Fade In costs $79.95, once. That one payment covers Windows, Mac and Linux under a single individual license, and updates come at no charge. The cloud service is separate and does renew: $9.95 a month or $99.95 a year. Nearly every decision about Fade In sits on that split.
Still shortlisting? Start from our best screenwriting software 2026 roundup, or the screenwriting software comparisons hub if you want the head to heads.
Every figure below comes from fadeinpro.com and its support pages, in US dollars, checked in August 2026.
The verdict
Buy the desktop license if you want to stop renting your writing software. Fade In does the professional work: industry formatting, revision colors, scene and page locking, script breakdowns, production reports, and import from Final Draft, Celtx, Scrivener and Fountain. The list price is $99.95 and the site has been showing $79.95 for a long stretch now. Treat $79.95 as the real price.
Skip it if your workflow depends on live co-writing in a browser. That lives in Fade In Access, which is a subscription, and once you are paying monthly for the collaboration layer the one-time story loses most of its point.
Take the student price if you qualify. $59.95 with a valid post-secondary student ID is the cheapest serious screenwriting license on the market right now.
| You are | Best fit | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Trying it before committing | Demo version | $0, watermarks output and nags at 10 pages |
| Writing solo on your own machines | Desktop license | $79.95 once |
| A current post-secondary student | Student license | $59.95 once |
| Writing on Linux | Desktop license | $79.95, and it actually runs there |
| Needing browser access and live collaboration | Desktop plus Access | $79.95 plus $9.95/mo or $99.95/yr |
| A school or a company | Site or multiuser license | Quoted on request |
Run the arithmetic first
Fade In's whole argument is arithmetic, so let's do it. The competitor prices below come from our own reviews, all checked this month.
| What you pay for | Price | What $79.95 equals |
|---|---|---|
| Fade In desktop | $79.95 once | the baseline |
| Final Draft 13 | $199.99 once | Fade In is $120.04 cheaper on day one |
| Celtx Writer, monthly | $14.99/mo | you pass $79.95 during month 6 |
| WriterDuet Pro, monthly | $11.99/mo | you pass $79.95 during month 7 |
| Arc Studio Essentials | $69/year | you pass $79.95 around month 14 |
| Fade In Access, annual | $99.95/year | more per year than the app costs once |
That last row is the one to sit with. Fade In's own cloud subscription costs more every twelve months than the software it syncs. Call that pricing honesty. The desktop app is priced like a tool, the service is priced like a service, and nobody here is pretending the second one comes free with the first.
The break-even numbers assume competitor prices hold, which they will not over five years. They also assume Fade In never charges for a major version jump, which is the one thing the site does not promise in writing. More on that below.
What $79.95 actually buys
A full desktop app on three platforms. Windows 7 or later, macOS 10.10 or later on Intel or Apple Silicon, and Linux as .deb, .rpm or .tar.gz on 64-bit Intel. One individual license lets you install on your own computers across all three. Linux screenwriters have close to nothing else at this level, and Fade In has quietly held that ground for years.
The Dialogue Tuner. Pull every line a single character speaks into one view and read them back to back. Voice problems that hide across ninety pages become obvious in ninety seconds. There is word-frequency analysis alongside it. If you have ever discovered on page 70 that three characters share the same verbal tic, you already know why this matters. Our echo finder tool does a version of the same job on text you paste in, if you want to test the idea before paying.
Real revision handling. Lock scenes and pages, run revision page colors through pre-production, print only the changed pages in the correct color. This is the feature that separates writing software from a word processor with margins, and it is the reason production offices care which app you used.
Breakdowns and production reports. Tag scenes, cast, locations and elements, then generate standard breakdown output. Not many $79.95 tools go that far downstream. If you want to see the shape of that work first, our script breakdown checklist covers the same categories.
Import that does not fight you. Final Draft .fdx, RTF, Fountain, Scrivener, Celtx, HTML and Open Screenplay Format XML, in both directions. Migrating a back catalogue out of another app is usually where the switching cost hides, and Fade In has the widest import list in this price range.
Free updates. The support page puts it plainly: buy the current version and get updates for it at no charge. Version 5 has shipped ten point releases so far, up to 5.0.13.
Where it costs you
The demo is a demo, not a free tier. It runs every key feature, but it watermarks printed and PDF output and pops a registration reminder after ten pages. The download page also notes online realtime collaboration is missing from it. There is no stated expiry, so you can evaluate at your own pace, but you cannot send anything out of it. Compare that to WriterDuet, whose free plan produces clean PDFs.
"Free updates" has an unwritten boundary. The version notes list 5.0.0 through 5.0.13 and nothing older. So free updates within version 5 is documented and real. What happens when version 6 arrives is not published anywhere on the site. Final Draft charges $99.99 for that jump. Fade In might not charge at all. But the track record is your only guarantee here, and that is worth knowing before you call this a lifetime purchase.
No refund policy is published. The legal page covers licensing and warranty and says licenses are not transferrable. It says nothing about refunds, and neither does the support FAQ. The purchase page says the order is sold and fulfilled by FastSpring, so a refund request would go through the reseller under whatever terms apply there. Use the demo properly instead of relying on a return.
