What is the best book formatting software?
The list above ranks them by the Author Score. Draft2Digital’s formatter and Kindle Create do the job for free; Vellum and Atticus are the paid choices most authors compare.
Book Formatting Software
Apps that turn a finished manuscript into the files stores accept: an EPUB for ebooks and a print-ready PDF for a paperback. Each has a BookBird Author Score from what its own site confirms, what it costs and how many people search for it.
Prices and data checked October 7, 2026 · Author Score computed by a published formula, not paid for
The short answer
- Draft2Digital 9.0 Free plan
Authors wanting free EPUB and paperback PDF, publishing wide or not - Kindle Create 8.6 Free
KDP authors wanting free, simple formatting for text-heavy books - Atticus 7.8 $147 one-time
Self-publishers who write and format in one app, any OS - Vellum 7.1 $199.99 one-time
Mac-based authors formatting many books for a one-time price - Reedsy Studio 6.9 Free plan; paid from $52.99 a year (add-on)
Authors wanting free typesetting and real-time editor collaboration
All book formatting software, scored
10 of 10 shown · How the Author Score works
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1
9.07/8 author jobsFree planFree9.9K+0%searches a monthweb
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2
Kindle Create
Amazon's free desktop app for formatting Kindle ebooks and KDP print books
Book formatting
8.67/8 author jobsFreeFree5.4K−43%searches a monthWindows · Mac -
3
Atticus
Browser-based book writing editor and formatter for ebook and print
Book writing softwareBook formatting
7.88/8 author jobs$147 one-timeOne-time licence1K+25%searches a monthWindows · Mac · Linux · Chromebook · web · iOS · Android -
4
7.18/8 author jobs$199.99 one-timeOne-time licence320+34%searches a monthMac
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5
Reedsy Studio
Free browser book editor that typesets print PDF and EPUB
Book writing softwareBook formatting
6.94/8 author jobsFree plan; paid from $52.99 a year (add-on)Free plan + paid plans5.4K−13%searches a monthweb -
6
6.76/8 author jobs$80 one-timeOne-time licence320−24%searches a monthweb
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7
Affinity
Free all-in-one design app by Canva with a page-layout studio
Book formattingBook cover design
6.53/8 author jobsFreeFree12K−3%searches a monthWindows · Mac -
8
6.43/8 author jobsFreeFree3.6K+33%searches a monthWindows · Mac · Linux
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9
5.42/8 author jobsFreeFree590+27%searches a monthWindows · Mac · Linux
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10
5.33/8 author jobsNot confirmed in USDSubscription22K−28%searches a monthWindows · Mac
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Prices in USD from each vendor’s own site, checked October 7, 2026. Searches: US Google searches a month for the product’s name, with the change over 12 months. Score out of 10, by one published formula; nobody pays to be listed.
How to choose book formatting software
Free, or worth paying for?
Three free options cover the basics. Kindle Create, Amazon’s own app for Windows and Mac, makes a Kindle ebook and a KDP paperback. Draft2Digital’s formatter makes an EPUB and a print PDF from a Word file, and you can download them without publishing through Draft2Digital. Reedsy Studio typesets both in the browser. What you pay for in Vellum ($199.99 for ebooks, $249.99 with print) and Atticus ($147 for both) is more designs, more control and several editions from one file.
Mac, Windows or browser?
Vellum runs only on a Mac. Atticus runs in the browser and on Windows, Mac, Linux and Chromebook. Kindle Create and Affinity need Windows or Mac; Draft2Digital, Reedsy Studio and Bookow work in any browser.
What does your book contain?
A novel needs clean chapters, a table of contents and front and back matter, which every tool here handles. Illustrated books, cookbooks and children’s books need full-bleed images and more control over the page; Vellum, Atticus and Affinity confirm full-bleed images, and Affinity, now free under Canva, is a full page-layout app rather than a template filler. calibre and Sigil are free EPUB tools for fixing and converting ebook files; they do not make print PDFs.
Before you format, our free words to pages calculator estimates the page count for each trim size, and the cover calculator gives the spine width the cover designer needs. Atticus vs Vellum compares the two best-known paid formatters, and our guide to ebook file formats explains what each store accepts.
How the BookBird Author Score works
Built for self-published authors, from facts anyone can check: each vendor’s own pages, read on October 7, 2026, and US Google search volumes (Google Ads data via DataForSEO). Nobody pays to be listed, and no score is adjusted by hand. We did not test the apps by writing a book in them; the score measures what they do for an author, what they cost and how widely they are used.
- Author jobs, 50 points. Each category has a list of jobs an author needs that kind of software to do. A job counts only when the vendor’s own pages say the product does it; a job they do not mention earns nothing, and the product page says which ones.
- Book formatting: ePUB for ebook stores, print-ready PDF in KDP trim sizes, ready-made book designs, device and print preview, imports a Word file, front and back matter, full-bleed images and several editions from one file.
- Cost, 25 points. What one year costs a single author on the cheapest plan with a USD price. A one-time licence is spread over 3 years. A free plan, or a platform that takes no upfront fee, earns all 25; the dearest product in the category keeps 5.
- Adoption, 25 points. How many people in the US search Google for the product by name each month: 20 points on a log scale against the most searched product in the category, and 5 for the trend, comparing the last three months with the first three of the year.
The score is the points earned divided by the points that could be checked, on a 10-point scale. A part with no data (no USD price, no search volume) is left out rather than guessed. How long a product has existed is not scored: few vendors state it. Review sites are not used: for most of these products the profiles rate the whole company or hold a handful of reviews.
| Book formatting | Author jobs /50 | Cost /25 | Adoption /25 | Score /10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draft2Digital | 43.8 | 25 | 20.9 | 9.0 |
| Kindle Create | 43.8 | 25 | 17.5 | 8.6 |
| Atticus | 50 | 10.3 | 17.6 | 7.8 |
| Vellum | 50 | 5 | 15.7 | 7.1 |
| Reedsy Studio | 25 | 25 | 19 | 6.9 |
| Bookow | 37.5 | 17 | 12.8 | 6.7 |
| Affinity | 18.8 | 25 | 21.2 | 6.5 |
| Calibre | 18.8 | 25 | 20.5 | 6.4 |
| Sigil | 12.5 | 25 | 16.6 | 5.4 |
| Adobe InDesign | 18.8 | — | 21.1 | 5.3 |
Questions
Is there a free alternative to Vellum?
Yes: Kindle Create, Draft2Digital’s formatter and Reedsy Studio all make an EPUB and a print-ready PDF for free. Atticus is the paid alternative that runs on Windows as well as Mac.
Can I format a book in Word?
You can make a print PDF from Word with the right page size and margins, and KDP accepts a Word file for ebooks. A formatter saves the work of styling chapter openings, headers and the table of contents by hand.