Athens

Best Craft Alternatives for Writers in 2026

- Moritz Wallawitsch

Craft is one of the prettiest writing apps you can buy. The UI is polished. Documents look great. It feels native on Mac and iPad because it is native - built from the ground up for Apple platforms.

But pretty only gets you so far. Craft costs $5-8 per month on the Plus and Business plans. It only works well on Apple devices (the web version is limited). Its built-in AI uses a mix of on-device and cloud models that consistently underperform ChatGPT and Claude. And more features keep moving behind the paywall with each update.

If you're a writer looking for something better, here's what's actually wrong with Craft and what to use instead.

What's Wrong with Craft for Writers

Apple-only limits where you can write

Craft is built for the Apple ecosystem. Mac, iPad, iPhone. There's a web version, but it lacks offline access and feels like an afterthought. If you ever need to write on a Windows machine, a Chromebook, or a Linux laptop, you're out of luck.

This matters more than it seems. Writers collaborate with editors who use Windows. Students switch between personal and university computers. Freelancers work from whatever device is in front of them. A writing tool that only works on one platform creates friction every time you step outside the Apple bubble.

The AI is underwhelming

Craft added AI features that use a combination of on-device processing and cloud models. On paper, this sounds great - privacy-friendly, fast, built right into the app. In practice, the results are disappointing.

The AI handles basic rewrites: make this shorter, make this more formal, fix grammar. But it struggles with anything beyond surface-level edits. Ask it to restructure an argument, improve the flow between paragraphs, or rewrite with a specific voice, and you'll get generic output that reads like it came from a 2023-era model. ChatGPT and Claude are meaningfully better at every writing task.

Worse, AI credits run out quickly on the Plus plan. You hit your limit in the middle of a writing session and either pay more or stop using AI entirely. For a paid product, this feels stingy.

It's not a Notion replacement

Some writers pick Craft hoping it will replace Notion as their knowledge base. It won't. Craft has no databases, no relational properties, no formulas, no views. It does documents and folders. If you need structured data alongside your writing, Craft doesn't have it.

Export loses formatting

Craft uses its own proprietary format internally. When you export to markdown or PDF, things break. Nested lists lose their structure. Inline styling doesn't always carry over. If you need to send your writing to an editor, publisher, or collaborator in a standard format, you'll spend time fixing the output.

Features keep moving behind the paywall

Craft's free tier has gotten smaller over time. Features that used to be free now require Plus. AI features require credits that deplete. The pricing feels like it's designed to push you toward higher tiers rather than let you settle into a plan that works.

The Best Craft Alternatives

  1. Athens
  • Best Overall for Writers

Athens is a web-based writing tool with AI editing built in. It works on any device with a browser - Mac, Windows, Linux, Chromebook, iPad. No app to install. No platform lock-in.

The biggest difference from Craft is how AI editing works. Athens uses Cursor-style inline diffs. When the AI edits your text, you see exactly what changed: green highlights for additions, red strikethrough for deletions. You accept or reject each individual edit with one click. This is fundamentally different from Craft's approach, where the AI rewrites a section and you have to figure out what's different.

The editor is markdown WYSIWYG. You write in a clean, formatted view without seeing markdown syntax, but the underlying format is standard markdown. This means your documents are portable. Export works cleanly because the format is clean.

Athens uses frontier AI models (Claude, GPT-4o) rather than Craft's weaker built-in models. The difference in output quality is immediately noticeable. The AI can restructure arguments, match your voice, improve paragraph flow, and handle nuanced editing tasks that Craft's AI simply cannot.

You can upload reference files and the AI will ground its suggestions in your sources. Import Google Docs with comments preserved. Drag in DOCX and EPUB files. The editing workflow is designed for writers who care about precision.

Athens costs $99/year. No separate AI add-on. No credits that run out. AI editing is included in the price.

Best for: Writers who want the best AI editing workflow, cross-platform access, and clean markdown export.

2. Notion - Best for Teams and Knowledge Bases

If the reason you're leaving Craft is the lack of databases and structured data, Notion is the obvious answer. It has databases, views, relations, formulas, team collaboration, and a generous free tier. It works on every platform.

Notion AI costs $10/month on top of your subscription. It can summarize, rewrite, and generate content. The quality is decent for quick tasks. But the AI operates on whole blocks, not individual edits. There's no diff view. You don't see what changed.

The bigger issue for writers is the block-based editor. Notion treats every paragraph as a separate block. Selection behavior is different from normal text editors. Long documents get laggy. It's a workspace tool that lets you write, not a writing tool.

Best for: Teams that need databases, wikis, and project management alongside their writing.

Price: Free tier available. Plus is $10/month. AI add-on is $10/month.

