Free Screenwriting Software: What "Free" Actually Includes in 2026

Eight screenwriting apps cost nothing to open. Four of them stay free with no page cap, no watermark and no project limit. The other four have a wall in them, and each wall sits somewhere different. Here is what every one of them gives you at $0, and exactly where it stops.

That distinction matters more than any feature list. A free tier with two scripts in it is a trial with no clock on it. A GPL app with unlimited scripts is a permanent tool that happens to cost nothing. Both are labeled "free" on the download page. For the wider ranking of paid options alongside these, see our best screenwriting software 2026 roundup, and the comparisons hub for head-to-head pages. This article stays on the $0 column.

The free tiers, side by side

Every figure below comes from the vendor's own pricing page or app listing, checked in September 2026.

Tool	What $0 gets you	Hard limit	PDF watermark	Your files
Story Architect (STARC)	Screenplay, novel, comic, stageplay and audio drama editors, title page, treatment, import/export, scene number locking	None on projects or documents	No	Local, open source app
Beat	Full Fountain editor, index cards, timeline, revision tracking, FDX import and export, PDF export	None	No	Local .fountain files
Trelby	Editor with pagination and spell check, six import formats, six export formats, script compare, reports	None	Optional, you add it	Local files
WriterSolo	WriterDuet's editor without the cloud layer	None published	No	Your device, Dropbox, Drive, iCloud
WriterDuet Free	Full editor, real-time co-writing as an invited guest, cloud sync	3 projects	No	Vendor cloud
Celtx Free	Screenplay, multi-column AV and stageplay editors, commenting, read-through	1 seat, 1 project	Not stated	Vendor cloud
Arc Studio Free	Browser editor, cloud sync, automatic backups, comments, Fountain and FDX export	2 scripts, browser only	Yes	Vendor cloud
Fade In demo	Everything in the paid app except online real-time collaboration	None stated	Yes, on every print and PDF	Local files

Final Draft has no free tier at all. The Final Draft 13 review covers the $199.99 license and the five-day Suite trial that stands in for one.

The four that are free with no ceiling

Story Architect (STARC)

STARC's free plan carries an unlimited number of projects and unlimited documents inside each one, on Mac, Windows and mobile at the same time. The screenplay module at $0 includes logline and synopsis fields, a title page, treatment text, the script editor itself, basic statistics, import and export, and scene number locking. It also ships editors for comics, stageplays, audio dramas and novels on the same free plan.

Story Architect's own pricing page, captured 1 September 2026. "Unlimited number of projects" sits in the $0 column.

What sits behind the paywall is structure and analysis work rather than writing: mind maps, the corkboard, the timeline, character relation editors, location maps, extended statistics and the AI credits. Pro is $4.17 a month billed annually, or $150 once for a lifetime license. Creator, which adds device sync and real-time collaboration, is $8.34 a month billed annually. Students and university teaching staff get 50% off any plan after emailing from an institutional address.

The code is GPL-3.0 on GitHub and the repository is active, with commits through late August 2026 and version 0.8.2 tagged in June. That combination, an unlimited free tier plus a live open-source repo, is rare enough that STARC deserves a look before you accept anyone else's project cap.

Beat

Beat runs on macOS and iOS, costs nothing on the Mac App Store, and is licensed under GPL v3. Version 2.2.7 shipped on 21 August 2026, so it is maintained. The developer's own listing says the app "is totally free and open source, and will remain so", with the caveat that a paid pro version might arrive later while "the core app will always be free of charge."

It writes Fountain natively, which means your screenplay is a plain text file you can open in any other Fountain app forever. On top of that it does Final Draft import and export, PDF export, index cards, a timeline, revision tracking, automatic scene numbering, autocomplete for scene headings and character names, and a plugin system. If you are on a Mac and you want a serious free editor, this is the shortest path to one.

There is no Windows build, no Linux build and no browser version. A Mac is the price of entry, which for a lot of writers ends the conversation.

