Tools and resources for freelance writers

For research:

SwipeWell - The ultimate, dedicated tool for saving examples you find online (think emails, landing pages, ads and more), including on your laptop and smartphone. Start for free and only pay once you hit 50+ swipes.

Data vault - A curated base of over 180 fresh, recent reports and studies with over 6,000 quotable statistics. It helps you save time finding statistics for your client articles in categories like commerce, email marketing, content marketing, customer experience, remote work, sales, cybersecurity, and more. Developed by Freelance Bold.

Research Like a Pro system - A step by step, in-depth system that teaches you how to do deep research, build outlines, find and interview experts, look for data and examples, and more. It comes with checklists and templates. Developed by Saphia Lanier, an exceptional writer.

Toby - A browser extension that lets you save and categorize your tabs into collections.

For writing:

RightBlogger - The only AI software I recommend to writers. RightBlogger gives you 70+ tools for generating outlines, keyword research, optimizing for search, tweaking your voice, and more—an ideal AI helper so you can write faster.

Surfer - A content optimization tool. It gives you real-time scores and suggestions so you can write content that ranks highly for its designated keywords.

Headline Studio - A free tool from CoSchedule that helps you write strong, crispy headlines. It gives you a score and shows you word balance, word and character count, type, reading grade level, sentiment, clarity, and skimmability.

For editing:

ProWritingAid - A grammar checker, style editor, and writing coach. It goes beyond grammar issues and spelling mistakes—it helps you improve and strengthen your writing every time you use it. It will catch overused words, incorrect word usage, poor readability, and more.

Hemingway App - An excellent tool for editing out fluff from your writing and add clarity to it. It’s free if you use it in your browser and has a low one-time fee for the desktop app.

For visuals:

CleanShot - The best screenshot tool there is. Lets you blur, highlight, mark up, add lines, arrows, text, numbers… You can also record your screen and turn it into a GIF, which is great for short demo purposes. I use CleanShot dozens of times every day. Mac only.

Full Page Screenshot - A browser extension that captures a web page from top to bottom automatically, so you can use it in your writing or add it to your swipe file.

Squoosh - The best and most practical image compression tool I've used. It keeps the image quality up while reducing it to less than 100 kilobytes.

Freedom - My favorite website blocker! Use it to block distracting websites on your laptop so you can focus on your deep work and your writing.

Project planner for freelance writers - A tool I needed, but couldn’t find, so I built it. It’s the ultimate tool I use to map out my workload and revenue for the coming months. If you struggle to keep up with your client assignments and income, and if you want to take more time off work but never know where to find the time, you'll love it.

Todoist - A simple but powerful task management tool for both work and life. For me, everything I need to do lives in Todoist, including client tasks, Freelance Bold work, errands, home tasks, travel planning, and more. Todoist has both the simplicity and the powerful features I need.

Toggl - Use it to track how much time you spend on each client, on email, and other activities in your business you can improve your planning and work more efficiently.

Brain.fm - Like working with lyric-free music in the background? You’ll love Brain.fm, the science-backed functional music made for focus. Pair it with over-ear headphones and you’ll be indistractable. Code freelancebold gives you 20% off.

Calendly - Great for booking calls with clients. Instead of going back-and-forth to find a time that works for everyone, you can set up time slots for calls and let clients pick what suits them.

Time timer - A gadget made for kids and adults with ADHD. Like working in sprints? I do, but digital timers don’t work for me as they’re either distracting or completely invisible. The Time timer is the perfect way to see my timed sprints.