# Free Alternative to Ulysses Published January 1, 2026 · Updated August 10, 2026 The best free alternative to Ulysses ($50/yr) is Zettlr, which is open source. Install it with: `brew install --cask zettlr`. ## Ditching the $39.99 Subscription: The Best Free Ulysses Alternatives I remember the exact day Ulysses announced its move to a subscription model in 2017. The Mac software community reacted with pure outrage. Fast forward to today. Paying $39.99 every year (or $5.99 per month) just to type words into a clean interface feels increasingly hard to justify. Ulysses is undeniably a beautiful piece of software. The writing environment fades away perfectly when you hit full screen. The typography choices are excellent. But the underlying mechanics have always bothered me. Your words live inside a proprietary SQLite database. You cannot simply browse your iCloud Drive folder and open a draft in another text editor. You are locked in. If Ulysses ever shuts down, extracting your library takes deliberate effort. Then there is the creeping feature bloat. Built-in grammar checking is fine for some people. I just do not need my markdown editor to act like a high school English teacher. I want a blank screen and a blinking cursor. This guide explores the free options available for macOS right now. Some are open-source passion projects built by solo developers. Others are highly extensible platforms backed by massive communities. I installed every single one of these apps on my M3 MacBook Pro. I imported a 50,000-word manuscript to test scrolling performance and search indexing. I checked how they handle basic markdown formatting and image embedding. I learned that you absolutely do not need to pay a subscription fee to get a premium writing experience on a Mac. Here is what actually deserves a spot in your Dock. August 2026 re-check: Ulysses still bills $39.99/year or $5.99/month in the US (ulysses.app/pricing), with a student plan at $10.99 per six months. Obsidian 1.13.x, Zettlr 4.7, Joplin 3.6, Logseq 2.0, and FSNotes 7.3 remain actively maintained free/open paths. MacDown has not shipped a meaningful release since 2020—treat it as legacy. MarkText cut a 0.19.1 release in June 2026, but Homebrew marks the cask deprecated for Gatekeeper failures (disable scheduled 2026-09-01), so prefer Obsidian/Zettlr/FSNotes for a trustworthy install path. ## Free alternatives 1. [Zettlr](https://bundl.run/apps/zettlr) — Markdown editor for researchers `brew install --cask zettlr` 2. [Craft](https://bundl.run/apps/craft) — Native document editor `brew install --cask craft` ## Verdict I learned that paying a subscription for a text editor is entirely optional in 2024. The open-source community has built incredible tools that handle plain text better than expensive proprietary apps. I was genuinely surprised by how fast native apps like FSNotes operate compared to Ulysses. Moving your library out of a database and into local folders is a liberating experience. You own your words again. ## FAQ ### How do I move my Ulysses library to another app? You need to select all your sheets in Ulysses and choose the export option. Set the output format to Text and select Markdown. Do not export as ePub or PDF if you want to keep editing the text. Ulysses handles folders internally as Groups. You will have to manually recreate your folder hierarchy in Finder to match your old Ulysses setup before dropping the exported files into your new app. ### Can Obsidian stitch documents together like Ulysses? Yes. This is the feature most Ulysses users miss when switching. Out of the box, Obsidian does not do this. You need to install a free community plugin called Longform. Longform lets you create a project, order your individual markdown scenes, and compile them into a single manuscript file just like the Ulysses sheet-stitching feature. ### Why did Ulysses switch to a subscription model? The developers stated that selling standalone versions was financially unsustainable. A major macOS update often breaks complex software. The team needed recurring revenue to justify continuous development and maintenance. The transition angered many users who had just paid full price for the standalone app. ### Is Apple Notes a good alternative to Ulysses? Apple Notes is fantastic for grocery lists and quick thoughts. It is terrible for long-form writing. It uses rich text formatting instead of markdown. Exporting your data out of Apple Notes is notoriously difficult. If you want to write a novel or maintain a blog, you need a dedicated plain text markdown editor. ### What is the best free Ulysses alternative for iPad? Obsidian offers a very capable iPad app that is free for personal use. The main hurdle is syncing. To sync Obsidian between your Mac and iPad for free, you must store your vault in iCloud Drive. FSNotes also has an iOS app, but it requires a one-time purchase on the App Store. ### Does Zettlr have a typewriter mode? Yes. Zettlr includes a typewriter mode that keeps your active line of text perfectly centered on the screen. This is a crucial feature for preventing neck strain during long writing sessions. You can toggle it easily from the view menu. ### Do any free apps publish directly to WordPress like Ulysses? Native direct publishing is rare in free apps. Obsidian has a community plugin for WordPress publishing that works decently well. Most free markdown editors require you to copy the HTML or plain markdown and paste it directly into your blog's content management system. ### Is there a free app with Ulysses' goal-tracking features? Zettlr has built-in writing streak heatmaps and a Pomodoro timer. If you want specific word count goals attached to specific folders, Obsidian handles this via the Better Word Count community plugin. It allows you to set daily targets and track your progress visually. ### Why are Electron apps considered worse than native Mac