Writers do more than write. They research, organise, edit, collaborate, market themselves, manage clients and often run a business. The right tools can make every part of that process more efficient, from brainstorming and drafting to editing, promotion and dictating on the move.
This comprehensive guide brings together essential writing apps, advanced business tools and mobile dictation solutions that save serious time and make work easier. Whether you are a journalist, novelist, blogger or freelance writer, these tools can help streamline your workflow and improve productivity.
This list of 20 essential apps and online tools for writers will get you started on curating your own set of preferred tools of the trade.
1. Clippings.me. This site allows you to create an online writer's portfolio where you can display your work proudly.
2. Zoom. This is a familiar tool, but necessary for interviews and client conversations. It allows you to record calls, host virtual meetings and collaborate with clients anywhere in the world.
3. Pear Note. This app records a conversation and syncs it with your notes. You can then pick a spot in your notes and play back the corresponding portion of the conversation.
4. Google Docs. While there are many options for online word processors, this is a favorite for collaboration.
5. Evernote. This application is also known for collaboration and is great for storing notes and research too.
6. Scrivener. Writers across the web swear by this software and claim that 'all-in-one writing tool' doesn't do it justice.
7. Ulysses. This program is highly regarded for its ability to transfer plain text into beautiful content.
8. Write or Die. Trouble with productivity? This tool delivers consequences no writers want to face.
9. Ommwriter. This is a minimal writing app for distraction-free writing to get those words on the virtual page.
10. Cold Turkey. This program lets you lock yourself out of certain sites for a period of time to remove the temptation of procrastination.
11. F.lux. This nifty app, available on pretty much any platform, adjusts the brightness of your screen automatically to reduce the inevitable eyestrain of modern computer-based writing.
12. The Economist Style Guide. Whether you have a house style or not, this resource provides a good standard for writers.
13. Mellel. This online word processor is meant to handle long documents and large projects.
14. Hemingway. This app doesn't just check readability, but rates your sentences so you know how to fix them.
15. Lorem ipsum generators. For those moments when you simply need words - any words -to fill some space. Our list adds a few laughs.
16. Scapple. This brainstorming tool allows you to easily map and track ideas.
17. Pomodoro.me. Try the Pomodoro Technique to boost your writing productivity.
18. Dragon Dictation. This application transfers your recorded voice into text. Record notes on the go.
19. Quora. Ask a thousand of your closest friends for help. There’s bound to be an expert on the subject in there somewhere.
20. Ted Talks. For inspiration and information, look to experts and innovators in every subject under the sun.
Whether a journalist, a novelist, a blogger or a freelance writer, every writer needs the right tools to get the job done. Find a combination of online tools and resources that suit you and get to work!
Here are a few specialised tools to help:
1. Draft. This editing tool tracks versions of your document to find earlier material from any point in your process. This comes with other features like collaborative editing and a productivity setting.
2. Pro Writing Aid. The program searches your text for weak words, overused words or clichés and generates various reports to let you know the quality of your writing.
3. Squarespace. This website builder provides a set of quality templates to make building your website simple. It serves as a paid alternative to WordPress, but boasts less maintenance and great customer service.
4. Hootsuite. Handling multiple social media platforms can be time consuming. Hootsuite can distribute a quality post to all of your platforms which ultimately saves time.
5. MailChimp. Direct marketing is important for a writer. MailChimp makes it incredibly simple to land your content and name in a client's inbox.
6. Celtx. Geared toward screenwriters, Celtx enables you to write, edit and format a script. But it also takes you through to production with scheduling and blocking features. Final Draft serves as a top alternative.
8. Kippt. This tool prevents an overloaded Favorites Bar. You can bookmark sites and quality content then organise the content into lists.
9. Plagium. If you're worried about other sites duplicating your work, this tool allows you to determine if your words are appearing elsewhere on the web.
10. Storify. This content curating tool was created by a media veteran. It's geared toward turning content, information and social media into a comprehensive story.
11. SmartEdit. This tool is a ‘first pass’ editor for grammar and structure issues. It won’t replace another pair of human eyes, but it can help you ready pieces for an editor.
12. Bidsketch. This tool turns your proposals into professional, well-formatted documents which will save you time on technical writing projects or freelance bids. As a bonus, it can be integrated with Freshbooks invoicing.
13. Highrise. For writers, following up with clients is essential to acquiring future projects. A product from 37 Signals, Highrise helps writers manage their client relationships.
14. Marked. We talked about its counterpart, Ulysses, in the list of essential online tools for writers, but there are a lot of options for writers working with Markdown. Marked boasts a live preview as you type so you know how your final product will appear.
