If you've searched for "writing app that won't let you delete," you've probably found both of these. Draft and Lettera share an unusual conviction — that sometimes the best thing a writing tool can do is take the backspace key away from you. What they build around that conviction is very different.

The short version

Draft is a web-based writing tool with version control, collaboration features, and Hemingway Mode — a toggle that disables the delete key entirely. It also offers document comparison, easy sharing, and import from various sources. It's built around the idea that writing is iterative and that tracking changes across versions matters.

Lettera is a native desktop application where the typewriter philosophy runs through everything — not just one mode, but the carriage movement, the paper textures, the chapter structure, the Paper Trail calendar. Purist Mode doesn't just disable delete. It converts backspace into strikethrough, so you can see what you changed your mind about. The mistakes stay on the page, the way they would on a real typewriter.

	Lettera	Draft
Price	$29 (14-day free trial)	Free (Pro plan available)
Platform	macOS, Windows (native desktop)	Browser (web app)
Account required	No	Yes
Works offline	Always	No (browser-based)
No-delete mode	✓ (Purist Mode — strikethrough)	✓ (Hemingway Mode — disables key)
Typewriter carriage	✓	—
Paper textures	✓	—
Version comparison	Versions (manual snapshots)	✓ (automatic, with diff view)
Document sharing	—	✓
Chapter management	✓	—
Daily writing goals	✓ (Paper Trail)	—
Per-chapter notes	✓ (the Drawer)	—
File storage	Local (your computer)	Cloud (Draft's servers)
AI writing features	No. The words are yours.	No

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Where Draft is the better choice

Draft's version comparison tool is genuinely clever. Every time you save a major version, Draft can show you a side-by-side diff of what changed — the kind of thing programmers take for granted but writers rarely have access to. If you want to study how your writing evolves across drafts, Draft makes that visible in a way few other tools do.

Draft also allows easy sharing and collaboration. You can send someone a draft link, they can suggest edits, and you can accept or reject each one. For writers who work with editors or beta readers and want a simple feedback loop without Google Docs, Draft handles that well.

And it's free, runs in any browser, and requires no installation.

Where Lettera is the better choice

Draft's Hemingway Mode is a feature inside a larger tool. Turn it on, the delete key stops working. Turn it off, you're back to a standard web text editor. The no-delete philosophy is an option, not an environment.

Lettera's Purist Mode is part of a complete writing experience. The carriage movement gives your typing a physical rhythm. The paper textures make the screen feel less like a screen. The strikethrough mechanic — where backspace draws a line through text instead of removing it — preserves your thought process on the page. You can see what you crossed out. You can read the draft the way a typist would read a typewritten page, complete with corrections. The mistakes aren't gone. They're just struck.

Lettera also gives you chapter management, the Drawer for notes, and Paper Trail for tracking your writing habit — tools designed specifically for long-form writing. Draft treats no-delete as a mode toggle. Lettera treats it as a creative philosophy woven through the entire experience.

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Draft's philosophy

Writing is iterative. Version tracking and comparison help you understand how your work evolves. Hemingway Mode is a useful discipline to apply when you need it.

Lettera's philosophy

Writing is physical. The resistance of a typewriter — the inability to perfectly erase — wasn't a limitation. It was a creative environment. Purist Mode doesn't just disable delete. It makes the act of changing your mind visible on the page.

Draft says: don't delete. Lettera says: don't delete, and here's what it looks like when you try. The first is a rule. The second is an experience.

Can you use both?

You can, though the overlap here is closer than with most pairings. Both tools are fundamentally about drafting. If you value Draft's version comparison for studying how your writing evolves, you could draft in Lettera — with the carriage, the paper, the strikethrough — and then import versions into Draft for comparison and revision tracking. The tactile drafting happens in Lettera. The analytical revision happens in Draft.

The honest take

Draft is a thoughtful tool with a unique strength in version comparison. If you want to study how your drafts change over time, it offers something rare. Lettera shares Draft's belief that writers should stop deleting during first drafts, but builds an entire environment around that belief — carriage movement, paper texture, visible strikethroughs, chapter structure, writing goals. If you tried Hemingway Mode and thought "this is the right idea, but I want more of it," Lettera is where that idea becomes a complete writing experience. The fourteen-day trial lets you feel the difference for yourself.