Draft is putting pens down

5 min read Original article ↗

A letter from Draft  ·  2026

After ten years of writers and customers working together on words that mattered, Draft is putting pens down.

Draft is closing its services on August 23, 2026. To every customer who trusted us with words that mattered, and every writer who showed up and took the brief seriously: thank you. There's a calm runway between now and then to log in, wrap up, and use anything you have banked.

For years, Draft did one thing. We put real writers in touch with people who needed real writing, on the days the words mattered. Customers brought briefs they cared about. Writers brought attention you can't put on a timesheet. Somewhere between the two, work got made we're still proud of.

This is not an easy note to write. We've rewritten it more than any brief that ever came through the platform. There's a particular kind of grief in turning off something that worked, mostly quietly, for thousands of people we'll never meet.

To our customers: thank you for the launches, the websites, the late-night Slacks that turned into landing pages, the briefs that came in two paragraphs and left as something better. Thank you for trusting a human with the words. We hope the work felt as careful to read as it was to make.

To the writers who made Draft what it was: thank you. You're the reason any of this felt like anything. You wrote in the cracks of other jobs, between kids' bedtimes and second cups of coffee, on flights and in cafés and at kitchen tables. You turned rough notes into sharper thinking. You made our customers sound a little more like themselves, which, in our experience, is most of the job.

To the team inside Draft: the engineers, the support folks, the operators who kept the machine humming. Thank you for the years. None of this worked without you, and a closing note that didn't say so out loud would be incomplete.

Good writing still needs a human hand. AI can produce more text than ever, and we say that without bitterness. There's a lot of generated writing out there now. The stuff that lasts is the stuff a person actually decided on.

Draft is putting pens down. Thoughtful human writing isn't going anywhere. We're grateful — every day, even on this one — to everyone who used Draft, wrote for it, told a friend, or came back when the words needed to work harder.

Thank you for letting us be part of your work.

Between now and August 23, 2026

A calm, careful handoff.

  • 01

    We stay open through August

    Draft keeps the lights on until August 23, 2026 so you and your writers can finish what matters.

  • 02

    Save what you love

    Log in, download your drafts, settle open work, and give yourself time for a calm handoff.

  • 03

    Find good writers next

    If you still need words written by a person, choose a team that treats writing like the craft it is.

What this closure means for you.

If your question isn't answered below, write to support@draft.co. We're reading.

  • Q.01

    What about the words I still have banked?

    You can use them until August 23, 2026. After that, anything left in your account expires. If you want to spend them down, log in and place orders now while writers are still active.

  • Q.02

    Will I be charged again? Am I getting a refund?

    No more charges — all active subscriptions are cancelled as of today, May 25, 2026. We're not offering refunds, but your remaining word balance stays usable until August 23, 2026. Log in any time to spend it down on work you've been meaning to commission.

  • Q.03

    Are you still open? What happens with my paired writer?

    Yes — Draft stays open until August 23, 2026. A smaller team is here to see remaining work through and answer questions at support@draft.co. Writers are still doing the writing; we're just routing everything through one team so nothing slips.

  • Q.04

    What about work that's in flight right now?

    We're keeping things open through the transition so writers can deliver and customers can review. If anything is stuck, write to support@draft.co and someone will look at it.

  • Q.05

    What happens to my drafts and files on the platform?

    Everything stays accessible from your dashboard until August 23, 2026 — drafts, files, project history, all of it. After that the app goes offline. Log in before then to download what you want to keep.

  • Q.06

    Can I still get invoices and billing history for my accounting?

    Yes. Your full billing history and invoices stay in your dashboard until August 23, 2026. Log in any time before then to download what you need for your books.

  • Yes — until August 23, 2026. The app keeps running so customers and writers can finish open work, export, and settle anything outstanding.

  • Q.08

    I'm a writer. What about my payouts?

    Nothing changes. Payouts, schedules, and your writer dashboard all keep running the way they always have, right through to August 23, 2026. Submit, get approved, get paid — same as it's always been.

  • Q.09

    Are the writers I worked with going somewhere I can find them?

    Many of our writers freelance independently. If there's someone you'd like to keep working with, write to support@draft.co — we'll facilitate the transition and, with the writer's consent, put you in touch.

If you still need a human at the other end of the brief.

Nobody we found is exactly Draft. The teams we like are below, sorted into three rough buckets so you can find the room that matches your brief. Read past the homepages.

Listed as starting points to review, not endorsements or partners.

The Draft team — a grid of headshots from a team call.

the whole crew

With love,and a little inkon our hands.

— The Draft team