Side by side

Dialogue Manager vs Drafft

Both stand on game narrative design software. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.

Dialogue Manager

Free plan APISelf-hosted

Choose Dialogue Manager when a Godot project needs branching conversations with game-owned state and presentation. Consider another option if you need a standalone dialogue tool or an engine other than Godot.

Visit Dialogue Manager

Drafft

Free trial APILinuxMac+2

Drafft brings narrative authoring and game design documents together while keeping projects local by default. Its sync and API options have setup and availability constraints to consider.

Visit Drafft

The facts

	Dialogue Manager	Drafft
Free plan	Yes	A free trial
Open source	Not published	Not published
Runs on	API, Self-hosted	API, Linux, Mac, Self-hosted, Windows
Lowest paid plan	Not published	Not published
Plans published	None	None
Maker	Not published	Not published
Website	dialogue.nathanhoad.net	drafft.dev
On game narrative design software	#15 of 25	#19 of 25

Dialogue Manager: what it does well

Script-like dialogue authoring inside the Godot Editor
Stateless runtime leaves dialogue state with the game
Supports GDScript and C# projects
Includes syntax checking, test scene, and debugger
Godot translation, CSV, and PO localization workflows

What to know first

Requires Godot 4.6 or newer
Headless design leaves visual presentation to the game
Must be integrated into a Godot project

Drafft: what it does well

Works offline with project data local by default
Simulates dialogue flow without running the game
Exports structured JSON for game engines
Seven-day trial includes all features
No credit card required for the trial

What to know first

Trial lasts seven days
Sync requires a user-configured CouchDB-compatible server
REST API works only while Drafft runs with a project loaded
Collaborators should avoid editing the same item simultaneously

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