Overleaf vs Story Architect
Overleaf
overleaf.com
Story Architect
starc.appSide by side
| Figure | Overleaf | Story Architect |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $8.20/mo | $4.17/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 9 | 12 |
| Spec score · Writing Apps | 9.5 (#2) | 9.3 (#5) |
| Company history | Overleaf was created in 2011 by John Hammersley and John Lees-Miller and joined Digital Science in 2014. | SaaSHub reports that Dmitry Novikov began the precursor project in 2013, Story Architect was conceived in 2019 and released in 2021. |
| Documentation | The official documentation covers getting started, editing, projects, collaboration, integrations, security, on-premises administration, troubleshooting and LaTeX tutorials. | The help center contains 39 articles across seven topics covering installation, workflows, features, customization, licenses, mobile use and comparisons. |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Purpose | Overleaf is an online platform for collaborating in LaTeX, compiling documents, and refining them. | Story Architect is an all-in-one writing app for screenplays, comics, plays, books and other story forms organized in a shared project bible. |
| Support | The Organizations plan includes personalized support, personalized onboarding, and a dedicated account manager. | The pricing FAQ directs users to [email protected] for help. |
| What it does | Overleaf is a browser-based collaborative LaTeX editor that compiles documents to formatted output while people write together. | Story Architect is a writing environment for screenplays, novels, stage plays, audio plays, comic books and related story work. |
Plans
Overleaf
- FreeFree
- Student$8.25 a month
- Standard$16.75 a month
- Pro$33.25 a month
- FreeFree
- Student$8.20 a month
- Standard$16.60 a month
- Pro$33.25 a month
- OrganizationsPriced on request
Story Architect
- FreeFree
- Pro$4.17 a month
- Creator$8.34 a month
- AI credits 50$10 a month
- AI credits 200$30 a month
- AI credits 500$60 a month
- AI credits 1000$100 a month
- AI credits 50$10, paid once
- AI credits 200$30, paid once
- AI credits 500$60, paid once
In their own words
Overleaf
Overleaf is an online platform for writing, compiling, and revising LaTeX documents with collaborators. Writers can choose a Visual Editor or a Code Editor, while shared documents support simultaneous editing and comments, plus in-document chat. Free templates and example projects cover journal articles, theses, and CVs. Listed connections and add-ons include Git and GitHub synchronization, Dropbox, ReadCube, Zotero, Mendeley, knitr for R code, and Grammarly. Google Drive content can be imported into projects, but Overleaf does not sync directly with Drive. The free plan costs nothing and allows unlimited projects with one collaborator per project. Student and Standard permit 10 collaborators per project, and Pro permits unlimited collaborators; no prices are listed for those tiers. An Organizations plan is described for 20+ users. A seven-day trial gives access to the selected plan, with the card charged afterward unless canceled. Overleaf was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Listed platforms are extension, self-hosted, and web.
Story Architect
Story Architect is a writing app for screenplays, comics, plays, books and other story forms, organized around a shared project bible. Its Free plan allows unlimited projects and documents per project, with basic writing, character, location and world tools. Pro adds mind maps, an image gallery, presentations, a corkboard, a timeline and five AI credits per month when billed annually. The AI assistant can paraphrase, summarize, expand or shorten text, translate, insert text between paragraphs, or generate text from a prompt; these actions use credits. Creator adds real-time collaboration and 5 GB of cloud storage. Story Architect supports offline use on Android, iOS, Linux, macOS and Windows. It imports KIT Scenarist, Final Draft, Celtx, Trelby, TXT, ODT, DOCX and Fountain files, and exports DOCX, PDF, FDX and Fountain. Desktop-to-mobile project synchronization remains in development, with manual file transfer documented instead. Pro costs $4.17 a month billed annually; Creator costs $8.34 a month billed annually.