The founder programme
Founding Authors
Alhora is early. The first 150 authors to buy a Lifetime licence do so at a founder price, and their requests are what the roadmap is built from.
That is the whole arrangement. The rest of this page is the detail — including what a founder licence does not include, and why you should try the app before buying one.
What a founder licence is
- The licence
- A Lifetime licence: one payment, every future release, no renewal.
- The price
- Lower than the standard Lifetime price, for the first 150 only.
- The allocation
- 150 licences. Fixed, and it does not reopen.
- The influence
- Founders' requests go on the public suggestions board, which is where the roadmap comes from.
- What it does not include
- The optional AI add-on, which is a separate subscription because it carries a per-use cost.
Why the programme exists
Two honest reasons, in the order they matter to us.
The first is that early revenue from people who intend to use the thing is worth more than the same revenue later. Alhora is made by a small studio, and 150 authors who have bought in is what funds the next year of building.
The second is the feedback. An author who has paid and is publishing real books finds problems that no amount of internal testing does — and reports them differently, because they need them fixed. The suggestions board exists for that, and it is genuinely where the roadmap comes from rather than a suggestion box nobody reads.
What the programme is not is a launch discount that will quietly return next quarter under a different name. The allocation is 150 and the count on this page is the real one.
What you should know before buying
A one-off payment to a small studio is a bet on that studio continuing to exist, and it is fair to want the case laid out rather than assumed.
- Alhora is a young product. It does what this site says it does — every claim is checkable in the free tier — but it has fewer years of edge cases behind it than the tools it competes with.
- Your books are files on your own disk, in a documented format, and export produces standard EPUB and PDF. Nothing you make is trapped if we stop.
- The app works offline after activation. It does not stop functioning if a server does.
- There is a refund policy, and it applies to founder purchases on the same terms as anything else.
The best way to evaluate all of this is the free tier: import your own manuscript, style it, and look at the actual pages. Everything except the export itself is available without paying.
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
What is the Founding Authors programme?
The first 150 Alhora Lifetime licences, sold at a founder price. A Lifetime licence is a single payment covering every future release, and the founder price is lower than the standard one. The allocation is fixed at 150 and does not reopen.
What do founders get beyond the lower price?
Their requests shape what gets built. Everything on the public suggestions board comes from authors using the app, and the roadmap is drawn from it — a founder asking for something is the most direct route it has to being built. Beyond that, the licence itself is identical to any other Lifetime licence.
Is the founder price a limited-time offer?
It is limited by count, not by time. There is no clock. When the 150 are gone the programme closes and the Lifetime licence returns to its standard price; until then the price does not move.
What happens when the 150 are sold?
The programme closes and the Lifetime licence continues at its standard price. Nothing changes for anyone who already has one — a Lifetime licence is a Lifetime licence.
Is the remaining count real?
Yes. It is counted from confirmed purchases at the moment the page loads, and it only counts completed payments — a checkout in progress is not subtracted. That means the page can briefly show one more available than there is, which is the honest way round.
Does a Lifetime licence really mean lifetime?
It means every future release of Alhora, with no renewal. It does not include the optional AI add-on, which is a separate subscription because it has a per-use cost we pay ourselves.
Can I try Alhora before buying a founder licence?
Yes, and you should. Formatting and previewing an entire book is free on every platform — you can import your own manuscript, style it and look at every page before spending anything. A plan is what unlocks export.
What if I buy and it turns out not to suit me?
There is a refund policy, and it applies to founder purchases on the same terms as any other. The details are on the refunds page.
Try it first
Format and preview a whole book free, on any platform, before you buy anything. The founder licence will still be there — or it will not, and the standard Lifetime licence is not a bad deal either.
Download Alhora free See all plans
macOS, Windows, Linux and ChromeOS. No card needed to format and preview.