Novellum

What Novellum is

Novellum is a web-based writing workspace for novelists and world-builders, with tools to plan a book and keep track of story details as they appear in prose. Its Nexus records characters, places, items, factions, and concepts, then detects mentions of them in the manuscript. Books can be arranged into acts, chapters, and scenes, with drag-and-drop reordering, word counts, point-of-view labels, statuses, and a planning grid. The editor provides rich-text formatting, autosave, inline comments, highlights, customizable typography, and Nexus mention detection. Insights summarize word-count progress, scene-length distribution, point-of-view balance, and Nexus coverage without AI.

The manuscript and Nexus sync across devices, with edits described as updating in about a second; prose itself is not sent device to device. Novellum imports DOCX, Markdown, and plain text, and exports DOCX and EPUB. Optional AI connections include Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Mistral, OpenRouter, and custom or self-hosted providers. You supply your own API key and pay the chosen provider directly. Novellum says it does not use writing content to train AI; when AI is enabled, request text goes to the selected provider. The service is in beta, with a free plan during beta and a standard plan listed at $15/month or $162/year after beta.

Who it suits

Novellum suits novelists and world-builders who want to plan books while tracking story elements across their prose. Its stated uses also include memoir, biography, and research, and the web workspace can suit writers who want outlining, manuscript organization, and cross-device sync.

Limits

The beta plan is free while in beta; after beta, it is listed at $15/month or $162/year. The beta plan includes all features, unlimited books, scenes, and Nexus entries; AI uses your own provider key, with provider charges paid directly.

Getting started

1. Visit getnovellum.com.
2. Sign up for early access to the beta.
3. Use the web workspace to organize a book into acts, chapters, and scenes.
4. Import a DOCX, Markdown, or plain-text manuscript, or start in the editor.
5. Optionally connect an AI provider with your own API key.

Verdict

Choose Novellum if you want a web writing workspace that combines manuscript structure with tracking for story elements and reports on your writing. Its free beta plan includes all features, while the listed post-beta standard plan is $15/month or $162/year. Look elsewhere if you need a guaranteed uptime commitment or do not meet the age requirement.