Yes. NovelOS Studio is a strong Scyn alternative for novelists who want the whole book connected. This comparison tests that recommendation against Scyn's documented strengths, and against the decision that usually settles the choice: focused causal mapping versus complete connected novel production.
$45 once · 
Windows, 
macOS, Android and iOS · local-first
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when scenes, people, places, relationships, the timeline, progress, drafting, and publication should remain connected throughout the same novel.
when its specialist strength matches the work in front of you. Compare Scyn's free cause-and-effect story map, visual templates, browser workflow, and Pro collaboration with one complete $45 NovelOS Studio purchase.
Both products can help a writer make progress. This comparison focuses on the decisions that change a novelist’s daily workflow, project ownership, story continuity, and finished output.
Scyn capabilities were last checked on August 2, 2026. Review the official Scyn evidence used for this comparison.
| Decision point | Recommended  NovelOS Studio |  Scyn Visual planning and timelines |
|---|---|---|
| Complete writing-system price | $45 once for one lifetime personal license on the owner's supported Windows and macOS computers | Scyn has a permanent free plan for one active project. Scyn Pro costs $4.99 per month or $49 per year and adds unlimited projects, higher map limits, Story Mode, Cast & Places, goals, statistics, sharing, collaboration, version history, and additional exports. NovelOS Studio costs less than one year of Scyn Pro while covering the complete novel workflow rather than a specialist planning layer. |
| Free access and trial | NovelOS Studio is a paid lifetime product. The purchase covers the complete connected studio without a recurring subscription | Scyn Free costs $0 forever and requires no credit card. It includes one active editable project, up to 100 scenes and 200 links, chapter, act, and color filters, five retained snapshots, and PNG export. A one-time seven-day Pro trial becomes available when the writer reaches a paid feature. |
| Current platforms | Native applications for supported Windows and macOS computers | Scyn is a web application that runs in a modern browser. Its current product schema identifies the operating system as Web, and the homepage describes account-based access across devices. The reviewed official pages do not advertise native Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, or Android applications. |
| Core product scope | One studio connects ideation, characters, relationships, genealogy, worldbuilding, lore, maps, several visual plot boards, timeline, manuscript, goals, revision support, publication, and complete-project restoration | Scyn is visual story-planning software centered on movable scene cards and directional cause-and-effect connections. Its current homepage explicitly says it is not a full writing suite and tells writers to draft in another application. This focused scope makes Scyn easy to understand, but it also leaves worldbuilding, deep character development, book production, and durable project ownership to other tools. |
| Visual plot mapping | Multiple Blueprint boards can represent acts, subplots, mysteries, investigations, revision questions, or any other structural view with scene, entity, and plot-point nodes | Scyn's strongest feature is a spatial graph where each scene or beat is a node and each arrow states what causes what. A disconnected node can expose a dead-end thread; a missing edge can reveal an unsupported turn. Scyn is excellent when causal logic is the only planning problem. NovelOS is stronger when the same book needs several visual boards plus explicit scene data, a timeline by chapter, cast, places, objects, prose, and publication. |
| Scenes, connections, and scale | Scene records can carry viewpoint, synopsis, status, characters, locations, objects, plot membership, prose, and associations across several Blueprint boards | The free Scyn map supports up to 100 scenes and 200 links. Pro raises the limit to 1,000 scenes and 2,000 links per map. Scene cards carry a title, an optional note or description, a chapter or act, and a color. Directional links can be labelled to explain cause, consequence, setup, payoff, decision, or reveal. |
| Acts, chapters, filters, and templates | NovelOS structures the manuscript through nested parts, chapters, and scenes while Blueprint boards can use any visual arrangement the writer needs | Scyn filters the map by act, chapter, and color. Its official template library currently lists ten editable visual structures, including Three-Act Structure, Save the Cat, Hero's Journey, Novel Outline, Screenplay Outline, Character Arc, Multi-POV Novel, Subplot Tracker, Scene Card, and Worldbuilding Map. Scyn's templates are a useful advantage for writers who want an immediate structural starting point. |
| Story Mode and drafting clarity | Manuscript is a full long-form writing environment connected to scene context, search, comments, preview, statistics, typography controls, and focused drafting modes; write by voice in English projects | Scyn's current homepage says Story Mode returns mapped scenes to chapter order, keeps causes visible, and leaves drafting in the writer's existing application. The current pricing page also says Pro can 'Draft by chapter' and export a manuscript as DOCX, while an older features page describes a writing view. Because those official descriptions conflict, writers should test the current Pro trial before treating Scyn as a long-form manuscript editor. |
