365, with a perpetual Office licence as the minority path. Google Docs is free for personal use; Workspace is subscription.

• Optional end-to-end encrypted sync — only you can read it

  Trove Guild is the paid relay layer; the app still works without it. Ulysses syncs via iCloud. Obsidian Sync stores plaintext on Obsidian servers. Scrivener and Atticus have no first-party encrypted sync. Word/OneDrive and Google Docs encrypt in transit and at rest, but the provider holds the keys.

• Novelist structure built in — manuscript tree, board, folio, snapshots

  Obsidian has community plugins (Longform, Novel Plugin) but nothing first-party. Ulysses is a Markdown writing app without project/novel structure. Word and Google Docs are general-purpose word processors with no novelist scaffolding.

• Worldbuilding — typed entities, codex, relationship graph

  Scrivener has character/place sheets. Obsidian can model anything via plugins but is not novelist-aware. Atticus has light character/setting fields. Word and Google Docs have no worldbuilding features.

• Cross-platform — Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, iPad

  Scrivener: Mac/Win/iOS, no Linux. Ulysses: Mac/iOS only. Obsidian: Mac/Win/Linux/iOS/Android. Atticus: browser, so works anywhere but no offline desktop app. Word: Mac/Win/iOS plus web, no Linux desktop. Google Docs: web + iOS/Android, no offline desktop binary.

• soon
  Live encrypted co-writing in a private writers group

  This is the Society hero feature after 1.0: live sessions, presence, and private group context without server-readable drafts. Word and Google Docs both have mature live co-editing, but Microsoft and Google can process plaintext on the server.

• No telemetry on your work

  Trove sends no telemetry. Scrivener, Ulysses and Obsidian collect minimal usage data at most. Atticus, Word and Google Docs all collect or process content under their respective terms — read the current TOS for your tier.