Pricing

Pricing with no meters.

First Mate is included with Salt of the Page today. No credits, no daily limits, no locked suggestions, and no paying again per manuscript. The only optional cost is your own AI company’s bill, if you use the AI parts.

Available today

Included with Salt of the Page

$150once

Or $10 a month, always current. Everything First Mate does, for anyone who owns the book-writing app.

Every check, on your device
The Captain’s Log
All ten reports, unlimited
AI proofread, critique and beta readers with your own key
Plus the whole Salt of the Page studio

Get it with Salt of the Page

Sold on saltofthepage.com. Own it for $150, or $10 a month.

Placeholder

First Mate on its own

TBD

Placeholder: the standalone price and plan. Free, one price, a subscription, or included with Salt of the Page only.

Every check, on your device
The Captain’s Log
All ten reports, unlimited
AI features with your own key

Ask to be told when it ships

Placeholder: launch date.

No credits. No limits. No locked suggestions. If an AI provider costs money, it’s your own account, and First Mate shows what a run will send before it goes.

The only optional cost

A few cents a chapter, paid to your AI company.

We never charge for AI. Here’s roughly what each AI feature costs with your own key, so there are no surprises on your bill.

Estimated cost per request, worked out from each AI company’s published prices, checked October 2026. Includes the First Mate rulebook your AI reads every time. Your provider’s bill is the final word. Everything else First Mate does is free, on your device.
Where you use it	Budget AIClaude Haiku, GPT-6 Luna, Gemini Flash-Lite	Everyday AIClaude Sonnet, Gemini Pro	Top-of-the-line AIClaude Opus or Fable, GPT-6 Astra
Proofread with my AIA part of up to 1,500 words, read 3 times so only agreed fixes show	about 0.1¢	about 2¢	up to 12¢
Critique this chapterOne chapter (about 5,000 words) with your Source of Truth and your decisions	about 0.3¢	about 5¢	up to 26¢
Ask the beta readersOne reader reacts to one chapter	about 0.2¢	about 4¢	up to 20¢
Ask my AI about a cardOne suggestion card and the sentence around it	under 0.1¢	about 0.9¢	up to 4¢
A busy monthAbout 82 requests: a proofread most days, a critique and a few beta reads a week	under $1	about $2	up to $9

Why the range? AI companies charge by the amount of text that goes in and comes out, and bigger models cost more per request. A proofread sends a short passage three times; a critique sends a whole chapter once.

Keep it predictable. Set a monthly spending limit in your account with the AI company, pick a budget model for everyday proofreads, or run a free model on your own computer. First Mate shows exactly what will be sent before anything goes, and nothing goes until you press Send.

How it compares

Built as the opposite of the complaints.

The complaints are the ones writers raise most often about general-purpose checkers. First Mate was built as the opposite of the list.
What writers say about today’s checkers	First Mate’s answer
Paywalls, daily caps and paying extra per manuscript report	Everything included. On-device reports are unlimited on the whole book. AI reports run on your own AI with no credits.
“I make the change and it comes up again”	The Captain’s Log. Every Ignore, Intentional or Keep is remembered for that passage, by every check and every AI report, for good.
Rules written for business email misfire on dialogue, dialect and fragments	Dialogue and narration are separated before any checker sees the text. Your characters’ voices are left alone.
Needs the internet, and the text goes to someone else’s servers	The core checks run on your device and work offline. AI goes only to the provider you chose, and First Mate shows you what will be sent first.
AI critique that flatters, credits the wrong character or makes up quotes	Every AI finding must quote your page. Quotes that aren’t on the page, or credit a character who isn’t there, are dropped.
Cluttered page, pop-ups over the text, thousands of flags at once	Quiet while drafting. Review happens in passes, in a panel beside the page that never covers your text.
Hidden thresholds and “trust us” scores	Every target is shown on the card and can be changed. Every card says why.

Coming from Grammarly, ProWritingAid or LanguageTool?

Grammarly

Placeholder: one honest line on how Grammarly and First Mate differ, checked against grammarly.com before launch.

ProWritingAid

Placeholder: one honest line on how ProWritingAid and First Mate differ, checked against prowritingaid.com before launch.

LanguageTool

Placeholder: one honest line on how LanguageTool and First Mate differ, checked against languagetool.org before launch.

Keep using them if you like. Their browser extensions can usually keep working in the Salt of the Page web editor. If you see double marks, turn off First Mate’s “Show marks while I write”.

Questions

About buying.

Does First Mate cost extra inside Salt of the Page?

No. It’s included whether you own Salt of the Page for $150 or stay current for $10 a month. There are no credits and no limits.

Can I buy First Mate on its own?

Placeholder: not yet, or yes for a price, or coming on a date. Decide and replace this answer.

Do I have to pay for AI?

Only if you want the AI parts, and then you pay your AI company directly for what you use. A model on your own computer is free. Everything else runs on your device at no cost.

Is there a refund?

Salt of the Page comes with a 30-day refund: write in it for 30 days, and if it isn’t the desk you hoped for, tell us. Salt of the Page pricing has the details.