Novlr Review 2025: Is It Still Worth the Subscription?
Update 2025: I first reviewed Novlr back in 2016. It was a promising newcomer then. Nine years later, the writing app market is crowded. I revisited Novlr to see if its “distraction-free” promise is still worth the price tag.
Novlr is beautiful. Let’s get that out of the way.
If you hate the clutter of Microsoft Word, Novlr feels like a deep breath. You open it, the menus vanish, and it’s just you and the cursor. It’s zen. It’s pretty.
But is “pretty” worth a monthly subscription in 2025? That is the tricky part.
The Good Stuff (It’s Still Great)
Novlr hasn’t lost its soul. It is still one of the best places to just write.
- Focus Mode: As soon as you type, the interface disappears. It’s immersive.
- Gamification: This is the killer feature. It tracks your writing streaks and shows you heatmaps of your productivity. If you are the type of writer who needs to see a “7-day streak” to keep going, Novlr pays for itself.
- Offline Mode: It runs in your browser but saves offline. You don’t lose work when the Wi-Fi dies.
- Constant Saving: I never worry about hitting Ctrl+S. It just works.
The Bad Stuff (The Price vs. The Value)
In 2016, Novlr was a paid-only app. Today, they have a free plan, which is great, but the Pro plan pricing is steep.
- Free Plan: You can use it for free, but features are limited. It’s good for a test drive.
- Pro Plan: It costs $18 per month (or $144 a year).
Let’s put that $18/month into perspective. You can buy Scrivener for a one-time fee of $59.99. That means after just four months of subscribing to Novlr, you could have bought the industry-standard software for life.
If you are a professional writer who churns out three books a year, $144/year for a beautiful, cloud-based tool might be a business expense. But for a hobbyist? It is a hard sell when Google Docs is free and Scrivener is a single payment.
What’s Missing?
Novlr is strictly for drafting. It is not for plotting.
It doesn’t have a complex timeline view like Aeon Timeline. It doesn’t have the corkboard depth of Scrivener. If you are writing an epic fantasy with fifty characters, you might feel cramped.
And it definitely won’t help you come up with ideas. It’s just a blank page.
Need a spark?
If you are staring at that beautiful, blank Novlr screen and have no idea what to write, don’t pay for another tool. I built a free one for you.
- Fantasy Name Generator: Stuck on a character name? Click this button a few times. It’s free and fun.
The Alternatives
If Novlr’s price tag makes you wince, you have options.
- For Organization: Get Scrivener. It costs about the same as three months of Novlr, and you own it forever.
- For Speed: If you need help writing faster, look at Jasper.ai. It’s AI, so it’s a different beast, but it actually helps you produce words.
- For Budget: Use Google Docs. Turn on “Full Screen” mode. It’s 90% of the Novlr experience for $0.
Final Verdict
I still love Novlr’s design. It is the most calming writing app out there.
If you have the budget and need a distraction-free space to hit your daily word count, it is wonderful. Go for it.
But if you are counting pennies or need deep plotting tools, look elsewhere.