| Character planning | Cast records identity, biography, appearance, psychology, motives, fears, moral alignment, voice, habits, strengths, weaknesses, images, relationships, genealogy, and associated scenes | Scyn Pro includes Cast & Places, but the reviewed pricing and homepage pages do not publish a detailed field inventory. Scyn can therefore keep basic people and locations near the structural map, while NovelOS provides the deeper character system for novels whose relationships, family history, motives, secrets, and scene participation must remain queryable throughout the book. |
| Worldbuilding and lore | World and Lore keep places, items, cultures, rules and history as records with pictures and properties, each linked to the scenes that use it. The Architect drafts places and items if you use the optional AI | Scyn includes a Worldbuilding Map among its ten templates, but a template made of connected nodes is different from a structured world database. The reviewed official pages do not document dedicated lore records, cultural systems, object records, custom world properties, or a linked knowledge base. NovelOS is the stronger choice for speculative fiction that depends on consistent setting facts. |
| Relationships and genealogy | Relationship graphs and a dedicated genealogy editor reveal personal ties, family structures, inherited duties, rivalries, and secrets beside the rest of the novel | Scyn can represent relationships as map connections and includes a Character Arc template, yet its current public feature inventory does not document a dedicated relationship model or family-tree editor. NovelOS keeps personal relationships and genealogy as first-class project data rather than requiring the writer to recreate those systems as general-purpose nodes. |
| Maps and story geography | Cartography provides an editable map connected to the same Cast, World, Blueprint, Timeline, and Manuscript project | Scyn calls its structural canvas a story map, but that term refers to plot relationships rather than geographic cartography. The reviewed official pages do not advertise an editable geography system. NovelOS is the clearer fit when journeys, borders, distances, settlements, or location continuity affect the plot. |
| Chronology and reading order | A timeline arranged by chapter that shows every scene in the project. Drag a scene to another chapter to move it; scenes not yet placed sit under Outside the book | Scyn organizes scenes by acts and chapters, then uses Story Mode to return the map to reading order. That is useful for checking sequence and cause. The current public pages do not document a separate narrative-time model for flashbacks, parallel threads, dates, durations, or events that occur outside manuscript order. NovelOS handles that distinction explicitly. |
| Goals and writing statistics | A project target and deadline calculate completion, required daily pace, days remaining, today's output, streaks, active days, averages, an annual heatmap, and manuscript statistics | Scyn Pro lists goals and statistics, but its current pricing and homepage pages do not explain which targets, periods, streaks, pacing calculations, or historical views are included. Scyn may be sufficient for a lightweight progress check. NovelOS documents a broader system for turning a target and deadline into the daily pace needed to finish the book. |
| AI policy and author control | Optional Alchemist actions use the writer's own Gemini or OpenAI key, preserve the original passage, and leave each proposed revision under the author's control | Scyn makes a firm no-AI promise for story creation. It says it does not read the manuscript, generate scenes, suggest a plot, or use stories to train models. Nodes and connections all come from the writer. Choose Scyn when having no generative assistance inside the service is a decisive requirement; choose NovelOS when optional controlled refinement is useful inside a much broader studio. |
| Storage, privacy, and account model | Core creative work stays local in a local-first desktop project, while optional network actions are initiated by the author | Scyn's current privacy policy says account details, projects, and story graphs are stored in a PostgreSQL database hosted in the United States. It uses Google OAuth, Sentry for errors and performance, and PostHog for anonymous product analytics; neither service receives story content. Scyn says it does not sell information and lets users delete projects or the complete account. |
| Offline work | Planning, drafting, goals, export, and project archive creation work through the installed Windows and macOS applications without turning the core novel into a browser service | Scyn's current official homepage describes account saving and cross-device sync. The reviewed current pages do not promise offline browser operation. Older Scyn copy described browser-local Free storage, but the current privacy policy now says projects live in its database. Writers who need dependable work without a connection should verify current offline behavior rather than relying on older descriptions. |
