Available now
Free
Everything you need to write a book.
$0 / forever
No card. No trial clock.
Start writing free- The complete editor — nothing is held back
- Up to 3 projects
- Outline with acts, chapters & scenes
- Characters, locations & world-building
- Reference panel and citations
- Charts, front matter & the Research tab
- The full book designer — layout, templates, covers
- Goals, streaks & progress tracking
- Continuous saving as you type
- Real-time collaboration — 1 co-author, 2 editors, 5 alpha readers
- Comments and margin notes
- DOCX, TXT & HTML export — your manuscript is always yours
- Plain single-column PDF on a standard template
- Cover designer with print bleed
- Cross-device sync
- Public writer profile
- 1 GB storage · 10 saved snapshots
Coming soon
Publish
For writers taking a finished book to print.
$59 / year
Billing opens with the beta.
- Everything in Free, plus exporting your designed pages
- Print-ready PDF of the book you designed
- Chapter openers, images set on the page
- Trim sizes, margins & full typographic control
- Unlimited projects
- Complete change history, kept forever
- Unlimited snapshots
- 30 GB storage · unlimited images · no size cap
- Unlimited collaborators of every kind
- Custom tabs beyond Research — Magic, Religion, Symbolism, or your own
- The desktop app, included when it ships
- Priority support
Every Publish subscription funds the free tier for writers who can’t pay. That’s the whole deal.
In writing
The part we won’t move
Free-forever promises from small apps deserve suspicion, so here is the boundary in plain words instead of fine print:
- Writing stays free. The editor, the outline, collaboration — the whole workspace. Not a trial, no expiration date.
- Your words are never held hostage. DOCX, TXT and HTML export are free on every plan, permanently, and so is a plain single-column PDF. Leaving Charc will always be painless.
- Alpha writers get a long runway. Every account created during the alpha keeps the designed-book features for a stretch after billing opens, counted from the day the account was made. That’s the thank-you for being early.
- Early subscribers keep $59. Subscribe in the first year of billing and the price never rises on you.
Compare
Every plan, side by side
The numbers below are the ones Charc actually enforces — not marketing rounding. Free-tier limits are generous on purpose: a 120,000-word novel is a few megabytes of text.
| Feature | Free | Publish |
|---|---|---|
| Writing | ||
| Projects | 3 | ∞ |
| Words per project | ∞ | ∞ |
| Full prose editor & themes | ||
| Outline, characters & world-building | ||
| Goals, streaks & progress | ||
| Charts & data tables | ||
| Front matter designer | ||
| Research tab | ||
| Additional custom tabs | ||
| Storage | ||
| Total storage | 1 GB | 30 GB |
| Images per project | 30 | ∞ |
| Collaboration | ||
| Co-authors per project | 1 | ∞ |
| Editors per project | 2 | ∞ |
| Alpha readers per project | 5 | ∞ |
| Live presence & scene locks | ||
| Comments & margin notes | ||
| History & safety | ||
| Saves while typing | Continuous | Continuous |
| Saved snapshots | 10 | ∞ |
| Automatic saves kept | 10 recent | ∞ |
| Automatic saves retained for | 14 days | Forever |
| Change history | 7 days | Forever |
| Publishing | ||
| DOCX, TXT & HTML export | ||
| EPUB export | ||
| Print-ready PDF export | ||
| Trim sizes & full typographic control | ||
| Front matter templates | ||
| Cover designer with print bleed | ||
| Public writer profile | ||
| Support | ||
| Support | Community | Priority |
Scroll the table sideways to see Publish →
Questions
Pricing questions
Straight answers about what free means, what happens to your work, and when paid plans arrive.
Is the free plan really free, or is it a trial?
Genuinely free, with no expiration date. You get the complete editor, the outline, characters, collaboration, continuous saving and the cover designer — not a stripped-down preview. The Publish plan adds the export of your designed pages and removes limits; it doesn’t unlock the app.
Can I buy Publish today?
Not yet. Charc is in alpha and billing opens with the beta. In the meantime everything is unlocked, and accounts created during the alpha keep the designed-book features for a stretch after billing opens — that’s the thank-you for being early. Nothing you build now is affected.
What happens to my work if I hit a limit?
Nothing is deleted or locked away. If you reach the project or storage ceiling, Charc stops you from adding more until you free up room or upgrade — but every word you have already written stays exactly where it is, and you can always export all of it.
Can I get my writing out of Charc?
Always, on every plan. DOCX, TXT and HTML export are free forever, and so is a plain single-column PDF — your manuscript is never held hostage, and we would rather you stayed because Charc is good than because leaving is painful. What Publish adds is exporting the pages you designed — your layout, your chapter openers, images set on the page. That is book production, not access to your own words.
Do my collaborators need to pay?
No. Team limits follow the project owner’s plan, so anyone you invite — co-author, editor or alpha reader — can join and work on your project on their own free account.
What counts against my storage?
Almost entirely images: cover art, character portraits and reference pictures. Prose barely registers — a finished 120,000-word novel is a few megabytes, so 1 GB holds far more writing than most authors will produce.
Will you cancel or refund easily when billing launches?
Yes. Publish will be a simple annual subscription, cancellable in a click from your account page, and you keep it until the year you already paid for runs out. No cancellation calls, no dark patterns. Subscribe in the first year and the $59 price is locked for you permanently.
What happens to alpha writers when billing starts?
Writing never changes, and neither does the book designer — layout, templates, covers and front matter stay free for everyone, permanently. What Publish adds is exporting those designed pages. Accounts created during the alpha keep that for a stretch after billing opens, counted from the day the account was made.
Is there a student or hardship discount?
The free plan is the answer to that, and it is meant to be complete enough that money never decides whether you finish your book. If it falls short for you once paid plans launch, write to us and we’ll sort something out.