Plottr vs Vellum Comparison 2026
Both cover self-publishing. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
Story structure on a timeline, before the draft
Typeset a book that looks professionally made
At a glance
- Plottr starts cheaper, at $9.99.
- Neither has a free tier.
Side by side
Plottr | Vellum | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $9.99 | From $199.99 |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Paid subscription | One-time purchase |
| Free tier | No | No |
| Billing (they differ) | Monthly or annual | One-time purchase |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Not stated | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | Not stated | Not stated |
| Runs on (they differ) | macOS, Windows | macOS |
| Covers | Self-Publishing, Project Management, Writing & Scripts |
Shaded rows are where the two answers disagree and both listings have answered. A row where one side has not stated a fact is left plain, because silence is not a difference.
Plottr
Story structure on a timeline, before the draft
Plottr is for the part before the writing: scenes on a timeline, characters and places as cards, and templates built from the story structures people actually teach. It does not want to be your word processor and exports to the tools that are. Buying it once is an option, which is unusual in this corner now.
Our note
Buy the lifetime licence if you write more than one book, because the yearly price pays for it in under three years and the software is finished enough not to need reinventing. Pair it with Dabble or a plain word processor for the drafting.
Only on this side
- Covers project management
- Covers writing & scripts
Vellum
Typeset a book that looks professionally made
Vellum does one thing: it turns a finished manuscript into ebook and print files that look like a publisher made them, with chapter headings, drop caps and ornaments that are already correct rather than waiting to be designed. Authors buy it the week they realise their own formatting looks amateur next to what is on the shelf. It runs on macOS only, which is a genuine barrier and the single most common reason people end up elsewhere.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.