essay writing software for students

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Best Essay Writing Software: 16 Apps That Can Help You Write Perfect Essays

Nowadays, we have apps for almost anything. Writing apps though, are really unique and serve several practical purposes, such as essay writing for example.

Writing an essay isn’t as simple as typing a bunch of words and arranging them as paragraphs. Writing a perfect essay entails planning, maintaining structure, writing clear and impactful sentences, and using good grammar.

That’s why we have writing apps. So in this post, I’m going to cover all the best essay writing software tools that are available now.

Okay, let’s get into it!

Our Top 3 Essay Writing Software at a Glance

Prowritingaid, the 16 best essay writing apps.

Best Book Writing Software.

Scrivener is a book-writing software program developed—13 years ago—by an aspiring writer Keith Blount.

Scrivener is what you get when you combine a typewriter, ring binder, and a scrapbook and make a book writing software tool.

It has so many useful features that take your book or any other writing project from the outline to a finished draft. We’re talking of features like corkboards, pre-set formatting, templates, file importing, metatags, automated document listing, and a bunch of other important capabilities.

Scrivener can be used by novelists, scriptwriters, academics, lawyers, translators, journalists, and students.

Pricing: Scrivener for macOS costs $49, iOS is $19.99 , and Scrivener for Windows costs $45.

Best Grammar Checker.

As far as grammar checkers go, there’s no app better than this.

It’s perfect for checking your text for typos, punctuation, and spelling mistakes. 

But it goes further than that; it has several editing features that tackle issues such as passive voice, lengthy or complex sentences, offers broader vocabulary options, et cetera. It also has a plagiarism checker and furnishes you with writing stats and readability scores.

Grammarly has a free version but reserves the best features for its premium plans.

Pricing: Free and Paid. Grammarly Premium starts at $11.66, and Grammarly Business starts at $12.50.

Excellent Tool for Self-editing

ProWritingAid is one of Grammarly’s fiercest competitors and pretty much gives you what Grammarly gives you.

Just itty-bitty shallower, BUT way more affordable.

If you want a proofreading and grammar checker writing app that has the potential of helping you improve the overall quality of your writing, this is it!

ProWritingAid refines your writing by checking important elements of your writing such as ambiguous sentences, grammar, transitions, abstract words, overused words, etc.

Over time, you start to notice improvements in your writing, especially the way it flows.

Pricing: Free and Paid.

• Monthly – $20
• Yearly – $79
• Lifetime – $399 

Best note-taking tool for Students

Evernote is a simple but excellent writing app that uses the idea of virtual notes. The virtual notes can be used in several ways: making book shopping lists, writing down essay ideas, and making notes on researched information.

The notes are backed up on Evernote’s servers, and you get about 60MB of storage space per account.

Pricing :  Free and Paid. The Premium plan costs $7.99 / month, and the Business costs $14.99/person/month.

Focus Writer

Free Alternative to MS Word.

I haven’t used this free word-processing app yet, but I’d seriously consider replacing my beloved MS Word with it.

It’s a very good alternative to MS Word; in fact, not only is it free and sufficient, it is available on almost all major platforms— Windows, Mac, and Android.

If you’re a student, I’d recommend this software, and you won’t have problems using the documents from this app because they’re saved in Rich Text Format so that most word processors can read them.

Pricing: Free.

Excellent for the Creative Stage of Writing

Before you write a good essay, you need to build the idea behind the essay first.

You need to add fresh to the bones before bringing the beast (of an essay) to life.

This tool helps you expand your original ideas into sub-ideas and construct full-fledged essays by using expressive, powerful flowcharts, process maps, and other diagrams.

Pricing: Free and Paid. The Awesome Plan costs $5/month, and the Organisation Plan is at $8/member/month.

Top-Notch Open-Source Tool

Manuskript is a tool perfect for organizing and planning stages of writing. It’s an open-source tool—for writers including novelists, journos, and academicians—that uses the snowflake method of writing to help you build your idea into a finished book; by helping you create the story step by step.

It has features for helping you keep track of notes on characters, plot, event,  and place in your story. Manuskript’s features include:

• The Outliner, which lets you organize your ideas and little pieces of your story hierarchically; 
• The Distraction-free mode gets rid of all distractions; 
• Personal goal-setting features;
• The Novel assistant utilizes the snowflake method to help you develop your basic ideas into a coherent plotline or a full-fledged story.

Pricing: Free

LivingWriter

Fast Developing Tool

This is a different writing app altogether. It has a lot of features that are excellent for both fiction nonfiction writers. It has features that help with story elements, general notes, goals and targets, doc sharing, and stats.

Plus, you can also switch LivingWriter in and out of Dark Mode and focus mode.

One thing I like about LivingWriter is that it started with a single platform (web) but is now expanding rapidly.

It has iOS and Android applications, Full integration with Grammarly, Canva integration, and its desktop apps are 90% complete (according to the Living Writer Roadmap )

Yearly Plan – $96 billed once a year

Monthly Plan – $9.99 per month

Best Writing Tool for Apple Products

I don’t know about now, but Ulysses was big back then (like a dozen years ago or so).

