NaNoWriMo Alternatives 2026: 6 Challenges and Their AI Rules

NaNoWriMo closed in 2025, but you can still write 50,000 words in November 2026. The main NaNoWriMo alternatives are ProWritingAid's Novel November and the Reedsy Novel Sprint (both free), plus community options such as NaNo 2.0. Their rules on AI differ: some ban it, others say nothing, so read them before you sign up.

NaNoWriMo's website is gone, and a lot of writers are wondering where November went. It's still there. The challenge was never really the website. It was a number (50,000), a month (30 days) and a crowd of other people doing the same thing at the same time. All three still exist; you just have to choose where to find them. This guide covers the NaNoWriMo alternatives running in 2026, what each one asks of you, and the one thing most lists skip: what each one says about AI.

We went through each challenge's own page on 1 October 2026 rather than rewording another roundup, because rules change and old lists go stale. We make NovelCanon, a writing app, so we'll say where it fits (and where it doesn't) near the end.

Key takeaways

• The challenge survived the organisation. It's still 50,000 words in November, which works out at 1,667 a day, and there are several places to do it.
• Two free options lead: ProWritingAid's Novel November (write in any app) and the Reedsy Novel Sprint (cash prizes, but you must write inside Reedsy Studio).
• AI rules split the field. Reedsy, Order of the Written Word and Novel 90 say no to AI-generated text. Novel November, NaNo 2.0 and NovelEmber state no rule on the pages we read.
• "Not stated" is not "allowed." If AI matters to your plans, ask the organisers before you commit a month to a challenge.
• You don't need a challenge at all. A target, a deadline, a place to count words and one person to answer to is the whole recipe.

What happened to NaNoWriMo?

The nonprofit behind it announced at the end of March 2025 that it was closing, which took the website and its forums with it. The organisation pointed to long-running money problems. TechCrunch's report also covers the backlash over its stance on AI and the resignation of two authors from its board, Maureen Johnson and Daniel José Older, along with criticism of how it moderated its youth forums.

That history explains why you'll see AI come up so often below. Several of the replacements were set up partly as a response to it, and they say so.

Which NaNoWriMo alternatives are running in 2026?

Six are worth knowing about, and they range from a prize-backed sprint to a loose group of writers with no judges at all. Here they are side by side, as described on each challenge's own page on 1 October 2026.

Challenge	Goal	Cost	Where you write	What it says about AI
Novel November (ProWritingAid)	50,000 words, 1–30 Nov	Free (account needed)	Any app; counts from Word, Scrivener or Google Docs, or log by hand	No AI rule stated; says your writing is never used to train algorithms
Reedsy Novel Sprint	50,000 words, 1–30 Nov	Free	Inside Reedsy Studio only	Banned: "you can't use AI to generate your book"
NaNo 2.0	Any writing project; 50,000 words is the classic goal	Not stated	Its own progress tracker	No AI rule stated
World Anvil NovelEmber	50,000 words of prose, or a custom goal	Not stated	Not specified	Not mentioned in its guide
Order of the Written Word	30,000-word novel start, poetry or short fiction, or a revision	Free	Anywhere; progress logged on Discord	"Free from AI-generated content"
Novel 90 (AutoCrit)	50,000+ words in 90 days, 1 Oct–31 Dec	Free	Anywhere; progress logged on its dashboard	Not permitted

Source: each challenge's own page, read on 1 October 2026. Terms, prizes and dates can change, so check the page before you join.

Novel November (ProWritingAid)

The closest thing to the old NaNoWriMo, and the one most people mean by "the successor." It's free, the goal is the familiar 50,000 words, and you can write in whatever app you already use. There's a month of prep in October, daily writing sprints, forums and badges. The page doesn't set a rule on AI use. It does say your writing is never used to train any algorithms.

Reedsy Novel Sprint

The one with cash prizes: first place is $5,000, and the top three get a conversation with a literary agent. The catch is the rules. Your 50,000 words must be written inside Reedsy Studio, you can't paste text in from another word processor, and entries that use AI to generate the book are disqualified. Writers who want the stakes and are happy to draft in one editor will like it.

NaNo 2.0

A community-run reboot with sign-ups opening on 7 October 2026. It's the most relaxed option: you pick a goal, you get a personal progress tracker, and its own page says there are no judges and no prizes, and nobody reads your work unless you share it. It states no rule about AI.

