AutoKey
Text expansion and desktop automation for Linux.
Automation ToolFreeLinux
4.4Visit
Category
Best Writing software, apps and tools
160 hand-picked writing tools, apps and resources, each one checked by a real person. 154 of them are free or have a free plan.
Butterick's Practical Typography
Pandoc
Ollama
Zotero
Stop Slop
Prompt Engineering Guide
Obsidian
MuseScore Studio
Hugo
Docusaurus
Updated
Built with love by Shushant Lakhyani. Building bestproductivityresources.com
Writing tools help you get words down and make them clearer, whether that is an email, a report, a blog post or a prompt for an AI tool. The best ones remove friction: a calm place to draft, quick feedback on grammar and tone, and help when you are stuck on a first line.
This category covers distraction-free editors, grammar and style checkers, AI writing assistants and prompt helpers. Draft first and edit later; use AI to suggest options or tighten wording, then check facts and keep your own voice in the final version.
All resources
Type
Pricing
Platform
160 resources
Mendeley
A reference manager for saving, organising and citing research.
Desktop AppFree planCross-Platform
4.4Visit
Cryptee
Encrypted photo storage and a private document editor in one app.
Web AppFree planWeb, Cross-Platform
4.3Visit
Kickresume
A resume and cover letter builder with a free plan and unlimited downloads.
Web AppFree planWeb
4.4Visit
Merriam-Webster
A free online dictionary and thesaurus with word games and a Word of the Day.
WebsiteFree planWeb
4.6Visit
novelWriter
A free, open-source plain text editor built for writing novels.
Desktop AppFreeWindows, Linux
4.5Visit
MuseScore Studio
Free music notation software for writing and printing scores.
Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.7Visit
Novoresume
An online resume builder with a free plan that never expires.
Web AppFree planWeb
4.3Visit
bibisco
Novel writing software for planning characters, scenes and timelines.
Desktop AppFree planWindows, macOS
4.5Visit
Manuskript
A free, open-source writing tool that helps you plan a novel before you draft it.
Desktop AppFreeWindows, Linux
4.4Visit
Diffchecker
Compare two texts, images or documents online and see every difference.
Web AppFree planWeb
4.5Visit
FlowCV
A free online resume builder with unlimited watermark-free PDF downloads.
Web AppFree planWeb
4.6Visit
ghostwriter
A distraction-free Markdown editor with focus and Hemingway modes.
Desktop AppFreeWindows, Linux
4.5Visit
Jekyll
Turn plain text files into a blog or website, the engine behind GitHub Pages.
FrameworkFreemacOS, Windows
4.5Visit
Hugo
Build a website from plain files with one of the fastest static site tools.
Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.7Visit
LibreTranslate
Translate text on your own server without sending it to a big company.
Web AppFreeWeb, Linux
4.5Visit
Marp CLI
Turn a Markdown file into slides, PDF or PowerPoint.
Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.5Visit
micro
A friendly text editor for the terminal that works the way you expect.
Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.6Visit
Zola
A fast static site generator in a single file, with everything built in.
Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.5Visit
Lapce
A lightweight, fast code editor written in Rust.
Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.4Visit
mdBook
Turn a folder of Markdown files into a clean online book.
Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.5Visit
Quarto
Write in Markdown and publish reports, websites, books and slides with live code.
Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.6Visit
WeasyPrint
Turn HTML pages into good-looking PDFs for reports and invoices.
Automation ToolFreeCross-Platform
4.5Visit
Ellipsus
A collaborative writing tool built for creative writers, with no generative AI.
Web AppFree planWeb
4.5Visit
Modern Font Stacks
Ready-made system font stacks that load instantly with no web fonts.
WebsiteFreeWeb
4.6Visit
Netspeak
Search how real people phrase things to pick the most natural wording.
Web AppFreeWeb
4.4Visit
Reedsy Studio
A free online writing app for drafting and formatting a book.
Web AppFree planWeb
4.6Visit
Rewordify
Paste hard text and get a simpler version you can actually understand.
Web AppFreeWeb
4.4Visit
VSCodium
VS Code without Microsoft's telemetry, free and fully open source.
Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.6Visit
WordHippo
A free thesaurus and word finder for synonyms, antonyms and more.
WebsiteFreeWeb
4.5Visit
Docusaurus
A free, open source tool for building documentation websites.
FrameworkFreeWeb, Cross-Platform
4.7Visit
Flat
Online music notation software for writing and sharing sheet music.
Web AppFree planWeb, Windows
4.5Visit
GitBook
A hosted docs platform with a block editor and Git sync.
Web AppFree planWeb
4.5Visit
MarkEdit
A tiny, native Markdown editor for Mac that feels like TextEdit.
