Scrivener vs Atticus: Writing Tool or Formatting Tool?

The Answer

Scrivener is primarily a writing tool and Atticus is primarily a formatting tool, though each reaches into the other's territory. Scrivener excels at drafting, organizing and researching long, complex books. Atticus excels at turning a finished manuscript into a polished ebook and print interior with little effort. Scrivener can format through its compile feature, and Atticus has a capable writing editor, but each is strongest at its own job. Many authors draft in Scrivener and format in Atticus.

What Each Was Built For

Scrivener was designed around the way long books actually get written: out of order, in pieces, with research everywhere. Its binder holds your manuscript as many small documents, such as scenes or sections, that you can rearrange freely. A corkboard and an outliner give you bird's-eye views, and a research folder keeps notes, images and web pages next to the draft. It costs $59.99 as a one-time purchase per platform, with a 30-day trial.

Atticus was designed to make book formatting easy for authors. You import or write your book, choose a theme or build your own, and export an EPUB and a print-ready PDF. It also includes a writing editor with goals so you can draft there if you like. It costs $147 once and runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, Chromebook and the web, with a 30-day refund window.

At a Glance

Drafting and Organizing

Scrivener is in a class of its own for structure. Break your book into scenes, give each a synopsis on a virtual index card, tag them by point of view or status, and drag them into a new order in seconds. Split the screen to see your outline beside your draft. Take snapshots of a scene before rewriting it, so you can compare or restore earlier versions. For novels with multiple timelines, nonfiction built from many sources or any book you write out of order, these tools are hard to give up.

Atticus's editor is cleaner and simpler. You write chapter by chapter, with word count goals and a focused writing view, and the formatting is visible as you go. It suits writers who draft in order and want to see their book taking shape as a book rather than as fragments.

Research and Notes

Scrivener keeps research inside the project: PDFs, images, web pages, character sheets and notes all live in the binder, viewable beside your draft. For historical fiction, academic-leaning nonfiction or fantasy with complex worldbuilding, that convenience is significant.

Atticus is not built as a research tool. Most Atticus users keep research elsewhere, in notes apps, folders or a separate document.

Formatting and Export

This is where Atticus wins clearly. Its themes give you a professional interior immediately, and you can adjust chapter headings, fonts, scene breaks, drop caps and headers visually, seeing the result as you go. Exporting an EPUB and a print PDF takes a few clicks.

Scrivener formats through its compile feature, which can produce EPUB, PDF, Word documents and more. Compile is powerful: with enough setup, it can create professional output and different versions of the same book. But it is also notoriously complex, with layered settings that many authors find confusing. Most get acceptable results with the built-in formats and then hit a wall when they want something more refined.

That is why so many Scrivener users compile to a Word document or EPUB and finish the job in a dedicated formatter, keeping Scrivener for what it does best.

Working With Editors

Most professional editors work in Microsoft Word with tracked changes, which shapes the workflow for both tools. Scrivener users usually compile a Word document for the editor, then either accept changes in Word and import the result for formatting, or carry the changes back into Scrivener by hand for future drafts. Atticus users send a document exported from their writing tool or an earlier draft, then update the text in Atticus once edits are final.

The key is deciding where your master copy lives after editing. Choose one place, make every final change there, and only then move on to formatting. Editing in two places at once is the most common source of errors that slip into published books.

Backups and Version Safety

Scrivener projects are stored as files on your computer, and the app can create automatic backups on a schedule, plus snapshots of individual documents. Store backups in a second location, such as a cloud folder or external drive, and avoid opening the same project on two devices at once while syncing.

Atticus stores and syncs your books across devices, which protects you if one computer fails. Even so, export a copy of your manuscript and your final files after each milestone, so you always have a version outside any single app.

Common Pitfalls When Moving a Book Between Them

• Manual formatting in Scrivener such as extra blank lines or tab indents can carry into the compiled file; clean these before importing.
• Inconsistent chapter titles make automatic chapter detection unreliable; use one heading style throughout.
• Scene break symbols should be consistent so the formatter recognizes them.
• Front and back matter are often easier to recreate in the formatter than to import.

Price and Platforms

Scrivener costs $59.99 per platform, so using it on both a Mac and a Windows computer means two licenses, and the iOS version is a separate purchase too. Syncing between desktop and mobile typically runs through a cloud folder service, which works but needs care.

Atticus costs $147 once and covers all its platforms, including a web version, and syncs across devices. Both are one-time purchases with no subscription, which keeps long-term costs low compared with subscription tools.

Using Both Together

The most common professional workflow combines them:

1. Plan and draft in Scrivener, using the binder, corkboard and research folder.
2. Revise in Scrivener with snapshots and split screens.
3. Compile to a Word document using a simple format with clear chapter headings.
4. Send for editing, and accept changes in the Word file or bring them back into Scrivener.
5. Import the final manuscript into Atticus, check chapter breaks and apply a theme.
6. Export EPUB and print PDF and order a proof.

The combined cost is around $207 for one Scrivener platform plus Atticus, both one-time, which many authors consider good value across a writing career. If you would rather keep writing, critique and formatting in one place, our comparison of Scrivener and LiberScript looks at an all-in-one alternative.

By Type of Writer

Frequently Asked Questions