Comparisons

Threadbound vs Aeon Timeline: timeline tools for novelists compared

By the Threadbound team · Prices and features checked October 2026

At a glance

Simple out of the box, bigger when you want it

Aeon Timeline is flexible, and its depth is its selling point. You can model nearly any kind of project with custom categories and attributes, but that flexibility means setting it up the way you want it, and it is a timeline tool only.

Threadbound starts as a plot tracker with threads, a Timeline, a Board and a to-do list, and nothing else. When your project needs more, you switch on add-on modules from Settings, one project at a time: Manuscript for writing, Codex for characters and worldbuilding, Multi-calendar for invented calendars, Notebooks for research, Goals for word counts, and more. Every module is included in the one price.

Price

Aeon Timeline is a one-time purchase of US$65, which includes one year of free updates. After that you keep the version you have, or pay US$35 a year if you want further updates. Threadbound is US$40 once, and every future version and module is included. Both licences cover up to 5 devices. Aeon's trial is 14 days against our 7, and we offer a full refund within 14 days of buying.

Aeon Timeline is a specialist tool, so its price buys you the timeline and nothing more. Threadbound's price also includes the manuscript editor and worldbuilding modules.

Timelines

This is Aeon's home ground, and it is hard to beat. You can look at the same events by date, by narrative order or by character arc, tag them with people and places, track dependencies between story elements, and tailor the whole thing with your own categories and attributes. It suits complex stories where who knew what, and when, is the hard part.

Threadbound's Timeline is more focused. Events sit in a lane for each plot thread on a track you can zoom from a week to a decade, with a minimap for finding your way around, and the same events appear as a column per thread on the Board. You can filter by thread and mark threads resolved or still open. It is easier to pick up, but it does not offer Aeon's range of views and attributes.

Calendars

Both handle invented calendars. Aeon lets you build a custom calendar with your own months, weekday names, eras and leap years, and reuse it across projects. One limitation reported in its own guides is that a custom calendar can only be fully edited before the timeline has dated events in it.

In Threadbound each project can have its own calendar of months and lengths, and it can be changed later, though existing events keep their stored day and month numbers and are simply read against the new calendar. The Multi-calendar module goes further, letting you define extra calendars, line each one up with your main calendar, and convert any date between them. Secondary dates can show on the Timeline ruler alongside the main ones.

Writing the manuscript

Aeon is not a writing tool. Its answer is syncing with Scrivener or Ulysses, where each document becomes an event in the timeline, and changes can flow both ways. That is excellent if you already draft in Scrivener, though it is worth knowing that the sync is not available on iOS. Threadbound includes a Manuscript module with an act, chapter and scene binder, a focus mode, inline comments, daily snapshots and word counts, and its Status view shows which plot events have no scene written yet. Exports are limited to PDF and Markdown for now, and Threadbound has no Scrivener sync.

Platforms and your data

Aeon Timeline runs as native apps on Mac, Windows and iOS, with the speed and offline reliability that brings. The platforms listed on its site are Mac, Windows and iOS. Threadbound runs in the browser and installs as an app on any device that supports it, with your work stored on that device and available offline. Nothing is kept on our servers. The trade-off is that it is not a native app, and there is no live sync between devices. Backups are plain text files, or automatic backups to your own Google Drive.

Who should choose which

Choose Aeon Timeline if you

• need a deep, flexible timeline with several ways to view the same events
• draft in Scrivener or Ulysses and want a two-way sync
• run a complex story, or a historical or world timeline, with lots of people and places to track
• prefer native apps on Mac, Windows and iOS

Choose Threadbound if you

• want plot threads, a timeline and a board that are easy to pick up
• want to write and worldbuild in the same tool, starting simple
• work across Windows, Mac, Linux, Android or Chromebook
• prefer a lower price with every future update included