How Mangaplay Studio, Scrivener, Dashtoon Compare To The Rest

The 2026 Script to Storyboard Landscape

Feature Matrix — All 9 Tools

Mangaplay Studio

Mangaplay Studio is the only active tool in 2026 that does all three: it lives inside Google Docs, writes in a script-first Fountain+ syntax, and lets you draw your own panels without AI lock-in. Other tools may match one or two of those — Mangaplay is built around all three.

The tool is free, has no element limits, no sign-up, and works offline as an installable PWA. Scripts are plain-text .mangaplay.md files — a portable comic book script format you can diff, version, email or paste anywhere. Exports to FDX, Fountain, FadeIn and TXT let you hand the same graphic novel script to a writers' room or an artist.

Best For: Indie creators and solo publishers writing a comic book script format inside Google Docs who want a script-first workflow with their own drawing and screenplay export.

Try It Free Use with Google Docs

Dashtoon

Dashtoon is great for new manga, comic and graphic novel creators. You type a prompt, see results instantly, and get feedback for your ideas right away. There's no script structure to learn first and no drawing skill to build up — the AI handles the art so you can focus on the story.

The honest trade with Mangaplay is around ownership. Dashtoon's free tier expects you to publish exclusively inside the Dashtoon Reader app, with a 50% revenue share after the first ten free episodes. There's no FDX, Fountain or plain-text script export — your story lives in their database.

Mangaplay's source is a portable .mangaplay.md file you own forever, and the tool is free with no exclusivity. If you want to make a comic book where the panels and the script stay yours, you draw them or hand them to an artist — not to an AI model.

Best For: Creators who want AI to generate the artwork for them and are happy to publish exclusively inside the Dashtoon Reader app, with no need for a portable script source or screenplay export.

Scrivener

Scrivener is the long-form writing app a lot of novelists already own. It ships with a built-in comic script template by Antony Johnston, so a writer who lives in Scrivener for prose can draft a comic script in the same project. It's a script-only tool though — there's no panel preview, no manga page layout, and no Google Docs surface.

Scrivener and Mangaplay can sit side by side rather than competing. Scrivener handles long-form structure — corkboard, outliner, research store — and exports cleanly to Fountain, which Mangaplay imports as a first-class source. Where they diverge: Scrivener is a paid desktop app with a steep compile-to-export learning curve, no real-time collaboration, and no visual storyboard.

Mangaplay is free, runs in the browser or Google Docs, collaborates in real time via Docs, and renders your script for storyboard pages — manga, comic or webtoon — as you type.

Best For: Long-form prose writers and novelists who occasionally write a comic script, want corkboard and outliner views for structure, and don't need a live panel preview.

Superscript

Superscript was the premium choice for a comic script writer on the desktop. It had the tight per-balloon word counts, per-panel summaries and lettering-aware ergonomics comic writers actually wanted. The creator cancelled v2 in 2024 and released the existing app as free open source with no plans to keep building on it — so the niche sits open today.

Mangaplay picks up the same script-first focus and adds what Superscript never had: a live storyboard render beside your script, a Google Docs side-panel surface, and exports to FDX, Fountain, FadeIn and PDF for handing off to artists, editors or writers' rooms.

It's free, actively maintained, and used by the creator on his own published manga — not a frozen 2024 binary you have to compile yourself. The one Superscript feature Mangaplay doesn't yet match is per-balloon word counts, and that's worth saying out loud.

Best For: A comic script writer who wants tight per-balloon word counts on the desktop and doesn't mind running an unmaintained 2024 build with no further updates.

1-on-1 Comparisons

The Verdict

In 2026, if you want to write a graphic novel and lay out the storyboards yourself, your options are limited.

Clip Studio Paint, Celtx and Final Draft are production-grade software, each excellent at one specific task.

Mangaplay Studio is the entry-level option that gets a comic panel creator up and running quickly. It's free in your browser or in Google Docs, and it picks up the script-first niche that opened when Superscript stopped shipping in 2024.

When you're ready for feedback, the same file works as both screenplay and storyboard — pass it around, get notes, then keep building.

There's little reason to fear it being discontinued — Pistol Taeja, the creator of Mangaplay, is actively using it for his own manga, Enemy of the State.