The best AI story generator can help you overcome writer’s block by producing unique ideas and support the creation of compelling, creative stories. They are designed to excel at the art of storytelling and can help with plot development, writing complex character arcs, generate engaging narratives that will resonate with human audiences. While these tools can’t replace a human’s creative flair, they can support creative writing and unlock new ideas that will mimic your unique voice.
As a writer, I know how important it is for your specific style to be visible in your work. With this in mind, I thoroughly test and evaluate the market’s popular AI story generators, factoring in story organization, plagiarism checks, word count limits, and their long-form content quality. For this list, I’ve reviewed both free story writing AI tools and premium options to help you find the best for your budget and storytelling requirements.
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The Best AI Story Generator Tools Ranked
If you’re short on time, these are the best AI story generators and their unique storytelling features:
- Jasper AI — Best unlimited AI story generator
- HubSpot — Best AI story generator for creative marketers
- Scalenut — Best story generator AI for SEO-optimized storytelling
- Rytr — Best AI story generator for poetry
- ClosersCopy — Best AI story writer for short stories
- ShortlyAI — Best AI story generator for creative fiction writers
- Writesonic — Best AI fanfic story generator
- StoryLab — Best AI story outline generator
- Copy.ai — Best AI automated marketing campaigns for storytellers
What Is An AI Story Generator?
An AI story generator uses advanced algorithms like natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) to create highly detailed and engaging stories that are based off your initial prompts.
Depending on the story generator you choose, you can either create deep narratives or stories across a range of genres, including fanfic, short stories, educational, or even poetry. Alternatively, they can also help you beat writer’s block by coming up with interesting plot points. Some tools can even be trained on your tone of voice to retain your unique writing style and they can generate deep plot points and character progression arcs.
AI story generators will typically rely on large language models (LLM) that are trained on expansive data to ensure the stories you create read like they’re written by a human.
How Do AI Story Generators Work?
Once you’ve input your prompt, an AI story generator will use advanced AI algorithms to analyze patterns across a wide range of existing stories and text that the AI model has been trained on.
By using NLP techniques, such as recurrent neural networks (RNNs) and transformers, vast amounts of data is processed and will quickly begin to generate your unique story with a coherent narrative. The story generator will then keep track of the context to maintain consistency, from the names of the characters to their nuanced personalities.
Once your text has been generated, you can then fine-tune and customize your work. This will train your story generator for future work. A great example of one of these tools is Jasper AI, which implements AI and NLP to generate compelling, original stories.
During testing, I found that it can quickly generate interesting storylines and develop concise, coherent narratives based on my prompts.
The Best AI Story Generators Reviewed
I’ll explore each of the market’s best AI story generation apps in greater depth to help you choose one that best suits your needs and budget.
You’ll notice some cross-over between the AI tools on this page and those on my dedicated guide to the best free AI content generators.
I last updated this page in January, 2025. At this time, there were no recent or major product updates that affected the AI tools’ abilities to help with storytelling. Some top updates from the last few months include:
- November, 2024: If you’re writing books, you’re undoubtedly wanting to market and sell them. With HubSpot’s new Campaigns ROI, you can see just how effective your email campaigns are, showing you how many books you’ve sold and which strategies are working with your audience.
- September, 2024: At its annual INBOUND conference in September 2024, HubSpot launched Breeze AI, its new AI suite which includes content agents and copilots to support content generation.
- September, 2024: Rytr introduced its MyVoice tool. This analyzes and matches your personal tone of voice and style of writing, ensuring that all your copy sounds like you.
- July 25th, 2024: Jasper rolled out a feature improvement that allows you to create, save, and reuse tasks within its editor. This means you can save your cover letter template and use it again when needed, saving time and effort.
1. Jasper AI – Best Unlimited Story Generator
Starting Price | $39/month |
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Free Version | 30-day free trial |
Word Count Limit | Unlimited |
Standout Features | App Library, Unlimited Word Count, Custom Voices |
Why We Picked Jasper
Jasper is an industry-leading AI writing generator that can be a valuable addition to any writer’s toolkit, allowing you to write freely without any word count limitations.
Jasper’s Features
- App Library — I found Jasper AI’s broad app library with over 80 templates super helpful when generating stories. I really like that it offers separate prompts for each writing format to deliver the most accurate output in line with your specific project.
- Unlimited Word Count — When testing Jasper, I found it refreshing that there are no restrictions on word count. While this feature is to be expected from a higher-cost tool, it’s still definitely worth mentioning because you want to be able to write to your heart’s content when being creative and experimenting with your writing.