The app is rich with features similar to the other word processing software. It comes with a Markup-Based Text Editor, a library for organizing notes and documents, features for setting writing goals, publishing capabilities, and many others.

Ulysses is perfect for both small essays and large academic ones.

Pricing : Ulysses has different pricing options for different regions but using the US plan, it costs $5.99 per month and $49.99 per year.

Hemingway Editor

An App Most Impactful Writing

The Hemingway Editor AKA Hemingway App is a simple tool for writers who want to write content that is easier to read but bold.

Hemingway does this by looking at elements of your writing such as adverbs, passive voice, phrases and words with simpler alternatives, hard-to-read sentences, very-hard-to-read sentences, and other “lexical atrocities.”

The web-based version is free, but the downloadable version (for Mac and Windows) is a paid tool.

Pricing: $19.99

Excellent Mind Mapping Tool

They used to call this app IMindMap. Ayoa is an essential tool in the planning stages of your essay writing.

You can create mind maps for your essays which help give direction when you start fleshing out your essay.

This mapping tool helps increase productivity because everything you need to write is already outlined. The fact every step is already planned and you know exactly what to write can also increase your daily word count.

Pricing : The Ayoa PRO plan costs $10/month and is billed annually. The Ultimate Plan costs $13/month and is also billed annually.

Best App for Multi-Lingual Essays

This is another incredible alternative to Grammarly.

For non-native English speakers, this is a pot of gold right here. It can check your text for grammar errors and translate Spanish, French, German. And many other languages.

As a grammar checker, the tool mainly looks at aspects such as verbs, adverbs, confused words, commonly misspelled words, etc.

Here’s a funny story about Ginger (Just happened today.) As I was using the web-based editor, I copied some texts on Ginger’s website and pasted them into the editor and the tool found one misspelled word. Their content writers must not have used Ginger.

I felt like Ginger’s content writers were like Drug dealers, you know, they followed rule number one of drug dealing. “ never get high on your own product.”   

• Monthly Plan – $9.99
• Yearly Plan – $74.88
• Two-Year Plan: $119.76

Write Or Die

Best for Productivity Purposes.

This app has a name that sums up life for some of us.

Write or Die!

Write Or Die gives rewards, stimuli, and punishments if users set goals. This is what you need if you are a sloth like myself.

It gives you that needed push because the punishments—which include erasing current texts—can really scare the hell out of you and make you put an extra gear.

Pricing : Free and paid. $10 for macOS and Windows, and $1 for iOS.

Simplest Writing App

IA Writer is a distraction-free writing app that is more than perfect for writing short essays.

It has a very basic interface and uses plain text. As I said, there are no distractions because the IA writer also has a full-screen mode that fades out everything else but the line you are currently typing.

This minimalist writing app is available on Windows, Android, iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.

Pricing : Paid (offers free trials).

macOS- $29.99. has a 14-day trial

iOS &iPadOS – $29.99. No Free Trial.

Android – $4.99 /year or $29.99 once. Has a 30-day trial.

Windows – $29.99. Has a 14-day trial.

Hubspot Topic Generator

Best for Generating Topic Ideas.

This is a whole different menu right here.

It’s very different from the tools that I’ve listed in this post. This is why… you’re not going to use it to write. Instead, you use it to automatically generate writing ideas.

It’s a very simple tool; you input three words, and it provides you with nouns to generate a topic idea that you can use on your next writing project.

If you’re going to use this tool, it’s going to be during the very first stages of your writing project.

Manuscripts

Best App for Academic Assignments

Manuscript (not to be confused with Manuskript from above) is an app for students and academics. This is a convenient tool that works with popular word processing apps, including Microsoft Word.

The reason why it’s perfect for academic writing is it excels at the referencing aspect of writing—citations, abbreviations, etc.

So, for class writing assignments and larger tasks like dissertations, this is the tool I’d recommend.

Pricing : Free

Simplenote is a note-taking tool that helps you keep all your notes in one place but accessible everywhere.

You can back up your notes, add tags, share the notes with collaborators, and publish your notes in Markdown format.

Supported Systems: Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux.

Guide to the Best Essay Writing Apps in 2021

Things to consider when choosing essay writing software.

A good essay writing software has to do things that make your essay look delectable and sound convincing.

Here are some of the things that an essay writing software need to be able to help you with:

Organization

I already talked about organization at the beginning, so you already know how important it is. The essay writing app has to help you arrange your essay and ensure that it flows nicely. It needs to clear the chaos that would have existed had you not used that specific tool.

Grammatical correctness

This is crucial in any writing project. The essay writing software has to help you correct your grammatical and spelling errors.

Proofreading

The proofreading capabilities of a good essay writing app go beyond checking for grammar and spelling mistakes. It also has to excel at checking other aspects like overuse of adverbs, passive voice, run-on sentences, weak writing , and readability.

Writing software doesn’t have to cost an arm. Most of these apps have similar features and pretty much do the same things. A higher price doesn’t necessarily mean the app is good but in some circumstances, apps are pricey for a good reason.

