Ulysses

For the people who finish the book, not the vault.

By Ulysses GmbH & Co. KG · since 2003 · ulysses.app

6.7

B- · out of 10

Ulysses is a writing app that treats a manuscript as a stack of sheets you can reorder, split and merge. One library holds everything, keywords and filters slice it, and goals plus statistics keep the word count honest. When the draft is done it exports a clean PDF, ePub or DOCX, or publishes straight to WordPress, Ghost, Medium and Micro.blog. Twenty-three years in, it still refuses to become a knowledge base.

How it scores

  • Features25% of score

    7.4

    Depth and breadth of what the app can do.

  • Ease of use20% of score

    9.2

    Speed, polish and how long it takes to feel at home.

  • AI15% of score

    2.2

    Quality and usefulness of the built-in AI, not just its presence.

  • Sync & reliability15% of score

    8.4

    How dependably notes move between devices.

  • Value15% of score

    7.0

    What you get for what you pay.

  • Platform coverage10% of score

    3.6

    How many places you can actually use it.

Pricing

$5.99/month · $39.99/year

No free tier.

A free trial, then $5.99/month or $39.99/year across Mac, iPad and iPhone. Students pay $10.99 for six months, and it is also bundled with Setapp.

Platforms

  • Windows
  • macOS
  • iOS
  • Android
  • Linux
  • Web

36 tracked features supported

What it does well

  • Sheets, groups and filters are built for long documents, not snippets
  • Export and publishing output that needs no cleanup afterwards
  • Goals, statistics and a grammar check in over twenty languages
  • Automatic backups you can roll a sheet back through

Where it falls short

  • Apple only, and iCloud is the only sync worth using
  • No backlinks, no graph, no second-brain machinery
  • No AI anywhere, deliberately
  • Forty dollars a year to write plain text puts some people off

Our take

Still the most composed long-form writing app on the Mac. It has no interest in being your notes app, and it is better for it.

Best for: Novelists, bloggers and anyone with a deadline and a word count.

Minimal & fast

Feature by feature

YesPartlyVia pluginNo

Capture & input

How notes get into the app in the first place.

  • Voice recording
  • Audio transcription
  • Speaker identification
  • Meeting recording
  • Handwriting / stylus
  • Drawing canvas
  • OCR / handwriting search
  • Web clipper
  • Share extension
  • Quick capturePartly
  • Images
  • PDF & documentsPartly
  • Document scanning

Organization

How notes are structured, linked and found again.

  • Tags
  • Folders / notebooks
  • Multi-level folders
  • Internal linksPartly
  • Backlinks
  • Graph view
  • Databases / boards
  • Daily notes / journal
  • Note templatesPartly
  • Saved searches
  • Pins / favorites
  • Merge notes

AI

Assistants, generators and meaning-based search.

  • AI chat / writing assistant
  • AI agent with tools
  • Custom AI agents
  • Semantic search
  • AI web search
  • Connected apps for AI
  • Prompt templates
  • Custom AI instructions
  • AI memory
  • Scheduled AI tasks
  • Flashcard generator
  • Spaced repetition
  • Quiz generator
  • Fill in the blank
  • Mind maps
  • AI image generation
  • Infographic generator
  • Slide deck generator
  • AI mini apps
  • Brainrot video generator
  • AI audio overview
  • Bring your own model
  • AI job notifications

Writing & editing

What the editor itself can actually do.

  • Markdown
  • Rich textPartly
  • Code blocksPartly
  • Math / LaTeX
  • TablesPartly
  • Find and replace
  • Version history
  • Note info

Sync & data ownership

Where your notes live and how easily they leave.

  • Cloud sync
  • Sync through your own cloud
  • Offline support
  • Offline-first / own your dataPartly
  • Self-hosting
  • End-to-end encryption
  • Locked notesPartly
  • Daily backup
  • Import
  • Export
  • Public API
  • Command line tool
  • Remote MCP server
  • Plugins / extensions

Sharing & collaboration

Working with other people inside your notes.

  • Share with people
  • Real-time collaboration
  • Comments
  • Public sharing

Experience

The everyday polish around the writing surface.

  • Dark mode
  • Custom themes
  • Multi-language
  • Command palettePartly
  • Split view
  • Focus mode
  • Home screen widgetsPartly
  • Apple Shortcuts

Compare with

All Ulysses alternatives

Ulysses vs Grape

Adds: AI agent with tools, AI memory

9.0

Ulysses vs Obsidian

Plain markdown files on your disk, with a plugin ecosystem bolted on top.

8.4

Ulysses vs Apple Notes

Already on your phone, and better than it has any right to be.

8.1

Ulysses vs Craft

Documents that look designed before you touch anything.

8.1