WriteIDE or Understory: two desktop apps for the same job
The closest pair on this site. Both are desktop apps for LitRPG and progression fantasy, both keep your world on your computer with no account, both work out a character’s state from the changes you log, and each is made by one person.
Choose Understory if your story moves through time, you want to import a Scrivener project or an EPUB, or you write on an Intel Mac. It is free during its alpha and $29.99 once after. Choose WriteIDE for a free, stable app with Word, PDF, EPUB and Royal Road output and a reader companion in the same place.
Choose Understory if
Your story moves through time, or lives in Scrivener now.
- You write flashbacks or time skips and want a character as they were at that moment in the world.
- You want to bring in a Scrivener project or an EPUB, and have its stat blocks read into the ledger for you to review.
- You write on an Intel Mac.
- You would rather pay once, and joining during the alpha keeps your access.
Choose WriteIDE if
You want it free, stable and ready to publish from.
- You want every feature free, with nothing to buy.
- You want a stable release, with backups and versions you can see.
- You publish from the same app: Word, PDF, EPUB, Copy for Royal Road, and a Reader Codex for your readers today.
WriteIDE and Understory, side by side
| WriteIDE 0.7.8 | Understory | |
|---|---|---|
| Runs on | A desktop app for Mac with Apple silicon, Windows and Linux. | A desktop app for Mac with Apple silicon or Intel, Windows and Linux. |
| Cost | Free, with every feature. | Free during its alpha, then $29.99 once. Alpha users keep their access. |
| Where your book is kept | On your computer, in local files and a local database. | On your computer, in a .weave file. Its policy says it is never sent to its servers. |
| Account | None. | None. |
| How changes get in | You record each change at the scene where it happens: a slash command as you write, or Record a change. | You log each change and it keeps the running sum. A scanner finds names as you write. |
| Stats at any point | Stats, items, skills and quests read as of any scene, and a stat block in a chapter reads from its own scene. | Everything as of your cursor or any chapter, and in-world time too, so a flashback shows a character as they were then. |
| Import | Word, Markdown or text, reviewed before anything is made. It does not turn a book’s stat boxes into tracked changes. A CSV or Excel sheet can start a tracker. | Word, Markdown, text, EPUB and Scrivener projects. It can read stat blocks into its ledger for you to review. |
| Export | Word, PDF, EPUB, Markdown, HTML and BBCode, Copy for Royal Road, and a Reader Codex for your readers. | Markdown and text, per its May alpha post, which lists Word, PDF and EPUB as still to come. |
A place in the book, or a time in the world
WriteIDE reads every stat as of a place in the book: a scene, in story order. Move a scene and the numbers move with it.
Understory also records when in the world’s own timeline each event happened. Its alpha post describes a flashback set three years before the main arc, where every character shows the state they had then. If your book moves around in time, that is a real difference, and Understory is the one built for it.
A sheet as of any scene
Where each value was last set, as of this scene
- Realm
- Foundation Establishment Ch 4, Foundation
- Qi
- 760 Ch 4, Foundation
- Purity
- 82% Ch 4, Foundation
- Dao
- 22% Ch 4, Foundation
Sources
I make WriteIDE, so this page states only what Understory says on its own pages, and links each one. No affiliate links.
Read November 2, 2026
- Tiny Forest Labs Understory (opens in a new tab)
- Tiny Forest Labs Privacy policy (opens in a new tab)
- Tiny Forest Labs Understory alpha 2, September 8, 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- Tiny Forest Labs Alpha announcement, May 24, 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- Tiny Forest Labs Importing your LitRPG manuscript, April 18, 2026 (opens in a new tab)