What Features Should an Essay Writing App Have

So, to achieve the above requirements, what features does a writing software need to have?

Below are the most important features that a good essay writing software program MUST have.

Grammar and Spelling checker

To achieve the overall grammatical correctness of your essay, a writing app needs to have a grammar checking feature. If it doesn’t, being integrable with an efficient grammar checking tool is also convenient.

Sentence structure and flow reports

Again, I cannot overemphasize the importance of structure in essay writing. The structure should start from your sentences to your paragraphs and the whole essay. A good essay writing app needs to have features that check aspects of structure and flow.

Punctuation checker

We can’t have an essay littered with semicolons, commas, and hyphens looking like they’re lost. Punctuation might be one of the most underrated features but make no mistake, it’s essential for professional writing.

Plagiarism checker

A good essay has to be unique and original. Therefore, essay writing software has to make sure that the body of the essay does not contain any plagiarized content.

Writing Metrics

Stats like word count, words per minute, or the number of pages are important for tracking progress. School essays usually have a word or page count requirements, and writing software must be equipped with writing metrics so that the user is kept abreast of the distance covered.

Sentence quality checker

In the writing profession, Quality matters.  It doesn’t matter if you have reached the minimum word count but the essay is of poor quality.

Writing apps must be able to pick out sentences that need improving or deleting due to poor quality writing.

Why Should You Use Writing Software to Write Essays?

Writing software won’t write your essay for you, but the writing process is hard to manage and that’s what these tools do.

Here are the benefits of using writing software:

1. Planning and Outlining

Planning is an important element of a good essay writing process. Writing software tools come with features that help you plan before you start writing.

For example, Scrivener has a feature called corkboard, which is a good planning tool. It’s like a set of digital index cards, and each represents a section of writing.

With writing software, you can plan and outline before the actual writing starts, and you can go back to the outlines and notes while writing.

2. Productivity

Productivity is a big problem for most writers. Writers like myself just write without setting a lot of writing goals, so when we feel like writing, we need to be at our most productive levels.

For those that set daily goals, maintaining a daily word count is not easy.

For both kinds of writers, writing software can help increase productivity.

The software tools come with writing stats to help you keep track of your progress. They also have features for distraction-free writing.

Templates also help increase productivity. The templates make things easier and save you a lot of time (which would have been used setting things up).

3. Editing and Formatting

Writing software tools come with features that can flag spelling & grammar mistakes and other errors. They also offer solutions to these errors.

This is very important for your editing process—it makes the editing stage easier and faster.

This also helps in increasing productivity since editing is less laborious and speedy.

Usually when we write essays (especially academic ones), some formatting requirements come with them. Writing apps are furnished with most of the formatting rules and styles that essays (academic or otherwise) may require.

4. Organizing

Writing can be a messy process.

Most often than not, essays also require a lot of research. And again, we’re not saying that writing software will help you research.

But when you get all the bits of info needed for your essay, the apps will help you keep the researched content organized.

With these writing apps, you can have all of your research organized and easily accessible.

The thing about a disorganized writing process is that it is reflected in the flow and structure of the essay.

How to Effectively Use Essay Writing Software

Let me reiterate, essay writing apps won’t write your essays for you, neither will they be correct all the time.

To get the best out of them, you need to treat them as writing tutors or co-writers. If they suggest something useful, take it on board, and if you feel like the suggestion is a bit off point, disregard it.

What Is a Perfect Essay?

A perfect essay convincingly speaks to the reader. An essay is like an argument or a speech, and it has to have a readable flow or show direction.

Perfect essays must contain arguments, supporting ideas, and most importantly, evidence.  

To write a perfect essay, you need to:

• Thoroughly plan the whole essay before you start writing.
• Start writing your arguments using a clear structure.
• Back up your points and refer to relevant sources if necessary.
• Make sure that you infuse the information with creativity. There’s nothing exciting about a bunch of truths thrown into an essay using bland sentences.
• Before you finish your draft, ensure that you’ve answered the question in your introduction and conclusion.

How can I write an essay on my phone?

Well, most of the apps listed here are available as mobile apps. If you feel it’d be okay to write on your phone, try out a couple of the apps on this list and see which one works better on mobile platforms.

I’d recommend using tablet computers as they have bigger screens than regular smartphones.

Final Words

There are just so many essay writing software tools nowadays that even though Scrivener and Grammarly top the list, stumbling on the best one for you is almost 1/1000 probable.

You have to try out these tools before purchasing them.

Just to say it for the one-thousandth time, essay writing apps won’t write your essays for you; YOU WILL.

Recommended Reading...

Best dictation software in 2024, scrivener vs word: which is the better book writing software, vellum vs scrivener: which is better for writing and formatting your book, write app review 2024: the best distraction-free writing app.

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© 2024 When You Write

Best Essay Writing Apps: Exploring the Top Choices

Did you know that the average person spends about 23 days per year on their phones? With the prevalence of mobile devices, integrating essay-writing apps into your routine allows you to make the most of your time and boost productivity. So, if you're a student seeking to enhance your composition skills, search no more! This article serves as your ultimate resource for exploring exceptional apps for essay writing that will simplify your academic life.

