Iliad vs Ulysses: a library on every Apple device, or plain files on your Mac

Iliad wrote this. We make Iliad, so read our claims about it with that in mind. Every claim about Ulysses below comes from Ulysses' own pages and App Store listing, linked at the end, and was checked on October 14, 2026.

Ulysses is one of the most complete writing apps on Apple devices: a library that syncs between Mac, iPad and iPhone, writing goals, a grammar and style check, and publishing straight to WordPress, Ghost, Medium and Substack. Iliad is much smaller. It edits plain Markdown files in a folder on your Mac, offers AI only when you ask, and shows you every change an agent such as Claude Code makes to your draft.

In short. Choose Ulysses if you write long pieces across Mac, iPad and iPhone and want a complete environment with publishing, and the subscription suits you. Choose Iliad if you write on a Mac, want your text to stay as plain .md files you control, and want AI or an agent to help with every change reviewed.

At a glance #

Where Ulysses is the better choice #

Every Apple device. Ulysses runs on Mac, iPad and iPhone with a synced library, so you can draft on the train and finish at your desk. Iliad is a Mac app with no mobile version.

A complete long-form environment. Writing goals, keywords, projects and templates, a grammar and style check in more than 20 languages, and publishing to WordPress, Ghost, Micro.blog, Medium, Substack and Basecamp. Export to PDF, DOCX and ePub with style sheets. Iliad does far less: it has no goals, no publishing and no export yet.

Backups built in. Ulysses keeps hourly, daily, weekly and monthly snapshots of your library. Iliad keeps no history of its own; your files are only as safe as your folder's backup.

Apple Intelligence where it is available. Ulysses uses Apple's Writing Tools and the ChatGPT extension, and says your texts "stay securely on your device unless you explicitly choose to send them" and are "never used to train AI models." These need recent Apple Silicon devices and are limited by region and language.

Where Iliad is different #

Plain files, no subscription. Ulysses keeps your writing in its iCloud library. Its External Folders mode can work with plain Markdown files, but then you lose embedded local images, attached notes and goals, and Markdown XL comments, and external folders are not included in its backups. In Iliad the plain .md file is the only format; the folder on your disk is the whole library. Iliad is free, while Ulysses becomes read-only if the subscription lapses (you can still export).

AI that waits to be asked. Iliad's AI is built in, so it does not depend on your device's Apple Intelligence support or region. It only acts when you press a key for a suggestion or pick an ✦ AI action on a selection, and every result appears in place for you to accept or reject.

A review of what your agent wrote. If you ask Claude Code or Codex to revise a draft, Iliad shows each change in the page, old text above new, and you keep or restore it. Ulysses documents no equivalent for edits made outside the app.

Comments an agent can use. Iliad's comments live in a plain Markdown file next to the document. An agent can read them and act on them, or leave its own comments, marked ✦, when you ask for feedback, and you read them all in the margin.

Who should choose which #

Choose Ulysses if you write books, articles or a blog across Apple devices, publish directly to WordPress, Ghost or Substack, and value goals, backups and a finished, stable app.

Choose Iliad if you write on a Mac, want your work to stay as plain Markdown that any tool can open, and use AI or an agent with every change visible and reversible.

Using both #

If you use Ulysses with an External Folder of Markdown files, Iliad can open the same folder. Keep the limits of Ulysses' external folders in mind, and back that folder up yourself: Ulysses does not include external folders in its backups.

Sources #