So, you want to blog like a pro? While it definitely takes practice and hard work, having the right tools can make the process a lot easier.
We’ve created the ultimate list of the top 23 best writing software tools— both paid and free apps. Whether you're a seasoned pro or just starting out, these tools will help you improve your writing skills and speed.
What are writing tools
A writing tool is a piece of software that helps you write better and faster. They come in all shapes and sizes, but all of them have the same goal: to make you a better writer.
No matter what your needs are, there's a tool out there that can help you meet them. So, don't be afraid to try out different tools until you find the ones that work best for you.
How do writing tools actually help?
The best writing tools make your life easier by automating or streamlining common tasks such as grammar checking, plagiarism checking, creating citations, and brainstorming. They can also help you to stay organized and to track your progress on your writing projects.
For example, a good grammar checker can help you catch mistakes that you would have missed, while a thesaurus can give you alternatives to your overused words. Some tools, like a word processor, offer more comprehensive formatting options, while others, like a task manager, can help you keep track of your writing progress and deadlines.
Using the right tools can help you write better and faster by reducing distractions, catching errors and helping you stay organized.
In this article, we’ve categorised writing tools according to stages of the typical writing workflow.
- Writing and editing
- SEO brainstorming and research tools
- Organising your research
- SEO optimisation writing tools
- Plagiarism
- Productivity
Writing and editing
Hemingway Editor | Price: Free
The Hemingway app reads your content, highlights specific grammatical issues, and suggests how to fix them. With an intuitive interface and highlighted corrections, this editor makes it easy to improve your writing. You'll never second guess your writing again.
Hypotenuse AI | Price: Paid
Hypotenuse AI is an AI copywriter that can generate blog article content— from blog titles, article outlines and entire paragraphs. It takes your keywords, target audience and brand voice to craft engaging blog posts for you. Best part is-- all content generated is entirely unique, so there are no risks of plagiarism. Write in a more efficient way with your new personal co-writer.
OneLook Reverse Dictionary and Thesaurus | Price: Free
OneLook is the perfect reverse dictionary and thesaurus for finding the word you need—fast. With an easy-to-use interface, you can quickly find the right word for your project, paper, or conversation. You can simply enter a word or phrase to find related words.
Grammarly | Pricing: Mix of free and paid features
Grammarly allows you to create mistake-free, well-written copy. Say goodbye to complicated sentences and language that don't make sense. Simply paste your work into the Grammarly Editor and it will instantly point out your errors and offer suggestions for fixing them.
Sassbook AI Summarizer | Pricing: Mix of free and paid features
Need to create a summary on the spot? This AI can condense your text into readable content while including the relevant points and even rephrasing. Choose what tone and length you want your summary to be and let AI do the work for you.
SEO brainstorming and research tools
Hubspot idea generator | Pricing: Free
Need to write something but don't know how to start? Sometimes all you need is a little push in the right direction. Behold: an idea generator.
How it works: Just enter in a noun and this idea generator does the work for you.
BuzzSumo | Pricing: Mix of free and paid features
Key feature: Comprehensive content research and analysis
The platform is known for keyword research, discovering trending topics and finding the most relevant influencers for you to create successful content. This is great for monitoring current PR trends to stay ahead of your competitors, as well as monitoring your own brand reputation.
AnswerThePublic | Pricing: Free
With data pulled directly from search engines, you can see what questions people are asking around your keyword. You don’t have to waste your time guessing what questions people have about your topic because AnswerThePublic takes all of the guesswork out of it.
SEMrush | Pricing: Mix of free and paid features
You might be focusing on the wrong keywords or targeting the wrong audience without knowing it. SEMrush helps you with keyword research as well as analysing search rankings of competitor keywords. It also includes other helpful information like domain reputation of top ranking sites for that keyword, secondary metrics like cost per click and most importantly, keyword search volume on search engines.
Ahrefs | Pricing: Mix of free and paid features
Alongside SEMrush, Ahrefs is one the best-known SEO tools for professionals in the field of keyword research.It allows you to conduct site audits as well as link monitoring to constantly check on the ‘SEO health’ of your site. With a whole suite of SEO tools ranging from rank tracking to keyword tools, Ahrefs is a go-to for many.
Plus, it also has a ton of free educational materials on SEO for beginners and experts.
