15 Best Blogging Tools: Stop Wasting Time With the Wrong Tools
After working with dozens of blogging tools over the past seven years, here are the top 15 I swear by.
Inblog: Best blogging CMS for SEO-optimized content without technical headaches
ChatGPT: Best AI assistant for generating ideas, content, and overcoming writer's block
Ahrefs: Best comprehensive SEO software for competitive analysis and keyword research
Frase: Best content optimization tool for creating SEO-friendly articles based on SERP analysis
Snagit: Best screen capture tool for creating visual tutorials and demonstrations
Grammarly: Best writing assistant for error-free, engaging content
Google Search Console: Essential analytics tool for understanding how Google sees your content
Notion: Best content planning system for organizing your editorial calendar and workflows
Descript: Best audio and video editor for bloggers expanding into multimedia content
Pixabay: Best free media resource for attribution-free images, videos, and audio
GigaBrain: Best research tool for finding authentic opinions from real people online
Kit: Best email marketing platform designed specifically for content creators
HARO: Best media outreach tool for earning backlinks and building authority
Answer The Public: Best content idea generator for discovering what your audience is asking
Adobe Express: Best visual content creator for professional graphics without design skills
15 Best Blogging Tools for 2025
1. Inblog - Best Blogging CMS
Oh, how dare I swap WordPress for Inblog? Well, all respect for the big daddy, but if I have to pick the best blogging-specific CMS, Inblog has to be it.
Inblog is built for modern content marketing teams who want to skip SEO hassles and focus on strategy. Everything comes SEO-optimized out of the box: high Lighthouse scores, semantic tags, sitemaps, image optimization, and metadata support.
The platform offers custom domain options as either a subdomain or subdirectory (supported by Framer, Webflow, Next.js, Vercel, and AWS Amplify) to improve domain authority. Its Google Search Console integration provides analytics to monitor traffic and identify valuable keywords.
Other standout features include lead capture forms, a WYSIWYG editor, customization options, direct Notion import, post scheduling, and custom CTAs. For teams, their workflow infrastructure enables 10x faster publishing and includes social distribution functionality.
Inblog's pricing starts with a free plan, with paid plans beginning at $39/month.
2. Chatgpt - Best AI Blogging Tool
Leading the pack of AI blogging tools is, of course, ChatGPT. This versatile AI assistant has revolutionized how bloggers approach content creation, research, and even visual elements of their blogs.
You can use ChatGPT for just about everything in your blogging workflow—brainstorming ideas, researching topics, drafting content, editing, creating images, and even conducting "deep research" for more complex subjects. The interface is clean and intuitive, allowing you to type or even start real-time voice conversations.
ChatGPT's latest models (like GPT-4o and o1) offer impressive reasoning capabilities that can help you tackle complex topics with depth and accuracy. For bloggers, this means more nuanced content that better addresses reader needs.
If you're looking for an alternative, Claude (that's me!) is excellent for long-form writing and generating infographics. Many writers find Claude particularly good at maintaining a consistent tone and producing more natural-sounding content.
Ahrefs - Best SEO Software
No serious blogger can afford to ignore SEO, and Ahrefs stands as one of the most comprehensive SEO tools on the market. It's essentially an all-in-one marketing intelligence platform that gives you invaluable insights into your competitors, keywords, and content opportunities.
With Ahrefs, you can study competitors' websites through their Site Explorer, learn what your customers are searching for with Keywords Explorer, audit and optimize your website with Site Audit, and track your rankings in search engines using Rank Tracker.
They've even introduced Brand Radar, which tracks your brand's visibility in LLMs—super important as more and more people replace traditional Google Search with AI Search assistants like ChatGPT and Claude.
What sets Ahrefs apart is their incredible data. They've been crawling the web for over 10 years, and AhrefsBot is actually the second most active web crawler in the world (right behind Google!). This translates to more accurate keyword data, backlink information, and competitive insights.
The platform starts at $129/month for their lite plan, with more comprehensive plans available for growing needs. It's surely an investment, but if you're just using it for keyword research, there are free options like Google Keyword Planner,
4. Frase - Best Content Optimization Tool
Frase empowers content creators to go from keyword to SEO-optimized articles faster. Its unified workflow lets you research, outline, write, and optimize in one place.