- Custom Tone of Voice — Jasper AI also allows you to train your own tone of voice so that it can learn to write like you or in your preferred style. This feature makes it an excellent storytelling tool to speed up and diversify your writing process without losing your unique flair.
Jasper’s Pricing
Jasper offers a 7-day free trial, after which you can choose from one of its three paid plans: Creator, Pro, and Business.
Plan | Creator | Pro | Business |
---|---|---|---|
Monthly | $49/seat/month | $69/seat/month | Custom |
Annual | $39/seat/month | $59/seat/month | Custom |
- Creator — 1 user, 1 brand voice, SEO mode, and a Google Chrome browser extension.
- Pro — 6 seats, 3 brand voices, 10 knowledge assets, 3 instant campaigns, and access to Jasper Art.
- Business — Unlimited feature access, performance analytics, enterprise-level security, API access, dedicated account manager, custom style guides.
You must enter your credit card information to access the free trial. However, you can cancel at any time.
Who Jasper Is Best For
Jasper is suitable for authors or novelists working on long-form projects and need the freedom to write extended narratives without hitting capacity on word count. The ability to have free rein over your word output also allows for consistent storytelling across long chapters or entire novels without having to dampen your creativity.
That said, I wouldn’t recommend Jasper for writers on a tighter budget, as Jasper AI’s extensive features are reflected in its premium price tag of $39 per month. For a cheaper alternative, consider Rytr, although the content quality is not on par with Jasper.
Read our full Jasper AI review.
Pros
- Can adapt to your custom tone of voice
- Space for 6 prompts for detailed content
- 80+ templates
Cons
- Struggles with technical topics
- Pricier plans than competitors
2. HubSpot – Best AI Story Generator for Creative Marketers
Starting Price | $15/seat/month |
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Free Version | ✅ |
Word Count Limit | Unlimited |
Standout Features | Marketing templates, Content strategy, Integration with CRM |
Why We Picked HubSpot
I chose HubSpot as one of the top AI story generators as it features a recently updated AI content agent, Breeze AI. This refreshed tool can assist creative marketers with launching successful campaigns that are supported by engaging storytelling.
HubSpot’s Features
- Marketing Templates — HubSpot’s Breeze AI offers a range of marketing-specific storytelling templates, like social media and adverts, as well as planning tools like a content calendar. This makes it easy to quickly achieve the results you’re looking for without having to write extensively detailed prompts.
- Content Strategy Tools — While storytelling is important to successful content, it’s not everything. In addition to writing the actual text, HubSpot can help you define your content strategy by using SEO recommendations to help get more eyes on your content.
- Integration with CRM — Personalization is also key when running successful marketing campaigns, but it can be time-consuming to manually do this. Since HubSpot is a CRM system, it’s super easy to extract insights about your customer base for better audience targeting and customized storytelling.
HubSpot Testing
From a simple prompt of two sentences, requesting a blog post that covered social media marketing strategies for small businesses (highlighting the importance of micro-influencer marketing), the AI tool created this post in a matter of seconds.
I really like that it gives you the opportunity to create your own title and sub-headers or you can simply edit the ones generated for you.
HubSpot’s Pricing
You can use HubSpot’s content writing AI and repurposing for free. At the same time, HubSpot offers four other paid tools.
Plan | Free | Content Hub Starter | Starter Customer Platform | Content Hub Professional | Content Hub Enterprise |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Monthly | $0 | $20/seat/month | $20/seat/month | $500/seat/month | $1,500/seat/month |
Annual | $0 | $15/seat/month | $15/seat/month | $450/seat/month | $1,500/seat/month |
- Free — This plan is an enticing option for those looking to explore content marketing without investing any money. With free tools for marketing, sales, service, content, operations, and commerce, you can bring life to your content ideas right away.
- Content Hub Starter — This plan is a great choice for businesses ready to take their content creation to the next level, with additional features and the removal of HubSpot branding.
- Starter Customer Platform — This plan is for brands that need more advanced features to carry out essential marketing, sales, service, content, and operations activities.
- Content Hub Professional — This empowers businesses to scale their content marketing efforts with sophisticated tools like brand voice, AI translation, smart content, and custom reporting.
- Content Hub Enterprise — This is designed for businesses with sophisticated content marketing requirements, offering advanced capabilities like multisites, custom objects, activity logging, and serverless functions.
Who HubSpot Is Best For
HubSpot is perfect for creative content marketers wanting to use storytelling across a variety of digital channels to boost brand engagement. The fact that HubSpot’s content generation is influenced by CRM data, audience insight, and engagement analysis makes it ideal for brand storytelling.