apps? Electron is a framework that essentially packages a web browser to run a web application on your desktop. Apps built this way consume significantly more RAM and battery power than apps written natively in Swift or Objective-C. They also often ignore standard Apple keyboard shortcuts and interface design rules. ### How do I handle images when exporting from Ulysses? Ulysses embeds images directly inside its proprietary database structure. When you export to plain markdown files, the images are extracted. You need to create an assets folder in your new markdown directory to store these images. You then must ensure the file paths in your markdown documents point correctly to that new assets folder. ## Sources - [Ulysses Pricing](https://ulysses.app/en/pricing/) - [Ulysses Students](https://ulysses.app/en/students/) - [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/) - [Homebrew Obsidian](https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/obsidian) - [Homebrew Zettlr](https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/zettlr) - [Homebrew Joplin](https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/joplin) - [Homebrew FSNotes](https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/fsnotes) - [Homebrew Logseq](https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/logseq) - [MarkText releases](https://github.com/marktext/marktext/releases) - [MacDown releases](https://github.com/MacDownApp/macdown/releases) ## Related - [Zettlr vs Obsidian](https://bundl.run/compare/zettlr-vs-obsidian) - [Craft vs Notion](https://bundl.run/compare/craft-vs-notion) - [Craft vs Bear](https://bundl.run/compare/bear-vs-craft) - [Craft vs Obsidian](https://bundl.run/compare/craft-vs-obsidian) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://bundl.run/#organization", "name": "Bundl.run", "url": "https://bundl.run", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://bundl.run/og-image.png", "width": 1200, "height": 630 }, "description": "The Ninite for Mac. Install all your essential Mac apps with one terminal command.", "sameAs": [ "https://github.com/abhiofficial/bundl-mac-setup", "https://x.com/bundlrun", "https://www.producthunt.com/products/bundl-run" ], "foundingDate": "2024", "contactPoint": { "@type": "ContactPoint", "contactType": "customer support", "url": "https://bundl.run/faq" } }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://bundl.run/#website", "name": "Bundl.run", "url": "https://bundl.run", "description": "The Ninite for Mac. Install all your essential Mac apps with one terminal command.", "publisher": { "@id": "https://bundl.run/#organization" }, "inLanguage": "en-US" }, { "@type": "Person", "@id": "https://bundl.run/authors/jordan-kim#person", "name": "Jordan Kim", "jobTitle": "Productivity & Workflow Analyst", "url": "https://bundl.run/authors/jordan-kim", "worksFor": { "@id": "https://bundl.run/#organization" }, "description": "Jordan Kim focuses on productivity software, system utilities, and workflow optimization tools. With a background in operations management and process improvement, Jordan evaluates how well applications integrate into daily workflows and enhance overall productivity. Jordan tests each tool across multiple use cases—from solo work to team collaboration—documenting setup complexity, learning curves, and long-term value. A certified project management professional with experience at Fortune 500 companies, Jordan brings rigorous methodology to software evaluation.", "knowsAbout": [ "Productivity Applications", "Note-Taking & Knowledge Management", "Task & Project Management", "Communication Tools", "System Utilities", "Workflow Automation" ], "image": "https://bundl.run/authors/jordan-kim.svg" }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://bundl.run/free-alternative-to/ulysses#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://bundl.run" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Apps", "item": "https://bundl.run/apps" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Free Alternatives", "item": "https://bundl.run/alternatives" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Ulysses Alternatives", "item": "https://bundl.run/free-alternative-to/ulysses" } ] }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://bundl.run/free-alternative-to/ulysses", "url": "https://bundl.run/free-alternative-to/ulysses", "name": "Free Alternative to Ulysses — Best Options 2026", "description": "Looking for a free alternative to Ulysses? Discover 2 free options that work great on macOS.", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://bundl.run/#website" }, "publisher": { "@id": "https://bundl.run/#organization" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "datePublished": "2026-01-01T00:00:00Z", "dateModified": "2026-08-10T13:34:04.000Z", "image": "https://bundl.run/api/og/alternative?app=Ulysses", "author": { "@id": "https://bundl.run/authors/jordan-kim#person" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://bundl.run/free-alternative-to/ulysses#article" }, "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://bundl.run/free-alternative-to/ulysses#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "Article", "@id": "https://bundl.run/free-alternative-to/ulysses#article", "headline": "Free Alternative to Ulysses — Best Options 2026", "description": "Looking for a free alternative to Ulysses? Discover 2 free options that work great on macOS.", "image": "https://bundl.run/api/og/alternative?app=Ulysses", "speakable": { "@type": "SpeakableSpecification", "cssSelector": [ "h1", ".quick-answer", ".tldr-summary" ] }, "author": { "@id": "https://bundl.run/authors/jordan-kim#person" }, "publisher": { "@id": "https://bundl.run/#organization" }, "datePublished": "2026-01-01T00:00:00Z", "dateModified": "2026-08-10T13:34:04.000Z", "mainEntityOfPage": { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://bundl.run/free-alternative-to/ulysses" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://bundl.run/#website" }, "about": [ { "@type": "SoftwareApplication", "name": "Zettlr", "url": "https://bundl.run/apps/zettlr" }, { "@type": "SoftwareApplication", "name": "Craft", "url": "https://bundl.run/apps/craft" } ], "mentions": [ { "@type": "SoftwareApplication", "name": "Ulysses" }, { "@type": "SoftwareApplication", "name": "Zettlr", "url": "https://bundl.run/apps/zettlr" }, { "@type": "SoftwareApplication", "name": "Craft", "url": "https://bundl.run/apps/craft" } ] }, { "@type": "ItemList", "name": "Free Alternatives to Ulysses", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "SoftwareApplication", "name": "Zettlr", "url": "https://bundl.run/apps/zettlr", "description": "Markdown editor for researchers", "applicationCategory": "BusinessApplication" } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "SoftwareApplication", "name": "Craft", "url": "https://bundl.run/apps/craft", "description": "Native document editor", "applicationCategory": "BusinessApplication" } } ], "numberOfItems": 2 }, { "@type": "FAQPage", "@id": "https://bundl.run/free-alternative-to/ulysses#faq", "mainEntity": [ { "@type": "Question", "name": "How do I move my Ulysses library to another app?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "You need to select all your sheets in Ulysses and choose the export option. Set the output format to Text and select Markdown. Do not export as ePub or PDF if you want to keep editing the text. Ulysses handles folders internally as Groups. You will have to manually recreate your folder hierarchy in Finder to match your old Ulysses setup before dropping the exported files into your new app." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Can Obsidian stitch documents together like Ulysses?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Yes. This is the feature most Ulysses users miss when switching. Out of the box, Obsidian does not do this. You need to install a free community plugin called Longform. Longform lets you create a project, order your individual markdown scenes, and compile them into a single manuscript file just like the Ulysses sheet-stitching feature." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Why did Ulysses switch to a subscription model?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "The developers stated that selling standalone versions was financially unsustainable. A major macOS update often breaks complex software. The team needed recurring revenue to justify continuous development and maintenance. The transition angered many users who had just paid full price for the standalone app." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Is Apple Notes a good alternative to Ulysses?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Apple Notes is fantastic for grocery lists and quick thoughts. It is terrible for long-form writing. It uses rich text formatting instead of markdown. Exporting your data out of Apple Notes is notoriously difficult. If you want to write a novel or maintain a blog, you need a dedicated plain text markdown editor." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "What is the best free Ulysses alternative for iPad?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Obsidian offers a very capable iPad app that is free for personal use. The main hurdle is syncing. To sync Obsidian between your Mac and iPad for free, you must store your vault in iCloud Drive. FSNotes also has an iOS app, but it requires a one-time purchase on the App Store." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Does Zettlr have a typewriter mode?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Yes. Zettlr includes a typewriter mode that keeps your active line of text perfectly centered on the screen. This is a crucial feature for preventing neck strain during long writing sessions. You can toggle it easily from the view menu." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Do any free apps publish directly to WordPress like Ulysses?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Native direct publishing is rare in free apps. Obsidian has a community plugin for WordPress publishing that works decently well. Most free markdown editors require you to copy the HTML or plain markdown and paste it directly into your blog's content management system." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Is there a free app with Ulysses' goal-tracking features?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Zettlr has built-in writing streak heatmaps and a Pomodoro timer. If you want specific word count goals attached to specific folders, Obsidian handles this via the Better Word Count community plugin. It allows you to set daily targets and track your progress visually." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Why are Electron apps considered worse than native Mac apps?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Electron is a framework that essentially packages a web browser to run a web application on your desktop. Apps built this way consume significantly more RAM and battery power than apps written natively in Swift or Objective-C. They also often ignore standard Apple keyboard shortcuts and interface design rules." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "How do I handle images when exporting from Ulysses?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Ulysses embeds images directly inside its proprietary database structure. When you export to plain markdown files, the images are extracted. You need to create an assets folder in your new markdown directory to store these images. You then must ensure the file paths in your markdown documents point correctly to that new assets folder." } } ], "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://bundl.run/free-alternative-to/ulysses" } } ] } ```