A Dabble Alternative for Writers Who Want the Files.
Dabble is a calm writing app that runs on every device you own, with a firm policy against AI. Shiro differs in what you hold at the end: plain Markdown files on your disk throughout, and a finished EPUB and print PDF out of the same app. If you write on your phone, or you want a promise that no model will read your words, Dabble is the better choice.
| Shiro | Dabble | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free on your computer. Cloud is optional, see the pricing page. | Billed yearly: $15, $23 or $39 a month. Monthly billing exists at a higher rate. Lifetime: $699 or $899. 14 days free, no card. |
| Platforms | Mac, Windows, Linux, and a web app for cloud projects. No phone app yet. | Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android and a browser |
| Where your book lives | Plain Markdown files in a folder on your disk, or Shiro Cloud if you move a project there | Its cloud, with a copy stored on your devices |
| Works offline | Yes, with no account | Yes, and it syncs when you’re back online |
| Sync between devices | For projects you move to Shiro Cloud. Local folders stay on one computer. | Yes, across all of them |
| AI | Optional: local model, your own key or hosted. Can be turned off. | None, by policy. It says it will never write for you, and your text is never sent to a generative model. |
| Export | EPUB, PDF, Word, Markdown, HTML, plain text, with Kindle presets and a pre-upload checklist | Word, Google Docs, web page, Markdown. No direct PDF or EPUB, though you can print to PDF from a browser. |
| If you stop paying | The desktop app and your files carry on. There’s nothing to stop paying for unless you use Cloud. | Your manuscripts stay readable and exportable, Dabble says, for good |
Checked on the makers’ own websites in November 2026. Prices are in US dollars and change; tell us if we’ve fallen behind.
Choose Dabble If
- You write on your phone, on the bus, in the lunch queue. Dabble has iOS and Android apps, and Shiro has no phone app yet.
- You want a company’s written promise that your manuscript never reaches a generative model.
- You want one library that’s there on every device, with nothing to set up or think about.
- You’re sending the book to agents or publishers, Word is all you’ll need, and you’d take a small calm interface over a long list of features.
Choose Shiro If
- You want the book as plain Markdown files on your own disk, all the time.
- You publish yourself, and want EPUB and print PDF from the app, with Kindle presets and a check before upload.
- You’re keeping track of a world or a series: facts that change by book, maps, trackers, and continuity checks that need no AI.
- You’d rather not pay a subscription to write on your own computer.
This Isn’t Really a Page About AI
Dabble has made a decision about AI and stated it clearly: it will never put words on your page, and your writing doesn’t get sent to a generative model. Shiro has an AI. You can turn it off and it stays off, and plenty of what looks like AI in Shiro isn’t, since its mentions and continuity checks use no model. But a switch in an app and a policy from a company are different things. If you came for the policy, Dabble is offering something we don’t.
So set AI aside. The useful comparison between these two is what you can hold in your hands.
What’s on Your Disk
Dabble keeps a copy of your work on each device, so you can write offline, and syncs it when you’re back. Its site doesn’t say what form that copy takes. And it treats the people who leave well: after you unsubscribe, your manuscripts stay readable and exportable for good. Nobody’s book is held hostage here.
Shiro’s approach is a folder of Markdown files with names like 07 The Audit.md. You can read them in TextEdit, search them with whatever you search with, put them in Git. Change one outside Shiro and it merges your edit; on a clash your words win, and the other version becomes a snapshot. Dabble’s way out is an export. In Shiro you’re already out, and the app is a visitor to your folder.
What Comes Out at the End
Dabble exports Word, Google Docs, a web page and Markdown. Its docs say plainly that it doesn’t export PDF or EPUB directly, though a browser can print a PDF for you. If you’re sending the book to an agent or a publisher, none of that is a problem. Word is what they’ll ask for.
If you’re publishing it yourself, a formatted book becomes a job for another tool. Shiro does it in the Publish lens: EPUB and print PDF, Kindle presets for ebook, paperback and hardcover, seven book styles, one EPUB per store, and sixteen checks before you upload. You supply the cover, and Shiro checks its size.
Where Dabble Is Ahead
Reach, above all. Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android and a browser, offline, with the same book on each. Shiro has no phone app yet. If your novel gets written in twenty-minute pieces between other obligations, and the thing in your pocket is the only computer available, you have your answer.
Sync is simpler too. In Shiro, a local project lives on one computer. To work across machines you move it to Shiro Cloud, where it stops being a folder until you download it again, and the two don’t sync with each other. Dabble doesn’t ask you to choose.
Dabble is also calm and quick to learn, and its Plot Grid is tied straight to the manuscript. Shiro has a plot grid as well, along with six other Board views, trackers, keyword chips and more. That’s a lot of levers for someone who wanted to write a book, and we know it.
Moving Over
Shiro has no dedicated importer for Dabble, and it doesn’t need one. Export as Word or Markdown and bring the file in. From Word, italics, comments and footnotes come across, and you can split by headings, page breaks or a marker line. Your Dabble account keeps its copy either way.
The Questions People Ask
Does Dabble export EPUB or PDF?
Not directly, by its own account. It exports Word, Google Docs, a web page and Markdown, and you can get a PDF by printing from a browser. For a formatted book you’d use another tool, or an app like Shiro that makes them.
I chose Dabble because it has no AI. Is Shiro for me?
Probably not, if the policy is what you value. You can turn Shiro’s AI off and it stays off, and its mentions and continuity checks run with no model. That’s a setting in an app that does have AI, which isn’t the same as Dabble’s promise.
Can I move a Dabble manuscript to Shiro?
Yes, by export. Shiro has no dedicated Dabble importer, but Dabble exports Word and Markdown, and Shiro imports both. A Word file can be split into scenes by headings, page breaks or a marker line.
Does Shiro have an iPhone or Android app like Dabble?
Not yet. Shiro runs on Mac, Windows and Linux, with a web app for cloud projects. If you need to write on a phone, Dabble is the one that does it.
Sources: Dabble pricing, What’s new in Dabble 3, Installing on desktop, Dabble is AI-free, Exporting a manuscript