Trelby

Trelby is the Windows and Linux answer, GPL-2.0, with a feature set that punches well above zero dollars: enforced format and pagination, spell check, a character name database of over 200,000 names, scene, location, character and dialogue reports, and a script compare tool that shows what changed between drafts. It imports formatted text, FDX, Celtx, Fountain, Adobe Story and Fade In files, and exports PDF, formatted text, HTML, RTF, FDX and Fountain. Its PDF generator can embed a font of your choice and stamp custom watermarks on shared copies, so you can track who leaked a draft. Celtx keeps that same feature behind its Writer Pro tier.

Maintenance is where it wobbles. The last tagged release, 2.4.16.2, landed on 3 October 2025, and the repository has seen no pushes since 21 October 2025, with 66 issues open. The app still runs fine after eleven quiet months. It does mean nobody is going to fix an OS compatibility break on your schedule. Install it, and keep your files backed up somewhere outside it.

WriterSolo

WriterSolo is WriterDuet's own editor with the cloud layer removed. The Flathub listing, published under WriterDuet as developer, describes it as "the free version of WriterDuet without any collaboration features to it", handling FDX, Fountain and PDF export. The old marketing domain, freescreenwriting.com, now redirects to writersolo.com, and the WriterDuet help article that used to document it redirects to the company homepage. The app is live and the editor is the real one. Nobody at WriterDuet appears to be promoting it any more, so expect thin support if something breaks.

The four with a wall in them

WriterDuet Free

Three projects, no watermarks, no page limits, no credit card. Among paid-tier funnels this is the most usable free plan on the list, because nothing you export carries a stamp. Collaboration only runs one way. A free account can co-write on somebody else's script as an invited guest, but cannot invite a writer onto its own, so two free accounts cannot write together. The desktop app and true offline mode start at the Plus tier. Full breakdown in the WriterDuet review.

Celtx Free

Celtx gives a free account one seat and one project. Script history is read-only, drafts are off, script settings are limited, and custom headers and footers are locked. You do get all three script editors, screenplay, multi-column AV and stageplay, plus unlimited commenting and collaboration and the read-through tool. One project is a strict ceiling: finish a feature and start a second one, and you are choosing between deleting the first or paying. The Celtx review decodes the paid ladder above it.

Arc Studio Free

Two scripts, browser only. The desktop app and the iPhone and iPad apps are Pro features, and so are outlining tools, custom formats, history, revision management and inviting collaborators. PDF export exists but is watermarked.

Arc Studio's feature matrix, captured 1 September 2026. Fountain and Final Draft export are ticked at $0, PDF export is not.

Fountain and Final Draft export are included on the free plan and come out clean, because a watermark lives in a rendered page and not in a text or XML file. So the free plan works as a drafting environment for anyone delivering FDX or Fountain. See the Arc Studio review for the $99 first year and $79 renewal math.

Fade In demo

Fade In's demo has no expiry date published anywhere. The download page says it includes "all key functionality except for online realtime collaboration, and will place a watermark on any printed/PDF output." So you get a full professional desktop app, on Windows, macOS and Linux, for as long as you want it, and the only penalty lands at the moment you hand a script to somebody else. Buying the license removes the watermark for $79.95 once. The Fade In review runs the break-even against every subscription in this list.

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Read the last two columns first

Ignore the feature counts. The watermark column and the file column decide more than the rest of the table put together.

A free tier that stores your work in a vendor cloud and stamps your PDF is renting you a workspace. A free app that writes plain Fountain files to your own disk is handing you a tool. When the first kind changes its pricing, you negotiate. When the second kind gets abandoned, you open the same files in something else that same afternoon, because Fountain is a documented plain-text format that a dozen apps read. Our guide to Fountain import and export covers what survives the round trip between formats and what does not.

This is also the practical answer to the watermark problem. If your free app watermarks PDFs, export Fountain or FDX instead and render the PDF elsewhere. Our free Fountain to PDF converter does exactly that in the browser, and the title page maker handles the one page most free editors format badly.

