Microsoft Word
Ulysses
| Feature | Microsoft Word | Ulysses |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | From $6.99/mo | From $5.99/mo |
| Free Plan | ✗ No | ✗ No |
| Rating | 4.5 / 5 | 4.6 / 5 |
| Best For | professionals, enterprise, legal-teams, academic-writers | authors, bloggers, journalists, apple-users |
| Founded | 1983 | 2013 |
| Document Editing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Templates | ✓ | ✗ |
| Track Changes | ✓ | ✗ |
| Mail Merge | ✓ | ✗ |
| Copilot Ai | ✓ | ✗ |
| References | ✓ | ✗ |
| Markdown Editor | ✗ | ✓ |
| Library Organization | ✗ | ✓ |
| Goals And Deadlines | ✗ | ✓ |
| Publishing | ✗ | ✓ |
| Icloud Sync | ✗ | ✓ |
| Split View | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Microsoft Word Pros
- Most powerful word processor
- Professional templates
- Copilot AI
- Offline capable
✗ Microsoft Word Cons
- Subscription required
- Heavy application
- Collaboration lag
✓ Ulysses Pros
- Beautiful distraction-free writing
- Excellent library management
- Direct publishing to blogs
- iCloud sync across devices
✗ Ulysses Cons
- Apple ecosystem only
- Subscription model controversial
- No Windows support
The Verdict
Microsoft Word is built for professionals and enterprise, with a focus on document-editing and templates. Ulysses targets authors and bloggers and leads with markdown-editor and library-organization.
Pricing is close: Ulysses starts at $5.99/mo versus $6.99/mo for Microsoft Word — not a deciding factor on its own.
Neither tool offers a free plan, so factor the subscription cost into your decision from the start.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.