Mac AppFreemacOS, Offline
4.6Visit
Neocities
Free static website hosting with a friendly online editor and community.
Web AppFree planWeb
4.6Visit
Annotely
A free browser-based editor for annotating screenshots and images.
Web AppFreeWeb
4.4Visit
- Kroki
- Lipsum
- Online OCR
- IRA Design
- Lummi
- Butterick's Practical Typography
- Slidev
- Tables Generator
- Vale
- Calmly Writer
- Dillinger
- Fabric
- Text Blaze
- Visuwords
- WordCounter
- Google Ngram Viewer
- Linguee
- Pandoc
- Penzu
- Purdue OWL
- Rentry
- RhymeZone
- Scribbr Citation Generator
- Vibe
- Wiktionary
- Convert Case
- Datawrapper
- Power Thesaurus
- Subtitle Edit
- UpNote
- whisper.cpp
- WordReference
- Emojipedia
- Hashnode
- Chatbox
- DEV Community
- Hyperresearch
- Slides.com
- MyBib
- Ollama
- OneLook
- OpenWhispr
- readme.so
- LibreChat
- Reactive Resume
- ZoteroBib
- JabRef
- DeepL
- FocusWriter
- Notepad++
- Handy
- Tiny Little Office
- Etherpad
- Blurt
- Overleaf
- Prompt Optimizer
- Ray.so
- Zettlr
- HedgeDoc
- MarkText
- StackEdit
- Zotero
- Buttondown
- Buzz
- CryptPad
- Duck.ai
- Google Docs
- Harper
- Hemingway Editor
- Jan
- Kit
- LanguageTool
- LibreOffice
- Microsoft 365 web apps
- Microsoft Copilot
- Mistral Vibe
- ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors
- PDFgear
- ProWritingAid
- QuillBot
- Scribus
- Typst
- Wordtune
- WPS Office
- Zoho Writer
- Social Media Skills
- IDEM
- Glyph
- Awesome Journal Skills
- Oh My Fable
- AFDocs
- OpenDraft
- ru-text
- Legal AI Skills
- Awesome Prompt Engineering
- Stop Slop
- Prompt Master
- Story Skills
- GeneratePPT
- ResumeMaker.Online
- Prompt Engineering Guide
- DeepMotion
- Eden
- Beehiiv
- Taplio
- Tweet Hunter
- Posts.design
- Cursor
- Every.to
- Gamma
- Google Gemini
- HeyGen
- Capacities
- Lexica
- TypingMind
- Bear
- Craft
- Scrivener
- Grammarly
- Reflect
- SuperX Blog
- Claude
- Obsidian
- ChatGPT
Showing 36 of 160
Writing at a glance
Counted from the listings on this page.
- Pricing
- Of 160 picks, 98 are completely free, 56 have a free plan and 6 are paid.
- Highest rated
- Prompt Engineering Guide (4.8/5), Stop Slop (4.8/5) and Obsidian (4.8/5) have the highest ratings in our reviews.
- Formats
- Most common: Web App (55), Desktop App (36), AI Tool (33) and Website (16).
- Often also listed under
- AI Productivity (44), Research (39), Personal Productivity (32) and Learning (24).
- Platforms
- Most listed: Web (102), macOS (61), Windows (60) and Linux (48).
- Best for
- Picked most often for Writers (102), Students (88) and Professionals (68).
- Learning curve
- 110 beginner-friendly, 38 intermediate and 12 advanced.
- Newest addition
- AutoKey, added 13 November 2026.
Writing tools: common questions
Straight answers to what people ask before picking a tool.
- What are the best writing tools?
- The highest-rated writing picks in the directory right now are Prompt Engineering Guide, Stop Slop and Obsidian. Each one is checked by hand, and the full list above is sorted by our recommendation.
- What is the best free writing tool?
- Prompt Engineering Guide and Stop Slop are the top-rated completely free options. If a free plan is enough, Obsidian is also worth a look.
- How many writing tools are listed?
- 160 writing resources are listed: 98 completely free, 56 with a free plan and 6 paid. New ones are added as they are checked.
More categories
Working on something else? Jump to another topic.
Task ManagementTime ManagementFocusDeep WorkNote-TakingKnowledge ManagementProject ManagementCalendarSchedulingHabit BuildingGoal SettingAutomationAI ProductivityResearchLearningReadingCommunicationCollaborationEmailMeetingsFile ManagementOrganizationBrainstormingDecision MakingPersonal ProductivityTeam ProductivityRemote WorkWorkflowsDigital MinimalismDistraction BlockingPersonal Knowledge Management