| Sharing and collaboration | NovelOS is designed around an individual author's authoritative local project, with stable publication files and complete archives for handoff | Scyn Pro creates unlisted share links and supports up to five collaborators. It is the stronger choice when several people need to inspect or work around the same structural map in a browser. The pricing page does not describe permissions, comments, conflict behavior, or real-time presence, so teams should test the seven-day Pro trial against their actual review process. |
| Snapshots and version history | Each chapter keeps snapshots, automatic and named, that you compare with the current text and restore. A .novelos file backs up the whole project | Scyn Free retains five snapshots and Pro keeps 30 restorable versions. That built-in recovery is valuable during structural experiments. Its current pages do not document retention time, version granularity, or whether a restored version can be exported as a complete reusable project. Scyn's terms advise users to back up anything they cannot afford to lose. |
| Importing an existing novel | Smart Import brings in a manuscript from Word, EPUB, Markdown, plain text or PDF and detects its chapters for you to check. Characters, world notes and plot boards are added by hand: there is no importer for another app's project file | The reviewed Scyn homepage, features, pricing, privacy, terms, and template pages do not publish a manuscript, outline, or project import matrix. A writer moving an established novel should expect to rebuild structural cards and links unless Scyn support confirms a current importer. Test a representative act before committing a large map. |
| Map and manuscript export | DOCX, RTF, TXT, Markdown, EPUB, standalone HTML, and PDF are produced from one manuscript; Book Preview shows the pages at your trim size as you write | Scyn Free exports the plot map as PNG. Pro adds PDF, DOCX, and account JSON. The pricing page describes DOCX as a manuscript export, while the features page describes PDF as a stable map artifact. Scyn does not advertise EPUB, RTF, Markdown, standalone HTML, or a book PDF laid out at a trim size. NovelOS is the complete publishing choice. |
| Backup and project transfer | A validated .novelos archive packages the editable database, prose, media, boards, timeline, cast, worlds, lore, genealogy, comments, manifest, and checksums for transfer and restoration | Scyn Pro can download account data as JSON, but the reviewed pages do not state that this JSON can be imported to recreate a live project, restore collaboration, or rebuild every attachment and version. Treat it as an account-data export until Scyn documents round-trip restoration. NovelOS provides a purpose-built full-project transfer artifact. |
| Mobile access | A native Windows and macOS studio plus an iOS and Android app installed from the browser on the same licence | Scyn's browser interface can be opened from different devices, and the homepage says the active project syncs to the account. Its public pages do not advertise dedicated iOS or Android applications. Browser access is a Scyn advantage for writers who frequently change computers, though it does not establish a native mobile editing experience. |
| Best specialist advantage | Several visual boards stay connected to deep story records, manuscript context, timeline, progress, publication, and the recoverable source project | Scyn is unusually clear about causal plotting. Its arrows make the writer state why one scene produces another, its free tier is genuinely usable, its ten templates offer fast starts, and Pro adds browser sharing for up to five collaborators. For a writer who already loves a separate drafting tool and only needs structural diagnosis, Scyn may be the more focused specialist. |
| Best fit | Novelists who want one supported Windows and macOS studio where ideas, characters, genealogy, worlds, maps, several plot views, timeline, drafting, goals, seven publication outputs, and complete restoration remain connected for $45 once | Writers who already have a manuscript application and want a browser-based cause-and-effect plot graph, one free active project, reusable story templates, and optional Pro sharing. Scyn also fits small groups that value a shared structural map more than deep worldbuilding or book production. |
| Our recommendation | Choose NovelOS Studio when visual plotting must be part of the book rather than a separate planning service. The $45 purchase includes Spark, Oracle, deep Cast, relationships, genealogy, World, Lore, Architect, Cartography maps, multiple Blueprint boards, Timeline, Manuscript, comprehensive goals, optional controlled refinement, seven publication formats, and validated project transfer | Choose Scyn when a focused causal graph, a permanent free starting plan, ten editable templates, browser access, or Pro collaboration is the deciding requirement. For an individual novelist who wants to plan, write, track, produce, and preserve the whole book in one owned system, NovelOS Studio remains our recommendation. |
| Importing an existing manuscript | Smart Import reads Word, EPUB, PDF, Markdown or plain text and finds the chapter breaks. Desktop and mobile | Not documented |
| Audiobook output | Audiobook export as MP3 or WAV, one track per chapter, with the voice generated on your own machine. English projects only | Not documented |
| Chapter version history | Chapter Snapshots keep a version history, compared against the current text and restored. Desktop and mobile | Five restorable versions on Free and thirty on Pro, at project level |
This section describes NovelOS Studio only. What Scyn offers is in the table above, with its sources at the foot of the page.
