Everything you need to write, plan, design, and publish your work—all in one powerful application. From first draft to final production.
Quilva works seamlessly across all major operating systems. Whether you're on a Mac, Windows PC, or Linux, your license will work on as many devices as you like.
This download is the complete Quilva application.
Without a license, it runs in demo mode—no expiry, just watermarked exports and a 20,000 word limit. Add a license at any time to remove all limits.
Quilva is made for real authors—not AI-generated books. With so much machine-written content out there, proving your work is genuinely yours is tough. Quilva’s QR based Certificate solves that.
Quilva tracks your typing, pasting, edits, deletions, and writing time (all stored privately on your PC) to create an encrypted QR code. Scanning it sends it for decryption on the Quilva server which allows others to confirm the book was written by a human, view small sample excerpts, and see metrics like total writing time and how much was manually typed.
Your manuscript stays private—only random excerpts and usage data go through authentication. The data is fully encrypted, so it can’t be faked. With this QR code, you can confidently show publishers and readers that your work is authentically your own.
The Writer module is your primary workspace for composition. It features a powerful outliner that lets you structure your manuscript hierarchically, just like Scrivener. Break your work into chapters, scenes, and sections with complete flexibility.
Switch between book mode for prose or screenplay mode for scripts. When you're writing in screenplay mode, Quilva automatically formats your dialogue, action lines, and scene headings to Hollywood standards. The index card system gives you a visual overview of your entire project, letting you rearrange scenes with drag-and-drop simplicity.
The Planner module transforms story planning into a visual, tactile experience. Create colored cards—like digital post-it notes—for each scene, plot point, or story beat. These cards can be dragged and dropped between different sections, acts, or story threads, making restructuring your narrative as simple as rearranging notes on a corkboard.
Color-code cards by storyline, character arc, or tension level. Group them into acts or chapters. The Planner helps you see the big picture of your story structure while maintaining complete control over every detail. Never lose track of a plot thread or forget where a character needs to be.
Visualize your story's chronology like a video editor's timeline. The Timeline module displays your narrative as horizontal strips, with each strip representing a different thread—main plot, subplots, character arcs, or any division you choose. See your entire story flow from left to right, making it easy to spot pacing issues or narrative gaps.
Drag story moments to different positions in time. Separate events into parallel tracks to manage multiple storylines. Zoom in to focus on a single chapter or zoom out to see the entire arc of your novel. The Timeline brings your story structure to life in a way that's impossible to achieve with traditional outlines.
The Designer module is a professional page layout application built directly into Quilva, similar to tools like Adobe InDesign, Inkscape, or CorelDRAW. Design your book's interior pages with complete creative control—choose fonts, set margins, add decorative elements, and craft the perfect layout for your work.
What makes Designer truly powerful is its dynamic link to your manuscript. Your text flows automatically from the Writer module into your designed pages, updating in real-time as you edit. Change a paragraph in Writer, and it updates in Designer instantly. This means you can perfect your book's design without worrying about keeping content synchronized.
When your manuscript is complete and your design is finalized, the Publisher module brings everything together. It compiles your work from the Writer and Designer modules into a single, polished PDF ready for distribution. Whether you're publishing an ebook, submitting to agents, or sending files to a print-on-demand service, Publisher ensures your output is professional and properly formatted.
Publisher handles the technical complexities—embedding fonts, managing color profiles, setting trim sizes, and creating press-ready PDFs. You maintain complete control over the final output while Quilva handles the technical details that would normally require expensive software or professional expertise.
Get started quickly with our comprehensive learning resources.
Download our comprehensive guide to get started with Quilva. This 50-page ebook walks you through every feature with step-by-step instructions, screenshots, and practical examples to help you master your writing workflow.
Download Free EbookWatch our collection of video tutorials on YouTube. From quick tips to in-depth feature walkthroughs, our video library helps visual learners get the most out of Quilva with real-time demonstrations.
Watch on YouTubeExplore our complete documentation for detailed technical information, API references, and advanced features. The docs are searchable, regularly updated, and include community-contributed tips and tricks.
View DocumentationA writer's compass for navigating the creative journey from idea to published work.
Quilva exists for writers who care about the craft — the ones chasing real stories, real characters, and real creativity in a world obsessed with speed and disposable content. Our goal is simple: support the people who choose to create something genuinely human and meaningful, allow them to think and plan and structure their work in a way that's natural to them, and focus on developing features that writers really need but can't find in alternatives.
Traditional writing software forces you to choose between simplicity and power. Quilva offers both. We believe the story planning tools - while very simple - are incredibly intuitive, natural, and second to none, giving you power and control over your story. The integrated Designer means you never have to export, import, or switch between applications. Everything you need from idea to final publication lives in the same place, making your process more efficient.
