Quill vs Apple Pages.
Apple Pages is Apple’s free word processor for the Mac; Quill is a Mac word processor that costs $19 once. This page compares price and features.
| Feature | Quill | Apple Pages |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $19 once | Free |
| Pay once | Yes | –Free |
| Opens and saves .docx directly | Yes | PartlyImport and export |
| No account needed | Yes | PartlyiCloud to share |
| Word-style ribbon tabs | Yes | No |
| Every command open to a local AI agent | Yes | PartlyAppleScript |
| Real-time collaboration | No | Yes |
| Tracked changes | No | Yes |
| Works offline | Yes | Yes |
| Platforms | Mac | Mac, iPad, iPhone, web |
| Requires | macOS 14 or later | macOS 26 or later |
| Built-in AI writing help | None; agents connect | Apple Intelligence |
Yes Yes Partly Partly No No
Price
Pages is free on the Mac App Store, and creating, viewing, editing and collaborating need no subscription. The optional Apple Creator Studio, which adds premium templates and intelligence features, costs $12.99 a month or $129 a year. Quill costs $19 once, tax included. The trial is free for 7 days with no card, one licence covers up to 3 of your Macs, every future update is included, and refunds are available within 30 days.
File formats
Pages opens a .docx file by converting it, and sends documents back to Word as a separate export, so the original file is never the one you edit. In Quill, .docx is the native format, and you open, edit and save the same file. Quill is laid out like Word for Mac, with ribbon tabs and the same keyboard shortcuts, while Pages has a toolbar, a Format sidebar and a template chooser.
Where Apple Pages is ahead
- Pages collaborates in real time through iCloud, with up to 100 people editing a shared document at the same time.
- Pages has change tracking.
- Pages runs on iPad, iPhone and Apple Vision Pro, and in a browser at iCloud.com.
- Pages includes templates, text boxes, shapes, footnotes and page layout documents.
- Pages offers Writing Tools that proofread, rewrite, summarise and compose text, which require Apple Intelligence.
Try Quill free for 7 days.
Then $19 once, for up to 3 of your Macs. No subscription and no account.
Requires macOS 14 Sonoma or later.
More comparisons
Sources
Checked against Apple Pages’s own website and documentation on 13 November 2026. If something here is out of date, tell us and we’ll correct it.
- Pages: Create Documents on the Mac App Store (US)
- Apple Creator Studio
- About Apple Creator Studio (Apple Support)
- What’s new in Pages on Mac
- Convert Pages, Numbers, or Keynote files to Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, and more
- Export to Word, PDF, or another file format in Pages on Mac
- Intro to collaboration in Pages on Mac
- Collaborate on documents in Keynote, Pages, and Numbers
- Track changes in Pages on Mac
- Use Writing Tools on Mac
- Get started with Pages on Mac
Pages is a trademark of Apple Inc. Quill is not affiliated with it.