3. Obsidian - Best for Local-First Markdown

Obsidian stores your notes as plain markdown files on your hard drive. No cloud dependency. No vendor lock-in. Your files are yours. The plugin ecosystem is enormous - over 1,000 community plugins that can add almost any feature you want.

Obsidian has no built-in AI. Community plugins like Smart Connections and Copilot add AI capabilities, but they're community-maintained and less polished than native integrations. You'll need to bring your own API key.

The main trade-off for writers: Obsidian does not have true WYSIWYG editing. You write in markdown syntax with a live preview pane. The learning curve is real. If you liked Craft's polished visual editing, Obsidian will feel raw by comparison.

Obsidian also lacks real-time collaboration. It's a single-player tool. If you work with editors or co-authors, you'll need a separate workflow for sharing.

Best for: Writers who want full ownership of their files, heavy customization, and a connected note system.

Price: Free for personal use. Sync is $4/month. Publish is $8/month.

4. Ulysses - Best Apple-Native Alternative

If you want to stay in the Apple ecosystem but need a better writing experience than Craft, Ulysses is the strongest option. It's been around since 2003. The library management system is excellent for organizing long projects. Export to WordPress, Medium, PDF, DOCX, and ePub is built in and works reliably.

Ulysses uses a markdown-based format with a clean visual editor. The writing experience is more focused than Craft's - fewer features, but the features it has are polished for sustained writing. The split-view editing is great for working on research alongside your draft.

The limitation: Ulysses has no AI features. None. If you want AI-assisted editing, you'll need to use a separate tool (ChatGPT, Claude) and copy-paste between them. And like Craft, it's Apple-only. No Windows, no Linux, no web version.

Best for: Apple users who want a focused, mature writing app with strong library management and export. No AI needed.

Price: $49.99/year.

5. iA Writer - Best Minimalist Option

iA Writer strips writing down to its essentials. The interface is deliberately minimal. There's a blinking cursor and your text. Focus Mode dims everything except the sentence you're working on. Syntax highlighting colors different parts of speech to help you spot weak writing patterns.

Unlike Craft and Ulysses, iA Writer works on Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android. It's a one-time purchase of $49.99 - no subscription. Your files are stored as plain markdown, accessible through iCloud, Dropbox, or local storage.

iA Writer has no AI features. The developers have taken a deliberate stance against building AI into the editor, arguing that the writing should be yours. You either agree with that philosophy or you don't.

The minimalism is both the strength and the limitation. There's no library management system like Ulysses. No databases like Notion. No AI like Athens. It's a text editor that gets out of your way. For some writers, that's exactly right.

Best for: Writers who want a clean, distraction-free editor with no subscription and cross-platform support.

Price: $49.99 one-time purchase.

6. ChatGPT / Claude - Best Raw AI, No Editor

If Craft's AI is the main thing frustrating you, the simplest fix might be using a better AI. ChatGPT (GPT-4o) and Claude (Sonnet/Opus) are far better at writing tasks than Craft's built-in models. They handle nuance, voice matching, structural edits, and long-form content at a level Craft's AI cannot reach.

Both cost $20/month for the pro tier. Both have free tiers with usage limits. Claude handles longer context and tends to produce more natural prose. ChatGPT has the Canvas feature, which lets you edit AI output in a document-like interface.

The problem: these are chat interfaces, not editors. You write your document somewhere else, copy sections into the chat, get suggestions, and paste them back. You lose formatting. You lose context. You can't see what changed. The AI is excellent. The workflow is broken.

If you only need AI occasionally for brainstorming or generating first drafts, ChatGPT or Claude paired with any writing app works fine. If you need AI for editing and revision, you'll hit the copy-paste wall quickly.

Best for: Brainstorming, outlining, and generating drafts. Not for editing in place.

Price: ChatGPT Plus is $20/month. Claude Pro is $20/month. Free tiers available.

How to Choose

Your ideal Craft replacement depends on what specifically frustrates you about Craft:

  • Craft's AI is too weak? Athens gives you frontier AI models with inline diff editing. ChatGPT or Claude give you better AI without an editor.
  • Apple-only is a problem? Athens, Notion, and iA Writer all work cross-platform. Obsidian works on everything except the web.
  • You need databases and team features? Notion is the only real option here.
  • You want to stay on Apple but need better writing tools? Ulysses has the strongest library management and export for Apple users.
  • You want to own your files? Obsidian and iA Writer both store plain markdown locally.
  • You want better AI and a better editor in one tool? Athens is built specifically for this.

Craft earned its popularity with a beautiful interface. But beautiful is not enough when the AI falls short, the platform is locked to Apple, and features keep moving behind paywalls. The best writing tools in 2026 give you great AI, work everywhere, and let you see exactly what the AI changed.

Athens is a writing tool with Cursor-style AI editing. See exactly what the AI changed, accept or reject each edit, and keep your voice. Try it free.