The Top 28 Free and Paid Freelance Writing Tools in 2022

Writing tools are the secret behind successful freelance writers. 

They help you research faster, write better, and manage your business so you can become more profitable.  

But not all freelance writing tools are created equal. The following list will help you build a toolkit you can use to build, manage, and grow your freelance writing or blogging business. 

To make choosing the best freelance writing tools easier, we looked at several factors:

⏰ Effort (out of three): how much time or experience you’ll need to use the tool.

💰 Price: how much each freelance writing tool costs. 

⭐️ G2 rating: how well the tool ranks on peer-to-peer review site G2.

We also broke them down into each category of tool:

• Accounting tools
• SEO tools
• Writing tools
• Project management tools
• Admin tools

Disclaimer: Some of the links below are affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you buy something through our link at no extra cost to you. This helps keep our articles free of charge. Please know that we only recommend products and services we’ve personally used and support.

1. Peak Freelance

Effort (out of 3): ⏰

💰Pricing: $49/month. 14-day money-back guarantee.

⭐️G2 rating: N/A

Peak Freelance is the easiest and most reliable way to build your network as a freelancer. As a membership community, Peak Freelance makes it simple to connect with like-minded writers inside a private Slack group. 

The community shares exclusive freelance writing jobs and is known for its on-demand products and expert interview series. Experts from brands like Shopify, Help Scout, Todoist, and more share industry tips and insights weekly.  

If you want to promote your freelance writing business, you can browse the Peak Freelance Job Board for weekly freelance writing gig updates.

A Peak Freelance membership includes:

• Private Slack group with experienced freelance writers.
• Premium products including email templates, advanced writing courses, masterclasses, and more.
• One expert interview per week.
• Exclusive content never released publicly.
• A bi-weekly podcast series.
• Monthly town halls and strategy sessions.
• Exclusive discounts on other freelance writing tools.

For just $49 per month, you get access to everything you need to build, manage, and scale a freelance writing business.

Join the freelance writing community today.

Best accounting software for freelancers

2. Freshbooks

Effort (out of 3): ⏰⏰

💰Pricing: From $6/month. Free 30-day trial available. 

⭐️G2 rating: 4.6 out of 5

Honestly, I tried so many different accounting software for freelancers, and they were all a flop. I’m also cheap so I didn’t want to pay for an accounting system if I didn’t have to. 

Five years into my freelance career, I was tired of my disorganized finances and gave into Freshbooks. After using their thirty-day free trial, I immediately bought it for a year. 

Freshbooks makes it so easy to balance your books and manage client relationships from a financial perspective. You can create professional invoices in seconds, log and organize expenses so you’re ready for tax time, log hours with a time tracker, and create accurate accounting reports. Plus, you don’t pay insane fees when invoicing versus an app like PayPal.

Freshbooks has literally thought of everything. Want to try it? 

Sign up for a free 30-day trial with Freshbooks today. Promise you won’t be disappointed. 

3. FreeAgent 

Effort (out of 3): ⏰⏰

💰Pricing: From £23/month. (Take 50% off your first six months here.)

⭐️G2 rating: 4.2 out of 5

FreeAgent is an award-winning online accounting software designed for small businesses, freelancers, and our accountants. 

It’s easy-to-use and helps you take care of day-to-day administrative work, from managing expenses to running payroll and sending invoices. You can also integrate with Stripe so clients can pay for your freelance writing services using their credit or debit card. 

FreeAgent also allows you to track cash flow and profitability, displaying who owes you money and how much. It will calculate taxes for you, so you’re never shocked at what you owe come tax time. 

“FreeAgent is the tool I use to manage the accounting side of my freelance business. It integrates with my bank so I can track what I spend and earn (by adding receipts/invoices to each transaction). Its most useful feature, though, is reporting. I can accurately see what my tax bill will be at any time of the year, so I know I’m always on track to save the right amount.” — Elise Dopson, freelance writer

Over 100,000 small businesses use FreeAgent to manage their accounts easily. You won’t be bogged down by financial jargon and systems. And their support team is always available to help you stay on track. 

Try FreeAgent for 30 days free, no credit card required. After your trial, take 50% off your first six months when you sign up here.

