Fade In and Cinequill
Cinequill vs Fade In is a license against a development room
Fade In’s purchase page lists $79.95 and $99.95 USD, a free trial, and desktop apps for Windows, Mac and Linux. Fade In says updates are free, and FastSpring may add tax. The page describes an individual license, not a story bible and not a real-time writers’ room. Cinequill is the other shape of product: a web app for story development, with a free plan that does not cap projects, a dramaturg that will not ghostwrite, and export to FDX, Fountain and PDF. Pro is a subscription, before VAT. Own Fade In when you want a formatter on a machine you control. Use Cinequill when the draft is not the problem yet. Buying one does not require abandoning the other.
Updated 24 October 2026
Prices verified on 24 October 2026.
What are you actually comparing?
Fade In is a desktop screenplay app. The purchase page lists $79.95 and $99.95, a free trial, and Windows, Mac and Linux. Fade In says updates are free. FastSpring may add tax. The features page, beyond that purchase page, lists outlining, index cards, revisions, page locking, and import or export of FDX, Fountain, DOCX, RTF, Celtx and PDF. Fade In Mobile is a separate app for iPhone, iPad and Android. Fade In Access is an optional cloud and collaboration subscription: the public cards show $9.95 a month and $99.95 a year, while the subscribe control also shows $9.99 and $99.99, with a 7-day trial. Neither page describes a story bible or a dramaturg.
Cinequill is a browser studio for the work before and around the formatted page. The free plan includes unlimited projects, the bible, characters, structure, eight methods, the editor, FDX, Fountain and PDF, and a monthly token allowance. Pro is €12 a month or €115 a year before VAT. Pro includes 1,500,000 tokens a month. A one-off top-up is €5 for 500,000 tokens, and it does not expire. You need a connection. Fade In does not. That single sentence is enough reason for some writers to stop reading and buy the license.
A comparison that calls one of them the winner is selling a category error. One is a formatter you can own. The other is a development room you rent.
How should the money be read?
A one-time license and a subscription are not the same kind of cheap. If you already know the story and you will live in a desktop app for years, Fade In’s purchase page is the more legible bill: pay once, and they say you will not pay again for updates. Confirm which of the two listed prices is the license you want, and expect tax. If you are still finding the story, a license does not buy the bible, and a cheap formatter can become an expensive way to type scenes that the structure cannot defend.
Cinequill’s bill is the opposite shape. You can stay on the free plan and never pay, with the token cap as the limit on the dramaturg rather than a limit on projects or on export. You pay Pro when the allowance or the collaborator cap is what you are hitting. Over several years a subscription can cost more than $99.95. That is not a hidden flaw. It is the price of a different object. Add the two bills only if you truly use both: develop in the browser, deliver from the desktop app.
Final Draft’s displayed price, $199.99 against a $249.99 list, is the other desktop number writers put next to Fade In. This page does not re-litigate that choice. If the question is which formatter an office already opens, Final Draft still has the advantage, and the alternatives page says so. Fade In’s advantage is the license, Linux included, at the amounts printed on its own purchase page.
| Cinequill | Fade In | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free 100,000 tokens/month; Pro €12/month or €115/year (about €9.58/month), before VAT | Desktop purchase page shows $79.95 and $99.95. Fade In Access cards show $9.95/mo and $99.95/yr; the subscribe control also shows $9.99/mo and $99.99/yr |
| Free | Yes: unlimited projects, bible, editor, export and 100,000 AI tokens/month | Free desktop trial download. Access lists a 7-day trial |
| AI | Dramaturg: asks questions and rewrites only text you select; it does not write the film for you | No AI writing described on the purchase or features page |
| Where it runs | Web app; you need a connection to write and collaborate | Windows, Mac and Linux. Separate Fade In Mobile for iPhone, iPad and Android. Access is a browser service, including iOS and Android |
| License | Subscription: €12/month or €115/year, before VAT. | Individual license. The page lists $79.95 and $99.95. They say updates are free. FastSpring may add tax. |
| Story development | Bible, methods, characters, structure and a dramaturg before the page. | The features page lists outlining, index cards, a navigator, revisions, page locking, and import/export of FDX, Fountain, DOCX, RTF, Celtx and PDF. Not a story bible. |
| Collaboration | One co-author per project on Free; unlimited collaborators on Pro. | Fade In Access is an optional subscription for cloud, sync and collaboration. It is not described as simultaneous typing. Public cards: $9.95/month and $99.95/year, with a 7-day trial. |
Where is Fade In the better tool?
