Everybody can write on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
But writing professional content that moves people to action takes more work.
And naturally, you need the best writing tools to help you become an in-demand writer.
As a marketing writer for years, I can tell you dozens of writing tools exist today.
However, they fall into a few groups based on what they help you achieve during the writing process.
Most writing tools fall into these broad categories:
- Writing
- Editing
- Grammar check
- Plagiarism check
- Content ideas and research
- Content optimization
- Word directory (Dictionary/Thesaurus)
For this guide, I’ve added at least one tool for each category. These are 11 of the best writing tools you can find online today.
Even better, most of them offer free plans you can start using today.
So, whether you’re a veteran or an aspiring writer, you’ll have a list of tools to tackle every aspect of content writing.
Let’s dive in.
1. Google Docs
Google Docs is one of the two most popular document software online. And if you write online, it’s the most popular writing software.
Google Docs is a writing software that lets you write content online and offline. So, whenever words pop into your head, you can write them on your computer or smartphone.
How did Google Docs grow in popularity even though Microsoft Word had existed years before it?
The major reasons are:
- Easy synchronization between devices
- Collaboration features
- Version history
These main features make Google Docs more suitable for the Internet workplace. So, a writer in Lagos can easily work with their editor in New York without downloading documents 11 times.
And they can add comments to the document during the writing process. During the collaboration, you can see your document’s version history.
This will display the different document versions and each person’s changes to the document.
On Google Docs, you can access over 1,000 fonts in sizes of up to 96. You can also use other tools like bold, italics, and underline.
You can align your content, add spaces to lines and paragraphs, and create bullet lists. Plus, you can use headings to further create easy-to-read content.
The insert bar lets you insert elements like images, tables, charts, and equations.
If you write for websites, the “insert link” icon lets you link to internal and external pages. So, readers can navigate easily between pages.
After writing your content, you can download it offline in formats such as Word, PDF, and EPUB.
Otherwise, you have the option to share with a collaborator. While sharing, you can permit collaborators to view only, view and comment, or edit the document.
Even though Microsoft Word is a popular tool, I’ve left it out of this list because Google Docs can meet your writing needs.
Again, you can access more than Google Docs if you sign up for Google Workspace.
Google Docs pricing
- Free
- Business Starter which costs $6 per user per month
- Business Standard which costs $12 per user per month
- Business Plus which costs $18 per user per month
- Enterprise plan (contact sales for pricing)
Google Docs key features
- Synchronization between devices
- Collaboration features
- Online and offline editing
- Autosave
- Version history
- Comments
- Android and iOS mobile apps
2. Grammarly
To err is human. But the writing world can be unforgiving of errors.
That’s why Grammarly exists.
Grammarly is a writing tool that corrects grammatical errors and spices up your writing to communicate better with your audience. Beyond that, it has a plagiarism feature that compares your text with other pages online to ensure it’s unique.
So, Grammarly can make your work look professional or at least help to avoid embarrassing grammatical blunders.
Grammarly assesses your writing in 4 areas:
- Correctness
- Clarity
- Engagement
- Delivery
Once you enter your text, you can set content goals based on your audience and what you’re trying to achieve with your content.
These goals will inform how Grammarly grades your content out of 100.
On the right side of the Grammarly editing interface, you’ll find suggestions to improve your content. Those suggestions address aspects such as:
- Punctuation
- Wrong spelling
- Passive voice usage
- Word usage
- Rephrasing unclear sentences
And thanks to its browser extension, Grammarly allows you to edit content anywhere. Its Chrome extension means you can remove sneaky errors even before posting a Twitter comment.
But what if you write in Google Docs and Microsoft Word? Then you’re covered with Grammarly for Google Docs and Word.
In addition, you can take Grammarly to your smartphone through the Grammarly keyboard.
Since Grammarly uses an artificial intelligence (AI) engine, you can get suggestions that make no sense to a human. And you should ignore them.
After writing content, use Grammarly for your first round of editing. Then, you can send it to a human editor for more thorough editing that goes beyond just grammar check.