Since HubSpot’s AI content features are housed within a CRM system and its features lean heavily toward marketing and brand-driven content, I wouldn’t recommend it for creative writers or novelists focused purely on fiction. Jasper or ShortlyAI can be good alternatives in this case.
Read our full HubSpot review.
Pros
- Supports repurposing of content across different channels
- Supports the creation of long-form content, e.g. ebooks
- Offers different tone styles
Cons
- Needs human supervision for quality output
- Expensive paid plans
3. Scalenut – Best Storytelling AI for SEO-Optimized Storytelling
Starting Price | $17/month |
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Free Version | Trial |
Word Count Limit | 100,000/month |
Standout Features | AI Topic Clusters, Cruise Mode, SEO Optimizer |
Why We Picked Scalenut
Scalenut is another of the best AI story generators and it’s particularly adept at creating SEO-friendly content to help you perform better in Google’s rankings.
Scalenut’s Features
- AI Topic Clusters — It’s wise to perform SEO research to ensure that there is a demand for your content before spending time creating it. Scalenut automates the identification of relevant keyword clusters to ensure your writing efforts are targeted and intentional.
- Cruise Mode — I found Scalenut’s ‘Cruise Mode’ an easy way to work with SEO research in an integrated way. It can generate articles of over 1,500 words in under five minutes, complete with relevant keyword usage.
- SEO Optimizer — If you have an existing story that you’d like to promote online and gain organic traffic, you can plug it into Scalenut and receive a content score so it can be easily optimized for search engines.
Scalenut’s Pricing
Scalenut does not have a free forever plan, but it does offer a 7-day free trial. Below, I’ve outlined the 3 paid plans: Essential, Growth, and Pro.
Plan | Essential | Growth | Pro | Enterprise |
---|---|---|---|---|
Monthly | $49/month | $79/month | $149/month | Custom |
Annual | $22/month | $36/month | $67/month | Custom |
- Essential — This plan offers 100k words, 5 SEO articles/month, SEO templates, AI images, factual content.
- Growth — This plan offers unlimited words, 30 SEO articles per month, audit and optimize 30 articles per month, 60 keyword clusters per month, analyze 200 webpages per month on a single domain.
- Pro — This plan offers everything in Growth, and 75 SEO articles per month, 75 keyword clusters per month, analyze 500 webpages per month on 5 different domains.
- Enterprise — Custom limit on SEO articles, unlimited web page analysis, advanced AI models, enterprise-level security, tailored onboarding.
Who Scalenut Is Best For
Scalenut is ideal for digital storytellers or bloggers who need SEO-friendly content. Scalenut’s gamified SEO tools help make your stories discoverable online, which is a great fit for creators looking to drive organic traffic.
I’d say SEO is less relevant for authors seeking fictional storytelling without a focus on online visibility, so Scalenut is less suitable for purely creative, non-commercial writing. For this, I’d recommend Jasper.
Read our full Scalenut review.
Pros
- Intuitive platform to create content in seconds
- Affordable pricing
- Long-form editor produces high-quality output
- SEO optimization
Cons
- AI templates may be limited for some users
- Lots of paid add-ons
4. Rytr – Best Poetry Generator
Starting Price | $7.50/month |
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Free Version | ✅ |
Word Count Limit | 100,000/month |
Standout Features | Plot generator, Poem maker, Append content |
Why We Picked Rytr
In addition to being the best free AI story generator, I found that Rytr is also one of the only tools that offers a designated poem generator.
Rytr’s Features
- Custom Poem Generator — I’ll be honest: the quality of Rytr’s long-form content leaves a little to be desired but I was genuinely impressed by the range of shorter-form templates and the quality of its execution. It’s one of the only tools that offers a poetry generator, and it’s also great for things like captions, email replies, and meta titles — as long as you keep it short and sweet.
- Plot Generator — Rytr is also capable of generating plot ideas in line with your intention and tone of voice in over 30 languages. This makes it an ideal tool for working through writer’s block or shaping up the outline of your story before filling in the blanks yourself to retain your unique tone of voice.
- Creativity Scale — A detail that stood out for me during hands-on testing is that Rytr asks you to specify the level of creativity you would like. This means you can ask it to generate stories or poems with maximum creative flair or you can keep things relatively simple.
Rytr Testing
I chose to test the tool’s creativity scale by choosing ‘Max’ as a creative flair. I typed out a fairly specific prompt to see what this AI story generator could create.
From my simple prompt (as seen in the image above), Rytr generated this:
As summer wanes and heat subsides,
The monsoon whispers, nature abides.
Clouds gather thick, a gray parade,
Heralding joy in the cool cascade.
