Writing software without AIWrite your book. No AI in it.

Writing software without AI: what’s in it

• A writing pad: Perch’s own editor, in any browser, on a phone too. It opens Word files and Google Docs.
• A word count tracker: words today, a daily goal, a finish date, streaks and personal records. No logging by hand.
• Writing sprints: a timer that counts what you add, alone or with other writers, on Discord too.
• Checks for your whole book: from chapter lengths to a doubled word, in five passes, big to small.
• Bird’s Eye: every chapter and scene, its length, and who appears where.
• Story structures: your book against Save the Cat, the Hero’s Journey or three acts.
• Fix: puts a finding’s fix into your text: one at a time, or all at once.

Where it works

In Google Docs, Atticus, WordPress and Ellipsus through the browser extension. In Word, Scrivener, Pages, LibreOffice Writer, OpenOffice and Vellum through the desktop app, on Mac and Windows. And in Perch’s writing pad. Each editor, and what it gets.

How writing software works without AI

Every check is a rule or a word list, from trusted sources or written by me. A rule finds “was built” and calls it passive voice. A word list knows which sound-alike you probably meant. Nothing guesses at what you meant, and nothing rewrites your sentence.

The icons aren’t guesses either. Green is what most published novels do: measured on 109 books and Google Books’ counts for today’s fiction. A whole novel is checked in seconds, on the device you write on.

Why writing software without AI uses less energy

Most AI writing tools send your text to a data centre, and the data centre reads all of it. Having an AI read about 200 pages and give one short answer takes around 40 watt-hours (Epoch AI’s estimate).

I measured Falcontext on my own novel, Tethered to Darkness: 115,000 words, every check, over 14,000 things marked. On my MacBook Pro it took under 0.005 watt-hours the first time and 0.0016 after that, measured with macOS’s own power meter. The AI’s one short answer takes more than 8,000 times as much, and about 25,000 times as much as every run after the first.

And nobody checks a book once. Ten passes with an AI is about 400 watt-hours. Those AI numbers are estimates: AI companies don’t publish one for reading a whole book. Why I made Falcontext AI-free.

What it can and can’t find without AI

A checker that reads a sentence at a time can’t see slips that sit chapters apart. In my newest test (1 November 2026), a short story had 17 slips in consistency, like a name spelled two ways. Falcontext caught 16, the most of any tool, with no false alarms. Grammarly’s free plan caught 2, ProWritingAid 4.

In single sentences, Grammarly, ProWritingAid and the AI tools caught more. And it isn’t a full spelling or grammar checker, so keep your editor’s own on. What it checks without AI.

How to tell if writing software uses AI

• Does it write or rewrite sentences for you? Then it makes text, and that’s generative AI.
• Does checking need the internet? Then your text is sent somewhere to be read.
• What does its privacy policy say? Look for whether your text is sent, kept, or used for training.
• Is AI switched off by default, and can you switch it off for good?

Your book stays yours

No Falcontext server ever sees your writing. It keeps numbers (word counts, goals, streaks), your settings and the few things you give it, like chapter names. If you turn on sync, they go to your own Google Drive. Your manuscript never trains anyone’s model.

Your writing is never sent anywhere, and no AI is used on your writing in any way.

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