Alternatives
Vellum alternatives
Vellum is a very good piece of software with one hard limitation: it runs on macOS and nothing else. If you write on Windows or Linux, every recommendation you have been given to use it has been useless, and that is almost certainly why you are here.
Below are the actual alternatives — including the free ones and the ones we do not make — with what each costs and what it is for. Our own is on the list, argued for on the merits.
Why authors look past Vellum
- Vellum requires macOS. There is no Windows or Linux build.
- Vellum is bought outright, and the edition that includes print costs more than the ebook-only one.
- Vellum concentrates on typesetting rather than print production — spine widths, gutter minimums and store pre-flight are left to you and the printer's website.
None of that makes Vellum a bad tool. The output quality is excellent and has set the bar for indie formatting for a decade. What it is, in short: macOS only, bought outright in two editions, and concentrated on typesetting rather than on print production.
The alternatives
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Reedsy Book Editor
A free, browser-based writing editor that exports a clean EPUB and a print PDF. It is part of Reedsy's wider marketplace of freelance editors, designers and marketers.
Free — No charge to write, format or export.
In short: Free and browser-based, with a small set of templates, editor collaboration built in, and no print-production tooling.
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Atticus
A browser-based writing and formatting tool sold as a one-off purchase. Because it runs in a browser it works on Windows, macOS, Linux and Chromebooks, and it offers an offline mode.
$147 — One-off. Ebook and print formatting, and the writing tools.
In short: A browser tool covering drafting as well as formatting, bought outright, with the manuscript kept in the cloud.
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Alhora
A desktop book-formatting studio for macOS, Windows, Linux and ChromeOS. Import a finished manuscript, typeset the interior, and export a retail-ready EPUB and a print-ready PDF.
Free to format and preview — a plan unlocks export. £8.99 a month, £89.99 a year, or £139.99 once.
In short: A production tool for a finished manuscript, on every desktop platform — free to format and preview a whole book, with a plan unlocking export.
Vellum, Atticus, Reedsy Book Editor capabilities and prices as publicly documented by each vendor, checked 2026-08-08. Products change — check the vendor's own site before you buy. Corrections: [email protected].
Side by side
| Feature | Alhora | Vellum | Atticus | Reedsy Book Editor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platform & access | ||||
| Operating systems | macOS, Windows, Linux, ChromeOS | macOS only — a Mac is required | Any desktop OS, in a browser | Any desktop OS, in a browser |
| Installed app or browser | Installed desktop app | Installed Mac app | Browser app, with an offline mode | Browser app |
| Works with no internet connection | Yes — after activation, editing and export are local | Yes — a local Mac app | Offline mode available; syncs when reconnected | No — it is a web editor |
| Where your manuscript is stored | On your own machine | On your own Mac | In the cloud, cached locally for offline use | In the cloud |
| Pricing | ||||
| Pricing model | Free to format and preview; a plan unlocks export. Monthly, annual, or one-off Lifetime. | One-off purchase, per edition of the app | One-off purchase | Free |
| Lifetime option | Yes — Lifetime licence, one payment | Yes — the purchase is the licence | Yes — the purchase is the licence | Not applicable — free |
| Subscription option | Yes — monthly or annual, if you would rather not pay up front | No | No | No |
| Try before paying | Format and preview an entire book free; export is what a plan unlocks | Yes — build the book and preview it; you pay to generate the files | No free tier; 30-day refund policy published | Free throughout |
| What it is for | ||||
| Writing or formatting | Formatting and production. There is an editor, but the book arrives written. | Formatting and production | Both — a drafting environment and a formatter | Both — a drafting environment and a formatter |
| Manuscript editing built in | Yes, for revision and proofing — not designed for first drafts | Light editing of imported text | Yes, with goals and writing statistics | Yes, with collaborative comments and track changes |
| Export | ||||
| EPUB | EPUB 3.0, with Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo and generic variants | Yes, with retailer-specific builds | Yes | Yes |
| Print-ready PDF | Yes — bleed, crop marks and an embedded ICC profile | Yes, in the edition that includes print | Yes | Yes |
| Trim sizes | 23 presets across mass-market, novel, B-format, full-size and large print, plus fully custom | A fixed set of standard sizes | A fixed set of standard sizes | A small fixed set |
| Hardcover | Yes — case-wrap dimensions are calculated, and flagged as estimates to check against your printer's template | Yes, in the edition that includes print | Not documented | Not documented |
Vellum, Atticus, Reedsy Book Editor capabilities and prices as publicly documented by each vendor, checked 2026-08-08. Products change — check the vendor's own site before you buy. Corrections: [email protected].