Blueprint holds the plot as connected cards, and each scene on it can be linked to the chapter where you write it.
The Timeline runs through the book chapter by chapter showing every scene, and a click opens the one you want.
Your plot, cast and manuscript are saved on your own device and travel between devices as one .novelos file.
Writing by voice, notes on the text, Book Preview, Smart Import, snapshots and read aloud, as they look in NovelOS Studio 1.4.0.
Write by voice
Press Dictate and speak. Your words appear in the chapter with punctuation. It runs on your own computer, in English projects.
| Capability | NovelOS Studio 1.4.0 |
|---|---|
| Price | One payment for a lifetime licence that covers desktop and phone. No subscription. |
| Where your book lives | On your own device, as a project you can back up to one file. There is no cloud sync yet. |
| Drafting | Chapters and sub-chapters, Zen, Typewriter and Vanishing modes, and search that tolerates typos. |
| Write by voice | Dictation on the device itself, with punctuation. English projects only for now. |
| Notes on the text | Comments on selected words, paragraph bookmarks, and one list of them all that you tick off. |
| Version history | Every chapter keeps snapshots you can compare with the current text and restore. |
| Plot and scenes | Plot boards, scenes linked to chapters with status and viewpoint, and a timeline arranged by chapter. |
| Characters and world | Character pages, family trees, places, lore and editable maps, each linked to the scenes that use them. |
| Import | Smart Import reads Word, EPUB, Markdown, plain text and PDF, and detects the chapters. |
| Export | Word, EPUB, PDF, HTML, Markdown, RTF and plain text. The PDF follows your trim size, margins and font. |
| Print preview | Book Preview shows the book as pages at your trim size and updates as you write. |
| Listening | Read a chapter aloud or export an audiobook as MP3 or WAV, with voices that run on your device. English only. |
| AI | Optional. Bring your own Gemini or OpenAI key for character, world and rewrite suggestions, or leave it off. |
| Phone and languages | The phone app matches the desktop app, projects move between them as one file, and the interface comes in 23 languages. |
Every line has its own page with screenshots and the walkthrough video. See all features.
Feature lists become useful when they show how the work moves. Explore the current NovelOS Studio screens for discovery, cast, worldbuilding, visual planning, manuscript writing, revision, progress, and publication.
Spark holds the raw material of a novel inside the same project that will eventually contain its manuscript.
Spark holds notes, images, audio, video, links, and drawings on a free-form board before the material is ready for an outline. The Oracle, an optional AI tool that runs on the writer’s own key, drafts three character concepts to choose from and edit, without turning that exploratory material into the manuscript’s authority.
Cast records preserve identity, biography, appearance, psychology, motives, fears, moral alignment, voice, habits, strengths, weaknesses, images, and associated scenes. Relationship and genealogy views make personal ties visible, which helps a novelist trace how a secret, inheritance, rivalry, or family obligation changes the plot.
Worldbuilding records places, cultures, objects, history, rules, imagery, and scene associations. The Architect, an optional AI tool, drafts places and items for the writer to edit, while Cartography generates a map the writer reshapes and labels. Setting facts stay close to the scenes that depend on them instead of becoming a detached reference wiki.
Blueprint supports multiple boards with scene, entity, and plot-point cards. A scene carries the chapter it is written in, a status, a viewpoint character, a synopsis, cast, location, and objects. The timeline then lays every scene out chapter by chapter, and dragging a scene to another chapter moves it, so a structural change is checked before it creates a continuity problem.
Manuscript keeps chapters and sub-chapters beside search, statistics, typography controls, and drafting modes such as Zen, Typewriter, Vanishing, and Bionic Reading. Dictate writes the chapter by voice on the device itself, in English projects. Margin notes attach a comment to the exact words selected, and snapshots keep old copies of every chapter to compare and restore.
