A Scrivener alternative that runs in your browser
Scrivener is the program many novelists plan and draft in: a binder, a corkboard, snapshots and a compile. OBSCURA Write works the same way in a browser tab, keeps the manuscript on your own computer, and opens a Scrivener project, though not all of it. What each does, from Literature & Latte’s own descriptions, checked on 6 October 2026, and when to stay with Scrivener.
Written · Updated
If you draft on an iPhone or iPad as well as a computer, or your projects lean on Scrivener’s keywords, collections, custom metadata or a compile you have set up over years, stay with Scrivener: Write is not an iOS app, and it reads a Scrivener project’s binder and text but not those. If you want the binder, the corkboard, the outliner, snapshots and a standard manuscript compile with nothing to install, on any computer with a current browser, and with the manuscript kept on that computer, Write does that as part of OBSCURA Pro.
What Scrivener is
Scrivener, made by Literature & Latte, is a program for long writing: novels, theses, non-fiction and scripts. A project is a binder of documents and research, seen as a corkboard of index cards or as an outline, with snapshots of a document before it is rewritten, a scriptwriting mode, and a compile that turns the whole project into a manuscript, an ebook or a script. There are versions for macOS, Windows and iOS. Each is bought once, not by subscription, and each is licensed separately; the macOS and Windows versions have a free trial. On disk, a project is a .scriv folder of RTF files and an index of the binder.
It is a mature program, with books, courses and a large community of writers built up around it over many years. Nothing on this page argues otherwise.
Side by side
Scrivener’s entries are from Literature & Latte’s own pages, checked on 6 October 2026. Its prices differ by platform and for education and change from time to time, so none is given here; its store has them.
| Scrivener | OBSCURA Write | |
|---|---|---|
| What it costs | A one-off licence for each platform | US$9 a month or US$79 a year, in OBSCURA Pro, with every other OBSCURA application |
| Free trial | On macOS and Windows | 7 days |
| Runs on | macOS, Windows and iOS, as three programs | A browser tab on Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS |
| Install | A desktop or iOS app | None; it works offline once the page has been opened |
| Project file | .scriv, a folder of RTF files | .owrite, a zip of JSON and your pictures |
| Reads the other’s projects | No | Partly: the binder, text, synopses, notes, labels and status |
| Screenplays | A scriptwriting mode, with Final Draft files in and out | Screenplay format, with Final Draft and Fountain files in and out |
| Where the work is kept | Where you save the project | In the browser on your computer, with backups, and in a folder of your own if you choose one |
What Write does, in Scrivener’s terms
| The job | In Write |
|---|---|
| Binder | Parts, chapters and scenes; any document can hold others. A research folder of notes, web clippings, pictures and PDFs. Drag to reorder, or Alt and the arrow keys; a deleted item goes to the Trash |
| Corkboard | A folder’s scenes as index cards, written from their synopses; drag a card and the scene moves in the binder |
| Outliner | The whole manuscript with synopsis, status, labels, words and targets |
| Snapshots | Taken before a rewrite and compared with the text as it is now, word by word; restoring one takes a snapshot of the current text first |
| Composition mode | Everything hidden but the page, with typewriter scrolling and a focus mode that fades every paragraph but the one you are writing |
| Split view | A second document, or a research item, beside the one you are writing |
| Comments and notes | Comments anchored to the words they are about; inline notes kept in the text and left out of every compile; footnotes |
| Project search | Find and replace across every document at once, with whole words and regular expressions |
| Targets | For the project, with a deadline and the words a day it now takes; for the session; for each document. Words written each day, a calendar of six months and your streak |
| Compile | Standard manuscript format after William Shunn, to Word and PDF; a copy for beta readers with your comments as Word comments; EPUB 3; Markdown and plain text. Choose which chapters go in each time |
| Beyond Scrivener’s binder | A timeline of scenes by the date in the story, a bible of characters and places linked to the scenes they are in, and a log of submissions to agents and publishers |
What Scrivener has that Write does not
- An app for iPhone and iPad. Write runs in a browser on a computer.
