head to head · open source
so-novel vs WritingTools
so-novel has 8,157 GitHub stars, 726 forks, 26 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. WritingTools has 2,455 stars, 159 forks, 79 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. so-novel leads on adoption by 232% (8,157 vs 2,455 stars). so-novel is written in Java under AGPL-3.0; WritingTools is written in Swift under GPL-3.0. so-novel has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, WritingTools 6%. WritingTools was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| so-novel | WritingTools | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 8.2K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Java | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-07-26 | 2026-08-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 726 | ⑂ 159 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick so-novel if
- You weight community size — 8.2K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick WritingTools if
- You want the WritingTools feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and WritingTools fits your workflow better
About so-novel
So Novel is an AGPL 3.0 Java tool that extracts structured content from web pages and exports it as standard ebook and document formats including EPUB, TXT, and PDF, built for people who want offline copies of web fiction and for anyone turning web content into readable documents.
read the full so-novel overview →
About WritingTools
WritingTools is an open source, system wide writing assistant for Windows, Linux, and macOS. It is inspired by Apple Intelligence Writing Tools and uses cloud based or local large language models to proofread, rewrite, summarize, and transform selected text across applications. The project is written in Swift and released under the GPL 3.0 license. The README states it works in nearly any language.
read the full WritingTools overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is so-novel or WritingTools more popular?
so-novel has 8,157 GitHub stars and WritingTools has 2,455. so-novel has the larger community by that measure.
Are so-novel and WritingTools free?
Both are open source. so-novel is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and WritingTools under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between so-novel and WritingTools?
so-novel is written in Java and WritingTools in Swift. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, so-novel or WritingTools?
Choose so-novel if you want the larger community (8,157 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose WritingTools if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.