We've talked to novelists and screenwriters to understand what they need. Planning tools that feel intuitive and a compass to keep them on track when actually writing. Some apps lack features, others have it all but feel too complex. We can see that many haven't found their ideal tool. Quilva combines what we think are the best ideas from other programs, and tries to give writers what they've always really wanted - but couldn't yet put it to words!
Find answers to common questions about Quilva.
Quilva gives writers full control over planning and production in one place. You get a color-coded card planner and a strip-based timeline for scenes, subplots, and arcs, plus traditional index cards and outlining tools. Your structure links directly into an integrated Designer and Publisher, so you can shape the look of your book as you write. It’s a single, non-destructive workspace that covers planning, writing (books and screenplays), layout, publishing, and even optional authorship verification. That end-to-end workflow is what sets Quilva apart.
Quilva runs natively on Windows, macOS, and Linux. All platforms have identical features and capabilities, so you never have to compromise based on your operating system choice. We recommend running the demo and/or trial version before purchasing, to ensure it's running smoothly on your computer. This is especially true for Linux users, as distributions can vary. Minimum 8GB RAM recommended, and approximately 350MB disk space required.
The Standard Edition includes all core writing and planning tools, plus a basic Publisher. The Professional Edition adds the Designer, giving you full control over interior design, page layout, and PDF output for professional publishing. The Professional Edition also gives you the option to generate Human Authorship Certificates which the Standard Edition lacks.
In short, no—it's not practical to cheat. Quilva tracks your real writing habits (how fast you type, pauses, deletions, rewrites, what you wrote yourself vs. copy-pasted) and stores all that data, encrypted, right inside the .qlv file itself. Even we at Quilva can't read your actual manuscript—you can prove it by using the app completely offline. When you generate a certificate, only tiny snippets plus all that behavioural data get compressed and locked into a QR code. The server is the only thing that can decrypt it, and that's all anyone ever sees: the proof of how the book was really written. The only way around it would be to slowly re-type the entire AI-generated book by hand, over weeks or months, while perfectly imitating the messy, human way real writers work. It's so much effort that practically nobody will bother. We're confident that if someone used AI for most of their book, they'll think twice before showing the world their QR code—it simply wouldn't look good.
Absolutely. Quilva is a fully offline desktop app. The website never tracks your writing or personal data, and you can even activate your license without an internet connection. We value user's privacy and sense of ownership, which is why we opted against a recurring subscription model and the ability to work completely disconnected. QR authentication was designed around these core values so writers could prove the authenticity of their work without storing or sharing their work on the internet. Quilva is private, offline, and yours to keep forever.
Think of the Designer as a stripped down version of Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw that's tightly linked to your book's structure. It's not meant to be a replacement for those programs, but it does give you all the tools relevant to writers and self-publishers designing their book interiors. Because the Writer and Designer are dynamically linked, it means that all design changes you make automatically propogate throughout your book. Structural changes (like adding or removing chapters or re-ordering scenes) is completely non-destructive to the design you worked so hard to get right. The combination of the two tabs working together is truly powerful and unlike any other program.
The Timeline displays your story cards on horizontal strips, similar to a video editor. You can create separate tracks for different subplots or character arcs, then drag events to reorder your narrative visually. This allows you to see your story from new angles, or to isolate and seperate plots for clarity.
Yes! Quilva runs in a non-expiring demo mode with word count limits and watermarked exports. A free trial license removes these limits for 15 uses, letting you fully explore the Designer and Publisher features of the Pro version without watermarks. You can get an instant trial key for free on this page.
Yes, you can upgrade at any time by paying the difference. Send an email to support with a receipt or your current license key and we'll gladly assist you with the upgrade.
We evaluate free or discounted licenses on an individual basis, and we have supported people with free licenses. Write to us about your needs and circumstances and we'll see what we can do to help you. However, there is no guarantee we can give everyone a free or discounted license, it will be up to our discretion.
Simply download and install the latest versions from the website when you see fit. Your license includes all updates within the same major version—1.0, 1.2, 1.4, etc. These updates are yours permanently. To use version 2.0 and beyond, you’d need a new license for that major release if you've only bought version 1.
Quilva can export to PDF, DOCX, and EPUB for books, and .fountain and PDF for Screenplays.
Quilva comes with roughly 200 curated fonts, organised to help you quickly find what you need. It gives you the practical options most writers will use, without the clutter of hundreds of system fonts. You can still add your own fonts, and the documentation explains how.
All purchased licenses include email support, and response times are usually within 48 hours. Including your license in support emails is more likely to bump you to the top of the queue.
Because of the way our licensing system works, we can't de-activate your license once it's activated, especially if there's a copy running offline. Additionally, our demo and free trial versions allow for thorough testing of all features before a purchase. For these reasons, we don't offer refunds.
Have a question or need assistance? We're here to help. Send us a message and our support team will get back to you as soon as possible.
