A Final Draft alternative for screenplays, in your browser
Final Draft is the screenwriting program most of film and television exchanges scripts in, and .fdx is its file. OBSCURA Write lays a script out on the same page in a browser tab, with the same elements and keys, and opens and saves .fdx. It has none of Final Draft’s production tools. What each does, from Final Draft’s own pages, checked on 6 October 2026, and who should stay with Final Draft.
Written · Updated
If the script is going into production, with revision colours, locked pages and a script coordinator, or you write with a partner in the same script at the same time, stay with Final Draft: Write has no revision mode and no live collaboration. If you are writing a spec script, a short or a feature on your own, and want the industry’s page, Final Draft and Fountain files and a novel in the same program, with nothing to install and the script kept on your own computer, Write does that as part of OBSCURA Pro.
To read an .fdx or Fountain script somebody has sent you, SCREENPLAY opens it free in the browser, laid out as it prints, with its scenes, its speaking parts and its page count.
What Final Draft is, and who uses it
Final Draft is a desktop program for macOS and Windows, sold as a perpetual licence and as a subscription, with a free trial and an education price. Final Draft Go, a separate app, runs on iPhone and iPad. Beyond writing to screenplay format, it has the tools a production uses: a revision mode with revision sets and coloured pages, locked pages, omitted scenes, and a Collaboration tool with which several Final Draft users edit one script at once.
Scripts change hands as PDF or as .fdx, and a writers’ room or a production office is usually working in Final Draft. Nothing on this page argues otherwise.
Side by side
Final Draft’s entries are from its own product, pricing and help pages, checked on 6 October 2026. Its prices vary by licence, for students and over time, so none is given here; its pricing page has them.
| Final Draft | OBSCURA Write | |
|---|---|---|
| What it costs | A perpetual licence or a subscription | US$2 a month or US$19 a year on its own, or US$5 a month or US$48 a year in OBSCURA Pro, with every other OBSCURA application |
| Free trial | Yes | 7 days |
| Runs on | macOS and Windows, and Final Draft Go on iPhone and iPad | A browser tab on Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS |
| Script files | .fdx | .owrite, with .fdx and .fountain in and out, and PDF on US Letter or A4 |
| Revision mode, coloured pages, locked pages | Yes | No |
| Writing together at the same time | Yes, with its Collaboration tool | No: a project is on one computer at a time |
| Novels in the same program | Not what it is for | Yes, with a binder and a compile to standard manuscript format |
| Where scripts are kept | Where you save them | In the browser on your computer, with backups, and in a folder of your own if you choose one |
What Write does, in the terms Final Draft uses
| The job | In Write |
|---|---|
| Elements | Scene heading, action, character, parenthetical, dialogue, transition, centred text, lyrics and dual dialogue, with Tab and Enter moving between them as in Final Draft |
| The page | Courier 12 point, ten characters and six lines to the inch; action and scene headings 1.5 inches from the left edge and 6 wide, character cues at 3.7, parentheticals at 3.1, dialogue at 2.5 and 3.5 wide, transitions ending at 7.5; 54 lines on US Letter and 58 on A4 |
| Page breaks | A speech is broken only between two of its lines, with (MORE) and the cue again with (CONT’D); a scene heading is never the last line of a page; action breaks with two lines or more on each side |
| Scene numbers | Printed, and written by hand where you want your own; not locked |
| Reports | Scenes with their length in eighths of a page, every character with their speeches and lines, and the locations |
| Final Draft files | Read and written: scene headings, action, characters, parentheticals, dialogue, transitions and shots, with text styles, scene numbers, dual dialogue and the title page |
| Fountain | Read and written to the Fountain 1.1 syntax, title page, sections, synopses, notes and the boneyard included |
| Planning | Acts and scenes in a binder, a corkboard of index cards, an outliner, a timeline by the date in the story, and a bible of characters and places linked to their scenes |
| Versions | Snapshots of a scene, compared word by word with the text as it is now |
| Sending it out | A PDF of the script, and a log of what went to which producer or competition, the reply and the date to follow up, saved as CSV |
What Final Draft has that Write does not
- Revision mode. Write has no coloured revision pages, no revision marks in the margin, no locked pages or A-pages and no production drafts. Snapshots and their comparison are the way to see what changed.
- Writing together. Final Draft’s Collaboration tool puts two or more writers in one script at once. In Write you send a copy and bring the changes in by hand.
- Its fonts. Write sets PDFs in the Courier every PDF reader has built in, so a page looks and breaks the same everywhere; it does not use Courier Prime. That Courier knows the Western European alphabet only: any other character is printed as its nearest plain letter or a question mark, and Write says how many there were.
- An app for iPhone and iPad. Write runs in a browser on a computer.
- The production office. A script coordinator handing out pink and blue pages works in Final Draft, and a script in production should stay there.
What Write adds
- Nothing to install, on any computer. The same project opens on Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS, in a current browser, and works offline once the page has been opened.
- Fountain as well as Final Draft. A script written in plain text elsewhere opens with its acts as folders, and saves back as Fountain.
- A novel beside the script. The same program compiles a manuscript to standard manuscript format for an agent. The Scrivener page has the detail.
- Your script stays on your computer. It is kept in the browser’s private storage, with backups on a rotation, and, in Chrome, Edge or Opera, in a folder you choose. No server holds an unproduced script, and there is no AI in Write.
- One subscription for several jobs. The same Pro plan covers OBSCURA Authorship, which keeps a record of how a work was written, and the other paid applications.
Moving a script across
- Save the script from Final Draft as an
.fdxfile, which is its usual format. - In Write, open it. It becomes a screenplay project with a document for each scene; the elements come in with their text styles, scene numbers, dual dialogue and the title page.
- Check the page count against the PDF you last sent. The layout is the one screenwriting programs share, but print a few pages from both before you rely on a count for a submission.
- To hand the script to somebody using Final Draft, save it as
.fdxagain, or print it to PDF.
What it costs
Write on its own is US$2 a month or US$19 a year; all of OBSCURA Pro is US$5 a month or US$48 a year. Each comes with 7 days free first. For a team, each person needs a plan of their own. A perpetual Final Draft licence is paid for once and Write for as long as you use it; what the subscription buys is Write kept up to date, and with Pro every other OBSCURA application. There is no free version of Write with features held back: without Pro, its page shows what it does and asks for a plan.
See it before you pay. Write’s page shows a screenplay at work on its sample short film, lists the files it opens and saves, and says what it cannot do yet.
Questions people ask about A Final Draft alternative for screenplays, in your browser
Is there a Final Draft alternative that runs in a browser?
OBSCURA Write writes screenplays to the layout screenwriting programs share, with Tab and Enter moving between the elements as in Final Draft, (MORE) and (CONT'D) at page breaks, and scene numbers. It runs in a browser tab and keeps the script on your computer.
Does Write open and save Final Draft files?
Yes. It reads and writes .fdx files with their scene headings, action, characters, parentheticals, dialogue, transitions, text styles, scene numbers, dual dialogue and title page, and Fountain files too.
Does Write have revision mode or locked pages?
No. There are no coloured revision pages, revision marks, locked pages or A-pages, and no production drafts. For a script in production, Final Draft is the right tool.
Can two writers work on one script at once?
Not in Write. A project is on one computer at a time; you send a copy and bring changes in by hand. Final Draft's Collaboration tool lets several writers edit one script at once.
What does it cost?
Write on its own is US$2 a month or US$19 a year, and all of OBSCURA Pro is US$5 a month or US$48 a year, each with 7 days free first; Pro covers every OBSCURA application. Final Draft is sold as a perpetual licence or a subscription, priced on its own pages.
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