Everything you need to write about Lettera. If something is missing, email us — we’ll get it to you.
Lettera is a desktop writing app for macOS and Windows that recreates the feel of a typewriter — not as nostalgia, but as a serious tool for the drafting process. The page has texture. The cursor follows a carriage. Backspace can be turned off. There is no AI.
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Short (one sentence): Lettera is a $29 desktop writing app with typewriter carriage movement, paper textures, and no AI.
Medium (one paragraph):Lettera is a typewriter-style writing app for macOS and Windows. As you type, the page moves left like a typewriter carriage — the cursor stays still and the text comes to you. The screen looks like paper, not a screen. Purist Mode converts backspace into strikethrough, so you write forward instead of editing in circles. It includes chapter management, per-chapter notes, and a daily writing calendar. There is no AI, no cloud, no account, and no subscription. $29 one-time after a 14-day free trial.
Long (two paragraphs):Lettera is a desktop writing app that brings the experience of a typewriter to macOS and Windows. The defining feature is carriage movement — as you type, the page shifts left and snaps back on return, giving the act of writing a physical rhythm. Paper textures replace the blank white screen. Purist Mode turns backspace into strikethrough instead of delete, keeping your mistakes visible and your momentum intact. For longer projects, chapters organize your manuscript, the Drawer holds per-chapter notes, and Paper Trail marks every day you showed up to write.
Lettera has no AI writing features — no autocomplete, no suggestions, no generative text. Files are stored locally with no cloud sync, no account creation, and no internet requirement. It costs $29 once, with a 14-day free trial. It is named after the Olivetti Lettera typewriter, the portable machine used by Joan Didion, Sylvia Plath, and Cormac McCarthy.
The page moves left as you type. When you press Enter, it snaps back to the margin. Your eyes stay in one place while the words flow past — the same mechanics as a physical typewriter carriage.
Backspace stops deleting. It strikes through instead, the way corrections look on a typewritten page. Your mistakes stay visible. You learn to write forward. Toggle it on or off at any time.
The writing surface looks and feels like paper. Choose from parchment, newsprint, ivory, and others. The screen becomes a page with warmth and grain.
Organize long projects into chapters. Each chapter has its own Drawer — a notes panel for character details, plot threads, research fragments, and text you’ve cut but might want later.
A calendar that marks every day you sat down and wrote. Not a word count, not a streak with penalties. A quiet record of a habit.
No autocomplete, no rewrite suggestions, no generative text, no grammar checking powered by AI. This is a deliberate product decision, not a missing feature. Lettera was built on the premise that a writing tool should help you write, not write for you.
Nearly every major writing tool has added AI features in the past two years. Lettera is positioned deliberately outside this trend. Here is where the major tools stand:
| App | AI status | Pricing model |
|---|---|---|
| Google Docs | AI (Gemini) | Free / Google Workspace subscription |
| Notion | AI (Notion AI) | $10–18/mo subscription |
| Ulysses | AI (Writing Tools + ChatGPT) | $5.99/mo subscription |
| Hemingway Editor | AI (rewrite suggestions) | Free (web) / $19.99 (desktop) |
| Obsidian | AI via plugins (optional) | Free / $50 commercial |
| Scrivener | No AI | $59.99 one-time |
| iA Writer | No AI (tracks AI authorship) | $49.99 one-time |
| Typora | No AI | $14.99 one-time |
| Bear | No AI | $29.99/yr subscription |
| FocusWriter | No AI | Free (open source) |
| Lettera | No AI. The words are yours. | $29 one-time |
Lettera’s no-AI position is not a criticism of tools that offer it. It is a design decision rooted in a specific belief about drafting: the first draft should come from the writer. Detailed, honest comparisons with each of these tools are available at getlettera.com/vs.
Here are a few ways journalists and reviewers have approached Lettera, or could:
As Google Docs, Notion, and Ulysses add AI, a new writing app launches with none — and makes that absence a feature. What does it mean to build a creative tool that deliberately stays out of the way?
Typewriter sales have been rising for a decade. Lettera brings the mechanics of a typewriter — carriage movement, visible strikethrough, paper textures — to a desktop app. Named after the Olivetti Lettera used by Didion and McCarthy.
In a market where most writing tools charge $5–18 per month, Lettera costs $29 once. No recurring revenue, no upsells, no premium tier. A solo developer’s bet that one-time pricing is more honest for a tool that doesn’t need a server.
Purist Mode turns backspace into strikethrough. Writers lose the ability to erase and gain something unexpected: momentum. A look at how constraint changes the creative process.
Lettera’s features — Purist Mode for forward-only drafting, Paper Trail for daily habit tracking, chapters for novel structure — map directly onto the demands of writing 50,000 words in 30 days.
Lettera costs $29, once. Here is how that compares to other tools a writer might consider:
Lettera has no premium tier, no in-app purchases, and no features gated behind a higher price. Every feature is available during the 14-day trial and remains available after purchase.
High-resolution screenshots, the Lettera app icon, and logo files are available on request. Email press@getlettera.comand we’ll send a zip file with everything you need.
What’s included: app screenshots on macOS and Windows (light and dark mode, various paper textures), Purist Mode in action, Paper Trail calendar view, the Drawer open beside a manuscript, app icon in PNG and SVG, wordmark in light and dark variants.
All assets may be used in editorial coverage without additional permission. Please do not modify the app icon or wordmark beyond scaling.
Press inquiries: press@getlettera.com
Founder: Kirk Wheeler
Website: getlettera.com
Review copies:Available on request. We’ll send a license key.
A modern typewriter for people who still believe words deserve weight.
14-day free trial for macOS and Windows. $29 after that, once, forever. No account required.
Lettera — a quiet place to write.