Best AI Story Generators & AI Writing Tools (2025 Guide)
The landscape of AI writing is evolving rapidly, with AI story generators popping up everywhere... and some of them are seriously good.
Some are just for fun: instant interactive stories or role-playing adventures at the push of a button.
Others are designed as serious partners for professional authors: helping with everything from outlining and drafting scenes to polishing prose and keeping track of complex plots. Many can do both!
Figuring out which AI story generator or writing assistant is best for your needs can feel overwhelming. That's where this 2025 guide comes in—we've reviewed the top contenders to help you choose wisely.
Top Picks
Before diving into the detailed reviews, here are two of the most standout AI story generators, each offering unique features and strengths:
DreamGen
- Free tier
- Story Bible / Codex
- Quality of Generated Prose
- Writing Assistance
- Creative Freedom / Unfiltered
NovelCrafter
- Free tier
- Story Bible / Codex
- Quality of Generated Prose
- Writing Assistance
- Creative Freedom / Unfiltered
We've evaluated these tools based on their core writing features, ease of use, customization options, output quality, pricing, and user feedback.
Disclaimer: While we are the creators of DreamGen, we aim to provide a balanced and objective review to help you choose the best tool for your needs.
Comparison of AI Story Generators
To help you quickly compare the different approaches these tools take to AI story generation and AI writing, here's a summary table with all the tools we looked at:
| App | For Serious Writers | For Entertainment | Free Tier | Story Bible | Unique Feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DreamGen | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | Story steering Role-Play mode |
| NovelCrafter | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | Best story bible |
| NovelAI | 🤔 Not great | ✅ Yes | ❌ Limited trial | ❌ No | Great community |
| Sudowrite | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | Best writing UI |
| AI Dungeon | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | Massive scenario library |
| DeepRealms | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ❌ Limited | ❌ No | World Engine |
| Squibler | ✅ Yes | 🤔 Not great | ❌ Limited (6000 words) | ✅ Yes | Bespoke writing tools |
1. DreamGen
DreamGen is a versatile AI story generator and AI writing platfor, offering tools suitable for both serious authors needing and AI writing assistant and casual users seeking entertainment through AI story generation.
User can control every aspect of their story: from plot, characters, and lore to the writing style, but also generate complete stories from simple prompts with minimal effort.
DreamGen's story steering feature turns users into directors of the story, letting them guide the plot and explore creative whims mid-story.
- Free Tier: Offers a generous free tier allowing you to explore its capabilities before committing.
- Scenario Codex: Centralized place to manage story information (such as plot, characters or lore) to drive the AI writing process.
- Specialized Writing AI: Uses custom AI made specifically for creative writing, resulting in more natural and engaging text.
- Story Steering: Steer the AI writing process with instructions such as "In the next scene, Harry decides to confront Draco."
- Writing Assistant: Brainstorm ideas for the next chapter or a new character, or ask it to refine your prose.
- Unfiltered: DreamGen gives users full creative freedom without unnecessary filters.
- Role-Play Mode: For those looking for entertainment, DreamGen also has a role-play mode.
Cons
- Smaller Community: DreamGen is a newer tool, so its community is not as large and active (~4500 Discord members).
- Polish: Some users have noted that the interface could be more polished or user-friendly, especially for new users.
Reviews
- The Good: Users like the writing quality of DreamGen's AI models. They also appreciate the creative freedom it offers.
- The Bad: Some users ran into glitches. There is also some feedback on complexity of the UI, being hard to navigate for new users.
2. NovelCrafter
NovelCrafter is a bit different from the other tools on this list. It doesn’t offer any AI story generation capabilities itself—instead, it lets you connect to various third-party models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and more.
Pros
- Story Bible: Robust "Codex" for managing story elements to plan out your work and to ensure AI consistency.
- Writing Assistant: Provides tools like "Expand", "Shorten" and "Rephrase" as well as a general-purpose writing assistant.
- Extreme Configurability: Almost all of the tools are highly configurable, allowing you to tweak the AI prompts and parameters to your liking.
- Use Any Model: Allows you to use almost any third-party AI model, from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and more.
- Documentation: Has extensive documentation as well as community-created video tutorials, which helps alleviate the steep learning curve.
Cons
- No Free Tier: Requires a paid subscription to use the AI writing tools.
- Requires Separate API Keys: Users must separately pay for AI access from AI providers (like OpenAI, Anthropic) to use the tool.
- Steeper Learning Curve: The comprehensive feature set means it takes time to learn and utilize effectively.
Reviews
- The Good: People like the Codex. People like that you can connect it to external AI models as it can save costs.
- The Bad: People are overwhelmed by the UI complexity, despite the availability of tutorials.
3. NovelAI
NovelAI is a popular AI story generator and one of the earliest entrants in the space.
Pros
- Lorebook Feature: Provides a system for storing key information about your story world, this can help maintain consistency in long-form writing.
- Simple User Interface: Straightforward user interface without any fuss.
- Security: NovelAI encrypts user stories with the user's passwords.
- Active Community: Extremely active and friendly community, with many resources.
Cons
- No Free Tier: Offers a very limited, one-time trial, after which it requires a subscription.