Fade In is better when you want the draft on a machine you control, including a Linux machine, without a browser tab and without a monthly charge. Offline writing is the product. Cinequill’s own description is that you need a connection to write and collaborate. If you write on trains, on sets with bad networks, or on a computer you do not want signed into a cloud studio, the trial of Fade In is the relevant test and Cinequill is the wrong one.
Fade In is also better when the file is the whole job. A writer who already breaks story on paper, or with a partner in the room, does not need a second copy of that thinking inside a web app. They need pagination, revision marks and a file that opens. We did not inventory Fade In’s revision features from the purchase page, so this guide will not claim parity with Final Draft’s colored revisions. It will say: if the desktop draft is the work, start with the trial, not with a story-bible subscription.
The trial is the honest free tier. It is not a permanent free editor. When it ends, the license is the product. Do not put Fade In in a list of free screenwriting apps except as a trial.
Where is Cinequill the better tool?
Cinequill is better when the formatted page is how you avoid the decision. A desktop license will not ask why the protagonist’s want collapses at the midpoint. The dramaturg will, and it will only rewrite text you select. The eight methods, Save the Cat among them, are in the same project as the draft, so the beat sheet is not a spreadsheet in another window. The free beat-sheet calculator and the Logline Doctor are public tools on this site if you want to test that way of working before you create an account.
Cinequill is also the better shared room when the other person should see the bible and not only the pages. Free includes one co-author. Pro removes the cap. That is still not a claim of simultaneous typing. WriterDuet remains the specialist for two cursors, and Fade In’s purchase page does not compete for that job. If your collaborator needs a file, export FDX or Fountain and let them open it in Fade In. The handoff is a feature. Keeping two live copies of the same scene is how drafts fork.
Chromebooks and computers you do not want to install software on are a practical third case. Fade In is a desktop app for Windows, Mac and Linux. It is not a browser studio. Cinequill is. Final Draft’s product page, separately, says the desktop app is not for Chromebook. Match the machine before you match the brand.
What does a fair trial look like?
Download Fade In’s trial and format ten pages you already believe. If the app gets out of the way, and the pages do not reveal a story problem, buy the license and stop shopping. If the pages are fine and the story is not, the license will not fix the story. Open Cinequill’s free plan on the same premise and do the bible work before you touch the editor.
Use the export as the tie-break. Write or import a short scene in each tool and open the file in the other, or in whatever formatter you already own. Cinequill documents FDX, Fountain and PDF on the free plan. Fade In’s features page lists FDX, Fountain, DOCX, RTF and PDF. A formatter that cannot exchange a file with the rest of the pipeline is not a cheap license. It is a cul-de-sac.
Then decide whether you are buying a tool or a stack. Many writers should own Fade In or Final Draft and still develop in a browser. That is allowed. Paying for Cinequill because a list said it replaces desktop software is not. The hub keeps the wider price table. This page is only the license against the development room.
Try the workflow
Evaluate Cinequill on your next screenplay
If you are comparing tools, the clearest test is the full workflow: bible, characters, structure, scenes, screenplay and export.
Frequently asked questions
Is Fade In cheaper than Cinequill?
Fade In’s purchase page lists $79.95 and $99.95 for a license, before any tax FastSpring adds. Cinequill’s free plan costs nothing; Pro is a monthly or annual subscription before VAT. A license and a subscription are different bills over time.
Does Fade In include AI?
The purchase page does not describe AI writing. Cinequill’s dramaturg asks questions and rewrites only a selection. It does not write the screenplay for you.
Does Fade In work on Linux?
Yes. The purchase page lists Windows, Mac and Linux. Cinequill is a web app and needs a connection instead of an install.
Can Cinequill replace Fade In?
No. Fade In is the offline desktop formatter. Cinequill can develop the story and hand over FDX, Fountain or PDF. Keep the license if the desktop draft is the job.
Related resources
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