Ulysses for MacOS: The Ultimate Writer’s Companion (With One Glaring Limitation)
If you’re searching for a premier writing app for Mac, Ulysses continues to lead the pack. It delivers a beautiful, distraction-free writing environment, a unified library for all your drafts, and seamless syncing across all Apple devices—making it perfect for everyone from novelists to bloggers and students.
Key Features
- Distraction-Free Interface: Ulysses strips away clutter so you can focus entirely on writing. And by Distraction-Free, I mean Distraction-Free, especially if you enable the "Full Screen" mode. It's really nice!
- Unified Library: Store all your writing—from blog posts to book chapters—in one easily searchable space. The search is so simple and tucked away until you need it. Clicking the icon shown in my screenshot, brings up the search box where you can choose the scope of the search.
- Goals \& Statistics: Set and track writing milestones to boost productivity.
- Flexible Export \& Publishing: Export work in multiple formats, with the added bonus of direct Ghost Blog integration. You can publish drafts directly to your Ghost site, schedule posts, or update content without leaving Ulysses—making it incredibly useful for regular bloggers.
One Drawback: Subscription-Only Pricing
While Ulysses is almost flawless in function and design, there’s one drawback: the app only offers a recurring subscription with no option for a one-time purchase. Furthermore, if you don’t have an active subscription, the app becomes read-only, meaning you can view past work but can’t create or edit documents. For some, this paywall can be a bit restrictive, especially if you prefer buying software outright rather than committing to ongoing payments.
The Verdict
Despite this limitation, Ulysses remains a best-in-class writing and publishing tool—especially for users in the Apple ecosystem and those publishing to platforms like Ghost. If you’re comfortable with the subscription model, Ulysses is an investment worth making for its productivity, organization, and publishing capabilities.
My Rating:
I give Ulysses for MacOS 4 out of 5 stars. It’s nearly perfect, but the subscription-only pricing and read-only limitation for unpaid users hold it back from a full five stars.