- Outdated Models: NovelAI's best model is behind most of the other platforms in terms of its writing capabilities, requiring a lot of expertise and manual intervention to get good results.
- Short Context Window: NovelAI's best model has a context window of only 8000 tokens (~30000 letters), which makes it less suitable for anything beyond short stories.
Reviews
- The Good: People like the fact that NovelAI is uncensored and that it has an unlimited paid tier.
- The Bad: People find the quality of the models lacking and are disappointed by the lack of updates.
3. Sudowrite
Sudowrite is an AI writing partner designed specifically for professional fiction authors.
It offers a suite of tools aimed at enhancing creativity and speeding up the writing process, focusing less on autonomous generation and more on collaborative assistance.
It provides features for brainstorming, rewriting, expanding descriptions, and even analyzing and giving feedback on your prose.
Pros
- Story Bible: Centralized place to track and manage story information.
- Writing Assistant: Offers specialized tools like "Describe," "Expand," "Rewrite," and "Brainstorm" tailored to novelists' needs.
- Intuitive Interface: While the toolset is powerful, the interface is user-friendly and easy to navigate.
- Unfiltered: Like most tools in this review, Sudowrite is relatively unfiltered.
Cons
- No Free Tier: Operates on a tiered subscription model with a slightly confusing credit-based system, which can become expensive for prolific writers.
- No Unlimited Tier: Does not offer an unlimited subscription plan, which can make it expensive for prolific writers.
- Not For Long-Form Generation: Excels at enhancing existing text or generating short passages, but less adept at generating whole chapters or stories autonomously.
Reviews
- The Good: People really like the UI and the quality of the AI (you can use several of the mainstream AI models like Claude).
- The Bad: People most often complain about price, easily spending $30 in 2 days of normal use.
5. AI Dungeon
AI Dungeon is a text-based adventure “game” (really more of a role-play app) that uses AI to immerse users in scenarios and stories. Users typically type in the actions of their character, and the AI will generate a narrative in response.
Pros
- Massive Scenario Library: Browse a massive library of user-generated story scenarios, ranging from fantasy and sci-fi to romance and horror.
- Gamified Writing: Write stories by taking “turns” with the AI, allowing for unpredictable plot twists.
- Mobile App: Role-play on the go with the AI Dungeon mobile app (available on iOS and Android).
- Free Options: AI Dungeon offers some less capable AI models for free.
Cons
- Several Privacy / Security Incidents: It leaked private stories, several times. This was quite some time ago, and hopefully things are better now, but it's something to keep in mind.
6. DeepRealms
DeepRealms is focused on AI-based story entertainment. Rather than co-writing a story with the AI, the user is a character in an AI-driven story world.
Pros
- Entertainment Focused: Good option for those looking for pure entertainment where most of the writing is done by the AI.
- Simple Interface: The interface consists of 2 text boxes: a box with the story, and a box where you type your character's actions.
- World Engine: Allows users to create dynamic, scripted experiences using Python code.
Cons
- Not For Story Writing: DeepRealms is not really meant for people looking to write a story, but rather for people to be part of a story.
- Small Community: While DeepRealms isn't new, the community remains small, which means less engagement and content overall.
Reviews
We did not find enough reviews to provide a good summary.
7. Squibler
Squibler is somewhat similar to Sudowrite and NovelCrafter in that it offers a clean writing-first interface. What sets it apart is its ability to generate longer stories or even books completely unassisted.
Pros
- Story Bible: Lets you manage your story's "elements" such as characters, objects or settings.
- Writing Assistant: Provides tools for rewriting selected text and for discussing ideas about the story with AI.
- Bespoke Tools: Offers a lot of single-purpose tools, such as character generator or plot planner.
- Long-Form Generation: Ability to generate long and even multi-chapter stories.
Cons
- Limited Free Tier: The free tier is limited to only 6000 words a month.
Reviews
It was hard to find enough reviews to paint a full picture, so take this with a grain of salt.
Most of the organic comments mentioned issues with creating an account / logging in (which we also experienced) and some comments on platforms like TrustPilot mentioned issues with getting refunds.
Choosing the Right AI Story Generator for You
That concludes our overview of some of the leading AI story generators and writing assistants available in 2025. The best choice depends primarily on your specific needs and goals.
If your main goal is AI-driven entertainment, interactive storytelling, or role-playing:
- DreamGen: Its dedicated role-play mode, story steering capabilities, and specialized AI make it a particularly strong choice for generating engaging narratives with minimal user writing input. The free tier is a great starting point. Crucially, it also has the most generous free tier.
- AI Dungeon: Offers a massive library of scenarios and a gamified approach, ideal for turn-based interactive fiction.
If your main goal is AI assistance for serious writing projects (novels, long-form fiction):
- Sudowrite: Excels as a writing partner with strong prose enhancement tools ('Describe', 'Expand') and an intuitive interface designed for novelists.
- NovelCrafter: Offers deep customization, a robust Codex (Story Bible), and the flexibility to use various third-party AI models, appealing to writers who want fine-grained control (though it requires separate API key payments).
