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Sigil Review: Price, Features and Score

Sigil at a glance: Free, on Windows, Mac and Linux. Below are its plans, what its own site says it does for an author, its score and the products to compare it with. We did not test it ourselves; the data was checked on October 7, 2026.

Prices and data checked October 7, 2026 · Author Score computed by a published formula, not paid for

Sigil on the BookBird Author Score

Author Score · book formatting · #10 of 12 ·

Best for: Authors hand-editing EPUB files on Windows, Mac or Linux

BookBird Author Score5.4/10 #10 of 12 book formatting. Worked out from Sigil’s own pages, its price and US searches for its name, not typed in. Author jobs50 pts12.5/50Each of the 8 author jobs on the book formatting list is worth an equal share of 50 points, and counts only when Sigil’s own pages confirm it. 2 of 8 confirmed = 12.5 points. A job the vendor does not mention earns nothing.Cost25 pts25/25A free plan, or a platform that takes no upfront fee, earns all 25 points.Adoption25 pts16.6/25Searches, 20 points: 590 a month for “sigil epub editor”, against Adobe InDesign, the most searched in this category (22,200), on a log scale = 12.8. Trend, 5 points: up 27% (last three months against the first three of the year) = 3.9; a fall of half or more earns 0, no change 2.5, a rise of half or more 5. 54.1 of 100 points= 5.4 out of 10 The full method, with every product’s points →

Author jobs, from Sigil’s own pages

  • Yes: EPUB for ebook stores
  • No: Print-ready PDF in KDP trim sizes (no)
  • Not stated: Ready-made book designs (not stated)
  • Not stated: Device and print preview (not stated)
  • Not stated: Imports a Word file (not stated)
  • Yes: Front and back matter
  • No: Full-bleed images (no)
  • No: Several editions from one file (no)

Sigil pricing

Free. There is a free plan. The plans as Sigil’s own site listed them on October 7, 2026, in US dollars:

  • Sigil: Free (GPLv3)

Free and open source, maintained by volunteers.

What Sigil offers

From Sigil’s own pages, checked on October 7, 2026:

  • EPUB 2 and EPUB 3 editing
  • Code View and Preview View
  • Multi-level table of contents generator
  • Metadata editor
  • Spell checking with user dictionaries
  • Regex find and replace
  • Imports EPUB, HTML, images and stylesheets
  • Plugins and checkpoint snapshots

Runs on: Windows, Mac and Linux. Exports: EPUB 2 and EPUB 3. Launched: 2009.

Who Sigil suits, and what its pages do not say

Best for: Authors hand-editing EPUB files on Windows, Mac or Linux.

Not confirmed on Sigil’s pages when we checked: print-ready PDF in KDP trim sizes, ready-made book designs, device and print preview, imports a Word file, full-bleed images and several editions from one file. That is what the vendor states, not a test; a feature can exist without being described, and the score only credits what is.

About 590 people a month search Google in the US for “sigil epub editor”, up 27% over the past year (Google Ads data via DataForSEO).

Sigil alternatives

SoftwareScorePrice fromBest for
Draft2Digital Formatter9.0Free planAuthors wanting free EPUB and paperback PDF, publishing wide or not
Atticus8.9$147 one-timeSelf-publishers who write and format in one app, any OS
Kindle Create8.6FreeKDP authors wanting free, simple formatting for text-heavy books
Vellum8.6$199.99 one-timeMac-based authors formatting many books for a one-time price
Bookow7.4$80 one-timeAuthors wanting a typeset KDP-ready interior per book, no software

Compare: All book formatting · All software for authors

Sigil questions

How much does Sigil cost?

Free.

What does Sigil run on?

Windows, Mac and Linux, according to its own site.

What file formats can Sigil export?

EPUB 2 and EPUB 3, according to its own site.

How the score is computed: the formula, step by step. Prices and features were read from Sigil’s own site on October 7, 2026; nobody pays to be listed.