Grammarly pricing
- Free
- Premium for $12 monthly
- Business for $15 per member monthly
Grammarly key features
- See checked documents
- 3 writing voices
- Tone detection
- Tone suggestions
- Chrome extension
- Google Docs extension
- Android and iOS keyboard apps
3. Semrush
Writing without data is like driving with a blindfold.
I mean, what’s the point in putting your sweat and blood into content that no one is looking for?
Every day, your ideal readers type search terms in Google to find information about problems that disturb them.
Showing up on search engine results pages (SERPs) for these keywords means you can reach more readers and build trust with them.
Semrush can help you uncover important data about what your readers want.
While Semrush gained popularity as a keyword research tool, it has since evolved into a content research tool.
But before you go into each content piece, you can check your overall domain search performance.
Here, you’ll see the organic search traffic and the top keywords people use to find your website.
Now, for each content piece, you have to imagine the possible keyword a searcher can use to find the content.
Then, put that keyword in Semrush.
In the keyword overview, you’ll find details about a keyword, such as:
- Keyword volume
- Keyword difficulty
- Keyword intent
- SERP Features
- Cost-per-click (CPC)
- SERP analysis
So, before you start typing away, conduct keyword research to ensure your content is about a topic people are searching for.
Then, look at the keyword difficulty to know if you have a good chance of ranking on the first page.
Even better, you can find keyword variations and more keyword ideas on this page.
But Semrush does more than this.
That leads us to Topic Research.
The Topic Research feature can help you find content ideas. And in return, you can have a queue of content ideas for months.
All you have to do is enter a keyword and click “Generate content ideas.”
Doing this will show you top headlines and interesting questions related to your keyword. Scrolling down, you’ll find subtopics related to your topic.
On this page, you can find less competitive topics to write about.
Before we move on from Semrush, let’s see 2 more important writing features.
First, the SEO Writing Assistant. This helps to optimize your content for your target keywords.
Second, the Content Audit. This audits your website content to uncover opportunities to rank higher.
Semrush has tens of useful research features. I’ve only mentioned a few useful for writing content that will reach your ideal buyers.
So, you should check out the tool for yourself.
Semrush pricing
- Pro plan for $119.95 monthly ($99.95 if paid annually)
- Guru for $229.95 monthly ($191.62 if paid annually)
- Business for $449.95 monthly ($374.95 if paid annually)
Semrush key features
- Topic research
- SEO Writing Assistant
- Content Audit
- Keyword research
- Traffic analytics
- Domain overview
4. MarketMuse
Now, you have a target keyword for your content.
But that’s not all.
You still have to optimize your content for that keyword.
This is where MarketMuse comes in.
MarketMuse is an SEO content tool that helps to optimize your content to boost the chances of ranking on Google’s first page.
How does MarketMuse achieve this?
After entering your target keyword in Optimize editor, the online writing tool will analyze the current high-ranking results.
Then, it will show terms that should appear in your content and how many times they should appear.
The next step is to paste your content into the editor. Then, MarketMuse will analyze your content and give it a score.
You’ll see:
- Content score
- The average score of pages ranking for the keyword
- Target score for your content
- Word count
- Average word count of pages ranking for the keyword
- Target word count
So, you can add suggested terms naturally (where necessary) to hit the target score. If a term doesn’t make sense for your topic, you can leave it out.
Not just that, you can also check the “Compete” tab to see the optimization score of high-ranking pages.
But what else can you do after optimizing?
You can research competing pages.
The Research feature helps you find more information about your target keyword. You can see:
- Related keywords
- Questions related to keywords
- Features of high-ranking pages
- Heatmap
MarketMuse can help you optimize content to give it the best chance of ranking on Google search engine results pages (SERPs).
MarketMuse pricing
- Free
- Standard for $149 monthly ($125 if paid annually)
- Team for $399 monthly ($325 if paid annually)
- Premium for a custom price
MarketMuse key features
- Content optimization
- Content research
- Topic navigator
- SERP X-ray
- Heatmap
- Questions
5. QuillBot
QuillBot is a writing tool that includes the Paraphraser, Grammar Checker, Co-Writer, and more.
The Paraphraser lets you rewrite text to fit into different voices. So, you can paste text and paraphrase using modes like:
- Standard
- Fluency
- Formal
- Simple
- Creative
- Expand
- Shorten
- Custom
If you’ve written sentences that just don’t sound right, you can paste them into the Paraphraser. Then, go through the modes to find a version that suits your taste.
