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Improving your writing skills doesn’t have to be a financial investment. There are so many free apps and tools that can help new writers with their grammar, creativity, vocabulary, and more…all you have to do is find them.

I’ve used a lot of these apps (paid and free) in my career as a content writer and writing coach. Today, I have a tried and true set of tools that are integral to my writing process. I know which free apps are actually useful (versus the countless that are just a waste of time).

In this article, I’ve laid out the best free apps to instantly improve your writing skills so that you can move towards your dream writing goals.

Keep reading to learn:

• Top Proofreading Apps
  • Grammarly
  • Speechify
  • Hemingway Editor
• Best Apps for Making Notes
  • Good Notes
  • Mindly (mind mapping)
  • Werdsmith: Writing App
• Top Free Writing Platforms
  • Notion
  • Reedsy Studio
  • Google Drive
• Best Apps for Improving Vocabulary
  • Thesaurus.com
  • Word Palette
• Top Apps for Focus
  • Freedom.to
  • FocusPomo – Pomodoro Timer
• The Ultimate Way to Improve Your Writing

Top Proofreading Apps

Grammarly

Grammarly is first on this list for a reason. It has saved me so much time, pain, and embarrassment by automatically highlighting spelling and grammar mistakes in my writing and offering alternative suggestions. I use the Chrome extension online and the downloadable app on my desktop with Final Draft and my notes app.

Proofreading with Grammarly has become an essential step in any written project and gives me an additional sense of calm when it comes to submitting work to clients. It’s particularly useful for freelance writers who switch between British and American English. You simply change the language in the settings to ensure you don’t overlook any small differences.

Speechify

Have you ever proofread a piece of writing over and over, only to submit it and spot a glaringly obvious mistake? It happens to us all. According to Business Insider, it’s because our mind is autocorrecting our own mistakes to focus on the higher level task – actually writing!

This is why I love using Speechify. It reads your words out loud to you so you can hear the mistakes instead of trying to see them. It also gives you the chance to approach your work from a whole new perspective with a different intonation than the one you imagined in your mind.

Hemingway Editor

Hemingway Editor is best used to visually see the breakdown of your sentences. I’m a writer guilty of using way too many complex sentences which can make paragraphs difficult to read. With Hemingway Editor, I can immediately see where I need to simplify and edit overcomplicated texts.

It’s super easy to use, just copy and paste your words into the app to instantly see a colour-coded breakdown of which sentences are simple, which are hard to read, and which are VERY hard to read.

Best Apps for Making Notes

Good Notes

The Good Notes iPad app is simplicity at its best. It lets you make digital notebooks with personalised page templates and covers to use exactly like a physical notebook and pen. I used to carry around at least 2 notebooks at any one time, but with Good Notes I have everything in one place.

It’s so convenient and fun to use with highlighters, an eraser, and different pen options. I literally use Good Notes every single day for my to-do list and to write down ideas the moment they pop into my mind.

Mindly (mind mapping)

Level up your mind maps with Mindly. I like to use the iPhone app to explore and record new project ideas in a visually pleasing and super straightforward way. There’s no learning curve for Mindly, you simply start typing to add new branches to your digital mind map.

This is great for when inspiration hits on the go – especially if you’re more of a visual creative. Mindly can help get an idea clear in your mind so that starting to write goes as smoothly as possible.

Werdsmith: Writing App

Werdsmith is another great tool for jotting down ideas away from your computer. It’s perfect for people who like to write on their phone and works as an elevated notes app. In Werdsmith, you create different projects and ideas and start writing instantly.

You’ll quickly notice that the UX is much more enjoyable than trying to write in the notes app, plus there are fewer distractions. You can even use the app to create a daily writing routine with word count goals and writing reminders.

Top Free Writing Platforms

Notion

If you’ve read my other freelance writing posts, you’ll know I’m a huge fan of notion. It’s a project management and writing platform rolled into one with so many features including tables, to-do lists, and even AI advice.

I use notion to write all my first drafts (I’m using it to write this right now). I can format for SEO in notion with headings, titles, and text, and it helps me keep track of all my content in one place. The clean design simplifies writing and helps me to click into concentration much more easily than other writing apps.

Reedsy Studio

If you’re working on a manuscript or ebook, then I absolutely have to recommend Reedsy Studio. The online writing app is completely tailored for authors with planning, writing, formatting, and exporting features all in one place. Switching from your book outline to the manuscript itself in one click is extremely convenient, but my favourite element has to be the streamlined formatting process.

This is especially ideal for anyone looking to self-publish, or someone like me who wants a dedicated space for working on my personal writing project in the evenings. It takes all of the fluff away from writing platforms, and adds niche tools that just come in handy for a manuscript.

Google Drive

It’s impossible to have reached 2024 and not have used Google Drive. The live collaboration on documents makes it an ideal place to write and submit work to clients, or better yet, friends for feedback. By giving them only a ‘Commenter’ view, they can leave comments to help you notice issues and make amendments to the working document.

Let’s be real: Google Drive has all the functionality of Word without the price. It’s 100% free and accessible to anyone with a computer or phone. You can even work without wifi with the offline mode.

Best Apps for Improving Vocabulary

Thesaurus.com

I know thesaurus.com might sound boring, but trust me when I tell you I use it on every single writing project. It is a forever-open tab on my computer because I don’t want to waste time trying to remember a word when I could be finding a better one!

Thesaurus.com is your reliable friend when it comes to broadening your vocabulary and elevating your writing. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it!

Word Palette

Word Palette works like a keyboard on your phone but instead of letters, it offers up different vocabulary and word options. It’s sort of a thesaurus, writing prompt, and ideas generator hybrid that leaves no space for writer’s block to take hold.

Word Palette is especially great for morning pages or as a writing exercise to wake your brain up and get it engaged for crafting sentences. The more you use Word Palette, the more surprising your writing is going to get.

Top Apps for Focus

Freedom.to

This free app blocks the websites that pull you away from writing. You choose which sites to block and set schedules for when you are, and more importantly are not, allowed to use them. It’s an extra layer of protection against procrastination that takes no time at all to set up and will literally save you hours of mindless scrolling.

We all fall down the rabbit hole of social media, online shopping, or news outlets when we’re supposed to be writing. With Freedom, you can completely get rid of the temptation altogether.

FocusPomo – Pomodoro Timer

I’m sure you’ve heard of the Pomodoro Method for more efficient work sessions. It’s a simple method of working for 25 minutes followed by a 5-minute break repeated 4 times. I don’t know why it works, but it works.

FocusPomo sets the Pomodoro timer for you so that all you need to worry about is opening the app and hitting start. There’s no excuse not to concentrate with FocusPomo and if you download it, I guarantee a productive writing session is on its way to you.

The Ultimate Way to Improve Your Writing

All these free apps are genuinely useful, and many of them are a part of my daily writing practice. Ultimately, however, tools can only get you so far. It is completely possible to teach yourself the craft of writing, as well as the professional tips and tricks needed to succeed.

But you don’t have to go on this journey alone. As a writing coach, I work with writers of all stages and abilities to build their confidence and their skills. I help my clients reach project goals and hit career milestones like publishing their first piece of work or sharing meaningful writing with family and friends.

If writing coaching sounds like the right next step for your writing journey, why not book a free consultation or reach out to me directly with your questions?