First drops fall gently, a soft refrain,
Kissing the earth, reviving the grain.
Soil drinks deeply, roots stretch and sigh,
In this sacred moment, life amplifies.
Puddles form where children play,
Splashing laughter in a bright ballet.
The air, now fragrant with petrichor’s grace,
Invites all beings to join the embrace.
With each storm’s rhythm, ecosystems thrive,
Pollinators buzz as the world comes alive.
The first rain of monsoon—a vital cue,
A cycle renewed, nature’s joy breaks through.
Rytr’s Pricing
Rytr is one of the only AI story generators offering a free forever plan in addition to its two paid subscription tiers: Unlimited and Premium.
Plan | Free | Unlimited | Premium |
---|---|---|---|
Monthly | $0 | $9/month | $29/month |
Annual | $0 | $7.50/month | $24.16/month |
- Free — This plan gives you 10k characters, no plagiarism checks or tone matching, and 1 language.
- Unlimited — This plan supports unlimited AI content generation, 1 tone match, 50 plagiarism checks/month, 1 language, and gives you priority support.
- Premium — This plan supports unlimited AI content generation, multiple tone matches, 100 plagiarism checks/month, 35+ languages/month, priority support, and custom use cases.
All plans offer a Chrome extension, 20+ pre-programmed voice tones, and access to an exclusive community of Rytr users.
Who Rytr Is Best For
Since it’s an affordable option and great at working with short stories, plot outlines, and poems, Rytr is suitable for hobbyist writers and beginners exploring creative writing. It also has free features to support basic story development, so this is ideal for users wanting to experiment with AI writing before committing to paid tools.
I think it’s probably too lightweight for writers who need reliably high-quality long-form stories for novels, especially as the free version has character limitations that might restrict longer projects. If you want total freedom over word count, consider Jasper or ShortlyAI — but these more advanced tools are naturally more expensive.
Read our full Rytr review.
Pros
- Offers a story and poem-maker
- Easy to use, providing options for the tone of voice and style
- Over 30 languages supported
Cons
- Quality of output could be improved
- Long-form content is less reliable than short-form
5. ClosersCopy – Best AI Story Writer for Short Stories
Starting Price | $34.99/month (billed as $419.90/year) |
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Free Version | Trial |
Word Count Limit | 300 AI Runs/month |
Standout Features | Storytelling specific AI model, Community library, Content filters and frameworks |
Why We Picked ClosersCopy
CloserCopy made it on to the list as it offers a dedicated story AI model called StoryAI, which was developed in-house alongside its own SalesAI and BlogAI models. Once you select the StoryAI model, every tool and function you use within the ClosersCopy editor is then based on this, meaning the whole suite of tools will help you craft a story. Based on my testing, I’d certainly use it again as an effective short story writer.
ClosersCopy’s Features
- StoryAI — This specific custom AI model from ClosersCopy is designed to create engaging content with a narrative structure, an engaging plot, and developed characters.
- Community Libraries — ClosersCopy comes with a Community Library, where successful combinations of templates (or workflows) are shared with other users to help them achieve quicker results. There’s also a Facebook group that you can join to discuss tips and tricks with other users.
- Custom Filters and Frameworks — Since ClosersCopy is so customizable, you can tweak the content filters and apply frameworks to control the exact nature of your story.
ClosersCopy Pricing
ClosersCopy has three paid plans and no free plan. However, it does offer a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Plan | Power | Superpower | Superpower Squad |
---|---|---|---|
Monthly | $49.99/month | $79.99/month | $99.99/month |
Annual | $419.90/year | $671.90/year | $839.90/year |
- Power — This plan gives you 2 seats, 300 AI runs, and 50 SEO audits per month.
- Superpower — This plan gives you 3 seats, unlimited AI runs, and SEO audits per month.
- Superpower Squad — This plan gives you 5 seats, unlimited AI runs, and SEO audits per month.
Who ClosersCopy Is Best For
While ClosersCopy is known for marketing, sales, and ad copy, I think more people should know about its relatively new proprietary StoryAI model. I’d recommend this AI writer for shorter stories of around 2,000 to 3,000 words as it’s a fast and effective tool.
My testing showed that it isn’t the best option for long-form storytelling. If this is what you are after, I’d recommend Jasper for deep creation, or Rytr, for free or cheap story generation.
Read our full ClosersCopy review.
