Most "best screenwriting software" lists are affiliate pages in a trench coat. This one is short, has no affiliate links, and says what each tool is actually for. Better Draft is ours and is marked as such. Any entry a company has paid for is marked Sponsored; today there are none. Prices move, so treat them as ballparks and check the vendor.
If you already have a finished draft and want the verdict before you read another word about software: the Full Read is $19, coverage and margin notes in about twenty minutes, no account first.
The page itself. Pick one and stop shopping.
Mac, Windows, iPad. One-time license, roughly $200 list with frequent sales.
The industry default and the file format (.fdx) every production office expects. It is not the best-designed app on this list, and it does not need to be. If you plan to hand a script to a line producer, an assistant, or a studio, you will end up here eventually. Buy it when you have a reason, not before.
Mac, Windows, Linux. One-time license, under $100.
Everything Final Draft does for a fraction of the price, with cleaner revision tracking and a developer who answers email. Imports and exports .fdx without drama. The right answer for most working writers who do not have a studio paying for their software.
Mac and iOS. Free tier, paid upgrade.
John August's app, built on the Fountain plain-text format. You write in text and it formats as you go, which means your script lives in a file you will still be able to open in twenty years. The best writing experience on this list if you are on a Mac and do not need Windows collaborators.
Browser, with desktop apps. Free tier, subscription for the rest.
The one to use when two people are writing the same scene at the same time. Real-time collaboration is its reason to exist, and it does that better than anyone. Solo writers will find the subscription hard to justify next to Fade In.
Browser, Mac, Windows, iOS. Free tier, subscription.
A newer, better-looking take on the collaborative browser app, with outlining and beat boards built in. Worth a look if WriterDuet's interface wears on you. Same subscription math applies.
Mac, Windows, iOS. One-time license, around $60.
Not a screenwriting app, a research-and-drafting app that happens to have a screenplay mode. If your project is a 400-page world bible that eventually becomes a pilot, write the bible here and the pilot in one of the apps above. Do not try to deliver a shooting script from it.
The honest read, which is the thing most writers actually lack.
Browser and Mac app. Full Read $19 per script, membership from $16 a month with a free tier.
We built this, so weigh the next sentences accordingly. Penn reads the whole script and returns studio-style coverage (logline, synopsis, premise, structure, character, dialogue, and a pass, consider, or recommend verdict) plus margin notes pinned to the lines they are about, usually within twenty minutes, then a day of chat to argue back. It never writes a line for you and we never train on your pages. The membership puts the same reader in the margin while you write. If you want a human instead, the Human Read is $250 and takes up to ten days.
Browser. Monthly hosting fee per script, plus a fee per evaluation.
The place a strong script can be found by people who buy scripts. The evaluations are from paid readers, scored 1 to 10, and a run of 8s gets you noticed. The hosting fee adds up while you wait, so go in with a draft you believe in, not a draft you are hoping to fix on their dime.
Closed August 2025.
Still on half the roundups you will find, still gone. We keep a map of where each piece went, including the Red List.
A lottery with an entry fee. Sometimes worth it.
Browser. Free profile, per-contest fees set by each contest.
The surviving submission hub after the Coverfly shutdown. Austin, PAGE, Final Draft Big Break, and most regional fellowships are either here or run their own portal. Budget for three or four contests you can name the winners of, not thirty you cannot.
The one job you can hand to a machine without losing anything.
Browser extension, desktop. Free tier, subscription.
Not for dialogue, which should break every rule it enforces. For the query letter, the logline, the treatment, the bio on your website, and the cover email to the one producer who agreed to read. Turn it off inside the script. Turn it on for everything that surrounds the script.
The order that works: write in Fade In or Highland, get an honest read before you spend on contests, submit through FilmFreeway, and keep the software bill under the price of one contest entry. The read is the step most writers skip, because until recently it cost $150 and took three weeks. Now it costs $19 and takes twenty minutes.
Get the Full Read, $19Pay first, paste the script on the next screen. No subscription, no card on file.
Built by writers and filmmakers. Want a listing here? Read the sponsorship terms. More free tools: logline analyzer free script coverage options AI vs human coverage