Scrivener Review

[NOTE:  Updated September 2026. Original post written September 2016.]

I don’t know about you, but lately it seems that every time I visit a writer’s page, read an e-book, or tune in to a podcast, somebody is talking about Scrivener. I’ve always been hesitant to purchase writing software (there are so many available for free), so at first I just dismissed all the Scrivener references.  But eventually I got curious what the hype was all about, and I decide to check it out via the free trial.

Below is my honest review of Scrivener. These are completely my opinions, and may not represent anyone else’s feelings about this software, and I was not paid nor am I otherwise connected in any way to the company that makes Scrivener.  This is simply a review of Scrivener’s features, and how I felt about the program’s overall usefulness.  Admittedly, I didn’t go in-depth into using it; I simply checked out its basic functionalities and got a feel for how it works. If you haven’t used Scrivener before, I hope this review may be helpful in showing you some of its basic features.

Also, Scrivener isn’t free, so I took some time to test out some free alternatives and to compare their features to those of Scrivener.   If you’re interested in seeing that comparison, check out my other post, “Free Scrivener Alternatives,” as well as the in-depth reviews I wrote on each individual program I tested as part of my “Free Writing Software Review” series.

So now, without any further delay, is my review of Scrivener:

Scrivener provides a plethora of features and is very versatile, but incredibly text-based and linear. You can toggle through parts by using a left-side navigation menu, and/or a corkboard at-a-glance summary menu, however, you are limited in how you can arrange things visually, and there’s not really an option for spacial organization (timelines, brainflow diagrams, etc.)—just notes on a corkboard you can color-code and reorder as you wish.

It does contain a lot of detailed metadata and search features that could be very helpful for keeping track of what still needs work, individual character timelines, POV shifts, etc.

Scrivener has a pretty steep learning curve at first, but it does include a very detailed walkthrough/tutorial that effectively taught me the ins-and-outs of the program with minimal time invested.

It allows you to store research related to your project, and to link research files (or documents/chapters/etc.) within documents as you write.

It will also embed a website for you, so you can view it as research right there inside your Scrivener program.

It allows for easy comments, footnotes, etc., and easy backups, plus a "Trash" folder that provides an extra step in the deletion process so that accidentally-deleted files can be easily retrieved. (That is always an appreciated feature!)

The biggest benefit to Scrivener seems to be that you can write your draft directly into the same program where you organize all your planning, notes, images, links, and research, keeping all your work in one place and easily accessible.

It can be used for all types of writing projects, and includes a variety of project templates (novel, screenplay, essay, etc.) as well as templates for outlining/plotting certain types of projects and templates for creating character sketches.

It also allows you to set target word counts, etc., and tracks statistics for you. (I'm always a fan of this feature, as I find stat trackers very motivating!)

I also liked that it has “Status Stamps” that you can turn on, allowing for easy visual tracking of the “done-ness” of each chapter or scene on the Corkboard.

Scrivener is designed mostly to be the working space for your project with the flexibility for you to organize your files in whatever way works for you... but it does also let you easily create and add in Front Matter like Dedication, Title Page, etc., and structure your manuscript so that it’s exported in a professional format, albeit a basic one.

When you’re ready, it allows for export into a variety of file types, including .pdf, .doc and .docx, .rtf, .html, and a few others.

Scrivener is currently $59 (though there are occasional sales or discounts available), and is available here: http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php.  You can try it out for free for 30-days (what I did) to see if you like it...

OR…

If you’re interested in checking out some FREE alternatives to Scrivener, check out my “Free Scrivener Alternatives” post, and my “Free Writing Software Review” series.

As always, let me just note that all opinions provided in this post are my own viewpoint, and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of others.

Thanks for reading!

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