- DreamGen: Also a strong contender in this space, especially for writers who appreciate its blend of autonomous generation and writing assistance tools, the integrated Scenario Codex, and unfiltered creative freedom. While its interface or Story Bible might not be as complex as NovelCrafter's, its specialized writing AI and steering features offer unique advantages.
Ultimately, personal workflow and stylistic preferences play a huge role. We recommend trying the free tiers or trials of the platforms that align most closely with your primary objective to see which one clicks best for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an AI Story Generator?
An AI Story Generator is a type of software powered by artificial intelligence (specifically Large Language Models (LLMs)), that is designed to create or assist in creating fictional narratives.
These LLMs are typically trained on vast amounts of text data, allowing them to learn patterns of language, story structure, genre conventions, and writing styles.
Unlike basic writing aids like spell checkers, AI story generators can produce original content based on user prompts or instructions. This can range from generating plot ideas, character descriptions, or dialogue to writing entire scenes or even short stories. They function as creative partners that can automate or augment parts of the storytelling process.
How Can AI Writing Tools Help Authors?
AI writing tools offer a wide spectrum of assistance beyond just generating full stories from scratch. They can be valuable partners throughout the writing process:
- Brainstorming & Idea Generation: Help generate initial story concepts, plot twists, character ideas, setting possibilities, or "what if" scenarios when you're feeling stuck.
- Outlining & Structuring: Assist in creating potential story outlines or fleshing out existing ones, helping organize the narrative flow.
- Drafting Assistance: Generate first drafts of scenes, dialogue exchanges, or descriptive passages based on your notes or instructions, providing raw material to work with.
- Overcoming Writer's Block: Suggest ways to continue a scene, develop a plot point, or find a new direction when you hit a creative wall.
- Expansion & Elaboration: Take brief notes or simple sentences and expand them into more detailed prose, adding sensory details, internal monologue, or richer descriptions.
- Rewriting & Refinement: Rephrase sentences or paragraphs to improve clarity, change the tone, enhance style, or fit a specific character's voice.
- Character Development: Generate character backstories, motivations, personality traits, or even dialogue snippets consistent with a character profile.
- World-Building: Help create descriptions of fictional locations, lore, historical background, or magical systems.
- Summarization: Condense longer passages or chapter notes into summaries.
- Editing & Polishing (Basic): While not replacing human editors, some tools can assist with identifying repetitive phrasing, suggesting stronger word choices, or checking grammar and style.
- Experimentation: Quickly explore different writing styles, points of view, or genre elements without a large time commitment.
Essentially, AI writing tools act as versatile assistants that can accelerate workflows, spark creativity, and help refine various aspects of a written piece.
Are AI Story Generators Good for Professional Writers?
Yes, AI story generators and writing tools can be valuable resources for professional writers, primarily as collaboration partners and efficiency boosters. Key benefits include:
- Time Savings: Speeding up brainstorming, outlining, and first-drafting stages.
- Overcoming Blocks: Providing suggestions and alternative paths when inspiration lags.
- Idea Exploration: Quickly generating and exploring multiple narrative possibilities.
- Language Enhancement: Offering ways to refine descriptions, vary sentence structure, or adjust tone (though requiring careful author oversight).
Professional writers generally use these tools to augment their process, not replace their creative vision. They might use AI for initial exploration or drafting, but then heavily edit, rewrite, and refine the output to match their unique voice, style, and quality standards. The key is leveraging AI strategically while maintaining authorial control and craft.
What's the Difference Between AI Story Generators and Regular AI Chatbots?
AI Story Generators:
- Specifically designed for narrative creation and creative writing.
- Often include specialized features like story bibles, character management, and plot assistance.
- Typically use AI models fine-tuned or prompted specifically for creative writing.
- Prioritize narrative coherence, consistent character voice, and maintaining context over longer texts.
- Usually include tools for managing story elements (characters, settings, plot).
General AI Chatbots (like ChatGPT):
- Designed for broad conversational abilities across many topics.
- Lack specialized creative writing features and story management tools.
- May struggle with maintaining long-term narrative consistency or character voice without careful prompting.
- Often operate with context windows that can be limiting for novel-length work.
- May have stricter content filters that can sometimes hinder creative exploration.
While general chatbots can assist with some writing tasks, dedicated AI story generators offer a more tailored and integrated toolset for fiction writers, especially for complex or long-form projects.
What is a Story Bible or Codex?
A Story Bible or Codex is a feature within many AI writing tools designed to help authors organize and manage crucial information about their story. It acts as a centralized database for details like:
- Characters: Descriptions, backstories, motivations, relationships.
- Settings: Locations, world rules, history, culture.
- Plot: Synopsis, key events, timelines.
- Lore: Faction details, important objects, terminology.
- Style Notes: Desired tone, point of view, specific writing instructions.
Its primary purpose in AI tools is twofold:
- Author Organization: Keeps track of complex details for consistency.
- AI Context: The tool feeds relevant information from the Story Bible/Codex to the AI during generation. This helps the AI produce text that is consistent with the established world and ongoing narrative, overcoming limitations in its short-term memory (context window).
A well-maintained Story Bible/Codex is vital for achieving coherent and high-quality results when using AI for long-form fiction.