15. Pancake. Considered a management tool specifically for the freelancer, this application can handle all the business and management aspects of a freelancer’s job.
For writers working in specific fields, basic writing and productivity tools may help with the words, but for writers looking to produce a finished product, specialized tools can aid your business and get your work where you want it to be.
For today’s time-pressed writer on the move there’s an efficient alternative to typing: dictation apps on your phone. Here are three good ones:
All iOS products have in-built dictation software, powered by Siri. This system is highly accurate and intuitive. It understood commands and could keep up even when I spoke faster. It works best while connected to Wi-Fi although it will still work when connected to 3/4G. But, this can be spotty dependent on your signal. The app is less accurate when there is background noise. But, a headset with a microphone solves that problem.
There are three disadvantages of Siri:
Despite these complaints, Siri dictation works well. It can handle talking at speed and has good word recognition. For a free in-built piece of software, it is highly effective and easy to use.
Google Docs, available on both desktop and on android, is quick and simple to set up. I signed in using my Gmail account and had access to everything in minutes. I activated the voice typing function in ‘Tools’ and was dictating within seconds.
Voice typing has a variety of editing and formatting choices. This allowed more in-depth alteration than the other two apps on this list. I had some issues with my accent again, but they were few and far between.
My only real complaint was that it wrote ‘period’ or ‘full stop’ rather than punctuating. Despite this, the free app was accurate and user-friendly. It performs to a high-standard, not surprising when Google are the creators.
Nuance’s Dragon Anywhere app is the market leader. It’s not hard to see why.
The app’s understanding of speech is accurate at any speed. The interface is user-friendly and includes a three-minute ‘how-to’ video. This meant that within minutes I knew everything I needed to.
There are many ways to edit and adapt text while dictating. Crucially, you can delete during dictation; you just say ‘scratch that’ or ‘backspace’. You can also select individual words and phrases for easy editing. The app, besides note taking, also lets you dictate to other apps and write emails.
Dragon Anywhere handled background noise well but it struggled as the noise levels rose. If you use a set of headphones with a microphone this shouldn’t be an issue. What I really enjoyed about this app is that it had no trouble with my accent. The software was almost 100 percent accurate provided background noise wasn’t too loud.
The only potential downside of this app is its cost. There are three pricing packages available. These start at £14.99 for a monthly subscription to a £149.99 for a full year. You can also get a week-long free trial if you’re unsure if you want to buy.
There is also a free app available, ‘Dragon Dictation’. But it has limited functionality compared to Dragon Anywhere. You can't see the text until you finish dictating. Also, there is less editing capability. Although this app has value for money, you pay for quality with Dragon Anywhere.
When we're talking diction apps for writers, we should spare a word for Word. The 'dictate' function isn't exactly an 'app' in itself, but as the majority of writers use Word, it's a tool that needs mentioning.
The dictate function is pretty straight-forward, and works in a number of different languages. With some brief testing in French and Spanish ('Hello, my name is etc.'), those languages do seem to be recorded accurately, though it's worth noting you need to install or enable the spelling and grammar checkers for these to check for sure.
Otherwise, if you say the name of the punctuation marker then it comes up most of the time, and the word accuracy is actually pretty good. How good? I wrote this section by dictating it in Word. Could you tell?
The average person types at a rate of 40 words per minute and speaks at 150 words per minute. If you write 1,000 words a day, you will save 18 minutes by dictating rather than typing. That is an hour and a half a week freed up for something more productive.
At Articulate Marketing, writing is part craft and part system. Creating high quality content at scale requires clear processes, strong collaboration and smart use of technology. These are some of the core tools we rely on when working with writers.
Notion is the backbone of our content operations. We use it to manage content calendars, briefs, research, workflows and collaboration. Writers can see exactly what is required, track progress and access everything they need in one organised workspace.
Grammarly acts as an additional layer of quality control. While it never replaces human editing, it helps catch grammar issues, clarity problems and inconsistencies before a piece reaches the final review stage.
We use ChatGPT responsibly to support brainstorming, structure development and idea exploration. It is not a replacement for expertise or original thinking, but it can help writers overcome blank page syndrome and refine their approach.
Integrated directly into our workflow, Notion AI helps with summarising notes, generating first pass outlines and refining internal documentation. Because it sits within our content system, it supports efficiency without disrupting process.
SEO is central to modern content strategy. We use Ahrefs for keyword research, competitor analysis and performance tracking. It ensures that the content we produce is not only well written, but discoverable.
For us, the goal is simple. Combine strong writers with smart systems and supportive technology. The tools do not replace skill, but they help us produce consistent, strategic and high performing content for our clients.