17 Useful Online Writing Tools for Freelance Writers

Online writing tools can help freelance writers speed up their content creation process. But with so many different tools available, it can be confusing and time-consuming to work out which ones will benefit you most. So, in this blog post, we take you through our 17 favorite online writing tools – from grammar and formatting tools to organization and productivity tools.

17 Online Writing Tools for Writers

With so many online writing tools to choose from, it can be difficult to know where to start. Here, we outline 17 of the best online writing tools for freelance writers.

Grammar and Formatting Tools

If you’ve been here a while, you’ll know that we stress the importance of good grammar and formatting in anything you write. And, while we always recommend hiring a professional editor or proofreader to help you with this, a good first step can be using one of the many grammar checkers or formatting tools available online.

Grammarly and ProWritingAid

Grammarly and ProWritingAid are online grammar checkers that can check a document for punctuation errors, clarity, concision, dialect, and other grammatical issues. They do essentially the same job, so it will be a matter of personal preference. Both have free and paid plans, with the paid plans allowing the user access to more features. Please be aware that neither of these apps can replace a human editor.

Hemingway Editor

Hemingway Editor is another editor, but it focuses solely on passive voice, clarity, and readability. It uses different colored highlights to note issues in the text. Hemingway Editor is free to use.

Title Case Converter

Title Case Converter helps you capitalize your titles as per the conventions set out in style guides such as AP, CMoS, and APA. It’s free to use.

Thesaurus

Sometimes, as writers, we get a word stuck in our head that we use repeatedly throughout an article, which can make the writing feel repetitive and uninteresting. Thesaurus.com helps you find synonyms to vary your word choice. When you search for synonyms, Thesaurus.com will provide the closest matches (in orange) and other suggestions that might be useful to your query. It’s free to use and has a free dictionary attached.

Research Tools

Research is a vital step in creating engaging content, but it can sometimes feel like a daunting task. Luckily, there are plenty of tools that can help!

Google Scholar

One of the biggest challenges in researching using the internet is wading through the nonsense to find a credible source. Google Scholar hosts thousands of research papers, patents, case law, and citations. Most items listed on Google Scholar have been published in academic journals, meaning they have been peer-reviewed and are less likely to contain false information. Having said that, we still recommend you confirm any information in the article with another unrelated source. Google Scholar is free to use.

Zotero and EndNote

Keeping track of your references is essential as a freelance writer. While it’s perfectly acceptable to draw on the work of other writers or external sources, you must cite them correctly. Otherwise, it could amount to plagiarism. Reference management tools like Zotero and EndNote can help you keep track of the sources you are using so you don’t fall into that trap. Plus, they can save you time searching if there is something you need to come back to! Zotero is free to use. EndNote offers a 14-day free trial, followed by a one-time purchase for full access.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tools

A basic knowledge of how to write an SEO-friendly blog is a must in today’s competitive online world, but that’s not to say that you shouldn’t use SEO tools to help you on the way.

AnswerThePublic

Content that solves a user’s pain points will likely perform better. AnswerThePublic is an SEO tool that analyzes keywords and search terms on Google, YouTube, and Bing so that authors can incorporate them into their copy. On the free plan, you have three searches a day. If you pay for one of the subscriptions, you can have upwards of 100 searches a day.

InLinks

InLinks is a content optimization tool that automatically generates an internal linking strategy, which can help boost your content’s visibility online. The tool works on a credit system. Every feature costs the user an assigned number of credits, which can be bought in bundles.

SEO Writing Assistant

Semrush’s SEO Writing Assistant helps writers and editors optimize their copy for engagement and SEO. It provides feedback on SEO, readability, and tone/voice. You can access some of the features for free, but most of the features are part of its $130 to $500 subscriptions.

Headline Analyzer Tool

Capitalize My Title’s Headline Analyzer Tool can help you create click-worthy titles that are optimized for search engine results pages. It can also help you create better titles using AI. This tool is free to use.

Yoast

Like SEO Writing Assistant, Yoast provides feedback on your content’s SEO. It provides information about where best to include your keywords, best practices for image alt text, and the relevance of your internal and external links. Yoast Premium costs $99 per year, with different extras costing between $79 and $229.

Readable

Readable is an advanced readability tool that helps you assess how effectively your content conveys its message. It can help you with aspects of grammar and punctuation checking, but it also has an IELTS score (which tells you how proficient someone needs to be in English to be able to understand your content) and a Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (which determines how difficult writing is to understand). Readable is free to use; however, it does have paid membership levels with premium features.

Organization and Productivity Tools

Last but not least, we’re going to look at some organization and productivity tools that can help you stay on track (especially if you’re managing multiple projects).

Scrivener

Scrivener is a fantastic app for organizing and writing large projects. It’s most popular among fiction and non-fiction writers, but it also has templates for various academic projects, poetry collections, and even a recipe collector. You can store both your research and your writing in the same file and switch between pages without leaving the app, using the sidebar. This keeps everything you need in one location. Scrivener comes with a bit of a learning curve, but the beauty is that there are many videos that explain the features. You can decide which you want or need to use. Scrivener costs $59.99 for the full version and $50.99 for students and academics. 

ClickUp

ClickUp is an all-in-one platform that allows teams to collaborate on projects within one platform. The platform allows teams to store important documents, create tasks and to-do lists, and design content for publication. ClickUp has several different membership levels that depend on the size of the organization: Free Forever (probably best for freelancers), Unlimited (for small teams, costing $7 per member per month), Business (for mid-sized teams, costing $12 per member per month), and Enterprise (for large teams, customized pricing).

Tomato Timer

Tomato Timer is based on the Pomodoro Technique of working solidly for 25 minute-blocks of time before taking a short break of 5 or 10 minutes. Freelancers often have to juggle multiple balls, and it can be easy to get distracted by the 20 other things on your to-do list. Focusing on one task for a block of time can help you be more productive. Tomato Timer is free.

Becoming A Freelance Writer

If you’ve ever considered freelance writing as a career but don’t know where to start, why not check out our Becoming a Freelance Writer course? It takes you through the process of writing a blog post from start to finish and setting up your freelance writing business. You can even try it for free before you buy.