Best SEO tools for freelance writers

4. Clearscope

Effort (out of 3): ⏰

💰Pricing: from $179/month

⭐️G2 rating: 4.9 out of 5 

Clearscope is a best-in-class SEO content optimization tool that drives search traffic to your articles. They are focused on helping writers produce SEO content that doesn’t suck, and matches the intent for readers so it ranks and reads well. 

Additionally, the platform offers built-in research capabilities, like keywords and questions research, then compiles all that data into one place for you to use. 

The process for using Clearscope is simple:

1. Pick a target keyword or topic
2. Create a report in Clearscope for the above target
3. Create an outline based on Clearscpe’s relevant terms list
4. Do your own research by sourcing experts and finding solid data
5. Write your first draft and plug it into Clearscope. Get your score to an A++.
6. Paste your draft into a Google Doc and finish it.

If you want content to rank, you’ll want to use Clearscope to get you there. It’s a Peak Freelance approved tool which helps you save time on research, write better content, and get clients better results. 

Try Clearscope today.

5. MozBar

Effort (out of 3): ⏰

💰Pricing: Free

⭐️G2 rating: N/A

MozBar is a free Chrome extension that makes it easy to get link metrics and see SEO data on the SERP page. It shows metrics for pages and domains you search like Domain Authority, Page Authority, and number of backlinks. 

MozBar also lets you check out page elements and view search results from different countries and regions. As well as get on-page content suggestions for your articles. 

Overall, MozBar is a great free SEO tool you can use to do research for your articles. 

6. Ahrefs

Effort (out of 3): ⏰⏰⏰

💰Pricing: From $99/month

⭐️G2 rating: 4.6 out of 5

Ahrefs is one of the leading SEO software companies around. They provide search optimization tools and free educational materials for freelance writers and marketers. 

The Ahrefs toolkit helps you with:

• Competitor research: find out what keywords your competitors rank for and brands that link to their websites.
• Keyword research: Ahrefs has over 11 billion keywords in their database. You can find endless keyword ideas for articles and understand how hard it’d be to rank.
• Website audits: Uncover SEO issues on a client’s website (or yours!) and learn how to fix them.
• Rank tracking: Monitor search rankings for any blog post you publish. 

There’s a little bit of a learning curve with Ahrefs, but they have a ton of content to help you use the platform. Once you figure out how to use it, it’ll become a main player in your freelance writing toolkit. 

7. Keywords Everywhere

Effort (out of 3): ⏰

💰Pricing: Free. Paid plans from $10.

⭐️G2 rating: N/A

Keywords Everywhere is my favorite keyword research tool to date. It’s a freemium Chrome and Firefox extension you can use to find keyword data directly on the search engine page. 

The free version gives you access to keyword widgets like related keywords and long-tail variations, trend charts and on-page analysis. 

The paid version gives you accurate monthly search volumes for Google, Amazon, eBay, YouTube, DuckDuckGo, and even SEO tools like Answer The Public. You can even export your data and use it to build out a content strategy for clients. 

The paid version only costs an average of $10 per year. 

Best writing tools for freelancers

8. Help a B2B Writer

Effort (out of 3): ⏰

💰Pricing: Free

⭐️G2 rating: N/A

Tired of sorting through hundreds of Help A Report Out (HARO) responses? Only to find crap quotes and sources. That’s where Help A B2B Writer comes in. This free tool helps you find unique examples and expert sources for your content. 

Help A B2B Writer is so easy to use too. You simply request a quote for an article you’re working on. A handful of targeted, relevant sources get an email with an invitation to contribute. Then they email you their insights! Simple as that.  

9. Grammarly

Effort (out of 3): ⏰

💰Pricing: Free. Paid plan from $12/month.

⭐️G2 rating: 4.6 out of 5

If you’ve written anything online, you’ve probably heard of Grammarly. The editing tool has over 30 million daily active users (wow) and has become the most popular spelling and grammar checker on the internet. 

In short, Grammarly analyzes any text you’ve written and checks for errors. The free version covers basic things like grammar, punctuation, and spelling. While the premium version provides stylistic changes and provides best-in-class writing advice for your text. 

You can use Grammarly to check work a few different ways:

• The Grammarly web tool
• A desktop app for Windows or MacOS
• Microsoft Word add-on
• Browser extension 
• On your phone

Grammarly is free. You can use it forever without any limits or trial period. The free version is pretty good. But if you want all of Grammarly’s features, you’ll need to upgrade to Grammarly Premium, which is what I’ve been using for three years now and I love it. 