Pick by situation

Your situation	Use this	Why
Windows or Linux, want it free permanently	Trelby or Story Architect	No cap, no watermark, no account
Mac, want a serious free editor	Beat	Fountain native, maintained, GPL
Writing more than three scripts a year	Story Architect	Only free tier with no project limit
Co-writing with one partner, both broke	Neither free tier works	WriterDuet free cannot host, Celtx free is one seat
Need a full pro desktop app today, drafts only	Fade In demo	Everything except collaboration, watermark only on output
Delivering FDX or Fountain, not PDF	Arc Studio Free	Watermark applies to PDF, not to exported files
Already inside Celtx with one finished script	Pay or move	One project is the wall
Want production tools for free	None of them	Breakdown, schedule and budget are paid everywhere

If you are going free because you are still learning the craft, and not because money is tight, the tool matters less than the material. Our free screenwriting learning resources list is a better use of an afternoon than comparing another feature grid.

Free tools do disappear

Two widely used free screenwriting apps of the last decade are gone. Adobe announced on 23 January 2018 that it would discontinue Adobe Story CC and Story CC Classic, and ended service on 22 January 2019. Amazon told Storywriter users in May 2019 to export their projects before 30 June 2019, then disabled the accounts.

It happened again this cycle, quietly. Highland 2 is no longer purchasable, the product pages redirect to Highland Pro, and the App Store listing is gone; the Highland 2 review documents what remains for existing owners. None of these were bad apps. They were free apps inside companies that changed their minds.

The defense takes about a minute and works in every case: keep a Fountain or FDX copy of every script outside the app you wrote it in. That one habit turns a shutdown notice from a crisis into an inconvenience. For the fuller version of this argument, including the time and lock-in costs that never appear on a pricing page, read the hidden costs of free screenwriting software.

FAQ

What is the best free screenwriting software in 2026?

Story Architect for unlimited projects across Windows, Mac and mobile, Beat if you are on a Mac and want a Fountain-native editor, Trelby if you are on Linux. All three are open source with no page limits and no watermarks. Among vendor free tiers, WriterDuet Free is the most usable because it applies no watermark, but it caps you at three projects.

Do free screenwriting apps watermark your PDF?

Some do. Arc Studio watermarks PDF export on the free plan, and the Fade In demo watermarks any printed or PDF output. WriterDuet Free explicitly does not, and neither do Beat, Trelby or Story Architect. Trelby can add a watermark if you ask it to, as a way of tracking who leaked a shared draft.

Can I write a full feature on a free plan?

Yes, on any of them. None of the free tiers listed here caps page count. The limits are on how many scripts you can keep, whether the output is stamped, and what you can do with collaborators. A 110-page feature is fine on all eight.

Is free screenwriting software good enough for a professional submission?

For the script itself, yes. Correct formatting is a solved problem and Trelby, Beat, Story Architect and Fade In all produce standard pages. Where free tiers fall short is production work: revision mode, colored pages, locked pages and script breakdown are paid features almost everywhere. If you are submitting a spec, free is enough. If you are going into production, budget for a license.

Can two people co-write for free?

Not on the tiers here. WriterDuet's free plan lets a free account join somebody else's script but not invite anyone to its own, so two free accounts cannot pair up. Celtx free is one seat. Arc Studio free cannot invite collaborators. Story Architect's real-time collaboration sits on the Creator plan at $8.34 a month billed annually. Cheapest legitimate route to two writers on one script is one paid seat, whoever hosts.

What happens to my scripts if a free app shuts down?

Your export habit decides that, not the app. If your work lives only in a vendor cloud, you get whatever export window the shutdown notice grants you. Amazon gave Storywriter users from May 2019 until 30 June 2019. If you keep a Fountain or FDX copy on your own disk, nothing happens to you at all. Export after every draft, and check whether the app works offline while you are at it.