When comparing Final Draft vs iA Writer, the Slant community recommends iA Writer for most people. In the question“What is the best Mac writing software for novelists?” iA Writer is ranked 3rd while Final Draft is ranked 10th. The most important reason people chose iA Writer is:
The Noise Free Writing Experience is one of the first approaches to create a first class distraction-free environment. The feature hides the Mac program bar when you start writing.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Collabowriter allows two people to work on the same document at the same time
Pro Industry standard
Pro Built-in collaboration tools
Pro Text-to-speech support
Pro Lots of templates
Final Draft comes bundled with over 100 screenplay, teleplay and stageplay example templates.
Pro Available on Windows, OS X and iOS
Final Draft is available on Windows and OS X with companion applications available for the iPad and iPhone.
Pro Noise Free Writing Experience removes even the program bar
The Noise Free Writing Experience is one of the first approaches to create a first class distraction-free environment. The feature hides the Mac program bar when you start writing.
Pro A mode that brings focus to the sentence you're working on
Enabling Focus Mode will dim the whole text except the sentence you are currently writing on.
Pro Can tell how long it would take to read through what you've written
Pro Markdown support
Pro Syncs using iCloud and Dropbox
iA Writer can sync documents using iCloud or Dropbox from within the editor for use across multiple devices.
Pro Create whole document by including separate images/markdown docs
This is new and very awesome feature in iA Writer 4.0.
Pro Can export a Word document
Pro Available for all Apple devices
iA Writer is available for Mac, iPhone and iPad.
Cons
Con Expensive
The OS X and Windows versions of the software cost $249.
Con Updates require payment
Con Companion apps for iOS have to be purchased separately
Con No built-in way of sharing documents
Con Lacks support for AV multi-col templates
Con Dated UI
Con No Linux support