10. ProWritingAid

Effort (out of 3): ⏰

💰Pricing: Free Chrome extension available. Get all features for $20/month. Use HONEY20 for 20% off.

⭐️G2 rating: 4.2 out of 5

ProWritingAid is another great grammar checker for freelance writers. But it’s more than just a grammar checker. ProWritingAid is a writing tool that’ll help you:

• Refine your sentences
• Use punchier adjectives 
• Avoid cliches and overused phrases
• Keep your writing style consistent 
• Check for plagiarism
• Save you time proofreading
• Improve your freelance writing skills

Most people choose ProWritingAid over other grammar checkers (like Grammarly or Hemingway App) because it’s secure. ProWritingAid is GDPR compliant and uses bank-level security. Nobody sees your (or your clients’) work when you run it through their writing tool.

Try ProWritingAid for free today. Use code HONEY20 to get 20% off premium plans.

11. WordHippo

Effort (out of 3): ⏰

💰Pricing: Free

⭐️G2 rating: N/A

What would a freelance writing tool round-up be without a thesaurus recommendation? WordHippo is an online-based thesaurus with helpful vocabulary resources. You can find synonyms, antonyms, word meaning, rhyming words, and more for your articles. 

It’s easy and free. Simply choose the resource you want to use. Type a word into the search bar, then click ‘find it’. WordHippo will then provide you with a list of words you can use for your articles. 

12. CoSchedule Headline Analyzer

Effort (out of 3): ⏰

💰Pricing: Free

⭐️G2 rating: N/A

CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer is one of the best headline analyzers around. It helps you create better titles for your articles to drive traffic, shares, and search results. 

Simply load the tool in your browser and type in the headline you’re considering for an article. Then, the analyzer will pull from its database to determine elements like:

• Word balance
• Sentiment
• Clarity
• Skimmability
• Reading Grade Level

And more to help you create the best headline for your piece. You’ll receive a detailed breakdown of your headline, from common and emotional words you should use. To how you can help inspire readers based on your word choice. 

13. Capitalize My Title

Effort (out of 3): ⏰

💰Pricing: Free

⭐️G2 rating: N/A

Struggle to remember which words need to be capitalized in your headings and titles? Capitalize My Title will figure it out for you.

“Another thing I use all the time that’s super useful (especially if you work with clients with different style guides) is Capitalize My Title. Copy your text in, select the right style guide, and it’ll capitalize it accordingly.” — Nicola Scoon, freelance writer.

14. EZGIF.com

Effort (out of 3): ⏰

💰Pricing: Free

⭐️G2 rating: N/A

Need to format images or create GIFs for a client’s article? Look no further than EZGIF.com. This free online GIF maker gives you animated GIF editing, plus editing tools to create, resize, crop, reverse, and optimize photos for the web. 

“EZGIF.com is super helpful for formatting pictures and converting them in the right file format” — Melissa King, freelance writer

15. Unpaywall

Effort (out of 3): ⏰

💰Pricing: Free

⭐️G2 rating: N/A

Hate when you’re looking for studies and reports, only to get blocked by a paywall? So do we. That’s where Unpaywall comes in. Unpaywall gives you access to scholarly articles and research that are normally pay-to-read, for free. It is integrated with thousands of library systems and search platforms worldwide so you can read research papers for free.

Simply download the free Chrome extension and skip the paywall on millions of peer-reviewed articles. It’s free and legal to use. 

16. Canva

Effort (out of 3): ⏰

💰Pricing: Free

⭐️G2 rating: 4.7 out of 5

Canva is the easiest online graphic design tool. You can use it for everything from creating images for articles to designing social media posts for your brand to flyers and ads. It has an endless list of features and templates to help you create professional graphics for free. 

Canva also has renowned customer support in case you ever get stuck on designing (which, if you’re like me, happens quite often). 

17. Evernote

Effort (out of 3): ⏰ ⏰

💰 Pricing: Free. Paid plans start at $7.99/month.

⭐️ G2 rating: 4.4 out of 5

Evernote was the first (and arguably most impressive) note-taking app around. It lets you upload notes and research from around the web, organize them into folders, and access them quickly when you’re writing. It has a number of cool features, one being the web clipper, which allows you easily save stuff from the internet to your dashboard. Evernote also syncs across your devices and has a browser version so you can retrieve information anywhere, anytime.

