NovelAI alternatives
NovelAI is a strong writing tool, but it costs $10 to $25 a month after a short trial, and it's built for co-writing more than playing. Here's how the main alternatives compare on price, free use and play style.
Prices checked November 2026. Quillroll is our product; we've tried to be fair to the others.
At a glance
| App | Best for | Free option | Paid from | Content |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NovelAI | Long-form co-writing with lorebooks and style control | Trial: 50 text generations | $10/month | Adults, few restrictions |
| Quillroll | Playing a story as a game: choices, health, inventory | 10 turns/day, 20 signed in | $7.99/month or $4.99 once | PG-13 only |
| AI Dungeon | Open-ended adventures and a big community library | Free tier | $9.99/month | Adjustable settings |
| DreamGen | Roleplay and stories with a choice of open models | Free credits, small context | $7.83/month | Adults (18+) |
| Sudowrite | Novelists drafting and revising manuscripts | Limited trial | Paid plans | Writing tool |
Why people look for a NovelAI alternative
The reasons usually come down to three things. Price: after the trial there is no free tier, and the plan with the largest memory (Opus, about 28,000 tokens of context according to NovelAI's docs) is $25 a month. Learning curve: lorebooks, memory, author's notes and generation settings give fine control, but they take time to learn. Format: NovelAI is a writing assistant. If what you want is a game, where you make a move and the world answers, it can feel like a blank page.
Quillroll
Good for: playing rather than drafting. Each turn the narrator writes a scene and offers three choices, or you type anything you want to try. The game tracks your health and inventory and keeps a running summary, so long adventures stay consistent without you managing a lorebook. Pick one of four worlds or write your own premise. You can also play with friends on Discord, where everyone votes on the next move.
Not for: adult content (stories stay PG-13), novel drafting, or people who want to choose the model and tune its settings.
Price: free daily turns with no card needed. Pro is $7.99/month or $59/year for 3,000 turns every 30 days, and a one-time $4.99 pack gives 500 turns to use within 60 days.
AI Dungeon
Good for: open-ended adventures and a large library of scenarios made by other players. Closest to NovelAI in freedom, but game-shaped.
Price: a free tier, then Adventurer $9.99, Champion $14.99, Legend $29.99 and Mythic $49.99 a month (App Store prices); higher tiers mainly buy longer memory and stronger models. More in our AI Dungeon alternatives guide.
DreamGen
Good for: roleplay and story writing where you want to pick from many open models. It's for adults only, and its rules on mature themes are looser than most.
Price: a free tier with daily and monthly credits and a small context, then Starter $7.83, Advanced $19.35 and Pro $48.30 a month (the odd amounts come from currency conversion). See DreamGen alternatives.
Sudowrite
Good for: novelists. It helps draft, expand, describe and revise scenes in a manuscript, which makes it the closest match if you used NovelAI mainly to write books. Check its site for current plans.
How to choose
- You want to play, not write: Quillroll or AI Dungeon.
- You're writing a novel: stay with NovelAI, or try Sudowrite.
- You want adult roleplay: DreamGen or NovelAI. Quillroll isn't for that.
- You want the lowest cost: Quillroll's free daily turns, or the $4.99 pack with no subscription.
- You play with friends: Quillroll on Discord, where the party votes on each move.
Questions
Is there a free alternative to NovelAI?
Yes. Quillroll gives 10 free turns a day without an account and 20 with one. AI Dungeon and DreamGen both have free tiers with limits. NovelAI itself only has a short free trial (50 text generations).
What's the cheapest NovelAI alternative?
Of the apps here, Quillroll Pro is the cheapest subscription at $7.99/month, with a $4.99 one-time pack if you don't want a subscription. DreamGen's Starter plan is $7.83/month. NovelAI starts at $10/month.
Which alternative is best for writing a novel?
If you write long fiction, NovelAI's lorebooks and style controls are hard to beat, and Sudowrite is built for novelists. Quillroll and AI Dungeon are games first: you play a character turn by turn rather than drafting chapters.
Do these alternatives allow mature content?
It varies. NovelAI and DreamGen are for adults and have few content restrictions. AI Dungeon has adjustable content settings. Quillroll keeps every story PG-13.
Are these prices current?
We checked them in November 2026 from each product's own pages, documentation or app store listing. Prices change, so confirm on the official site before you subscribe.