The platform simplifies SERP research by analyzing and condensing content from top search results. You can analyze competitors' content, visualize key metrics like word count and domain rating, and generate optimized content briefs in seconds.
Beyond research, Frase helps build a scalable content engine with AI-powered workspaces, reusable templates, custom AI prompts, and integrations with Google Docs and WordPress. Team features include document organization, writer assignments, and progress tracking.
Pricing starts at $44.99/month (or $38.25/month billed annually), with a $1 five-day trial available.
5. Snagit - Best Screen Capture Tool
A B2B SaaS brand recently did an experiment where they embedded guided demos on their tutorial pages and found that their impressions and clicks increased by 6x in just over a quarter.
This shows that great blogging isn't just about words—visuals are crucial too. Snagit excels as screen capture software for enhancing blog content, particularly for tutorials and how-to guides.
Snagit captures screenshots, records your screen, and adds annotations to clearly communicate processes. You can capture full screens, specific regions, fixed sizes, or scrolling areas—perfect for long web pages.
What sets it apart from built-in snipping tools are advanced features like scrolling capture for entire webpages, AI-powered "Simplify UI" to reduce visual clutter, and text recognition for editing within images. Video capabilities include unlimited recording time and simultaneous screen and webcam capture.
Pricing starts at $39.00/year, with bundles available for additional assets and collaboration.
6. Grammarly - Best Writing Assistant
If you've ever published a post only to have someone point out an embarrassing typo, you'll appreciate Grammarly. This writing assistant goes beyond spell-checking to provide suggestions for clarity, engagement, and tone adjustments in real-time.
The tool helps avoid repetitive words, passive voice issues, and lengthy sentences that might lose readers. For teams, Grammarly Business offers style guide features to maintain a consistent brand voice across all content.
With seamless integration through browser extensions, desktop apps, and mobile keyboards, it's always available when needed. The free version offers solid basic checks, while the Premium plan ($30/month) adds tone adjustments, plagiarism detection, and full-sentence rewrites.
7. Google Search Console - Best Free SEO Analytics Tool
Unlike paid SEO tools that you could potentially work without, Search Console provides critical data directly from Google—which forms the backbone of any successful blogging strategy.
Search Console shows you exactly which keywords drive traffic to your blog, your average position in search results, and identifies which pages need optimization. The Performance report breaks down clicks, impressions, CTR, and positions, helping you understand what's working.
The Index Coverage report alerts you to technical issues that might prevent Google from properly indexing your content. With the URL Inspection tool, you can troubleshoot specific pages and request indexing for new content.
The most valuable feature for bloggers is seeing exactly which queries bring visitors to your site—information you can use to refine your content strategy. Plus, Google sends notifications about mobile usability issues and updates that might affect your site.
All this valuable data is completely free. Just verify ownership of your site through a straightforward process to get started.
For Inblog users, the platform offers hassle-free Google Search Console integration, allowing you to view your Search Console data directly within your Inblog dashboard.
This integration makes it even easier to track organic traffic, assess search intent for each post, and identify which keywords your customers are searching for – all without switching between multiple platforms.
8. Notion - Best Content Workspace
If your blogging workflow feels chaotic, Notion offers a comprehensive workspace that goes far beyond simple planning.
You can build a complete content system with templates for different post types, knowledge bases for research, collaborative editorial processes, and even client management if you're a professional blogger. Everything connects together in a way that traditional tools can't match.
Inblog users benefit from direct Notion to blog integration—write in Notion's clean interface and publish directly to Inblog without platform switching.
Notion offers a free plan for individuals, with paid plans starting at $10 per month. If you need a free alternative, Google Docs provides basic collaborative writing features, though it lacks Notion's organizational capabilities.
9. Descript - Best Audio and Video Content Creator
Descript makes podcast and video creation accessible to bloggers expanding beyond written content. Its revolutionary text-based editing approach lets you edit media by editing the transcript—delete a sentence in text, and it disappears from your video too.
