bakspace
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For novels, memoirs, story collections and theses. The whole book in one binder, every draft kept, a finished file at the end.

DownloadSee how it works

Try the editor. Right here.

This is the real one, not a picture of it. Select some text, type a slash on a new line, or click a name: every character and place with a note is linked wherever it appears, and research stays out of the word count.

Pride and Prejudice

Chapter I

154 words / 437 in the manuscript

Write it, keep it, finish it.

Keep the files. They are yours.

A project is a folder of plain files on your disk. Open it in anything, back it up however you like, keep it for fifty years. No account, no export step.

The Ferry.bakspace/
  project.json
  binder.json
  nodes/
  history/
  manuscript/
    01 Part One/
      01 The Ferry.md
      02 Salt.md

Keep every version.

Rewrote chapter three and liked it better yesterday? Every version is kept. Compare any two, restore one, carry on.

The history panel listing snapshots of a scene

Finish in Word, EPUB or PDF.

One click compiles the manuscript: double spaced with a title page for an agent or a supervisor, or flowing for a reader.

.docx.epub.pdf

Focus mode: only the page, nothing else

Write with nothing in the way.

Focus mode is the page and nothing else. Typewriter scrolling keeps the line you are writing in the middle of the screen.

US$49

once

| wʌns |adverb
1one time only; on a single occasion. You pay once.
2not monthly. See also: not yearly.

No subscription. One licence for macOS, Windows and Linux, every update included. Try it free for 14 days first.

Writing on more than one machine? There is nothing extra to buy. See On your other computers.

Bakspace for Mac

Version 1.2.0. Free for 14 days, no card.

Download for Apple silicon

Not sure which Mac? Open the Apple menu, then About This Mac. Chip means Apple silicon; Processor means Intel.

US$49Pay once.

Buy Bakspace
Windowscoming soon
Linuxcoming soon

Leave an email and you will hear the day they ship. Nothing else.

Over five years

  • US$49once
  • ScrivenerUS$59.99one platform
  • UlyssesUS$199.95US$39.99 a year
  • DabbleUS$699lifetime plan
Feature
Scrivener
Ulysses
Dabble
Your files
Yes: Plain files on your disk
No: A .scriv bundle
No: Its own library
No: Their cloud; export to leave
Account
Yes: None
Yes: Not needed
Yes: Not needed
No: Required
Platforms
MacWindowsLinuxWindows and Linux next, same licence
MacWindowsSold separately
Apple only
MacWindowsBrowser

Five-year figures are the cheapest way to pay, from each product's own website, October 2026. Scrivener, Ulysses and Dabble are good tools; this is only where we differ.

Roadmap

See the full roadmap
  1. An example projectShipped
  2. Lost your key?Shipped
  3. Open a Scrivener projectNow
  4. Import a Word manuscriptNow
  5. A daily word targetNow
  6. Print-ready PDFNext
  7. Two documents side by sideNext

Questions people ask before buying.

What is Bakspace for?
Anything long enough to lose the plot of. A novel, a pile of short stories, a memoir, a thesis, a series with all its notes, a year of essays. If it has chapters, or research stacked up beside it, it belongs here. If it is a shopping list, the Notes app is right there and we will not be offended.
Is Bakspace a Scrivener alternative?
We took the parts everyone actually uses (the binder, the corkboard, a synopsis and status on every document, snapshots, compile to Word, EPUB or PDF) and left the other four hundred menu items where we found them. Smaller on purpose, and your files are plain text rather than a bundle only one app can read. Scrivener is a fine piece of software. We just think you deserve a lighter one.
Can I open my work without Bakspace?
Always. A project is a folder on your disk, and every document in it is a plain Markdown file you can open in any editor. No database, no export step, no ransom note. If we vanished tomorrow (we are not planning to), your book would still be a folder of text files, which is how it should have been all along.
Is there a subscription?
No. US$49 once, for life.
How many devices can I use it on?
Up to ten at a time, on one key. Activate an eleventh and the one you used least recently steps aside; enter the key on it again whenever you like. No accounts, no passwords.
Are updates included?
Every future update. No paid upgrades, no "version 2 is a new purchase".
Can I get a refund?
Yes, within 30 days of buying, for any reason. Reply to your licence email and we refund you in full. The key then stops working on every device.
I lost my licence key.
Go to bakspace.app/lost-key and enter the email you paid with. We only ever send keys to that address.
Does it work offline?
Yes. Your project never touches the network. The only things the app sends are the licence check, usage and error reports you can switch off, and update checks; see the privacy policy. To write on another computer too, put the folder in iCloud Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox.
Which platforms does it run on?
macOS, on Apple silicon and Intel, today. Windows and Linux are next, and your licence covers them at no extra cost. We looked at charging separately for each one and could not keep a straight face.
What does Bakspace send when it starts?
A licensed copy sends its device id and a secret once per launch, so the licence server can say it is still licensed. Nothing about your projects, ever.