Best project management tools for freelancers

18. ClickUp

Effort (out of 3): ⏰⏰⏰

💰 Pricing: Free. Paid plans start at $5/month.

⭐️ G2 rating: 4.7 out of 5

ClickUp is a great project management tool for freelancers. It has a whole host of features to help you manage your workload. While it does have a steeper learning curve than alternatives, it does have the tools you’ll need as you grow your freelance business.

At its core, ClickUp is a task management tool. Areas are broken down into Spaces, Folders (for each client), and Lists (for each task you have to do for said client). You can assign yourself a task with a due date, separate one task into subtasks, and tag what stage each is up to.

The best part? Inside the ClickUp dashboard, you’ll have the option to create docs. Wave goodbye to lost Google Docs and hello to one platform for storing your onboarding guides, proposal templates, and more.

Try ClickUp for free today

19. Asana

Effort (out of 3): ⏰⏰

💰Pricing: Free

⭐️G2 rating: 4.3 out of 5

Asana is a project management tool that helps teams large and small orchestrate their work. Asana has over 100,000 paying customers and millions of free organizations across 190 countries. 

Asana is also the chosen project management tool for Peak Freelance! We use Asana and its wide range of tools to organize and plan work for members and blog content, products, social media, and marketing initiatives for the brand. It has functions such as Scrum and Kanban so you can choose how you want to manage freelance work. 

You can build work lists to monitor workflow and make it easy to see all your client tasks. So you’ll never miss a deadline! The best part? Everything is available on your phone, so you can see project status anywhere, anytime.  

Curious how to use Asana in your freelance writing business? Check out the following walkthrough to learn the ins and outs:

20. Trello

Effort (out of 3): ⏰

💰Pricing: Free

⭐️G2 rating: 4.4 out of 5

Thinking of becoming a freelance writer? Trello is another great project management tool to get started. Because it uses just a single board, it has a much shorter learning curve than Asana. 

Labelled as a “visual collaboration tool”, the simplest way to get to grips with Trello is to create a board for your client work. Create a card for each project, and drag it into the following columns depending on its stage in your writing process:

1. On hold: You’re waiting for a brief from the client, or it’s not started yet.
2. In progress: You’re researching, outlining, or writing the draft. 
3. Editing: The draft is done but needs editing before being sent to the client.
4. Feedback: You’re waiting for feedback from the client.

Even if you don’t use Trello for your own business, many clients use Trello to assign tasks to their freelancers. It’s worth getting up to speed with how it works, just in case. (You may as well–it’s free.)

Best admin tools for freelance writers

There’s a lot of administrative work involved in running a solo business. Here are some of the best CRMs for freelancers.

21. Bonsai

Effort (out of 3): ⏰⏰

💰Pricing: From $19/month. Free 14-day trial available.

⭐️G2 rating: 4.8 out of 5

Described as “everything you need to run your freelance business,” Bonsai is a suite of products that includes invoicing, CRM, contract, and proposal tracking. It automates the entire client onboarding process so you don’t have to deal with the back-and-forth of getting invoices paid, contracts signed, and surveys filled in.

Alongside its baked-in CRM to track where your freelance pitches are up to, Bonsai has tools to understand which projects are most valuable to you. You’re able to time track how long you spend servicing a particular client, and create a to-do list based on your contracts and proposals.

Try Bonsai today with a 14-day free trial.

22. Google Workspace (G Suite)

Effort (out of 3): ⏰

💰Pricing: From $5/month. Free 14-day trial available. 

⭐️G2 rating: 4.5 out of 5

As a freelance writer, you need some kind of word processor in your toolkit. Google Docs is the modern alternative to outdated Microsoft Word purely because it makes sharing client work easier. You’ll copy the link to the doc, give your client editing permissions, and have one always-updated version of each document. 

Google Docs is part of the wider Google Workspace family. You’ll have:

• Google Drive to store and organize your client work
• Google Meet for client calls
• Google Calendar to plan your schedule
• Gmail to send and receive emails from clients

One of the biggest reasons to add Google Workspace to your toolkit, however, is the fact that you’ll get a custom email address that matches your domain. A professional email address–like hello [at] yourdomain.com–isn’t essential, but makes you look like a writer who should be taken seriously… because you are!