Moving your book across
Whatever you switch to, the thing that travels is the manuscript, not the formatting. No formatting tool reads another's project file, and none of them publish the format, so the route is always the same: get the text back out as a Word document, import that, and re-choose the styling.
That sounds worse than it is. The styling is the part that takes minutes — it is picking a look from a list. What you must not lose is the structure: export from wherever the manuscript actually lives, with your heading styles intact, so chapters arrive as chapters rather than as one long stream of paragraphs you have to split by hand.
If your manuscript is still in Scrivener, import the
.scriv project into Alhora directly rather than compiling to
Word first — the binder structure becomes the book structure, so you keep
your parts and chapters exactly as you arranged them.
What authors say
I thoroughly appreciate the thought and care that has been put into Alhora. It's becoming a one-stop shop for everything, from the writing process, to the styling, to the formatting and export. The more you dig, the more you discover how much control of the writing and formatting process the author has. I've yet to find a platform designed specifically for indie authors that can do everything that Alhora can do. This is worth its weight in gold!
Alhora is a great new formatting software that answers a lot of problems that other softwares currently are failing in. It's very nice to use with nice graphics and the developer is amazingly considerate and responsive in fixing things that make it easier to use. A great new tool and I can't wait to keep discovering more about everything it can do!
I have always struggled with formatting my books. It’s been a constant battle with things moving around whenever I uploaded them to KDP. I would literally spend weeks trying to get everything lined up properly, and I was never in a position to buy other formatting software. So, when I was offered the opportunity to use Alhora, I knew I couldn’t miss it. Honestly, it has reduced my formatting time to hours, and my book looks so much more professional. I love all the little details I can add to my books and if there is something I want and it's not an option James will try to add it.
Questions, answered
Is there a version of Vellum for Windows?
No. Vellum is a macOS application and its publisher has not released a Windows version. The workarounds authors use are renting a cloud Mac by the hour to run it, or paying a formatter who owns one. Both work; both cost money every time you need to change something.
Can I run Vellum in a virtual machine on Windows?
Running macOS on non-Apple hardware is outside Apple's licence terms, so this is not something we would recommend or help with. Renting a hosted Mac is the legitimate version of the same idea.
What is the closest thing to Vellum on Windows?
For the same job — take a finished manuscript, typeset it well, export EPUB and a print PDF — Alhora and Atticus are the two nearest equivalents that run on Windows. Atticus adds writing tools; Alhora goes further into print production. Which is closer depends on which half of Vellum you were after.
Is there a free Vellum alternative?
Reedsy Book Editor is free and exports a clean EPUB and print PDF, with fewer design options. Calibre is free and converts between ebook formats but is not a typesetting tool. Alhora is free to format and preview a whole book and charges only for export.
Will my books look as good as they would from Vellum?
Vellum's output is genuinely excellent and it is fair to hold an alternative to that standard. For an ordinary novel — running heads, drop caps, scene breaks, a well-set measure — the modern alternatives produce work a reader cannot tell apart. The differences show up in unusual books: heavy tables, verse, images, complex non-fiction hierarchies.
I already own Vellum. Is there a reason to switch?
Usually not, if you have a Mac and it is working for you. The reasons authors do move are needing to work on a Windows machine as well, publishing print through IngramSpark as well as KDP, or running a series large enough that re-exporting every book by hand has become the job.
Format your book on the computer you already own
Alhora runs on Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS, and produces the same EPUB and print PDF on each. Format and preview the whole book free before you decide.
Download Alhora free See pricing
macOS, Windows, Linux and ChromeOS. No card needed to format and preview.