When comparing KIT Scenarist vs Trelby, the Slant community recommends KIT Scenarist for most people. In the question“What is the best screenwriting software?” KIT Scenarist is ranked 2nd while Trelby is ranked 3rd. The most important reason people chose KIT Scenarist is:
Kit scenarist does not require a constant Internet connection in order to use it.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Works offline
Kit scenarist does not require a constant Internet connection in order to use it.
Pro Provides tools for the whole writing process
It includes research tools, a cards tool and enables documentation on everything used in the story.
Pro Free
Kit scenarist can be downloaded and used absolutely free of charge.
Pro Contains statistics tools
The statistics tools can permit you to keep track of how long each character talks along the script, check your action to dialogue times, complete character analysis, and tons more. It also has some real life statistics, like how many scenes you cast will have to speak in, or how long the film in a certain location will be.
Pro Character and set management
The character and set management tools in Kit scenarist extend the flexibility of the software by allowing writers to add descriptions to each character or location, along with some pictures, URLS, or "mind maps". These tools can be especially useful for small crews who need an easy and integrated way to keep track of everything they have.
Pro Cross-platform
Supports Windows, Mac, Linux, and even has Android and iOS apps (although the last two are not free). This makes sharing easier in studios and diverse work situations.
Pro Multilingual
Kit scenarist contains support for multiple languages and spell check. This includes some standard languages such as:
English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, and others.
Pro Supports .FDX
KIT scenarist supports the industry standard .FDX format.
It can both import and export your files as such.
Pro Script formatting
Pro Paid online collaboration service
Kit scenarist provides for online collaboration service, under a subscription fee.
Pro Free, open source and cross-platform
Trelby is available absolutely free for Windows and Linux with source code available on GitHub.
Pro Final Draft compatible
Can import and export .fdx files.
Pro Can highlight differences between different versions of a script
Pro Has a character name database
A character name database with 200k+ names from various countries is built into Trelby.
Cons
Con English only
Trelby supports the ISO-8859-1 character set, any characters that are outside of that set are not supported.
Con No longer maintained
Right now in 2018, most recent updates are from three or more years ago. This creates problems installing the .deb releases on certain linux distros, and means it probably wont be getting long term support anymore.
Con Can't use bold, italic, underline
Con No online collaboration capabilities
Con Lacks revision tracking
Con No OSX version
Trelby is only available on Windows and Linux.