Take a 14-day free trial of Google Workspace–including Docs, Meet, and Calendar–today.

23. HelloSign

Effort (out of 3): ⏰

💰Pricing: Free for 3 documents per month. 

⭐️G2 rating: 4.7 out of 5

Signing client contracts, statements of work, or non-disclosure agreements? They’re three popular types of documents that freelancers need to sign. But don’t worry if you binned your printer years ago.

HelloSign allows you to sign legally-binding documents electronically. Simply upload your contract (or one a client’s asking you to sign), drop your electronic signature in the right place, and you’re good to go.

The best part? It integrates with Google Docs, so you can drop your signature in without faffing around with downloading and uploading it.

24. Clockify

Effort (out of 3): ⏰

💰Pricing: Free

⭐G2 rating: 4.4 out of 5

Time tracking helps you make smarter decisions about how to price and run projects, schedule subcontractor work, and how to plan your days. 

Clockify is a leading project management solution designed to help you track productivity and billable hours across projects. It’s a great tool for freelance writers to view ongoing activities, visualize time breakdown for tasks, and even set time durations for a specific project.

The best part? It’s free. I’ve used Clockify for years and have never needed to upgrade to a paid version. 

25. LastPass

Effort (out of 3): ⏰

💰Pricing: Free

⭐️G2 rating: 4.4 out of 5

LastPass is a freemium password manager that stores encrypted passwords online. It helps you save and manage all your passwords and you only need to remember one password to access them on any device.

It’s also a good method for sharing passwords with clients safely. Most clients bake this into their contracts and state that all contractors (including freelance writers) should use secure, safe, and protected passwords for any of their products or services. 

Using LastPass helps you build safer online habits. It’ll also improve the security of your business and help you stay proactive on keeping hackers away (which does happen to freelance writers).

Read more: How to Protect Your Freelance Business from Cyberattacks and Fraud

26. ExpressVPN

Effort (out of 3): ⏰

💰Pricing: From $9.99 per month

⭐️G2 rating: 4.4 out of 5

ExpressVPN is well-established and considered one of the best Virtual Private Network (VPN) providers on the market. Based in the privacy-friendly British Virgin Islands, ExpressVPN was established in 2009 and has since been used by millions of users around the world. 

It has a simple interface, with leading class privacy servers and support networks. Plus, it gives you excellent speeds no matter where you are in the world. 

Search results vary by country. As an expat living in Mexico, I use ExpressVPN to set my location to U.S. cities so I can get local results. This gives better insight into what I need to include in articles for highly targeted searches in the area.

27. Calendly 

Effort (out of 3): ⏰

💰Pricing: Free

⭐️G2 rating: 4.7 out of 5 

Arranging a call with a client? Whether you’re pitching your writing services or going over a content strategy, ditch the back-and-forth emails to find a date/time to meet. 

Add your availability to Calendly and share the link with your client. They can use the software to find a date and time that works for both of you… without the endless “does this time work?” questions.

Calendly integrates with most calendars (including Google Calendar), and video conferencing tools (like Google Meet and Zoom). Talk about using automation to make your life easier. 

28. Zoom 

Effort (out of 3): ⏰

💰Pricing: Free

⭐️G2 rating: 4.5 out of 5 

If you’ve done any kind of virtual meeting in the past year, you’ll likely have heard of Zoom. It’s a virtual conference tool that allows you to meet and chat with people all over the world–for free.

Zoom has all sorts of uses for freelance writers. You can use it to chat with clients, have coffee chats with other freelancers, and join in Peak Freelance’s bi-weekly group coaching calls.  

FreeAgent also allows you to track cash flow and profitability, displaying who owes you money and how much. It will calculate taxes for you, so you’re never shocked at what you owe come tax time. 

Use these tools to make your full-time writing career simpler 

Freelancing is no easy task. Whether you’re becoming a blogger or an established freelance writer, you can make your business easier to manage (and more profitable) with the useful tools above.

Want to start using these tools and make friends in the process?

We listed Peak Freelance as the #1 tool for a reason. As a quick reminder, for just $25/month, you’ll get access to:

• A private members-only Slack group
• Premium courses, templates, and masterclasses
• Expert interviews with freelancing pros like Kat Boogaard and Kaleigh Moore

…and so much more.