The mobile story contradicts itself. One support answer says the legacy Fade In Mobile for iOS and Android has been discontinued and points you to Fade In Access in a mobile browser. A second answer further down the same page still describes Fade In Mobile as a $4.99 app with a free Basic version. Both are on the page right now. Assume the browser route is the supported one and treat the $4.99 app as legacy until they clean that up.
Mac App Store copies are a different product. Buy through the App Store and you are limited to Mac, with no registration key. You install on your own machines using the same Apple ID instead. If the cross-platform license is why you are buying, buy from fadeinpro.com.
No web app without the subscription. The desktop software is the desktop software. Browser editing, version history, secure sharing and collaboration all sit behind Access. That is a clean separation, but it means the $79.95 tier has no online component at all, not even document backup.
Fade In Access, decoded
Access is the cloud half: file storage, automatic version history and backups, browser editing on any device including phones and tablets, secure sharing that blocks copying and text extraction, and live collaboration. It is optional. The desktop app works without it.
| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $9.95/mo | 7-day free trial, renews monthly |
| Annual | $99.95/yr | 7-day free trial, the site frames it as saving two months |
The sharing feature is the underrated part. Sending a producer a link you can update beats emailing a fourth PDF with a longer filename. It only pencils out at $99.95 a year on top of a $79.95 app if you have readers to manage. One script and two readers, no. A slate of four projects with notes coming back from different people, probably yes.
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Start FreeWhich version to buy
| Your situation | Buy | Why |
|---|---|---|
| First screenplay, no budget | Demo, then $79.95 when you finish a draft | The nag at ten pages is survivable while you learn |
| Current student | $59.95 student license | Send the student ID first, order afterwards |
| Coming off Final Draft | $79.95 desktop | .fdx import both ways, $120 cheaper, same output |
| Writing on Linux | $79.95 desktop | Native binaries, not a browser workaround |
| Co-writing every week | Desktop plus Access annual | The collaboration is the whole reason |
| Going into production | $79.95 desktop | Locking, revision colors and breakdowns are included |
| Writing three months a year | $79.95 desktop | Subscriptions punish irregular writers hardest |
| Whole class or company | Contact them for site licensing | Individual licenses are not transferrable |
Test it properly before you pay
The demo has no clock, so use it. Thirty minutes of the right checks beats a refund request you may not be able to make.
- Import your biggest existing .fdx and check the page count matches the original.
- Export it back out and open it in whatever the other person uses.
- Run the Dialogue Tuner on your talkiest character.
- Lock pages and produce a revision set in colors, then print it.
- Tag one scene fully and generate a breakdown report.
- Install it on your second machine and confirm the same license activates.
- If you write on Linux, run it on your actual distribution rather than assuming the .deb behaves.
- Start the Access trial only in the week you can genuinely test collaboration, since seven days goes quickly.
If steps 1 and 2 both come back clean, the rest is preference. Format fidelity in and out is the thing that ends up costing you real time.
Alternatives
Against Final Draft, Fade In wins on price and platform coverage and loses on industry ubiquity. If your collaborators send you .fdx files with revision marks and expect them back, read our Final Draft 13 review before switching. Against WriterDuet, the comparison is one-time versus real-time; we broke it down in Fade In vs WriterDuet. Against Celtx and Arc Studio, Fade In is the anti-subscription pick, and both of those buy you planning tools it does not have.
If what you actually want is a script that becomes shots, boards and video, that is a different tool category entirely. ScreenWeaver sits there. See how it lines up in Fade In vs ScreenWeaver, and if you are still weighing free options, what free screenwriting software really costs covers the traps.
Writing in Fountain in a plain text editor and want a formatted PDF without buying anything today? Our Fountain to PDF converter will do that for free.
FAQ
How much does Fade In cost?
$79.95 for the desktop software, down from a $99.95 list price, as a one-time purchase in US dollars. Students at accredited post-secondary institutions pay $59.95 after verifying with a student ID. Fade In Access, the optional cloud service, is $9.95 a month or $99.95 a year with a seven-day trial.
Is Fade In a subscription?
The desktop app is not. You pay once and you own that license. Fade In Access is a subscription, and it is a separate product. You can run the desktop software indefinitely without ever subscribing.
Can I install Fade In on more than one computer?
Yes. The support FAQ says your individual license lets you install on your own computers running Windows, Mac and Linux. Licenses are not transferrable to other people. Mac App Store purchases are the exception: those are Mac only, with no registration key, and you reinstall using the same Apple ID.
Does Fade In run on Linux?
Yes, as compiled binaries for 64-bit Intel systems, distributed as .deb, .rpm or .tar.gz. That is unusual in this category and it is a large part of why people choose Fade In in the first place.
Are updates free?
Within version 5, yes. The support page says you get updates to the current version at no charge, and version 5 has shipped through 5.0.13. The site publishes no policy for major version upgrades, so leave a little room in your budget for a paid jump to version 6.
Is the free demo good enough to finish a script?
You can write in it as long as you like, but it watermarks printed and PDF output and reminds you to register after ten pages. So you can draft, and you cannot deliver. Use it to test import and export fidelity with your real files, then buy before you need to send anything to anyone.
Does Fade In open Final Draft files?
Yes, both directions. It imports and exports .fdx, plus RTF, Fountain, Scrivener, Celtx, HTML and Open Screenplay Format XML. Test a round trip with your longest script during the demo, because that is where format differences show up.
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