Comparison / Plottr
The plot board, without the export.
Plottr is a good place to shuffle a story's structure — but the outline still has to leave Plottr before it becomes a manuscript. InkSpine keeps the corkboard, the plot overview and a story-arc board next to the actual chapters, so nothing has to change apps.
| Where writers get stuck | Plottr | InkSpine |
|---|---|---|
| What it actually is | An outlining and plotting tool — the manuscript itself is written somewhere else | Plotting, drafting, and worldbuilding in one project — no exporting an outline elsewhere |
| Characters & locations | Live in Plottr, separate from the prose that references them | Linked directly to the chapters and scenes that mention them |
| Seeing where a storyline went quiet | The plot board lives in its own project file, so checking a thread against the draft means holding two programs side by side | Story arcs draw each storyline as a lane across your real chapters — a thread you dropped shows without a reread, and opening the arc states its longest gap as a number of chapters |
| Platform | Windows and Mac — no native Linux build | Windows, macOS, and Linux, from one app |
| Turning the outline into a book | Exports an outline to Scrivener or Word — formatting and export are a separate step, elsewhere | Validated EPUB 3, DOCX and proof-PDF export, built in |
| Where the files live | Its own project file, separate from your manuscript files | One folder of plain files — the outline and the prose live side by side |
Swipe to compare →
If your outline and your manuscript live in two different programs, come put them in one.
Join the beta →