Impressive AI capabilities include Studio Sound for enhanced audio quality, Green Screen for background changes without special equipment, and Eye Contact to improve viewer connection. Multitrack recording suits podcast interviews, while screen recording simplifies tutorial creation.
The free plan includes basic features and 1 hour of monthly transcription. Paid plans start at $12/month (billed annually) for watermark removal, with advanced features available at $24/month.
10. Pixabay - Best Free Image Libraray
Pixabay offers over 5.4 million high-quality media files for content creators. Its straightforward Content License allows usage without attribution—even for commercial purposes—saving bloggers valuable time.
The platform extends beyond photos to include illustrations, vectors, videos, music, sound effects, and GIFs, covering categories from nature to business. Simple search functionality and basic in-platform editing capabilities streamline the process from discovery to implementation.
For bloggers working across multiple content formats, Pixabay provides visual elements for blog posts, music for podcasts, and video clips for social media—all from one trusted, attribution-free source.
11. Gigabrain - Best AI-Powered Research Tool
GigaBrain scans billions of Reddit discussions to find and summarize authentic answers from real people. It delivers concise TL;DR summaries with source citations, highlighting mentioned products and places.
For bloggers, this cuts research time dramatically while providing genuine insights that resonate with readers. The browser extension integrates with Google searches, showing real opinions alongside traditional results.
The free version offers basic functionality, while premium features let you fine-tune results, save content, and syndicate your questions across relevant subreddits.
12. Kit - Best Email Marketing Platform for Creators
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) is an email-first operating system designed specifically for content creators building a business. It transforms casual readers into loyal fans through powerful segmentation and visual automation tools.
The platform excels at monetization with built-in tools to sell digital products, courses, and memberships directly through your email list. The Creator Profile provides a mini-website for offers, while the recommendations system leverages other creators to grow your subscriber base.
Kit offers a generous free plan for up to 10,000 subscribers and provides migration services for larger accounts moving from other platforms.
13. HARO - Best Media Outreach Tool
Help A Reporter Out (HARO) connects bloggers with journalists seeking expert sources. The platform sends daily emails with media queries from major publications, allowing you to provide insights that could earn valuable backlinks.
Being quoted in reputable publications drives referral traffic while boosting domain authority and credibility—one of the most effective white-hat link-building strategies available. The free plan provides access to all queries, with paid plans ($19/month) offering keyword alerts and early access.
For B2B bloggers, specialized platforms like Help a B2B Writer focus exclusively on business topics. With AI-generated content increasing, providing unique, experience-based insights helps separate your submissions from generic responses.
14. Answer The Public - Best Content Idea Generator
Answer The Public transforms seed keywords into comprehensive maps of questions people are actively searching for online. It taps into autocomplete data from search engines to reveal exactly what your audience wants to know.
The visual "wheel" format organizes questions by type (who, what, when, where, why, how) and prepositions, making content opportunities immediately visible. This translates into an endless supply of relevant blog topics that address specific audience queries.
The free version allows 3 daily searches, while the Pro plan ($79/month) provides unlimited searches, saved reports, and comparison features to track search trends over time.
15. Adobe Express - Best Visual Content Creator
Adobe Express puts professional-level design capabilities in bloggers' hands without requiring design experience. This all-in-one tool creates stunning graphics, featured images, infographics, and videos with Adobe's high-quality templates.
Its standout one-click resize feature transforms blog images into properly sized assets for each social platform, saving hours of work when promoting content. The platform's commercially safe AI features allow content creation through simple text prompts.
The free version offers basic functionality, while Premium ($9.99/month) provides access to millions of premium assets and more AI credits. Team plans include brand kit functionality to maintain consistent branding across all content.
Build Your Perfect Blogging Stack
These 15 tools have transformed my blogging process, but your mileage may vary based on your niche, goals, and workflow preferences.
I recommend starting with the essentials: a solid CMS like Inblog, basic SEO tools like Google Search Console, and content planning with something like Notion.
As your blog grows, gradually incorporate more specialized tools to optimize content, expand into multimedia, and build deeper audience connections.
