Industry-standard PDF formatting
Both produce submission-ready, industry-formatted pages.
- Inkwell
- First-class
- Final Draft
- First-class
The industry standard, compared to a screenwriting IDE.
Final Draft has been the professional screenwriting standard for decades, and for good reason: its formatting is trusted across the industry and its production tooling is deep. Inkwell takes a different starting point — treating a screenplay as structured data with version control and agentic AI — rather than digitizing the typewriter.
Where Final Draft is strongest
Where the IDE model changes the work
Version control, structured changes, and reviewable AI
Revision colours, locked pages, and notes — the same language production expects, tied to version history.
FDX import preserves structure for scripts you bring in — see the docs hub for import guides.
Import FDX — scene structure, characters, and dialogue carry over. No reformatting marathon before you can write.
A side-by-side look at where each tool stands today. Some Inkwell features are in active development — see the roadmap for current status.
Both produce submission-ready, industry-formatted pages.
Inkwell round-trips FDX so you can move scripts either direction.
Inkwell is Fountain-native; Final Draft has no native .fountain open/save — only plain-text workarounds.
Final Draft's core strength today; Inkwell's breakdown reports and revision-colour tracking are live on Pro and above, with printed A-pages and locked-page numbering still maturing.
Final Draft Cloud puts browser writing behind a Suite subscription, while the full editor remains Final Draft 13 on desktop. Inkwell is browser-native: the room opens the same structured draft anywhere, with desktop and Apple apps extending that system rather than splitting it.
Final Draft 13 has real-time collaboration (desktop, session-based, all writers on Final Draft 13); Inkwell builds it on shared save points.
| Capability | Inkwell | Final Draft |
|---|---|---|
| Industry-standard PDF formattingBoth produce submission-ready, industry-formatted pages. | First-class | First-class |
| FDX import / exportInkwell round-trips FDX so you can move scripts either direction. | First-class | First-class |
| Fountain (plain-text) nativeInkwell is Fountain-native; Final Draft has no native .fountain open/save — only plain-text workarounds. | First-class | Partial or limited |
| Production workflows (locked scripts, revision colours, A-pages)Final Draft's core strength today; Inkwell's breakdown reports and revision-colour tracking are live on Pro and above, with printed A-pages and locked-page numbering still maturing. | Partial or limited | First-class |
| Version control with draft lines | First-class | Not available |
| Named save points (immutable snapshots) | First-class | Not available |
| Semantic change tracking (scene/dialogue-level diffs) | First-class | Not available |
| Agentic AI skill passes | First-class | Not available |
| Inline AI edit (Cmd+K) and command palette | First-class | Not available |
| Web-based, cross-platformFinal Draft Cloud puts browser writing behind a Suite subscription, while the full editor remains Final Draft 13 on desktop. Inkwell is browser-native: the room opens the same structured draft anywhere, with desktop and Apple apps extending that system rather than splitting it. | First-class | Partial or limited |
| Real-time collaborationFinal Draft 13 has real-time collaboration (desktop, session-based, all writers on Final Draft 13); Inkwell builds it on shared save points. | First-class | First-class |
Feature and pricing details link to the first-party pages used for verification.
If your only requirement is the format every production office already trusts, Final Draft remains a safe default. If you want that output plus version control, semantic change tracking, and AI that edits the draft — without leaving an industry-standard PDF behind — Inkwell is built for how writing actually iterates.
The Free plan includes the full editor and AI skill passes.