Pros
- Dedicated StoryAI model developed in-house
- 128 languages to choose from
- A community of 12k+ users to connect with
Cons
- I didn’t find its longer stories as compelling
- Expensive plans and no free trial
6. ShortlyAI — Best for Creative Fiction Writers
Starting Price | $65/month |
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Free Version | Trial |
Word Count Limit | Unlimited |
Standout Features | Tone of voice, Powerful commands, Unlimited credits |
Why We Picked ShortlyAI
Designed to fight writer’s block, ShortlyAI is a powerful writing and storytelling tool that is programmed to be useful for novelists and creative fiction writers. I also like that it offers a range of features that generate quick results within its lightweight platform.
ShortlyAI’s Features
- Minimalist Interface — ShortlyAI’s interface is ideal for focused, distraction-free writing and truly supports successful writing sessions, as it has no unnecessary features to complicate the process.
- Commands — During testing, I found that ShortlyAI’s powerful commands feature was really easy to use. You simply write ‘/Expand’ or ‘/Shorten’, for example, and the AI will work its magic.
- Unlimited Use—You don’t need to worry about word limits, making it perfect for frequent writers who have a lot of work to do in a short amount of time.
ShortlyAI’s Pricing
ShortlyAI only has one plan, which is its full version. You can try the tool free for three days, after which you must subscribe.
Plan | Premium |
---|---|
Monthly | $79 |
Annual | $65 |
Who ShortlyAI Is Best For
ShortyAI is excellent for creative writers focused on imaginative, non-linear stories. ShortlyAI’s simplicity and flexible pacing tools allow for creative freedom, which is perfect for exploring new ideas and you have access to support through workshop sessions.
However, it’s one of the pricier tools and doesn’t offer much in the way of templates or structuring tools. If this is what you’re looking for, I’d recommend Jasper.
Read our full Shortly AI review.
Pros
- Unlimited word count, no credit system
- Content is well formed and passes plagiarism checks
- Advanced commands for efficient writing
Cons
- Output quality depends on the quality of user input
- Expensive plan and short free trial
7. Writesonic — Best Fanfic Generator
Starting Price | $16/month |
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Free Version | ✅ |
Word Count Limit | 10,000/month |
Standout Features | Custom chatbot, Style matching features, Multi-media generation |
Why We Picked Writesonic
I picked Writesonic as it’s super adept at generating high-quality, long-form content. It also has tons of versatility with regards to the chosen medium and a custom chatbot, which is ideal for bringing fanfics inspired by pop culture to life.
Writesonic’s Features
- Custom Chatbot — Writesonic’s custom chatbot, Chatsonic, can be trained on specific worlds and characters, making it ideal for generating fan fiction.
- Style-Matching Features — When writing dialogue in your character’s voices, using their specific tone of voice will bring your stories to life. Writesonic can support this with its specific style-matching features.
- Multi-Media Generation— In addition to writing, Writesonic can generate art and convert text into audio. This makes it ideal for creating graphic novels or audiobooks inspired by your favorite books, TV shows, or movies.
Writesonic Testing
Along the journey of creating the piece -because that’s what it feels like- you’ll select the article type, your preferences, the primary keyword, and your title. The AI story generator will analyse your selected competitor pages and pull the relevant information for you to guide your choices, like the keyword relevance and whether or not it is informational or commercial.
I wanted to create a blog post about the best high fantasy novels to read. This is what the AI story tool created:
Writesonic’s Pricing
Writesonic offers six pricing plans. Here’s a breakdown of your options, including the free plan:
Plan | Free | Chatsonic | Individual | Standard | Professional | Advanced | Enterprise |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Monthly | $0 | $15/month | $20/month | $99/month | $249/month | $499/month | Custom |
Annual | $0 | $12/month | $16/month | $79/month | $199/month | $399/month | Custom |
- Free — Try all Writesonic and Chatsonic features for 25 generations/month, 25 one-off free credits for Advanced templates.
- Individual — This plan gives you unlimited generations on Standard templates, 50 credits per month for Advanced templates.
- Standard — This plan gives you everything in Individual, plus 1,000 credits per month, automated internal linking, AI keyword clusters, and improvements to Article Writer 6.0.
- Professional — This plan gives you everything in Standard, plus 3 team members, 3,000 credits/month, AI content gap analysis, and personalized onboarding.
- Advanced — This plan gives you everything in Professional, plus 5 team members, 6,500 credits/month, and priority support.
- Enterprise — Custom team members, custom apps, enhanced security, SSO/SAML login, personalized training, and priority support.
Who Writesonic Is Best For
Writesonic is ideal for fanfiction writers creating stories based on existing universes. Its custom chatbot and style matching allow it to mimic characters and settings, making it a perfect fit for fan-driven narratives.
