Ulysses

I have been using it for years. I have tried many writing apps, for anything from casual paragraphs to books. Ulysses does the job best hands down on all Apple devices!

$36 per year would be about right for this app. The current price is $50. However, in Switzerland, this translates to 65 francs, which currently amounts to almost $75!!! WTF?! Either the app developers are greedy or they can't count. I actually bought this a long time ago and really liked it but quit when it went to a subscription model. Not worth the money until the developers get more realistic and charge the same price everywhere!

Free TRIAL only. Currently listed (confusing) In-App Purchases: • Monthly Subscription $5.99 • Annual Subscription $49.99 • Six Months $10.99

I wonder why you class this as "free," it certainly isn't.

Not free. Trial, monthly subscription price. This is happening on macupdate way too frequently.

It touts itself as a 'writers' tool', but I can't see how it can possibly compete with comprehensive tools like Scrivener. App has a nice interface, but it's essentially a glorified note-saving app - like Evernote, but with less compelling features. The subscription model is also somewhat unrealistic, considering how much competition there is in this space, including many free tools, and better, lifetime licensed ones. Loose 1 star for being subscription-ware. Loose 1 star for having a misleading 'FREE' listing - the app is paid, and the fact that you have a 'free trial' does not make it free. Loose 1 star for using a 'unified database' - i.e., collecting all your notes for every writing project in a single database (unless you want to jump through hoops to do different). Loose another star for using a proprietary file format, requiring cumbersome export. Overall, after so many years, still a hard pass from me.

Ulysses has been my world since 2003. The upgrade from version 2 to 3 was massive, but totally worth it, even though it meant a lot of work for me initially, as I export to LaTeX, which was easier under version 2 than it is today. (You now have to rely on Pandoc for conversion, which has its bugs.) There are advantages too: the markdown method means that it is easy to export to a variety of formats from Ulysses, easy to sync (as markdown files are tiny, unlike Word or PDF files), and everything is designed in a very non-distracting way, leading the pack as far as I'm concerned by quite a distance. I write daily in Ulysses, so I dod not hesitate to subscribe: I'd rather have a viable business model for the software I use for a living. The shortcuts are great, the design is great, there's nothing I do not like. Yes, I preferred version's 2 filter mode instead of the tired folder structure, but I can live with that concession to normality ;) especially since footnotes have become so much more user-friendly. Note-taking I still do in Tinderbox, my other staple software, which I use in tandem with Ulysses every single day.

An other app i won't use because of the subscription model. Fortunately, there are many other options, and a few that go beyond and above Ulysses.

I too bought Ulysses before it became proscribed and was very disappointed as I had just paid large amounts for it. So I stopped using it for over a year. The next time I looked at it the subscription prices appeared to have become more realistic and the feature set begun t improve significantly so I reluctantly resubscribed to find that the feature set had significantly improved and in a direction I found to be appropriate for my needs. Since then Ulysses has continued to add functions and respond to its user base and kept the price somewhat realistic.

NEIN zu Software-Abos!
NO to software subscriptions!!!!!!!

I was going to have a look at the new version, but when I read that it was now a subscription product - NO THANKS! I am divesting myself of all subscription products on my Mac. Going to check out Scrivener instead, because I'm writing a book at the moment and so is my wife. e.g. Instead of using Microsoft Office 365 I now use LibreOffice - free to use and I'm even going to donate something to them because the suite of programs is really great and available on macOS, Windows, Linux. I saved myself $99/year.

Great despite misgivings about subscription. I'd owned the previous two versions of Ulysses (that didn't require a subscription) and when the new version came out, I just stuck with the previous version because it still worked well. However, I've now upgraded to the new, subscription model (I get a lifetime discount due to purchasing the previous versions) and I've got to say I just feel at home writing in Ulysses. I have a number of other writing apps, however, I feel Ulysses nails that sweet spot between features and ease of use. I love writing in it, so much so that I've now deleted the other writing apps from my MacBook because I find myself doing all my writing in Ulysses.

Love the app. Using the Setapp version now.

Contains free 14-day trial on all devices.

Subscription for text files, no thanks.

It is in fact subscription-ware, which is FALSELY ADVERTISED here as "free". It is a note-taking app - think 'Evernote' - not a "writing project management tool" - like the far superior Scrivener (although it bills itself as one). As a note-taking app, it stores every single piece of text you write - for every project and client - and puts it into one single 'database' - a nightmare, if you have to juggle multiple writing projects with widely varying content and styles. Exporting all this data, properly separated into individual projects, to other apps is a bit of a chore.. It uses a proprietary file format, lacks the research management and the export tools that the competitors have. With many freeware and cheaper (buy-once) markdown editors around - see LightPaper - it's a wonder that this has lasted as long as it has.

What's wrong with developers these days? They all want to charge a suscription for a piece of software. It's not a service like Netflix, so I don't see why they expect people to keep paying... Thankfully there exists Scrivener, which is much better and complete.

Big NO. Try Scrivener or Quiver instead.

Greedy devs. 14-day trial, subscription s/w, poor customer service, too. Scrivener is a MUCH better tool, cheaper and better customer service.

@MacUpdate Admins: this is NOT a free app. The app has a 14-day trial period, then switches on to subscription-ware - $40/year. It is misleading for it to be listed here as 'free'.