Who wrote this: the Vellam team. We build one of the two tools compared here, so treat the Vellam column as an interested party. Everything stated about Novelium below is taken from what it publishes about itself, checked on 20 August 2026, and marked where it is a claim rather than something we could verify. Where the public record runs out, this page says so instead of guessing.
If you landed here from a video and your question is narrower, “does this thing write my book for me, and is it real”, start with Is Novelium AI instead. This page is the full side by side.
Most AI writing tools generate prose. Novelium and Vellam belong to the smaller group that does the opposite: they read the manuscript you wrote and tell you what holds together and what does not. They share a wedge, and a principle. Neither one writes the book for you.
That makes this a closer comparison than most. The question is not generation versus analysis, because both are analysis-first. The question is how deep the reading goes, what it checks, how it is priced, and whether the tool is finished enough to lean on today.
Short answer: Novelium and Vellam are both analysis-first tools that read your novel and keep every word yours. Vellam adds a Story Atlas, cross-chapter consistency checks, a built-in AI-writing detector and a free rule-based prose layer, with a shipped, fully localized interface in Polish, English, German and Spanish, for a one-time price with credits that never expire. Novelium is a subscription from $7 to $147 a month, metered by how many words you analyse, and it ships two things Vellam does not: native mobile apps, and free print-ready book design and export.
What each tool is built around
Novelium is a newer tool with the same core promise as Vellam: a tool that reads but never writes for you. Its tagline is “It reads. It never writes.” It catches timeline conflicts, character inconsistencies, plot continuity problems and information-flow issues, and it claims to read manuscripts natively in more than 30 languages.
What sits around those checks is a full writing environment: an editor with a drag-and-drop binder, import from .docx, Scrivener projects, Google Docs and plain text, a character dashboard and World Codex built automatically from your prose, a timeline view, beta reader sharing with inline comments and consensus flagging, and a book design module that exports print-ready PDF, EPUB and DOCX at no extra cost. It runs in the browser and as apps for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, visionOS and Android. It was built by a founder from a cybersecurity background who lost track of his own novel’s timeline, and support runs through a public Discord.
Vellam is an analysis-first writing tool that has shipped a wide surface. You write in its built-in editor, and the centre of the product is the analysis layer: it reads your manuscript chapter by chapter, builds a Story Atlas of every character, location and thread, checks consistency across the whole book, scores how AI-like the prose reads, and runs a free rule-based pass for cliches and weak verbs. Its AI assistant brainstorms ideas with you, but it never writes the book for you.
Functional comparison
| Capability | Novelium | Vellam |
|---|---|---|
| Reads the prose you wrote, never generates prose for you | ||
| Reads your whole novel, not just one passage at a time | ||
| Flags character inconsistencies and plot continuity gaps | ||
| Catches timeline conflicts across the book | ||
| Whole-book consistency check (trait, mental state, location, plot status) | ||
| Auto-built Story Atlas (per-chapter cards from your text) | ||
| Character, location and plot heatmaps across chapters | ||
| Built-in AI-writing detector (per chapter and whole book) | ||
| Rule-based prose analysis, no credits (cliches, passive, weak verbs, repetition) | ||
| Long-form developmental critique of the whole book | ||
| Built-in editor you can write the whole novel in | ||
| Inline comments and shared review with reader roles | ||
| Daily writing goals and streak tracking | ||
| Confirmed fully localized interface (Polish, English, German, Spanish) | ||
| Native apps for phone and tablet | ||
| Book design and print-ready export (PDF, EPUB) included at no extra cost | ||
| Your manuscript is never changed for you | ||
| One-time payment, credits never expire |
Both tools read your novel and keep every word yours, so the top rows tie. A partial mark means Novelium covers part of what the row describes; a no means the feature is not described anywhere Novelium publishes. Vellam leads on the analysis depth it has shipped, on confirmed localization and on one-time pricing. Novelium leads on mobile and on book design, and if either of those is what you came for, this table says so.
The things Vellam adds on top of the shared promise
A whole-book consistency check with named failure modes
Both tools promise to catch character and plot problems. Vellam reads your manuscript chapter by chapter, the way a reader does, and runs a whole-book consistency check that flags four specific kinds of contradiction: a character trait, a character’s state of mind, a location description, and a plot status that stops adding up. The value is in the specificity, knowing not just that something is off but what kind of thing it is.
A Story Atlas you do not have to maintain
After each chapter, Vellam generates per-chapter cards for every character, location and thread, pulled from what you actually wrote, and keeps them current as you revise. It is the story bible you would otherwise build by hand, with heatmaps that show where a character drops out of the book for a stretch.
A built-in AI-writing detector
Vellam scores how AI-like your prose reads, per chapter and across the whole book, with the lowest-scoring sentences highlighted. It is the same kind of scan a publisher or contest might run, so you see it first. This sits outside the shared analysis promise: it is a check on the writing itself, not on the story.
A free rule-based prose layer
A deterministic analysis layer marks cliches, weak verbs, filler, passive narration and repetition, and it costs no credits. If your worry is generic-sounding writing, this is the part that helps you cut it line by line, in your own words.
An idea generator, not a prose generator
This is the principle both tools share, and it is worth being precise about. Vellam’s AI is a thinking partner, not a ghostwriter. The assistant brainstorms plot, talks through a character, and points at a line that could be sharper. What it does not do is hand you finished prose to drop into your book. There is no insert button, nothing is written into your manuscript, and the whole design assumes you write every line in your own words. If keeping the words in your book yours is the reason you are looking at read-only tools in the first place, Vellam is built around exactly that.
