Comparison
Scriptorium vs Ellipsus
Ellipsus is the rare tool we mostly agree with: writer-first, no generative AI, no selling your data. The disagreement is narrow and real — whether the answer to trusting a company is a better promise, or no server at all.
Choose Scriptorium if…
…you write alone and want more than an editor: a story bible, a timeline, plot boards, and maps beside a book-shaped manuscript — with the whole thing on your own disk rather than in anyone's cloud.
Choose Ellipsus if…
…you write with people. Parallel drafts that merge cleanly are something no local-first app can offer, its free tier is genuinely generous, and its no-AI stance is stricter than ours.
The table
Feature by feature
Price
Scriptorium
Free version
Scriptorium
Platforms
Scriptorium
Where your writing lives
Scriptorium
Generative AI
Scriptorium
Co-writing
Scriptorium
Manuscript structure
Scriptorium
Character & world-building database
Scriptorium
Mindmap
Scriptorium
Story timeline
Scriptorium
Plot grid / boards
Scriptorium
Maps
Scriptorium
Dictation (speech-to-text)
Scriptorium
Read aloud (text-to-speech)
Scriptorium
Export
Scriptorium
Import your existing work
Scriptorium
Backup & restore
Scriptorium
Ellipsus details refer to its published plans and public commitments at the time of writing (2026).
The case
Where Scriptorium is different
A story bible, not just documents
Ellipsus gives you an excellent surface to write on and a superb way to write on it together. What it doesn't have is anywhere to put the world: no entity types, no relationships, no timeline, no map. Scriptorium keeps the cast, the chronology, and the geography as structured data linked to the prose, so a mention in chapter nine and the character's page stay in step.
Two answers to the same worry
Both apps exist partly because writers stopped trusting what happens to unpublished work. Ellipsus answers with commitments: no generative AI, no selling data. Scriptorium answers by removing the mechanism — your manuscript is a file on your disk, the models run beside it, and there's no service that could be sold, breached, or quietly re-scoped in a terms update. Both answers are honest. One depends on a company staying good.
Optional AI, on your terms
We take a softer line than Ellipsus here, and it's worth being clear about it: Scriptorium ships optional local models for rewrites, dictation, and read-aloud. They are downloads you choose, they run on your machine, and nothing is ever sent to a provider. If your objection to AI is about where your words go, that's answered. If it's about the technology existing at all, Ellipsus is the tool that agrees with you.
The concession
Where Ellipsus is still ahead
Collaboration, price, and principle. Ellipsus's drafts-and-merge model is the best answer to co-writing anyone has shipped, and Scriptorium offers nothing in that direction — no shared cursors, no live comments, not planned. It has a free tier that isn't a trial, it runs in a browser on any machine including a Chromebook, and its refusal of generative AI is a firmer commitment than our "optional and local". If you write with a partner or a fandom, this comparison ends with Ellipsus.
Frequently asked questions
Is Scriptorium an Ellipsus alternative?
Only if you write alone. Ellipsus is built around co-writing — parallel drafts that merge — and Scriptorium has nothing like it. If you want a story bible, a timeline, plot boards, and maps beside a book-shaped manuscript, and you want all of it on your own disk, that's where Scriptorium is the better fit.
Both of you talk about privacy. What's the actual difference?
Ellipsus promises not to train on or sell your work, and refuses generative AI outright — real commitments, kept by policy. Scriptorium's version is architectural: there's no server that could receive your manuscript in the first place, because the app and its models run on your machine. Policy can change with ownership; architecture is harder to reverse. Which reassurance you prefer is a fair question.
Does Scriptorium use generative AI?
Optionally, and locally. The language, speech, and voice models are downloads that run on your device — nothing is sent to a provider and no API key exists. If you don't want AI, don't install the models and the app is a conventional writing tool. Ellipsus's position is stricter: none at all.
Can I write with a partner in Scriptorium?
Not simultaneously. There are no shared cursors or live comments — local-first buys the privacy and real-time collaboration is what it costs. Co-writers are better served by Ellipsus.
Can I move my work between them?
Export from Ellipsus and import the DOCX or Markdown into Scriptorium; chapter structure comes across. Going the other way, Scriptorium exports DOCX and Markdown too.