One drawback of Writesonic is its Standard and Advanced template categories. Many of the more impressive features fall under the ‘Advanced’ label, which means they cost more credits, and your budget can deplete quickly if you use these features a lot. For an unrestricted experience, I’d recommend considering Jasper or ShortlyAI. Although both tools have higher upfront costs, it’s worth evaluating which one aligns best with your usage needs.
Read our full Writesonic review.
Pros
- Art generation and TTS included
- Offers 25+ language options
- Custom chatbot
Cons
- Limited customization options
- Credit system is rather confusing
8. StoryLab.ai — Best Story Outline Generator
Starting Price | $15/month |
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Free Version | ✅ |
Word Count Limit | 100 AI Runs/month |
Standout Features | Outline generator, Tone changer, Topic clusters |
Why We Picked StoryLab.ai
I chose StoryLab.ai as it is quickly becoming a go-to tool for fleshing out initial ideas to create fully-fledged stories in a range of mediums, and 17+ languages.
StoryLab.ai’s Features
- Outline Generation — I found StoryLab super helpful at outlining well-developed story arcs, which is perfect when you’re stuck for inspiration.
- Tone Changer — StoryLab is also ideal for experimenting with tone in the initial planning phase, without having to rewrite the entire story. You can import writing and easily switch between tones of voice until it feels aligned with your unique style.
- Topic Clusters — This feature identifies trending topics and stories based on social media trends, hot spots in conversations, and suggested topics, which is ideal for creating winning story outlines.
StoryLab.ai Testing
After a quick sign up (no credit card required), you’ll be given three free AI story generations. I chose to create a blog and added in two sentences as a prompt.
The AI storywriter generated such strong prompts and internal content that it can easily be used as a book outline. Each chapter is given a header and there are guiding sentences about what each section should include.
StoryLab.ai’s Pricing
In addition to its limited free plan, StoryLab offers two paid subscription tiers. Below, I’ve outlined what each plan includes:
Plan | Free | Pro | Unlimited |
---|---|---|---|
Monthly | $0 | $15/month | $19/month |
Annual | $0 | $144/year | $183/year |
- Free — This plan gives you five AI runs per month.
- Pro — This plan gives you 100 AI runs per month.
- Unlimited — This plan gives you unlimited AI runs and access to a campaign builder and premium AI tools.
Take note that all the features, such as the Topic Clusters and the Tone Changers, are available to free users. In just a few minutes, I was able to create three stories for free.
Who StoryLab.ai Is Best For
StoryLab.ai is great for novelists or screenwriters who need organized story outlines before diving into writing. The structuring tools are freely available and support a methodical approach to storytelling, which I can see helping authors develop well-thought-out plots.
If you’d rather jump straight into writing, I’d consider ShortlyAI, which offers a minimalistic user experience, with less focus on planning and outlining.
Pros
- Creates content ideas and supports the writing process
- Works with 10+ different formats
- Supportive community for unlimited learning
- Free tools available
Cons
- Output heavily reliant on keyword quality
- No plagiarism detection
9. Picsart – Best Visual Storytelling Tool
Starting Price | $5/month |
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Free Version | ✅ |
Word Count Limit | 500 words/month |
Standout Features | Text and image generation, Image editing, Free story generator |
Why We Picked Picsart
While most commonly known as a photo editing service, Picsart also offers a free AI story generator— especially if you want to combine AI writing and art.
Picsart’s Features
- Text and Image Integration — Since Picsart combines narrative and visuals, it is ideal for creating comics or graphic novels.
- Image Editing — As it’s first and foremost an image tool, you can fine-tune the visual elements of your stories to achieve ultra-personalized results that’ll help bring your stories to life.
- Free Story Generator — While Picsart does offer a paid subscription, its story generation tool is free to use.
Picsart’s Pricing
In addition to its free plan, Picsart has three paid plans. Below, I’ve explained what each plan costs and includes.
Plan | Free | Plus | Pro | Enterprise |
---|---|---|---|---|
Price per month (billed annually) | $0 | $5 | $7 | Custom |
Price per month (billed monthly) | $0 | $13 | $15 | Custom |
- Free — Picsart allows you to access standard photo and video editing tools, a selection of free images, videos, and templates, plus you’ll get 5 AI credits and 100 MB of cloud storage.
- Picsart Plus — This plan gives you 200 AI credits, face retouching features, a full range of premium content to work with, and 5 GB of cloud storage.
- Picsart Pro — This plan gives you 500 AI credits, unlimited use of 1-tap background removal, and additional AI tools, like image generation. You can also bulk edit 20 images at once and you’ll get 20 GB cloud storage.
- Picsart Enterprise — This plan offers a fully configurable editing suite, photo and video web editor SDK, full access to AI tools, and a dedicated account manager.