This can also come in handy if you want your content to appeal to a particular audience.
The paraphraser lets you reword texts in English and German languages.
Apart from the Paraphraser, QuillBot offers a grammar checker for texts in English, German, and French.
This feature detects embarrassing grammatical errors that can chase your readers away.
The Co-Writer is another useful QuillBot feature.
It serves as a writing assistant to make your work faster.
How?
The co-writer has elements that aid different aspects of writing.
For example, the research tab lets you search the web.
You can also take notes and use other features like the Paraphrase and Summarize.
If you’re into book writing, you’ll love the Citation feature, which helps you to cite sources correctly.
There are even more features to explore on QuillBot.
Best of all, QuillBot’s Chrome extension means you can use the features wherever you write content in your browser.
I use the QuillBot extension, and it shows suggestions even in Google Docs. I can easily check grammar and even rewrite complex sentences.
QuillBot is a relatively new software (compared to Grammarly), but it has some writing features you won’t find on Grammarly.
You can read my QuillBot review to learn more about the AI writing tool.
QuillBot pricing
- Free
- Premium for $9.95 (paid monthly), $6.66 (paid semi-annually), $4.17 (paid annually)
QuillBot key features
- Paraphraser
- Grammar Checker
- Plagiarism Checker
- Co-Writer
- Summarizer
- Translator
- Chrome Extension
6. Evernote
When you experience the “Eureka” moment, you want note-taking software by your side to take down all the goodness.
In these moments, Evernote can be your best friend.
Evernote is an easy-to-use note-taking app that helps you to organize ideas while creating content. In your notes, you can attach PDFs, images, links, tables, code blocks, and sketches.
Since content creation requires a lot of research, you’ll find the web clipper useful. The web clipper lets you take clips of images and texts and save them in your notes.
You can use notebooks for different categories of your content. So, in a notebook, you can have many notes. This will help you group your notes more effectively.
But what if you have so many notes that you don’t know where a note is?
You can use the search box to find your notes. With the optical character recognition (OCR) feature, Evernote can find handwriting or text in an image.
Beyond note-taking, you can create tasks, set reminders, and assign those tasks to a team member.
Plus, you can have Evernote in your pocket when you download the iOS or Android app.
So, you can create notes wherever ideas hit you.
Evernote pricing
- Free
- Personal for $14.99 monthly ($10.83 if you pay annually)
- Professional for $17.99 monthly ($14.17 if you pay annually)
Evernote key features
- Notes
- In-note tasks
- Web page clipper
- Tags
- Search
- Optical character recognition (OCR)
- Tasks
- Connect Google Calendar
7. Copyscape
The internet is similar to the real world in many ways.
Just like in the real world, many people on the internet want to steal and use other people’s content for their personal gains.
You don’t want to be stained with a reputation for plagiarism.
And with Copyscape, you can check every content piece you publish just to confirm it’s original.
Copyscape works in 2 major ways:
- Check your content to ensure it’s original
- Check your published pages to ensure no one has copied them
Of course, your content doesn’t have to hit the 100% score.
Because some phrases are common online, Copyscape can flag them for duplicate content.
That said, your content should be at least 95% original.
Copyscape pricing
Premium credits from $5 to $500
Copyscape key features
- Plagiarism checker
- Plagiarism alerts
8. Hemingway Editor
The Hemingway Editor works on readability. As you already know, people only engage with content when it’s stimulating and easy to read.
To edit your content for readability, paste it into the editor.
Once you do that, Hemingway Editor will analyze your text and mark parts of it in colors. You’ll also see a readability score out of 10 (higher is better).
The Hemingway Editor checks for:
- The use of adverbs
- The use of passive voice
- Hard words with simpler alternatives
- Sentences that are hard to read
- Sentences that are very hard to read
After going through your content, you can change words and sentences to make your sentences easier to read.
Of course, you don’t have to use every recommendation you see here. You should ultimately decide how you want to present a sentence to readers.
Hemingway Editor pricing
Free
Hemingway Editor key features
- Readability grade
- Passive voice usage analysis
- Adverb usage analysis
- Simple word recommendations
9. Yoast SEO
Are you an SEO expert?
