Writing Tools We Recommend

#1 Grammarly

Best for: Everyday writing — emails, essays, blog posts, and professional communication. Grammarly offers real-time grammar and spell checking across your browser, desktop apps, and Microsoft Office. The free version covers basic grammar and spelling; the Premium plan adds tone detection, clarity suggestions, and plagiarism checking.

Key features: Browser extension, tone detector, clarity rewriting, plagiarism checker (Premium), team plans available.

#2 ProWritingAid

Best for: Serious writers, novelists, and academics who want deep style analysis. ProWritingAid checks for over 20 writing reports including readability, sentence variety, passive voice, cliché detection, and pacing. It integrates with Scrivener, Google Docs, and Microsoft Word.

Key features: 20+ writing reports, contextual thesaurus, word explorer, Scrivener integration, lifetime purchase option.

#3 Hemingway Editor

Best for: Making your writing bold and clear. Hemingway highlights complex sentences, passive voice, adverbs, and hard-to-read paragraphs. The free web version is excellent; the paid desktop app adds export options and offline use.

Key features: Readability grade indicator, sentence complexity highlighting, adverb detection, passive voice flagging.

Top Scrivener

Best for: Novelists, screenwriters, researchers, and anyone working on long-form projects. Scrivener organizes your writing into a virtual binder with chapters, scenes, research notes, and character profiles. It exports to EPUB, PDF, and Word formats. Available for macOS, Windows, and iOS.

Key features: Corkboard outlining, split-screen editor, project targets, full-screen composition mode, manuscript formatting.

Good Ulysses

Best for: Mac users who value minimalist design and seamless iCloud sync. Ulysses uses Markdown for distraction-free writing and offers a clean, unified library for all your projects. Its export system produces beautifully formatted PDFs, ePubs, and HTML.

Key features: Markdown-based editor, iCloud sync across Apple devices, built-in proofreader, flexible export styles.

Free Google Docs

Best for: Collaborative writing, student group projects, and anyone who needs a free, reliable word processor. Google Docs offers real-time collaboration, version history, voice typing, and seamless integration with Google Drive. Pair it with TextTally's word counter → for instant word and character counts.

Key features: Real-time collaboration, offline mode, voice typing, add-on marketplace, completely free.

Top Ahrefs

Best for: Serious content marketers and SEO professionals. Ahrefs offers comprehensive keyword research, competitor analysis, backlink tracking, and content gap analysis. The Site Explorer alone is worth the subscription for understanding what content drives traffic in your niche.

Free Google Search Console

Best for: Every website owner — and it is completely free. Search Console shows you which queries bring traffic to your site, which pages rank where, and alerts you to technical SEO issues. Essential for tracking your content's search performance.

Good SurferSEO

Best for: Content optimization at the page level. SurferSEO analyzes the top-ranking pages for your target keyword and gives you actionable suggestions: ideal word count, keyword density, LSI keywords, and structure recommendations.

Top MasterClass — Writing

Best for: Learning from the world's best authors. MasterClass offers writing courses from Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, Malcolm Gladwell, Roxane Gay, and many more. Each class includes 15–20 video lessons, downloadable workbooks, and community discussion.

Good Skillshare — Creative Writing

Best for: Bite-sized, project-based learning. Skillshare offers hundreds of writing classes on fiction, nonfiction, copywriting, and screenwriting. The subscription model gives you unlimited access to all classes — great for exploring different writing styles.

Free Coursera — Creative Writing Specializations

Best for: Structured, university-level writing courses at no cost. Coursera offers free audit access to creative writing courses from Wesleyan University, the University of Michigan, and other top institutions. Certificates are available for a fee.

Gear Mechanical Keyboards for Writers

Why it matters: A quality keyboard reduces typing fatigue and makes long writing sessions more comfortable. Look for tactile switches (like Cherry MX Brown or Gateron Brown) which provide satisfying feedback without excessive noise. Popular writer-friendly models include the Keychron K series and the Logitech MX Mechanical.

App Freedom — Distraction Blocker

Best for: Blocking distracting websites and apps during writing sessions. Freedom syncs across all your devices and lets you schedule recurring focus sessions. Many professional writers use it to protect their deep work time.

Tool TextTally — Free Word Counter

Best for: Every writer needs a fast, reliable word counter. TextTally gives you real-time word count, character count (with and without spaces), sentences, paragraphs, reading time, and speaking time — all in your browser with zero sign-ups. Start counting now →