Our essay service experts will present a curated assortment of user-friendly apps that can assist you with grammar, spelling, plagiarism detection, and even citation generation. You will encounter well-known examples such as Grammarly, Hemingway Editor, and EssayPro and discover how mobile apps enable you to work on your essays from anywhere.

Criteria for Assessing Essay Apps

Here are the criteria we used to evaluate the best essay writing apps:

• User-Friendly: Is the app easy to navigate and use with different tools?
• Writing Metrics: Does the app have essential features like spell-check, proofreading tools, and word count?
• Features: Can you write and edit in Cloud systems like Dropbox? Is there an offline mode? Or can you place ‘ write my essay ’ orders quickly?
• User Interface: Does the app offer customizable UI, language settings, themes, styles, and formatting?
• Compatibility: Can you easily export your work and share it on platforms like WordPress?
• Ratings: What are the app's ratings on Google Play and the App Store? What's our own rating?
• Price Structure: Is the app download worth the fee it charges for writing?

Top Essay Writing Apps

With a plethora of essay apps to choose from, catering to various needs like note-taking, planning, and grammar checking, selecting the perfect app can be overwhelming. To simplify your decision-making process, we have curated a comprehensive list of the best essay apps for you.

EssayPro App

Available on Android and iOS , Essaypro an app that writes essays for you, stands out as one of the best apps for essay writing. It simplifies essay creation, organization, and formatting. With access to a vast collection of essay samples, students can easily tackle any assignment, from argumentative to persuasive essays.

Users can save time with this pocket-sized software. Orders can be placed quickly, generating pricing offers in no time. On average, customers spend 22 minutes using the app.

To cater to user requests, Essaypro introduced a dark theme as a new feature. Additionally, users can respond to writer inquiries via the chat tool, ensuring they don't have to pause their activities, even while taking care of their children. For a comprehensive mobile solution to excel in academic tasks, you can confidently choose the EssayPro App.

• The app offers advice on improving current writing and using better editing techniques. It even features a plagiarism detection tool, guiding you on how to avoid plagiarism .
• Users get access to an author's biography, his areas of expertise, and - most crucially - reviews of the writer.
• ‍Users can top up their own accounts, making it easy to subsequently order fresh works.
• ‍100% plagiarism-free papers - Each task is unique.
• ‍Timely delivery - Get your paper as soon as you need it.
• ‍Unlimited revisions - In case you need to add any info or you want us to rewrite some paragraphs - you are free to ask us!‍
• Top quality - We have a team of top-notch writers who will definitely deliver exceptional tasks for you.‍
• 100% money-back guarantee - You can get your money back if you don't like the paper.

Grammarly is an ideal app for catching grammar mistakes in essays. It even detects errors in complex sentences. It works on all systems and devices - PC, Mac, iOS, and Android. While the interface can be crowded, and it may not be as effective for long-form writing, Grammarly remains one of the top options.

• Enables you to work in your preferred writing style, including academic papers.
• Helps you avoid automatic writing mistakes, including misspellings, improper punctuation, and other issues.
• Enhances your writing skills
• Congested user interface and a lack of effectiveness for long-form composing

Streamlining the writing process, this essay helper app simplifies the crucial task of editing. Utilizing a range of colors and accents assists in eliminating unnecessary words and achieving sentence conciseness. Available for download on both Mac and Windows desktop platforms, it offers convenient accessibility for users.

• Automatically catches errors like misused words or awkward sentences so you can spend more time perfecting your essay
• Develops pieces that are compelling and simple to read
• Serves as a digital editor and suggests suitable types of tone in writing .
• Pricey desktop and distracting colors for visitors

ProWritingAid

ProWritingAid may assist you in identifying formatting errors, fixing bugs, and correcting punctuation in writing. With the premium edition of this paper writing app, you can improve sentence length and choice of words and eliminate clichés.

Meanwhile, if you're searching for an excellent essay topic for students , make sure to explore our comprehensive list!

• Simple to use UI
• There are several integrations offered
• There are almost twenty writing analysis reports available
• Just a few hundred words may be read at once in the free plan
• Adjusting to the number of functions might take a while

Focus Writer

Focus Writer is among the few free word processors that are compatible with all the leading operating systems. With the help of this paper writing app, you may obtain a wide range of data, such as the number of words and characters. Moreover, the application uses RTF to save its information. Most other word processors can accept this, so you may edit your writing on different platforms as needed.

In the meantime, you might be intrigued to explore an excellent AI detection tool that assists in creating content free from Artificial Intelligence.

• Provides you with key text analytics while you type
• Powerful word processor for those on a budget
• No advanced features are offered

Cold Turkey Writer

Cold Turkey Writer is one of the ideal essay apps since it prevents interruptions. It also provides several layouts, structuring, and flow choices. This essay-writing tool effectively transforms your desktop into a typewriter, leaving you with no option other than to write your essay topics .