Mangools | Pricing: Mix of free and paid features
Mangools has a suite of tools that allows you to conduct keyword research, analyse SERPs, track your site rankings, backlink rows and site lookups. It also has tool guides, an SEO glossary, as well as a blog to have all your queries answered.
Similar to other keyword research tools, the differences will mainly lie in the UI, costs and functionality.
Google Search Console | Pricing: Free
Monitor your website traffic with Google Search Console. It is a powerful tool to help you optimise your website rankings and better understand your website traffic. Along with other tools like Analytics, Google Trends, and Google Ads, it provides data analytics that can help you improve your marketing strategy.
Organising your research
Toby for Chrome | Pricing: Free
Suddenly, you have 20+ tabs open across several windows, a product of a day's worth of research. Get your tab chaos under control. Toby is a Chrome extension that organises your tabs into categories, so you know where to look. It also allows for shared resources, so anyone in a team can access the curated tabs.
Whimsical | Pricing: Free
Create flowcharts, wireframes and mindmaps of your wildest blog ideas with Whimsical. Visually organising your information makes it easier to have structured research and find what you need. Whimsical also has collaboration mode, allowing you and your team to work together in real-time efficiently.
Optimising SEO Content writing tools
Rank Math | Pricing: Mix of free and paid featuresRank Math is a Wordpress plugin for on-page optimisation for social media, content analysis, and tailored SEO recommendations.
Best of all, they have integrations across Google Search Console, Elementor and Divi for you for a better SEO analysis experience.
IsItWP Headline Analyzer | Pricing: Free
With a headline being one of the first things a reader looks at, having a good headline determines whether or not they click on your article. IsItWP’s Headline Analyzer tool scores how enticing your headline is across multiple factors like word balance, power words and emotional words, allowing you to optimise it for SEO.
Keywordtool.io | Pricing: Mix of free and paid features
After doing research for your root keyword, this is for generating long-tail keywords that allow users who are searching for more specific terms to find you. This usually translates into higher conversions because higher intent customers are able to find your site.
Postifluence | Pricing: Paid
Find blog-influencers faster with Postifluence. As a business, you know the importance of building organic links and creating relationships. But finding the right blog-influencers can often be difficult. Their platform makes it easy to find guest-post opportunities on blogs and build relationships with the best bloggers out there.
Plagiarism
Unicheck Plagiarism Checker | Pricing: Paid
It's happened to all of us - you spend hours writing, and at the last minute, you realize you can't turn it in because you might have added in parts of your research too liberally. With Unicheck, that won't be a problem anymore. This powerful tool checks papers for plagiarism, text modifications, and more. Unicheck is available as a standalone solution, LMS integrated, or via API.
Copyscape Premium | Pricing: Paid
Check your entire website, PDF and Word file uploads for potential plagiarism. They also allow you to build a private index to check against current content for duplication, ensuring that your site doesn’t have any repeated content. Copyscape Premium is available with an API and Wordpress integration to instantly check written content.
Small SEO Tools Plagiarism Checker | Pricing: Paid
Small SEO Tools lets you keep your content safe with its extensive plagiarism checker abilities. They have a unique ‘rewrite’ tool to auto-paraphrase any parts that were flagged out as plagiarised to ensure your content remains original. This plagiarism checker has a URL, API and Wordpress integration.
Productivity
Notion | Pricing: Mix of free and paid features
Notion lets you organise information, projects and tasks. It’s great for writers who want to create a workspace to keep track of their ideas, ongoing writing projects as well as to keep up with any to-dos and deadlines.
Squibler: The Most Dangerous Writing App | Pricing: Free
Get your creative juices flowing with Squibler. Select the duration that you want to write for, and get typing. Stop writing and your progress will be lost. The perfect productivity app to get out of the writer’s block rut and to just get typing!
Forest App | Pricing: Mix of free and paid features
Can’t seem to stay focused? Use Forest to plant a tree every time you need a hardcore typing session for a selected duration. Break your focus, and your cute little planter dies. Best part is— coins collected from planting virtual trees can be converted into real money to plant real trees!
Conclusion
Writing is an important part of blogging, and using the right tools can make the process a lot easier – not to mention improve the quality of your work. These 23 tools are a great place to start, but don't stop there! Keep exploring and find the tools that work best for you. With the right tools and a bit of practice, you'll be writing like a pro in no time.