Built with authors and publishers, and it moves fast
Vellam is built in the open with the people who use it. There is a public feedback board where authors and publishers post requests, vote, and watch them ship, and we read and act on all of it. The roadmap is shaped by working novelists and by publishing houses at the same time, which is rare in this category, and features land quickly. Novelium ships too, and quickly, so the honest difference is not who is real. It is that the roadmap here is public and votable, and that publishers sit in it next to novelists.
Works in your language
Vellam’s interface is fully localized in Polish, English, German and Spanish, and its analysis is built for manuscripts in those languages. Novelium states it reads manuscripts natively in more than 30 languages and names Polish, German and Spanish among them, which is a specific claim about the reading rather than a promise of a translated interface. The two are not the same thing: analysis quality in your language and an interface in your language are separate questions. Run a chapter through Novelium’s free plan in your own language before you commit, and check both.
You stay in control
Both tools start from the same place: your text is yours, and it is not generated for you. Vellam goes further on the guarantees around it. AI help is opt-in and lives in a side panel, your manuscript is never changed for you, and your text is never used to train any model. The reading happens to your book; it does not happen to your authorship.
What each one costs
Novelium’s published prices, checked on 20 August 2026:
| Plan | Price | Analysis words per month |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0, no card | 10,000, one project, one device |
| Basic | $7 / month | 100,000, unlimited standalone projects |
| Pro | $19 / month | 2,000,000, plus series workspaces and cross-book tracking |
| Premier | $39 / month | 20,000,000, in-app only |
| Publishing | $147 / month | Unlimited, in-app only |
The word meter decides your plan, not the sticker price. Analysis words are burned by how much text you push through the checks, and a novel is a large object. On a 90,000-word manuscript, Free cannot complete a single pass in a month. Basic is roughly one full pass, once, then you wait for the reset. Pro is around twenty-two passes, which is the first tier where re-reading the whole book after each revision round stops being a budgeting exercise.
Two footnotes. Subscribing inside the iPhone or iPad app costs more than the website, at $10.99 for Basic and $29.99 for Pro per month, so buy on the web. And the book design module, including print-ready PDF and EPUB export, is free on every plan, which is a genuine saving against buying formatting software separately.
Vellam is a one-time payment with credits that never expire. The difference is not really the headline price, it is what happens on the fourth revision pass: a monthly word allowance resets on a calendar, credits you already own do not.
Choose Novelium if
- You want the core checks (timeline, character, plot continuity) inside one writing environment, and a subscription suits how you work.
- You write on a phone or tablet and want a native app rather than a browser tab.
- You want book design and print-ready export bundled in, instead of buying formatting software.
- You are on Pro or above, so the word meter is not something you have to think about.
Choose Vellam if
- You want the same read-only promise plus a Story Atlas, heatmaps, an AI-writing detector and a free sentence-level prose layer in one place.
- You write in Polish, German, Spanish or English and want a confirmed, fully localized interface and analysis.
- You want to re-run a full manuscript as many times as you like without watching a word meter.
- You prefer a one-time payment with credits that do not expire.
Can you use both?
You can, though they overlap heavily, since both read and never write. If you already use Novelium for its core checks, running the manuscript through Vellam adds the AI-detection scan, the Story Atlas and the free prose layer, and gives you a consistency and structure pass before it reaches a beta reader or an editor. For most writers, though, the two tools answer the same question, so the choice is usually one or the other.
Frequently asked questions
Is Novelium AI, and does it use AI?
Yes, it is an AI tool, but of the reading kind rather than the writing kind. Novelium analyses a manuscript you already wrote: timeline conflicts, character inconsistencies, plot continuity and information flow. Its own tagline is “It reads. It never writes.” That is the same category Vellam sits in. Neither tool is a co-writer that drafts scenes for you, which is the distinction that usually matters when authors ask whether a tool “uses AI”. The longer answer, including what Novelium publishes about what it will never do, is in Is Novelium AI.
Is Novelium legit?
Yes, in the sense that matters: a named founder, published pricing, a free tier with no card, and shipping apps on web, iOS, iPadOS, macOS, visionOS and Android, actively updated. It is young, so the usual young-product caveats apply: a small ratings base, little independent review coverage, and a desktop download its own site warns will trigger an unrecognised-app security prompt because it is not code-signed the way an established vendor’s would be. Ask any analysis tool, this one and ours included, three questions: what it stores, how long it stores it, and whether your text is used for training. Novelium’s published answer on the third is a clear no.
How much does Novelium cost?
Free with 10,000 analysis words a month, Basic at $7 a month for 100,000 words, Pro at $19 a month for 2,000,000 words, Premier at $39 a month for 20,000,000 words, and Publishing at $147 a month for unlimited words. Subscribing inside the iPhone app costs more, at $10.99 and $29.99 a month. Prices checked on 20 August 2026, so confirm on the current site. Vellam is a one-time payment with credits that do not expire, so re-analysing a full manuscript does not add to the bill over time.
Are Novelium and Vellam the same kind of tool?
Close. Both are analysis-first: they read the novel you wrote and never generate prose for you. Vellam has shipped a wider surface, including a Story Atlas, heatmaps, an AI-writing detector and a free rule-based prose layer, and is confirmed localized in four languages.
Does Vellam write prose for me?
No. Its AI is an idea generator: it brainstorms and points at lines to improve, but it never hands you finished prose to paste in. You write every line in your own words.
How does the pricing differ?
Vellam is a one-time payment with credits that never expire. Novelium is a monthly subscription with a monthly allowance of analysis words, from 10,000 on the free plan to unlimited at $147 a month. The practical difference shows up on repeat passes over a 90,000-word book: an allowance resets on a calendar, credits you already own do not.
Does Vellam work for novels written in Polish, German or Spanish?
Yes. The interface and the analysis are built for Polish, English, German and Spanish, and that localization is shipped, not just claimed. If you write in one of those languages, editing your novel in your own language matters.