• You can track time and word count by using the progression indicator at the top
• Provides an environment without interruptions
• Encourages the usage of other programs once more
• Not available in offline mode

Ulysses is an excellent distraction-free writing app available for iOS users only. It's a perfect choice for both short articles and long research papers. In addition, it allows sharing your work instantly on WordPress and Medium and quickly converts words into PDFs.

• It has a text editor with markup support and a library for arranging notes, writing goals, and publishing choices
• It's among the best user-friendly essay writing applications
• Ulysses can transform your texts into beautiful PDFs, Word documents, ebooks, and even blog posts
• Not as good for outlining as other programs

Being one of the best essay writing apps, Scribus is a free, accessible digital production tool that aids in creating aesthetically pleasing structures. It includes a lot of capabilities, like the ability to modify an item at several levels of a document, excellent painting options, node editing techniques, and more.

• Best suited for papers with innovative visuals
• Strong sketching tools 
• Doesn't come as a mobile app

Trello is a versatile and intuitive project management application that allows individuals and teams to effectively organize and collaborate on tasks and projects. It offers a visual and customizable interface that utilizes boards, lists, and cards to streamline project workflows and track progress.

Even if you're on the hunt for summer jobs for college student , Trello can streamline project workflows, making it easier for you to track your progress and manage your summer job applications efficiently.

• The User-friendly interface makes it simple for individuals of all technical abilities to start using the app immediately.
• Trello excels in fostering collaboration within teams. Real-time updates ensure everyone stays informed and aligned on project progress.
• It may not fulfill the needs of more complex projects
• The steep learning curve for larger projects

LivingWriter

LivingWriter is a versatile writing application designed to streamline the writing process for authors and content creators. With a user-friendly interface and a host of features, it aims to enhance the overall writing experience.

• Collaborative writing capabilities.
• Innovative story planning tools.
• Cloud-based accessibility for flexibility.
• Subscription-based model.
• The learning curve for advanced features.

Novlr is a dedicated writing application designed to meet the needs of novelists and long-form writers. It provides a distraction-free environment with features tailored to enhance the novel-writing process.

• Offers a distraction-free writing space.
• Enables seamless work synchronization across devices.
• Provides diverse export formats for easy file transfer.
• Operates on a subscription model.
• Some users may find features limited compared to other platforms.

Readable is among the top essay writing apps designed to enhance the readability and clarity of written content. It incorporates features aimed at improving the overall quality and comprehension of text.

• Enhances content clarity.
• Provides guidance on writing style.
• Easy navigation and use.
• Requires subscription for full access.
• Functionality affected without a stable connection.

Is Writing Not Your Best Quality?

Then Essaypro’s professional writers are the best choice who are available for assistance 24/7

Writer Plus

Writer Plus is a mobile writing app designed for simplicity and convenience, providing essential features for on-the-go writing and note-taking.

• Offers a straightforward and easy-to-use interface.
• Ideal for quick writing and note-taking on mobile devices.
• Allows writing even without an internet connection.
• May lack advanced features compared to more comprehensive writing applications.
• Primarily designed for mobile use, with limited desktop functionality.

ByWord is an AI-powered article-generation tool. It focuses on efficiently generating large volumes of high-quality, SEO-ready content. Users can input a few words, click a button, and within minutes, have a fully formed article with an accompanying image ready for publication on their site. This tool adapts to the changing world of SEO with the help of artificial intelligence and offers a feature to stay unnoticed by any AI detection tool .

• ByWord swiftly creates SEO-ready content.
• A comprehensive tool for efficient long-form content creation.
• Enables rapid publication of fully-formed articles and images.
• May have fewer customization options for a streamlined process.

Coggle is a web-based mind-mapping tool that allows users to create visually engaging diagrams to organize and represent their ideas.

• Facilitates the creation of visually appealing mind maps and diagrams.
• Supports real-time collaboration for team brainstorming and planning.
• Features an intuitive design for easy navigation and diagram creation.
• Some advanced features may be restricted in the free version.
• Requires a stable internet connection for seamless collaboration and saving.

Wrapping Up

Whether you're just starting with academic writing service or already have advanced skills, these college student applications are here to make the process easier and better. From Essaypro's free writing software, where you can even buy an essay , to Grammarly's essay editing apps, there's a tool for everyone. By adding these platforms to your toolkit, you can create high-quality papers more efficiently and with confidence. So, try them out and see which ones work best for you!

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What Are Some Good Essay Writing Apps for Students?

How can i choose the right essay writing app for my needs and academic level, what are the benefits of using an essay-writing app, is there an app that can create essays for students, related articles.

Top 24 Writing Tools for Students in 2023 (Unbiased)

Table of contents

As students, we have a lot going on. Back-to-school season means more assignments, research, essays, papers, and reports. Generally, more writing, and writing takes a lot of time. 

But hey - it’s the 21st century. Despite the lack of time, we cannot complain about the lack of tools and apps that help us do everything we need to do - better, faster, and cheaper.

The best AI tool for students in 2023 > The best AI tool for students in 2023 >

The essay writing process

By utilizing the latest writing tools for students, we can greatly improve our processes and grades.