Who Picsart Is Best For
Picsart is perfect for graphic novelists or storytellers who rely on visual elements. Its combination of text and image generation makes it ideal for projects that require both narrative and visual storytelling, such as illustrated stories or comics.
Traditional authors who focus on text-based storytelling may find Picsart’s writing features a little basic. If you’re looking for a more in-depth writing tool, consider Jasper AI.
Read our full Picsart review.
Pros
- Extensive art generation and photo-editing
- Great for generating quick, engaging visual stories
- Free to use on a limited basis
- Great savings on the annual plan
Cons
- Writing features are simplistic
- Stricter community guidelines may limit flexibility
The Best AI Story Generators Compared
As artificial intelligence tools are becoming increasingly popular for storytelling, selecting the best AI story maker can be challenging. To simplify this process, I’ve compared nine leading AI story-writing tools side-by side so you can quickly find the best fit for your project.
Providers | Jasper AI | HubSpot | Scalenut | Rytr | ClosersCopy | ShortlyAI | Writesonic | StoryLab | Picsart |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Best for | Unlimited story generations | Creative marketers | SEO-optimized storytelling | Poetry generation | Short story creation | Creative fiction writers | Fanfic generation | Story Outline generation | Visual storytelling |
Free Version | 30-day free trial | ✅ | Trial | ✅ | Trial | Trial | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Starting Price | $39/month | $15/seat/month | $17/month | $7.50/month | $34.99/month | $65/month | $16/month | $15/month | $5/month |
Word Count Limit | Unlimited | Unlimited | 100,000/month | 100,000/month | 300 AI runs/month | Unlimited | 10,000/month | 100 AI runs/month | 500 words/month |
Plagiarism Checker | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
How We Review And Test AI Tools
We base our recommendations on first-hand testing. All the products we feature, have been tested based on the following criteria. For more information, visit our dedicated methodology page on how we test and review AI tools.
- Accuracy & Prompt Interpretation: The accuracy of every AI tool varies and is largely dependent on the AI model used and the quality of the input. We test each tool to gauge its accuracy across the tasks and use cases it supports.
- Performance & Model Architecture: We look at the sophistication of the AI model(s) the tool is based on, and we test how long it takes the AI tool to deliver results and weigh this time against the quality of the output. Quick results mean nothing if the output isn’t accurate, relevant, or what you expected.
- Ethics & Safety: We explore any issues with bias, transparency, and privacy to ensure we recommend only the best artificial intelligence solutions that take these ethical concerns seriously.
- Innovation & Updates: AI is a dynamic, fast-developing space; we look at how well the tools we review are keeping up in terms of how often the improve and update their product.
- User Experience: We test every AI tool on all the supported platforms to gauge its user-friendliness and whether it works as advertised. We also explore any online documentation available.
- Value for Money: We weigh the features, performance, and accuracy of the market’s best AI tools against their cost to determine their value for money. We also factor in the cost to scale with the platform.
- Features & Customization: We test every feature on offer with the service over a two-week period. This includes testing their functionality across all the platforms the tool supports. We also look at the extent to which you can customize, edit, or refine the final output.
- Security: From data privacy to ensuring the tools haven’t had a data breach, we take security seriously, checking their regulatory compliance and how vulnerable the AI models are to exploitation.
Benefits of Using an AI That Writes Stories
AI content generators are becoming an increasingly popular tool for creators and writers. Below are some of the primary advantages of using AI in storytelling:
- Overcome Writer’s Block: Rather than wasting time procrastinating, a quick brainstorming session with an AI tool can help you overcome writer’s block. Tools such as plot builders and outline generators can work well to get your ideas flowing so you can return to your project with renewed creative energy.
- Speed Up Your Writing Process: In scenarios where time is crucial, such as for educators or when incorporating storytelling into proposals or marketing campaigns, writing a short story from scratch is often not feasible. Story generator AI tools offer a solution by quickly creating high-quality narratives, allowing you to integrate the power of storytelling into your presentations.
- Create Personalized Content: Another great benefit of using AI for story writing is that classic stories can be rewritten in seconds and tailored to specific audience groups based on their demographic profile, interests, language, and location. This allows you to create personalized content that resonates with your audience.
- Generate Vivid and Innovative Stories: AI storytelling tools are also equipped with features that enable the user to capture voice commands, audio, and video input. They allow enhanced experiences involving interactive stories, multimedia exhibitions, and engaging visuals.
Limitations of AI Story Generator Apps
While AI story writing offers many exciting benefits, limitations and valid concerns still hinder its adoption in mainstream practice.
