Pay once, yours for life
Your book stays on your computer. AI runs on credits if you want to use it. Cloud Services available extra when you need them.
No card required
- Every feature unlocked, no tier, nothing switched off
- A free account, no card, nothing to cancel
- The 30 days start the first time you sign in to the app
- Afterwards the app turns read-only until you buy a licence
- Your books always open, and always export, even unlicensed
once
- Lifetime Windows & macOS licence for ChapterMuse 1, with every 1.x update free
- The full writing canvas, every on-device craft tool, and the AI that reads your prose
- 3 books · 2 universes on your shelf
- Planning-lite: Outliner, Mind Map, Chapter Notes + To-do side panel, Plot Grid
- Snippets + custom book cover art
- 3 Snapshots per book · Writer badge in Writers Corner
once
- Lifetime Windows & macOS licence for ChapterMuse 1, with every 1.x update free
- Everything in Light
- 10 books · 5 universes on your shelf
- Research Center: a private binder for the files beside your manuscript
- Glossary name links in your prose, and Museiki to read your terms back
- Revision Passes and the podcast
- 5 Snapshots per book · Novelist badge in Writers Corner
once
- Lifetime Windows & macOS licence for ChapterMuse 1, with every 1.x update free
- Everything in Writer
- The story world: characters, locations, items, factions and the universe page
- Scene Designer, Chronos, Arc Map, Connections, Storyboard and AI art
- Unlimited books, universes & story-world entities
- EPUB export: reader-ready ebook files, yours forever
- 5+ Snapshots per book · Priority support · Author badge
Every licence covers Windows and macOS, and every one includes the full writing canvas.
* Estimated totals include tax. UK prices are shown where a local total is unavailable. Final total confirmed at checkout.
Bolt on
Cloud, if you want it
per month
Optional, a subscription, and the app never needs it. Cancel whenever you like, and every licence tier works exactly the same without it.
- 25 GB of private, scheduled off-site backup per account
- Send chapters to private beta readers and get their notes back
- Forum extras: post your own images, and a supporter badge
The AI
You pay for what you use
Pay as you go
AI runs on credits: Muse, Chapter Analysis, Pulse and Manuscript Lens at every tier, the podcast and AI art from Writer up. Buy credits when you want them; they never expire.
There is no monthly spend. If you never use the AI, you never buy a credit. A full Chapter Analysis of a 4,000-word chapter costs 80 credits. The app shows the exact cost of every run before you confirm it.
* Estimated totals include tax. UK prices are shown where a local total is unavailable. Final total confirmed at checkout.
Side by side
What each licence unlocks
During the trial all of it is unlocked. Afterwards, this is what separates the three licences.
| Feature | Light | Writer | Studio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Writing | |||
| The full writing canvasFocus mode, read-aloud, formatting, find & replace, snippets | Included | Included | Included |
| Books on your shelf | 3 | 10 | Unlimited |
| Chapter snapshots per book | 3 | 5 | 5+ |
| PlanningOutliner, Plot Grid, Mind Map, To-dos, Chapter Notes | Included | Included | Included |
| Revision Passes | Not included | Included | Included |
| Your story world | |||
| Characters, locations, items, factions | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Story-world entities | — | — | Unlimited |
| Character Arcs, Connections, crest maker | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Glossary name links in your prose | Not included | Included | Included |
| Group books into universesKeeps a series together on the shelf | Included | Included | Included |
| Universes | 2 | 5 | Unlimited |
| The universe page and Folio | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Scene Designer, Chronos, Storyboard | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Research Center | Not included | Included | Included |
| MuseikiYour terms and, at Studio, your whole world — read as an encyclopedia | Not included | Included | Included |
| Gallery | Included | Included | Included |
| AI, on credits | |||
| Muse, Chapter Analysis, Pulse, Manuscript LensCredits are bought separately and never expire | Included | Included | Included |
| The podcast | Not included | Included | Included |
| AI art | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Getting your work out | |||
| PDF and Word | Included | Included | Included |
| Reports and glossary | Included | Included | Included |
| Story dossiers (Excel) | Not included | Not included | Included |
| EPUB | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Local backup, and your books as filesNever gated, at any tier, licensed or not | Included | Included | Included |
Pay once, yours for life, your book stays on your computer
Before you buy
I need this, but…
Is there a free plan?
No. There is a 30-day trial with everything unlocked, then a one-off payment. We would rather charge once than build a version of the app designed to frustrate you into upgrading.
What happens to my books if I never pay?
They stay yours and they stay openable. After the trial the app becomes read-only. You can read every chapter and export every word, you just cannot keep editing.
Does it sync between my machines?
No, and it is a decision rather than a missing feature. ChapterMuse is local-first: the copy on your machine is the real one, and automatic multi-device sync pulls against that. It is the same decision that means no renewal date and no outage that can reach your draft. Back it up with a .muse export, and Chapter Snapshots keep a history inside each book; the optional Cloud add-on can keep an off-site backup on a schedule too. That is backup, not sync, and your machine's copy is still the real one. If you move between two machines mid-chapter and want it to simply happen, buy a cloud tool instead. It is a genuine trade and we would rather you knew before you paid.
Will you make this a subscription later?
The licence you buy is a lifetime licence for the app, and that is not changing. The one subscription we sell is the optional Cloud add-on, priced above with a local estimate for off-site backup and beta readers, and the app never needs it. A credit subscription is planned for people who use a lot of AI, but it will always be optional and packs are not going away.
What happens if ChapterMuse shuts down?
You keep working. Your book is a file on your own machine. Nothing to renew, no outage that can reach your draft, and it still opens if we disappear. And because Word, PDF and the other exports are built in, the manuscript can always leave in a form any other tool can read.
Which tier should I get?
Light is the writing app and the planning basics — enough if you discover the book by writing it. Writer adds the things you gather along the way: research, a glossary, and Museiki to read them back. Studio adds the story world itself — characters, locations, the designers — plus EPUB, and removes every cap.
Can I move up a tier later?
Yes, whenever you like, and you only pay the difference: the price difference between the two tiers, with applicable local tax. Start where you are and move up when a book needs more.
ChapterMuse
