No. Plottr has no AI features. Its homepage says "We're not building AI into Plottr" and that Plottr "is committed to rejecting AI features." A January 2026 post is headed "AI is NOT coming to Plottr." That reverses a 2024 plan for opt-in AI tools, and Plottr's makers now sell a separate AI product, Storysnap.
Every statement on this page comes from Plottr's own homepage, blog, changelog and privacy policy, and from Storysnap's own site, read on 20 October 2026. Plottr is a visual outlining and series-bible app for Windows and Mac.
Does Plottr have AI features?
No. Plottr's homepage lists "No AI features" among its benefits and says "there's no AI in Plottr!" Its features are drag-and-drop timelines, auto-generated outlines from your own cards, character bios with custom attributes, places, notes, series planning and 30+ plot templates (the homepage now says 40+) such as Hero's Journey and Three Act. Plottr describes none of these as AI.
The changelog shows no AI release. Its newest entry is v2026-06-03, and the only entry using the word "generate" is v2025-06-03: "Generate more plotline colors when adding new plotlines."
Did Plottr plan to add AI?
Yes, in 2024. A post by founder and CEO Cameron Sutter, "Announcing Plottr's AI Future" (11 March 2024, updated 23 December 2024), described a first set of features: random character, scene, place and story ideas, filling out a character sheet, and summarizing your book. It said "Most of these are intended as a means to brainstorm ideas for small pieces of your story."
Brainstorming sits on the safe side of the publishing rules. KDP's content guidelines treat using AI only to brainstorm, with the text written yourself, as AI-assisted, which needs no disclosure. The Authors Guild's Human Authored FAQ allows brainstorming and outlining with AI where the use is "merely preparatory and no actual AI-generated text appears in your work".
A second post, "Off By Default: AI in Plottr Gives You Control" (13 May 2024, updated 23 December 2024), said Plottr would come "with the AI features turned off by default", for everyone. The features were to be paid and switched on by the user. A request would go to an outside AI model only after a final click: "That is the only time that Plottr interacts with any 'AI' model."
Those features never appear in the changelog. The post "Plottr in 2026" (8 January 2026, updated 19 May 2026) reversed the plan: "We're not building AI features into Plottr. We're keeping it human-centered, human-focused, human-crafted." The post adds that Plottr does not want a machine writing the book for you.
What is Storysnap?
Storysnap is a separate AI product from the team behind Plottr. Its site, copyright Fictional Devices LLC, says it builds a book bible or visual story overview from a manuscript you upload, delivered as a Plottr project or a Word file. It costs $50 per book, or $45 in bulk (as of October 2026).
Storysnap's FAQ says "We're using OpenAI's gpt-4o-mini model," and "Plottr software currently does not use AI in any way in-app." The AI sits in a product you would have to buy and upload a manuscript to on purpose.
Does Plottr train AI on your outlines?
Plottr has published no statement either way. Its privacy policy, effective 10 April 2023, does not mention AI, machine learning or model training. The homepage promises "No selling your personal data" but says nothing about training.
The app sends nothing to an AI model, so your outlines have no AI path inside Plottr. Storysnap does make a training statement for the manuscripts uploaded to it: "We never train AI with the manuscripts you upload." Its FAQ adds that, per OpenAI's documents, work sent through the API "is not used to train the model."
Keeping the three things apart:
- Has AI features: no. The homepage and changelog show none.
- Has a public no-AI policy: yes. "We're not building AI into Plottr" and "committed to rejecting AI features." It is a stated position, and the 2024 posts show it has changed before.
- Has a no-training policy: not for Plottr. Only Storysnap states one.
Plottr is one of four vendors with a written no-AI commitment, alongside Novlr, Ellipsus and Penpoint, as set out in novel writing software without AI.
A desktop alternative with no AI
Deckle is our app, so weigh this section accordingly.
Plottr is a planning tool. Its own help page says "we recommend doing the bulk of your writing in a program designed for it." Deckle is a writing, organising and formatting app for Windows, macOS and Linux, and it contains no generative AI. No AI library or AI service appears anywhere in its code. A project is a folder on your own disk, holding one .deckle database plus research/ and .deckle-assets/ folders, and it works offline after activation. For planning it has the Outliner's Grid View of index cards, a Codex for characters, locations and items, and a Timeline, beside the manuscript itself. The Timeline lays events on a day scale with one lane per plotline, and a Story order view shows them chapter by chapter.
Deckle's Timeline, one lane per plotline
What you would lose by switching: Plottr's visual timeline with plotlines, its 30+ plot templates and its series bible are deeper than Deckle's planning tools. Plottr also has a written no-AI policy, and Deckle does not. What Deckle offers is a codebase with no AI in it today. The wider field is in best novel writing software.
To try it, click Try it free on the screen Deckle opens to. There is no card, no account and no time limit. It opens a sample novel with every screen open to explore, and you can restyle it and export real EPUB, PDF and DOCX files. New writing is capped at about 500 words, and new documents and imports are blocked.
FAQ
Q: Does Plottr use AI? A: No. Plottr says "We're not building AI into Plottr" and that it is "committed to rejecting AI features."
Q: Did Plottr add AI features in 2024? A: Plottr announced opt-in, off-by-default AI tools in 2024. They do not appear in its changelog, and in January 2026 it said "AI is NOT coming to Plottr."
Q: Is Storysnap part of Plottr? A: No. Storysnap is a separate paid AI product from the team behind Plottr. Its FAQ says Plottr itself does not use AI in-app.
Q: Does Plottr train AI on my story? A: Plottr's privacy policy says nothing about AI training. The app sends nothing to an AI model.
Q: Is Plottr AI-free? A: Yes. Its homepage lists "No AI features" and its changelog contains no AI release.
Q: Can I write my book in Plottr? A: Plottr says "You can (sort of), but that's not what Plottr is built for," and recommends a separate writing program.
Sources
All retrieved 20 October 2026.
- Plottr: "We're not building AI into Plottr", "committed to rejecting AI features", "No AI features"
- Plottr blog, Plottr in 2026 (8 January 2026, updated 19 May 2026): "AI is NOT coming to Plottr"
- Plottr blog, Cameron Sutter, Announcing Plottr's AI Future (11 March 2024, updated 23 December 2024): planned brainstorming features
- Plottr blog, Cameron Sutter, Off By Default: AI in Plottr Gives You Control (13 May 2024, updated 23 December 2024): off by default, paid, opt-in
- Plottr, Changelog: no AI release; newest v2026-06-03
- Plottr, Privacy Policy (effective 10 April 2023): no AI or training clause
- Plottr help, Can I write my story in Plottr?: planning, not drafting
- Amazon KDP Help, Content Guidelines: brainstorming with AI counts as AI-assisted, no disclosure needed
- The Authors Guild, Human Authored FAQ: brainstorming and outlining allowed if "merely preparatory"
- Storysnap: "We never train AI with the manuscripts you upload"; gpt-4o-mini; "Plottr software currently does not use AI in any way in-app"; price
- Plottr, features: "30+ proven plot templates" (the home page says "40+ plot outlining templates"), retrieved 21 October 2026
Plottr and Storysnap are trademarks of their owner, as are Novlr, Ellipsus, Penpoint and OpenAI. Scrivener is a trademark of Literature & Latte. Deckle is not affiliated with or endorsed by any product named here.