The right tools can help students in various ways:

• They can help you manage your time more efficiently.
• You'll be able to automate tasks such as checking grammar, spelling and punctuation.
• They can improve more advanced aspects of writing essays like language, structure and tone, for better overall readability.

The writing process can be broken down into three main stages: conceptualize, create, and check.

Let's examine each stage, and see how to optimize each one to save us time and get the job done efficiently. 

Stage 1: Conceptualize

First, we must conceptualize what we intend to write about. Are you having trouble getting started on your writing assignment? These tools can help.

Essay Topic Generator

Choosing the right topic and title is crucial to your success. Are you familiar with first impressions? That's what your paper's title and topic do.

Using a free tool like EssayTopicGenerator , which takes in keywords and generates topic ideas in seconds, gave me lots of ideas.

These are just rough ideas or thought starters, as you can see from the screenshot. Take a look at these titles and try to turn them into something. 

I would choose option 23. Aside from being clearly worded, it also gives me a fascinating new angle to study: how capitalism can develop within communist states.

To write a successful paper, you will need a strong position or perspective. For many students, writing a thesis can be a challenge.

By using Wordtune , I was able to turn my thoughts into more carefully considered words and make my final thesis statement as compelling as possible. In addition, I selected the option for it to generate suggestions with a more formal tone, which made them sound more academic.

You could benefit from services such as ThesisStatementWriter if you only have disconnected ideas and need help formulating a basic thesis. 

In academic writing, you need to gather and analyze existing research. This is not only to build your knowledge, but also to ensure your own work adds a unique angle without repeating others. Zotero and ReadCube can be really useful assistants to collect, organize, annotate, cite, and share research easily and quickly; and Pockt and Memonic can help larger teams easily access all the curated and collated research painlessly.

Your arguments will be more persuasive if you use high-quality references. Organizing them smartly is not enough. It's difficult to read, comprehend, connect, write, and build upon several GBs of research documents. How do you do it without missing your deadline?

While speed reading and skimming may help you get through your reference research, they do not guarantee comprehension.  Wordtune Read promises to read and summarize complex research papers, reports, and essays tirelessly.

I pasted a link to a 5,000-word essay into the panel, and within seconds it summarized all the key ideas and concepts. The Spotlight option, on the right side of the screen, highlighted all the keywords that needed my attention. 

Rather than spending weeks reading through mountains of information, I could focus on the real challenge - making a strong argument based on what's already out there. The ability to analyze more papers with Wordtune Read added to my perspective. This made my own research and arguments much stronger than they would have been if I had only read a few.

Stage 2: Create

Putting a mere idea into 2,000 words or more is the heart of the assignment. Smart writing tools can really make a difference here.

All your research and ideas are in place - now it's time to create the frame that will hold your essay. Bubbl.us , MindMeister , Miro, and MindMup are all virtual mind mapping tools that help you brainstorm, get ideas flowing, and build your own outline by connecting logical ideas in the research.

It's not everyone's cup of tea to write, and it's even harder to write well. Your job as a student is to come up with a compelling, evidence-based argument that proves or disproves your thesis. It's time to flesh out the outline. 

Wordtune made my sentences sharper, smarter, and tighter. While I wrote, it was like having my favorite English teacher improving my writing, sentence construction, and rephrasing my thoughts on a one-to-one basis.

Writing for academic purposes is not creative writing. It should be properly organized and argued, usually in the third person, in a formal tone. You should also use the most appropriate vocabulary, especially subject-specific terms and jargon. By using Wordtune, you can improve your tone and style, as well as choose the most appropriate words.

Ludwig is another writing assistant that helps you write better while on the go. With its multiple contextual options, it describes itself as a 'sentence search engine'.

Collaborative assignments are common among students. Google Docs is a helpful tool for writing with a team. Tutors, experts, and even parents can be granted read, comment, or edit access to it, and version control is maintained. 

Similarly, Miro helps larger teams collaborate and brainstorm visually, allowing complex ideas and perspectives to come to life. This is particularly useful for distributed and remote teams, since everyone can work on weekends or even during breaks.

For more complex or advanced assignments, distributed teams may have different roles assigned to them. A student working on a product launch assignment at a business school may assign one member to research, another to design, and another to conduct market research.

Depending on the team, a collaboration tool like Trello can keep the project on track, flagging bottlenecks, delays, and upcoming deadlines as they arise.

Wordtune Read

Once you've written all your words, check the flow. Do all the sections, heads, and subheads follow the right themes? Is it possible to group and consolidate themes that repeat themselves? A friend can give you feedback on whether they understand the gist of your argument by skimming the flow. 

You can check whether all the key points of your argument are covered with a tool like Wordtune Read , which will summarize and highlight key points from your essay (remember we used it to summarize and distill our research material as well?).

If you want to improve the visual side, then tools such as Canva , Book Creator , and Storybird can help you with format and design, visual illustrations, or any specific format and template.

