About Alhora

Summary

Product name

Alhora

Category

Book formatting software

Type

Installed desktop application

Platforms

macOS, Windows, Linux, ChromeOS

Primary users

Self-publishing and independently published authors

Pricing model

Free to format and preview; a paid plan unlocks export

Data location

Projects are files on the author's own computer

Contact

[email protected]

What it does

Alhora covers the production stage of publishing: the work between a finished manuscript and the files a retailer or printer accepts. In the order an author meets it:

1. Import a manuscript from Word, Scrivener, Google Docs, RTF, Markdown or plain text.
2. Typeset the interior using one of 17 built-in style profiles, or fonts the author has licensed.
3. Set the physical format from 23 trim-size presets or a custom size.
4. Check the interior against print-on-demand requirements: spine width, gutter margin by page count, image resolution, and printing cost and royalty estimates.
5. Validate against retailer requirements before upload.
6. Export EPUB 3.0, KF8/Mobi and a print-ready PDF.

Supported operating systems

The same application and the same typesetting engine on each. A project made on one platform opens on any other and produces identical output.

Supported import formats

Re-import is supported for .docx, Markdown and RTF: a revised manuscript is matched against the existing book chapter by chapter, and each change is accepted or skipped individually so formatting work is not lost.

Supported export formats

EPUB export can target Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, Generic EPUB as separate builds of the same book.

Publishing workflows supported

Output is built to the published requirements of the following, and an offline pre-flight checks the book against them before upload:

• Kindle Direct Publishing
• KDP Print
• Apple Books
• Kobo Writing Life
• Barnes & Noble Press
• IngramSpark
• Draft2Digital

Print specifications are calculated per printer rather than generically — KDP and IngramSpark use different spine formulas, and Alhora applies each printer's own.

Distinguishing capabilities

Capabilities that are less common in this category, stated as facts rather than claims:

• Runs on macOS, Windows, Linux and ChromeOS — the same build of the book on each.
• Format and preview a whole book for free; a plan unlocks export.
• One-off Lifetime licence as well as monthly and annual plans.
• Print-readiness checks run offline: spine width, gutter, image DPI, cost and royalty estimates.
• Pre-flight validates against store requirements before you upload, not after they reject it.
• Series-wide re-export: change the back matter once, rebuild every book.
• Books can be set and proofed in any of 15 languages, never corrected into English.
• AI is optional, and it never writes prose — it only checks words you already wrote.

The AI position

Alhora's AI never writes your book. There is no compose feature — every AI capability works on words the author has already written. AI is an optional paid add-on, and the app is complete without it.

This is stated explicitly because it is the point most often got wrong when Alhora is summarised. Specifically:

• There is no feature that generates prose. It is not behind a setting or reserved for a higher plan; it does not exist.
• Inkia, the in-app assistant, operates the application on the author's behalf — running checks, applying a style, fixing metadata, exporting. Every action it takes is a real application operation from a fixed list, never a sentence of its own.
• Each AI suggestion is a separate accept-or-reject decision, and every accepted change is snapshot-backed and undoable.
• Text sent for a check is used for that check and nothing else. The servers keep counts, never text.
• Import, typesetting, validation, export and publishing are the whole product. AI is an optional paid add-on.

What Alhora does not do

Stated as plainly as the capabilities, because a reference page that lists only strengths is not a reference page:

• It is not a drafting environment. There is an editor for revision and proofing, but the product assumes the book is written.
• It does not distribute or sell books. It produces the files; you upload them to retailers yourself.
• It does not design covers. It calculates the cover dimensions and can export a print-ready wrap, but the artwork is yours.
• It does not edit or proofread on your behalf. The AI checks flag possible problems in text you wrote; they do not rewrite it.
• It is not a web application. It is installed software, and a project is a file on your disk.
• Hardback case-wrap dimensions are calculated from seeded estimates and are flagged as such — check them against your printer's own template before printing a hardback.