← The best software for writing books
Wretify vs Microsoft Word
Wretify is a clean, minimalist writing app for nonfiction writers, built for focus — with an AI that has read everything you've written and refuses to write it for you.
What is the difference between Wretify and Microsoft Word?
Microsoft Word is the word processor in Microsoft 365, available on Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android and the web, and the file format most publishers and editors work in.
Wretify is a clean, minimalist writing app for nonfiction writers, built for focus — with an AI that has read everything you've written and refuses to write it for you.
Word is where manuscripts go to be edited and published; Wretify is where a nonfiction book gets thought through and written. Wretify’s AI has read everything you have written and brings your own passages and real research, finding sources among 250 million papers rather than asking you to type them in — and, unlike Copilot, it will not draft your text.
What is Microsoft Word best at?
Word is the industry standard for manuscripts. Its .docx format is an international standard that almost every editor, agent and publisher accepts; its footnotes and endnotes sit at the foot of the page; it has a built-in citation manager with APA, Chicago, MLA, IEEE and other styles that builds a bibliography for you; and Track Changes is how most editing between writers and editors still happens.
Anyone who has to hand a manuscript to an editor or publisher, and writers who need page-perfect footnotes and formal citation styles.
Wretify and Microsoft Word, side by side
| Wretify | Microsoft Word | |
|---|---|---|
| Made for | Nonfiction books and articles. | Every kind of document. |
| Devices | In the web browser, on a computer or a phone. Nothing to install. | Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android and the web. |
| Price | One plan with every feature: $7 a month or $45 a year. The first 1,000 writers get 3 months free. Opens October 27, 2026. | Free on the web; Microsoft 365 Personal $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year. |
| Where your writing lives | Plain Markdown files in a Wretify folder in your own Google Drive. Wretify keeps no other copy. | .docx files (an ISO standard) on your computer or in OneDrive. |
| AI | Bring your own key (Claude, Gemini or DeepSeek). The AI reads everything you have written, thinks with you and brings you real research and your own earlier passages. It does not draft your chapters; nothing reaches the page unless you press Replace or Insert, or drag it there. | Copilot, on paid Microsoft 365 plans, drafts and rewrites text for you. |
| Footnotes and citations | Footnotes inside the sentence they support. Each chapter builds its own References list (APA 7) from them. Sources come from 250 million real papers (OpenAlex), never invented. | Footnotes and endnotes, plus a citation manager with APA, Chicago, MLA, IEEE and more that builds a bibliography. |
| Export | A chapter as Markdown, Word or PDF; a whole book as Markdown, Word or EPUB, with a bibliography. | Word, PDF, OpenDocument, RTF, plain text, HTML and more. |
Should I choose Wretify or Microsoft Word?
Choose Microsoft Word if you need to exchange manuscripts with editors and publishers, want formal citation styles beyond APA, or need page-bottom footnotes and Track Changes.
Choose Wretify if you want a quiet room to write a nonfiction book, with an AI that knows your earlier writing and finds real sources, and you will hand the finished book on as a Word file.
Can I use Wretify and Microsoft Word together?
Wretify exports a chapter or a whole book as a Word file, with its references, so Word can be the last step before your editor.
How does Wretify compare to other writing apps?
Every major writing app is good at something different. The full guide answers what the best software for writing books is, app by app.
Sources
- Compare Microsoft 365 plans — www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/buy/compare-all-microsoft-365-products
- Free Microsoft 365 for the web — www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/free-office-online-for-the-web
- Office file format reference — learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/compatibility/office-file-format-reference
- Copilot in Microsoft 365 Personal, Family and Premium — support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/copilot-in-microsoft-365-personal-family-and-premium-35b88a54-fe01-49f5-8789-b74e239d8dc0
- Rewrite text with Copilot in Word — support.microsoft.com/en-us/word/copilot/rewrite-text-with-copilot-in-word
- Add footnotes and endnotes in Word — support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/add-footnotes-and-endnotes-bff71b0c-3ec5-4c37-abc1-7c8e7d6f2d78
- Add citations in a Word document — support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/add-citations-in-a-word-document-ab9322bb-a8d3-47f4-80c8-63c06779f127
- Track changes in Word — support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/track-changes-in-word-197ba630-0f5f-4a8e-9a77-3712475e806a
Updated . Prices and features of other apps are taken from their own websites on that date and can change. Wretify is our product, so we have tried hard to be fair to the others. If something here is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will correct it.