- All of a Scrivener project. Write reads the binder, the text with bold, italic, underline and footnotes, synopses, document notes, labels, status and Include in Compile. Inline annotations arrive as plain text; linked comments, keywords, custom metadata, collections, snapshots, compile settings, document targets and pictures inside the text do not.
- A compile you can set up in detail. Write’s compile has three presets, for an agent, for beta readers and for an ebook, and a choice of chapters. It does not have Scrivener’s range of formats and settings.
- Word files in full. A Word file comes into Write as text, split at its headings; pictures, tables and comments in it are not brought in.
- Years of other writers’ habits. Books, courses and forums answer almost any Scrivener question. Write is new, and its own page is most of what there is to read about it.
What Write adds
- Nothing to install, on any computer. The same project opens on Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS, in a current browser.
- Standard manuscript format without setting it up. The agent preset gives the title page with your contact details and the word count, the running header of surname, title and page number, double spacing, and each chapter a third of the way down a new page.
- A screenplay in the same program. Scene headings, action, characters, parentheticals, dialogue and dual dialogue, laid out as the industry sets them, with (MORE) and (CONT’D) at page breaks. The Final Draft page has the detail.
- Your manuscript stays on your computer. It is kept in the browser’s private storage, with backups on a rotation, and, in Chrome, Edge or Opera, in a folder you choose, so Dropbox or OneDrive keeps a copy if the folder is theirs. No server holds it, and there is no AI in Write: its statistics are counts.
- One subscription for several jobs. The same Pro plan covers OBSCURA Gnosis, OBSCURA Authorship, PDF Studio and the other paid applications.
Moving a project across
- Find the project on disk. It is a folder ending
.scriv; Write takes the folder itself, or a zip of it. It reads Scrivener 3’s projects and Scrivener 2’s. - In Write, open it. The binder comes in with the Draft, Research and Trash in their order, each document with its title, synopsis, label, status and text, and pictures and PDFs in the research as research items.
- Read through the comments. Inline annotations arrive as plain text in the paragraph; linked comments do not arrive at all, so keep the Scrivener project until you have moved the ones you need into Write’s comments.
- Keep working in Write’s own
.owritefile. Write does not save a.scrivproject; a Word or Markdown compile is the way back.
What it costs
Write comes with OBSCURA Pro, US$9 a month or US$79 a year, with 7 days free first. For a team, each person needs a plan of their own. Scrivener is bought once and Write is paid for as long as you use it, which over several years can cost more; what the subscription buys is Write kept up to date, and with Pro every other OBSCURA application. There is no free version of Write with features held back: without Pro, its page shows what it does and asks for a plan.
See it before you pay. Write’s page shows it at work, lists the files it opens and saves, and says what it cannot do yet.
Questions people ask about a Scrivener alternative that runs in your browser
Is there a Scrivener alternative that runs in a browser?
OBSCURA Write has a binder, a corkboard, an outliner, snapshots and a compile to standard manuscript format, in a browser tab on Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS. The manuscript is kept on your computer, not on a server.
Can Write open my Scrivener project?
Partly. It reads a .scriv folder, or a zip of one, from Scrivener 2 or 3: the binder, the text with bold, italic, underline and footnotes, synopses, document notes, labels, status and Include in Compile. Linked comments, keywords, custom metadata, collections, snapshots and compile settings do not come across.
Can Write save a Scrivener project?
No. It saves its own .owrite file, and compiles to Word, PDF, EPUB, Markdown and plain text. A Word or Markdown compile is the way back to Scrivener.
Does Write work on an iPad?
Write is made for a browser on a computer. Scrivener has an iOS app, and if you draft on an iPhone or iPad, Scrivener is the better choice.
What does it cost?
Write on its own is US$4 a month or US$35 a year, and all of OBSCURA Pro is US$9 a month or US$79 a year, each with 7 days free first; Pro covers every OBSCURA application. Scrivener is a one-off purchase for each platform, priced on Literature & Latte's own store.
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What your files give away
A one-page checklist of what a photo, a document or a PDF says about you, free now. Then one letter a month, with one new tip.