Dedicated formatters, a drafting tool that compiles, and a book creator with formatting built in: what each costs and who should pick it.
If your manuscript is finished and formatting is all you need, buy a dedicated formatter. Vellum for polished output on a Mac, Atticus for a one-time price on almost any computer, Reedsy Studio if you’d rather pay nothing.
Choose Anthra if formatting is the last step of a book you’re making there: the same place holds the manuscript, the art, the cover, the narration and a Lulu print-on-demand paperback, and rendering the files from the studio costs no credits.
Whatever you use, run your files through your retailer’s own validator and previewer before you publish.
As of November 2026, unless a date is given. Competitor details come from each company’s own website (linked below), describe features as that company does, and may have changed since.
| Tool | Best for | Price | Output | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vellum | Best forPolished ebook and print files on a Mac | Price$249.99 Press (ebook and print) or $199.99 ebooks only; free to download, pay when you publish | OutputIt says validated EPUB 3 and 2, per-store files, ARCs, box sets and PDF/X-1a print for hardcover or paperback, in 24 trims plus large print | Worth knowingmacOS 13+ only. One-click styles, widow handling, spread balancing, and what it calls “ACE-approved accessible output” |
| Atticus | Best forA one-time purchase on Windows, Mac, Linux or Chromebook | Price$147 one-time, with lifetime updates and a 30-day refund | OutputDOCX in; EPUB, PDF and DOCX out | Worth knowing17 templates, 1,200+ combinations, a custom theme builder, 1,500+ fonts, device previews, full-bleed images, footnotes and large print. Works offline |
| Reedsy Studio | Best forFormatting for free | PriceCore is free; paid Craft and Outlining add-ons with a 30-day trial | OutputPrint-ready PDF and EPUB on the free tier | Worth knowingRead-only public previews on the free tier. Says it “will never use your works to train AI” |
| Scrivener | Best forDrafting a long project, then compiling it | PriceLicenses sold per platform; see its site for current prices | OutputCompiles to Word, RTF, PDF, EPUB, Kindle, Final Draft and MultiMarkdown/Pandoc | Worth knowingMac, Windows and iOS. A drafting tool first |
| Anthra | Best forFormatting a book you wrote or imported in Anthra | PriceRendering files from the studio costs no credits; writing and art use pay-as-you-go credits that never expire | OutputEPUB, PDF and DOCX; fixed-layout EPUB for picture books; print-wrap cover PDF; per-retailer publish kits; Lulu print-on-demand | Worth knowingPresets for KDP, IngramSpark and Lulu, plus an approximate live page preview. Works in the browser, so there’s nothing to install |
Output. Formatting is the whole product for Vellum and Atticus. Vellum says its EPUB 3 and 2 files are validated, and it makes per-store files, ARCs, box sets and PDF/X-1a print files for hardcover or paperback, in 24 trims plus large print, with widow handling and spread balancing. Atticus lists 17 templates, 1,200+ combinations, a custom theme builder, 1,500+ fonts and device previews. Anthra offers four body fonts, four heading fonts and no template gallery.
Price. Atticus is $147 one-time with lifetime updates, Vellum is $199.99 to $249.99, and Reedsy Studio’s free tier exports print-ready PDF and EPUB. If you write elsewhere and only need files, you shouldn’t pay for a whole book creator.
Keeping AI out. The pages we read for Vellum, Atticus and Scrivener don’t advertise generative AI, and Reedsy says it will never use your works to train AI. If you want AI nowhere near your book, those tools fit and Anthra doesn’t.
For ebooks, run the EPUB through your retailer’s validator or EPUBCheck before you upload, and look at it on the devices your readers use. Do this whichever tool made the file.
For print, compare the file with your printer’s spec. KDP’s paperback cover spec, for example, asks for one PDF of back, spine and front, 0.125" bleed on the top, bottom and outside edges, CMYK color, 300 DPI minimum and embedded fonts. Then open it in the retailer’s previewer, and check that every image is sharp enough at its printed size.
Start from a preset for KDP, IngramSpark or Lulu, or set your own. You control trim size, margins, body and heading fonts, running headers, page numbers, front matter (half title, copyright, dedication, contents) and optional bleed. A live two-page preview updates as you change settings. It’s approximate, and the rendered PDF is the final word.
Rendering EPUB, PDF and DOCX from the studio costs no credits. The cover studio builds front, back and spine panels and a print-wrap PDF with 0.125" bleed, using KDP’s published spine numbers, and Lulu orders use the spine Lulu reports.
Because the manuscript lives in Anthra, you can fix a chapter and render again, edit live with co-authors, and go back to an earlier version. You can bring in an existing DOCX, EPUB, PDF, Markdown or TXT file of up to 4 MB.
We don’t promise that any file will pass a retailer’s checks. Treat Anthra’s presets as a starting point and confirm the result with the retailer.
Anthra doesn’t upload to Amazon or other retailers. You download the files and upload them yourself, as you would from a formatter, and KDP requires you to disclose AI-generated text, images or translations even if you edited them substantially. A publish kit gathers one retailer’s files, a metadata sheet and a checklist for that upload, and a disclosure checklist shows what to declare. Both are guidance.
Inside Anthra you can order a Lulu print-on-demand book, or publish a reading page on Discover with open, email-gated or paid downloads. Readers of paid books on Discover pay with Anthra credits, not at a card checkout.
Not for most Vellum buyers. If you have a finished manuscript and want the most polished files on a Mac, buy Vellum. Anthra makes sense when the book is being written, illustrated or narrated in Anthra and formatting is the last step.
Vellum is macOS only. As of November 2026, Atticus runs on Windows, Mac, Linux and Chromebook for $147 one-time, Reedsy Studio has a free tier, and Anthra runs in the browser.
Reedsy Studio’s free tier exports print-ready PDF and EPUB, as of November 2026. Anthra doesn’t charge credits to render files from the studio, but it’s built for books you make there, which usually means spending credits on writing or art.
No. Anthra has presets and cover geometry for KDP, but you download the files and upload them yourself. Formatting tools work the same way: you export, then upload. A publish kit puts the files and checklist for that upload in one zip.
We don’t promise that. Anthra’s retail check is its own structure and image check, not EPUBCheck. Run the EPUB through your retailer’s validator or EPUBCheck, and check print PDFs in the retailer’s previewer. Vellum says its EPUBs are validated, so compare if that matters to you.
Yes. Anthra imports DOCX, EPUB, PDF, Markdown and TXT files up to 4 MB, and you can render from there. If formatting is all you need, though, a dedicated formatter will give you more control.
Checked November 2026. Product names are trademarks of their owners; this page is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.
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