World Anvil NovelEmber

Aimed at worldbuilders. The standard goal is 50,000 words of prose, but its guide lets you swap in a "rebel" goal such as an RPG adventure, short stories or an editing pass. It doesn't mention AI, and we couldn't confirm 2026 specifics from the guide, so check its event page for dates.

Order of the Written Word

A smaller, gentler target (30,000 words of a novel) with side tracks for poetry, short fiction and revising an existing manuscript. It runs on Discord, where a bot logs your progress, and it describes itself as free from AI-generated content.

Novel 90 (AutoCrit)

The long-runway option: 90 days, 1 October to 31 December, with a goal of 50,000+ words or any other writing you choose. It's free, tracks daily words and streaks on its dashboard, and says it is designed for writers who want to write their own books. It also runs spring and summer sessions, which makes it the nearest thing we found to Camp NaNoWriMo's off-season format.

Which of them allow AI, and which ban it?

Three say no to AI-generated text, and three say nothing at all. Reedsy, Order of the Written Word and Novel 90 are explicit. Novel November, NaNo 2.0 and NovelEmber don't state a rule on the pages we read.

Silence isn't permission, though. It's an unanswered question. If you plan to use an AI tool for anything beyond spellcheck, whether that's brainstorming, drafting or editing, send the organisers a message before 1 November rather than finding out in week three. And if you're joining an AI-free challenge, take the rule at face value: those communities exist because people wanted a month where every word is the writer's own.

Which NaNoWriMo alternative should you pick?

Pick by what you need from the month, not by who has the best marketing.

• You want stakes and a prize: the Reedsy Novel Sprint, if you're comfortable writing in Reedsy Studio and keeping AI out of it entirely.
• You want the old NaNoWriMo feel in your own app: Novel November.
• You want no organisation, just company: NaNo 2.0.
• A full novel in a month feels like too much: Order of the Written Word, with its 30,000-word track or a revision goal.
• You'd rather have a longer runway: Novel 90 gives you until 31 December.
• You're a worldbuilder, or not writing a novel: NovelEmber's custom goals.

Can you run your own November challenge?

Yes, and plenty of writers do. The website supplied the crowd; the part that makes words appear is simpler. You need four things:

1. A number. 50,000 words in 30 days is 1,667 a day. Pick a smaller number if that's too much; a finished 30,000 beats an abandoned 50,000.
2. A deadline. 30 November. If you start late, the daily figure climbs quickly: from the 15th it's 3,125 a day.
3. One place that counts. A spreadsheet works. So does anything that counts words for you.
4. One person who'll ask. A friend, a group chat, a Discord server. Accountability is a big part of why the challenge works.

Where NovelCanon fits. It isn't a challenge, and it has no community, no leaderboard and no winner badge. What it gives a solo November is the counting. You set a daily word target per project (type 1,667) and an optional deadline (set 30 November) with a days-left countdown. You get a bar for today's words, a chart of the last seven days, a streak that counts the days you write, and a sprint timer from 10 to 60 minutes that shows how many words you wrote in the sprint. It works offline and syncs when you reconnect, and words are counted as you type, so there's nothing to copy into a tracker. If you join Novel November, which accepts a hand-logged total, you can write in NovelCanon and enter your count each night.

A note on plans: the Free plan covers one project with up to three chapters. That's a limit on chapters, not on words. If you'd rather draft in a normal chapter structure, the Manuscript plan lifts it ($7 billed monthly, or $5 a month billed annually), and when you sign up you get 14 days of Pro first. The pricing page has the details.

And if you want AI in the mix: choose a challenge that doesn't ban it, and decide in advance how much you want it to do. In NovelCanon the AI only works when you ask, and anything it writes stays highlighted until you accept or dismiss it. If that's your plan, our guide to writing a novel with AI without losing your voice covers the workflow.

What do you do on 1 December?

Put the draft down for a week or two, then check it for contradictions before you do anything else. A draft written at 1,667 words a day is written fast, and fast drafts contradict themselves: a name drifts, an eye colour flips, a character acts on a secret they haven't been told yet. Don't stop to fix those in November; that's what December is for.

When you're ready, how to run a continuity check on your manuscript walks through the whole process by hand, and how to find and fix plot holes covers the structural problems a first draft tends to leave. NovelCanon's instant checks run as you type with no AI call, and the Consistency Engine builds a record of your facts from the prose so contradictions surface on their own (the whole-book deep scan is part of Pro). The story consistency guide explains how the whole system fits together.

Whichever challenge you pick, the part that matters is the same: sit down tomorrow, write the day's number, and do it again. Good luck with your November.