Stage 3: Check

Now that all your thoughts and ideas are on paper, it's time to tidy up. Smart editing tools are more than capable of helping you, and you need an objective third party:

The use of tools like Hemingway editor ensures you won't overlook anything when it comes to editing your content for grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors. In addition, sentences that are too long, too short, too complex, too passive, too repetitive, or just the wrong tone will be highlighted.

With Wordtune , you can flesh out short sentences and fill in content-thin paragraphs, as well as shorten long or complex sentences without losing meaning. Use Wordtune if you get a low readability score - which measures how easy or difficult it is for someone to comprehend your content - to tweak and rephrase your sentences, and improve sentence variety and paragraph transitions.

Bottom line: smart tools enhance the quality of your content, not just speed up the editing process.

• Copy and plagiarism checks: like millions of others, you can quite comfortably trust tools such as Wordtune and Hemingway to ensure there are no spelling, grammar or punctuation errors in your copy. Use Plagscan to ensure you don't inadvertently copy existing material into your essay.
• Citations and biblio : following any writing convention, such as APA, MLA, and Chicago style, and writing bibliographies and citations of your references, will make the rest of your assignment process a breeze. It's easier than ever to source and cite research with apps like BibMe , Citavi , EndNote, and Citethisforme . 

Write essays with confidence, speed and style!

You can find the right task and tool with this handy chart.

As long as you have these tools at your disposal, you will be able to ace this school year.

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Best Academic Writing Software: 21 Top Options (2024)

In this article, you’ll discover the best academic writing software options based on their features, prices, and usability. 

I remember spending countless hours in my University’s library, desperately trying to format my thesis correctly, surrounded by half-empty takeaway coffee cups. If only I had known that the right academic writing software could have helped me save time and improve the quality of my work. 

Whether you’re a university student struggling to finish your thesis like I was or a researcher with deadlines looming, you can rest assured that the right academic writing software will take an enormous weight off your shoulders. What is academic writing? Read our guide to find out!

Academic writing requires meticulous attention to detail which is why we’ve scoured the web looking for software that will support you in the following areas:

• Concise sentences
• Readability improvements
• Chapter, footnotes, and bibliography automation

The academic software options in this article will help you unlock your true potential as an academic writer by improving your grammar, structure, style, and planning.

1. Grammarly

2. prowritingaid, 3. scrivener, 4. google docs, 9. obsidian, 11. microsoft word, 13. mendeley, 14. endnote, 16. turnitin, 17. copyscape, 18. chatgpt, 20. authorea, best academic writing software: the final word, why should you trust me , our testing criteria, is grammarly good for academic writing.

Pricing : Free version available, Premium $12/month, Business $15/month Use for : For plagiarism and grammar checks of academic writing

Grammarly is the most popular writing software on the market, and it’s being used by all types of writers, from high-school students to academic writers in top institutions and universities.

I personally never submit work to my clients without running it through Grammarly first, and I’ve even shelled out for the yearly premium subscription to get access to the plagiarism checker. To find out more, read our Grammarly review .

Some new students also wonder if it’s ok to use this tool to edit their essays and papers. It’s fine to use but if you need more context, in this article, our writer answers the question, is using Grammarly cheating ? 

• Grammarly is user-friendly, allowing you to either copy and paste your work directly into the application or have it check your documents while you type
• Makes Suggestions to improve sentence structure and explains why the change has been suggested
• Picks up on adjectives that could lead to exaggeration
• Encourages you to write in the action instead of the passive voice
• Works for British English, American English, and Australian English
• Plagiarism checker is only available to premium customers
• Plagiarism checker doesn’t cover academic papers
• Live checker is not available for Microsoft Word

We tested dozens of grammar checkers, and Grammarly is the best tool on the market today. It'll help you write and edit your work much faster. Grammarly provides a powerful AI writing assistant and plagiarism checker.

Pricing: Free version, $20/month, $79/year, $300/lifetime Use for: As an alternative for grammar and plagiarism checkers of academic writing

ProWritingAid is an affordable grammar checker that leverages artificial intelligence and a personal support system to help you improve your writing by pointing out specific areas of weakness. 

ProWritingAid presents suggestions similarly to Grammarly through bold pop-up boxes that are easy to navigate. However, this software targets professionals looking to make fundamental changes to their writing style. To find out more, read our ProWritingAid review .

• Reasonable prices, especially with the lifetime option
• Compatible with Microsoft Word
• Includes a digital writing coach
• Style score gives you a guide regarding the quality of your work
• Plagiarism is not included in the free version
• PLagiarism checker less accurate than Grammarly

ProWritingAid is a powerful, accurate grammar checker and style editor. It's suitable for non-fiction and fiction writers and doesn't require a monthly subscription. Save 20% per month or year.

Price: 30-day free trial, student/academics discount $50, IOS $19.99, Standard macOS and Windows $58.99 Use for: For managing large academic papers, organizing research, and references

Scrivener may not be as well known as the last two software options, but it has much to offer academic writers. For example, the platform will help you get your references in order, and it will help you integrate large chunks of text into one, which is useful when you’re moving big paragraphs.

Although bloggers and journalists overlook Scrivener, if you’re someone who is dealing with long research papers, this could be the ideal software choice. To find out more, read our Scrivener review .