If you answer no, you can easily forget SEO best practices for content. That’s if you even know them.
But make no mistake, SEO is vital to your content performance. Without SEO, your content can languish on the internet with no attention.
Doing SEO for your content can be like suffering through exercise to keep fit.
Yoast SEO is a WordPress plugin that helps to optimize your content pages in WordPress.
How does Yoast SEO work?
It combs through your content and rates it based on how well it’s optimized for a specific keyword. Yoast SEO rates a content page based on aspects such as:
- SEO
- Readability
- Schema
- Social
In the SEO and Readability section, the emoji color indicates your performance. Green means good, orange means fair, and red means poor.
In these sections, you’ll see recommendations to improve your page for the reader and search engines.
So, even if you have no SEO knowledge, Yoast SEO can help optimize your page.
Yoast SEO pricing
- Free
- Premium for $99 annually
Yoast SEO key features
- SEO recommendations
- Readability recommendations
- Link suggestions
- Find dead links
- Yoast SEO academy
10. Merriam-Webster Dictionary & Thesaurus
Writing is the arrangement of words to deliver messages.
So, you need to pick your words carefully.
A dictionary provides the meaning of words. If you’re unsure of what a word means, use a dictionary to confirm it.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary is the oldest and most trusted in the United States. You can use the online dictionary or download the smartphone app.
Personally, I use the Merriam-Webster Android app, which makes word search easy.
When you search for a word in the dictionary, you’ll see a definition for every possible usage of the word. For instance, you can see a definition for noun, verb, and adjective versions of a word as applicable.
While a dictionary is a popular tool, I think writers often underuse the thesaurus.
The English language has one of the largest vocabularies, with over 700,000 words. This means you can easily find 3 to 5 synonyms for most English words.
How do you pick the most powerful word for your message?
The thesaurus provides synonyms for any English word you put into it. This includes synonyms of every definition and usage of the word.
Not just that, you’ll also find related words, antonyms, and near antonyms.
So, when unsure if a word fits into a sentence, use the dictionary and thesaurus to confirm or find a better word.
Merriam-Webster dictionary pricing
Free
Merriam-Webster dictionary key features
- Dictionary
- Thesaurus
- Word of the day
- Word games
11. Jasper AI
Jasper AI is an AI writing software. It can create rough drafts for your social media posts, emails, and blog posts.
From there, you can polish the content until you have your intended results.
Jasper claims its AI tool has read 10% of the web as of 2019. If that’s true, it has enough data to create various types of AI content.
So, Jasper can cut the time to create your content.
To use the tool for creating content, select a template that fits your needs. Then, you have to enter information about your content, such as:
- Content format
- Title
- Keywords
- Introduction to your content
- Tone of the content
Can Jasper AI write a blog post (or any other content piece) without your input?
If it could, you and I would be out of work by now.
I still write for marketing and SaaS businesses because AI can’t just do the job right now.
AI doesn’t have emotions, which can make it difficult to create content that connects with humans emotionally.
Then, an AI writer can write a lot of falsehoods (and nonsense) that would embarrass your brand.
So, if you use an AI writing tool like Jasper, you have to do a lot of editing to put some life into it. Then, you have to fact-check the information.
It can crank out ideas for your content, but it can’t and shouldn’t replace you.
Jasper AI pricing
- Creator for $49 monthly ($39 if paid annually)
- Team $125 monthly ($99 if paid annually)
- Business for a custom price
Jasper AI key features
- 50+ content templates
- Documents and Workflows
- Multiple AI models
- 30+ languages
- Tone of voice
- Chat
- Art
- Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge browser extension
Conclusion
Writing is a creative pursuit.
So, you want the best writing tools to help you find the right words, document them, and create content about relevant topics for your audience.
I use most of these tools daily, and they make my writing easier and more strategic.
Since many of them offer a free plan, try them out to see how they’ll fit into your daily workflow.
Happy writing!
Disclaimer: This page contains affiliate links. This means that if you click a link and buy one of the products on this page, I may receive a commission (at no extra cost to you). This doesn’t affect my opinions or reviews.
