InkwellInkwell vs Final Draft
Final Draft is the industry standard at ~$250. Inkwell's full editor is free, with a built-in AI assistant that suggests and never writes for you.
| Feature | Inkwell | Final Draft |
|---|---|---|
| Price | The full editor is free — not a trial. Pro ($10/month or $100/year) only adds more Quill credits. | One-time license (~$249.99 list), or Final Draft Suite subscription. |
| Built-in AI assistant | ✓Quill, with an approve/reject diff for every suggestion. | —No built-in conversational AI co-writer as of June 2026; encrypted cloud storage guards against AI scraping. |
| Platforms | Native macOS app. | macOS and Windows (plus Final Draft Cloud in the web browser). |
| File formats | ✓Fountain and Final Draft (.fdx) import and export. | ✓.fdx is the native format; Fountain and PDF import/export supported. |
| Offline writing | ✓Fully offline; internet is only needed to ask Quill. | ✓Desktop app works offline; Cloud features need a connection. |
| Real-time collaboration | —Single-writer focused today. | ✓Real-time collaboration via Final Draft Cloud / Suite. |
Final Draft 13 is available as a one-time perpetual license (around $249.99 list price, frequently discounted) or via the Final Draft Suite subscription with Final Draft Cloud. It runs on macOS and Windows and remains the industry standard. Facts current as of June 2026; check finaldraft.com for the latest pricing.
Choose Final Draft if
- You need the exact industry-standard tool a studio or production mandates.
- You're on Windows.
- You collaborate in real time with a team already on Final Draft.
- You prefer a one-time license over any subscription.
Choose Inkwell if
- You want a built-in AI assistant that suggests but never auto-writes your script.
- You're on a Mac and want a fast, native, offline-first editor.
- You'd rather write in a free editor than pay ~$250 up front.
- You write in Fountain and need clean Final Draft (.fdx) interop.
Final Draft has been the default screenwriting tool for decades and is used across most of film and TV. Its formatting is the benchmark, and its .fdx format is what collaborators and studios expect.
Inkwell is a native macOS screenplay editor built around Quill, an AI assistant. Quill can brainstorm, suggest dialogue, or restructure a scene, and every change arrives as a diff you approve or reject. The words on the page stay yours. Inkwell reads and writes both Fountain and Final Draft (.fdx), so scripts move cleanly between the two tools.
If a studio or production mandates Final Draft, buy Final Draft. If you want a Mac editor with an AI assistant that never writes over you, and the editor itself costs nothing, try Inkwell on a real script.
Bring a script over and see.
The full editor, unlimited scripts, and Fountain and Final Draft import are free. Move a script over from Final Draft and see how Quill works.