- Limited Content Quality: AI writing software often lacks the nuances, emotions, and context that human writing can provide. Machine writing can present promising leads for further research and iteration, but it requires manual editing to attain the level of detail and warmth of human-written text. With this in mind, AI writing tools are best treated as an AI writing assistant rather than standalone content creators.
- Academic Integrity: Nearly one in three college students have reportedly used AI content generators, like ChatGPT, to write essays. This can be a violation of academic integrity and may have dangerous consequences.
- Plagiarism: When using story generators or AI writing tools, you should also consider issues of plagiarism and ensure a human touch is applied to deliver high-quality content. As the development of AI continues to unfold, the potential for more effective creation and use of AI-generated stories will rise. If used in conjunction with human input, ethical considerations will also need to be taken into account.
How to Choose the Best AI Tool that Writes Stories
With so many new AI tools on the market, you’re spoilt for choice when it comes to selecting one. Here are some factors to consider when selecting the right story-generation tool for your project.
- Story Organization: Does the chosen tool offer story-specific prompts, such as plot points, settings, and characters, to help maintain your existing story world? This isn’t as necessary if you’re looking to generate randomized story ideas, but it can certainly help if you want to integrate an AI tool into your existing writing practice.
- Word Limit: Are there word or character limits with your chosen tool? If so, you may have to work in smaller chunks or upgrade to a plan with a more generous limit.
- Customization: AI isn’t always going to get it right the first time, so consider whether it’s possible to edit the AI output manually or with AI suggestions. This can vastly improve the story and make your characters more lifelike.
- Ease of Use: There may be a learning curve when getting to grips with the tool. Take advantage of any free plans or trials to find a platform that maximizes ease of use. It will be easier to achieve your desired results with a user-friendly tool.
- Plagiarism Detection: AI is becoming increasingly linked with plagiarism, and fiction authors need to take steps to avoid it. Most AI tools claim to generate 99.9% original content, but it’s best to check this yourself for total peace of mind. Check whether your chosen tool offers built-in plagiarism detection.
How To Write a Story With AI
In this walkthrough, I'll demonstrate how I used Jasper AI to generate my very own unique story based on text prompts.
Navigate to Jasper's Story Generator
Jasper AI offers a wide range of writing templates, including stories, blog posts, and social media posts. This means you’ll have to specify what the intention of your project is.
Enter Theme
The first text prompt that Jasper asks for is a theme. Here, you can broadly define your story’s message. If you’re not sure, you can also choose from one of the ‘Top Picks’ generated by Jasper.
Describe Your Characters
If you have characters you’d like to maintain, you can outline them here. As with the previous prompt, you can also ask Jasper AI to generate ideas if you’re working on a completely new project. The more details included here, the better. This will help bring your characters to life and shape the development of your story.
Plot Development
You can now elaborate on your earlier theme, adding in any plot points and character development. It’s valuable to provide these points if you’re working with a pre-existing story world that you want to flesh out. If you’re simply experimenting with new ideas, you can also request Jasper AI to create plots for you.
Provide Setting
You’ve described your characters and outlined your plot. Now, paint a picture of the backdrop where it will all unfold. Again, Jasper AI offers creative suggestions if you’re unsure where your story should be set. Otherwise, describe your setting for Jasper to base the plot around.
Additional Information
You can add up to six prompts in total, but there are a few extra details you can provide if you have the space: title, conclusion, knowledge, and custom information. These will work together to help Jasper AI generate a story that is in line with your imagination.
Generate Text
Once you have filled out the six prompts, click ‘Generate’ to receive your original content. To edit the final product, you can use Jasper AI’s suggestions or manually type in the editor. In the top right corner, you’ll find the option to check for plagiarism, so you can be sure the writing is unique.
Conclusion: Choosing the Best AI Story Generator
The best AI story generators are specialist tools designed to support the writing of character arcs, narratives, interesting plot lines, or marketing story series, onto which you can add your own, very personal creative flair.
Jasper is my top recommendation for generating engaging stories across a variety of genres, thanks to its flexibility with tones of voice, templates, and reliably high-quality output. However, I wouldn’t call it a budget option. Plus, although I thought it worked very well with a fictional content task, it is often thought of as a tool for marketing or commercial storytelling, which means it won’t be everyone’s first choice. If you’re looking for a more affordable story generator, check out Rytr or Story.ai.
Those writing stories for niche use cases are best choosing a tool that is specifically intended for this purpose. For instance, if you work in marketing, you’ll need a different set of tools for story generation compared to a creative fiction writer. Copy.ai and HubSpot are among some of the top tools for marketing professionals, along with Jasper which I also found performed brilliantly for creative briefs.