Goals and progress tracking connect the word target and deadline to completion, required daily pace, days remaining, current streak, today’s output, active days, averages, annual activity, and project statistics. The Alchemist, optional and on the writer’s own AI key, suggests a rewrite of the words selected and shows it beside the original, so every change stays the writer’s decision.
The publication workflow exports DOCX, RTF, TXT, Markdown, EPUB, standalone HTML, and PDF from the same manuscript. Book Preview shows the pages at the chosen trim size first, and the PDF follows that trim size, its margins, and its font. A separate .novelos archive preserves the editable database, prose, media, boards, timeline, cast, worlds, lore, genealogy, comments, manifest, and checksums for transfer to another computer or to the phone app.
| Stage | NovelOS Studio | Scyn |
|---|---|---|
| Planning the novel | Multiple Blueprint boards can represent acts, subplots, mysteries, investigations, revision questions, or any other structural view with scene, entity, and plot-point nodes | Scyn's strongest feature is a spatial graph where each scene or beat is a node and each arrow states what causes what. A disconnected node can expose a dead-end thread; a missing edge can reveal an unsupported turn. Scyn is excellent when causal logic is the only planning problem. NovelOS is stronger when the same book needs several visual boards plus explicit scene data, a timeline by chapter, cast, places, objects, prose, and publication. |
| Drafting and revision | Manuscript is a full long-form writing environment connected to scene context, search, comments, preview, statistics, typography controls, and focused drafting modes; write by voice in English projects | Scyn's current homepage says Story Mode returns mapped scenes to chapter order, keeps causes visible, and leaves drafting in the writer's existing application. The current pricing page also says Pro can 'Draft by chapter' and export a manuscript as DOCX, while an older features page describes a writing view. Because those official descriptions conflict, writers should test the current Pro trial before treating Scyn as a long-form manuscript editor. |
| Finishing and delivery | DOCX, RTF, TXT, Markdown, EPUB, standalone HTML, and PDF are produced from one manuscript; Book Preview shows the pages at your trim size as you write | Scyn Free exports the plot map as PNG. Pro adds PDF, DOCX, and account JSON. The pricing page describes DOCX as a manuscript export, while the features page describes PDF as a stable map artifact. Scyn does not advertise EPUB, RTF, Markdown, standalone HTML, or a book PDF laid out at a trim size. NovelOS is the complete publishing choice. |
Each scene is linked to the chapter it is written in and the timeline is arranged by chapter, so a structural change stays visible when you revise the prose.
Relationships, genealogy, maps, lore, objects, locations, and scene associations give recurring facts a defined place.
Track completion, required pace, days remaining, streaks, today’s output, active days, averages, and yearly activity beside the draft.
Core work is local-first, the lifetime personal license costs $45 once, and one key activates the desktop apps and the installable Android and iOS app.
Publication files serve editors and readers, while a separate .novelos archive preserves the source for another computer or the phone app.
Scyn deserves an honest place in this comparison. The capabilities beside this are its documented strengths, taken from the official sources at the foot of this page.
Best fit
Writers who already have a manuscript application and want a browser-based cause-and-effect plot graph, one free active project, reusable story templates, and optional Pro sharing. Scyn also fits small groups that value a shared structural map more than deep worldbuilding or book production.
AI policy and author control
Scyn makes a firm no-AI promise for story creation. It says it does not read the manuscript, generate scenes, suggest a plot, or use stories to train models. Nodes and connections all come from the writer. Choose Scyn when having no generative assistance inside the service is a decisive requirement; choose NovelOS when optional controlled refinement is useful inside a much broader studio.
Free access and trial
Scyn Free costs $0 forever and requires no credit card. It includes one active editable project, up to 100 scenes and 200 links, chapter, act, and color filters, five retained snapshots, and PNG export. A one-time seven-day Pro trial becomes available when the writer reaches a paid feature.
Visual plot mapping
Scyn's strongest feature is a spatial graph where each scene or beat is a node and each arrow states what causes what. A disconnected node can expose a dead-end thread; a missing edge can reveal an unsupported turn. Scyn is excellent when causal logic is the only planning problem. NovelOS is stronger when the same book needs several visual boards plus explicit scene data, a timeline by chapter, cast, places, objects, prose, and publication.
