Test 1 Features & value

What’s included in the price?

With such a range of prices and features sets, this was tricky. At £43.99, barely more than the price of an annual subscription to Ulysses, Scrivener does almost the same job. Microsoft’s Word is the costliest here, but its collaboration tools – allowing you to track changes and add comments on Mac and PC – are unmatched. Byword is terrific value if what you want is a distraction-free writing tool with Markdown support and the ability to upload directly to Wordpress or Medium. It makes iA Writer, at twice the price, feel expensive.

Bear Pro’s feature set, though, is hard to beat for the price. Primarily designed as a tool for taking notes and writing code, its Pro subscription includes syncing with iOS versions. There’s also support for multiple markup languages, including Markdown, a Focus mode and export options that include HTML and PDF.