$45once
One lifetime personal license covers the owner’s supported Windows and macOS computers, plus the installable Android and iOS app on the same key.
| Ownership | NovelOS Studio | Scyn |
|---|---|---|
| Current platforms | Native applications for supported Windows and macOS computers | Scyn is a web application that runs in a modern browser. Its current product schema identifies the operating system as Web, and the homepage describes account-based access across devices. The reviewed official pages do not advertise native Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, or Android applications. |
| Mobile access | A native Windows and macOS studio plus an iOS and Android app installed from the browser on the same licence | Scyn's browser interface can be opened from different devices, and the homepage says the active project syncs to the account. Its public pages do not advertise dedicated iOS or Android applications. Browser access is a Scyn advantage for writers who frequently change computers, though it does not establish a native mobile editing experience. |
| Storage, privacy, and account model | Core creative work stays local in a local-first desktop project, while optional network actions are initiated by the author | Scyn's current privacy policy says account details, projects, and story graphs are stored in a PostgreSQL database hosted in the United States. It uses Google OAuth, Sentry for errors and performance, and PostHog for anonymous product analytics; neither service receives story content. Scyn says it does not sell information and lets users delete projects or the complete account. |
| Map and manuscript export | DOCX, RTF, TXT, Markdown, EPUB, standalone HTML, and PDF are produced from one manuscript; Book Preview shows the pages at your trim size as you write | Scyn Free exports the plot map as PNG. Pro adds PDF, DOCX, and account JSON. The pricing page describes DOCX as a manuscript export, while the features page describes PDF as a stable map artifact. Scyn does not advertise EPUB, RTF, Markdown, standalone HTML, or a book PDF laid out at a trim size. NovelOS is the complete publishing choice. |
| Complete writing-system price | $45 once for one lifetime personal license on the owner's supported Windows and macOS computers | Scyn has a permanent free plan for one active project. Scyn Pro costs $4.99 per month or $49 per year and adds unlimited projects, higher map limits, Story Mode, Cast & Places, goals, statistics, sharing, collaboration, version history, and additional exports. NovelOS Studio costs less than one year of Scyn Pro while covering the complete novel workflow rather than a specialist planning layer. Check current Scyn pricing |
Keep the original project intact until the new project has been checked. Export or back up the manuscript through the documented Scyn workflow. Smart Import brings the prose in with its chapters. Characters, world notes, and plot boards are rebuilt by hand, because there is no importer for another application’s project file.
Keep the original project and a backup. Export the manuscript as Word, EPUB, Markdown, plain text, or PDF, and open it with Smart Import, which finds the chapters and shows them for you to check.
Recreate the characters, relationships, locations, rules, objects, and lore that still influence the manuscript.
Link each scene to its chapter, then add viewpoint, status, synopsis, cast, locations, and plot points.
Read the story chapter by chapter on the timeline, set the manuscript target and deadline, and confirm that the active draft is authoritative.
Look at the pages in Book Preview and open sample DOCX, EPUB, and PDF files. Create a .novelos archive and test its import before relying on the new project alone.
Windows and macOS applications, an installable Android and iOS app on the same key, portable .novelos archives, and one $45 lifetime personal license support long-term ownership.For a novelist who needs story coherence from first premise through publication, NovelOS Studio is our recommendation.
Own the complete novel-writing studio.
One $45 payment for the owner’s supported Windows and macOS computers, plus Android and iOS. No recurring subscription.
Windows and macOS computers. Scyn remains an excellent focused choice for free cause-and-effect mapping and browser collaboration. Windows and macOS. These comparisons address nearby workflow decisions without replacing the focused Scyn analysis above.
Scyn facts were checked on August 2, 2026 against the first-party sources linked here. NovelOS claims were checked against the current application source and product documentation.
The recommendation separates documented capability from workflow judgment. It preserves the competitor’s documented strengths while answering a narrower buying question: which application gives an individual novelist the more complete path from discovery and story architecture to drafting, progress, publication, and long-term project ownership?
The table also keeps unlike capabilities separate. Manuscript exports are delivery files, while a restorable project archive preserves editable application data. Desktop availability is separate from mobile access. Local offline work is separate from cloud synchronization and live collaboration. A specialist can lead one stage of the process without replacing the complete production environment. Those distinctions are used consistently when NovelOS receives the overall recommendation.
Prices use the currencies shown and may exclude taxes, regional adjustments, or future product changes.