• Great formatting tools for academic writers
• Affordable prices, especially with the academic discount
• Helps organize your reference 
• Keep all your files, including PDFs and web pages, inside your Scrivener account
• Take a snapshot of your work and return to early versions if you want to make retrospective changes
• No plagiarism checker
• No live checker for editing on external platforms such as Google Docs and Word
• A learning curve

Scrivener is our go-to app for long-form writing projects. It's popular with best-selling novelists, screenwriters, non-fiction writers, students, academics, lawyers, journalists, translators and more. 

Price: Free Use for: General writing, collaborative writing, and editing

Google Docs is probably the most well-known writing software, and it’s used by professional writers, bloggers, and academics worldwide. I’m personally using Docs to write this post, as its sharing feature makes sending your work to an editor a breeze. 

Docs offers many valuable features for academic writers, including headers and footers, collaborative comments, citations, and the new document comparison tool. 

This platform is useful when combined with Grammarly, its spell checker, and writing tips are highlighted clearly in Google Docs, and you can accept and reject suggestions with one click. 

• Easy to use, familiar software
• Collaboration made easy
• Easy to format text with citations, headers/footers, and Headings 
• Grammarly compatible
• Export in PDF
• Document comparison does not make up for the lack of a plagiarism checker
• Native spell checker is a little unreliable, but adding Grammarly makes up for this

Price: Free Use for: For writing scientific papers

LaTex is a writing software designed to help people improve the structure of their academic papers. It’s worth noting that LaTeX doesn’t offer a spell-checking service, so you’ll want to use it in combination with Grammarly or ProWritingAid. 

The software interface may not boast a high-quality-looking interface, but the underlying features are impressive, especially considering the software is free to use. 

• Automatic indexing and bibliography generator 
• Automatic chapter and paragraph macros
• Math typesetting
• No spelling and grammar checker 
• Not as user-friendly as some competitors

Price: 30-day free trial, $3/per month for students, $5/month for academics, $10/month for business Use for: To manage, read, annotate, and share your research references

Papers help you gather your research materials across multiple devices, making your books, articles, and journals easy to access and organize. 

If you’re writing a long research paper, manually collating all your references into one library would be extremely time-consuming. Papers automate the process, letting you focus on writing, 

Although Papers isn’t a stand-alone academic writing software due to the lack of most expected features, it will be handy for academic writers struggling to organize their references and sources.

• Low price for academics and students
• Import references to your library from multiple platforms
• Access all your research sources in one place
• Collaborative annotation of notes and sources
• $10/month is a little expensive, considering you don’t get plagiarism or a spell checker

Price: Free Use for: As a markdown editor and for organizing academic notes

Zettlr is an open-source markdown editor software that lets you focus on your writing without worrying about making it HTML compatible manually. Zettlr is excellent for academic writers looking to include citations or export their work in multiple formats. 

• Export in multiple formats
• Citation system.
• Tags to help you organize information
• Writing goals tracker
• Preview documents without opening them
• You may need some CSS coding knowledge to get the best out of the software.
• No plagiarism checker.

Price: $5.99/month or $39.99/year Use for: Writing on IOS devices

Ulysses is a writing software designed for use on Mac, iPad, and iPhone, so if you aren’t an Apple user, then this one isn’t for you.

Although academic papers are usually full of data, graphs, and charts, you sometimes need to focus on your text, which is where Ulysses can help. Ulysses is minimalist in design with a clutter-free interface, so if you’re someone that quickly gets distracted from writing, it could be a great option. It supports Markdown. You can also use it to prepare an academic paper for publication. To find out more, read our Ulysses review .

• iCloud synchronization
• One payment plan for three devices
• Minimalistic design.
• Set and track writing goals.
• Lacks academic writing features such as a bibliography, references, and chapter organization
• No option for collaborative writing
• Not available for Windows

Price: Free, but you can make a one-time payment of $25 for special developer features and a yearly $50 for commercial use rights Use for: Note taking and organizing

Obsidian is a note-taking and personal knowledge management tool for improving how research writers organize ideas and notes. 

Academic writing often involves developing complex ideas and presenting them clearly. Obsidian can help you develop your theories by organizing your ideas and notes into mindmaps and information stacks. 

Obsidian won’t be the standalone app you use as an academic writer, but it can help you develop ideas and connections within your papers. To find out more, read our Obsidian review .

• Unique mind mapping system
• Many plugins offer features such as voice recording, formatting, and writing templates
• If you have some knowledge of coding HTML or Java, you can customize parts of the software for your specific needs
• It will take some time to get to grips with all the features
• Lack of specific academic writing needs such as a plagiarism checker

Price: Free Use for: Organize your notes across various platforms

Joplin is an open-source note-taking software that operates across various devices and has a thriving community developing free tools to improve the platform. You can share your notes from Joplin across different platforms, and it runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android. 

For academic writers, Joplin offers a space to collect web clippings and notes from online sources and access them from multiple devices. 

• Accessible on all major operating systems
• Web clipping system is excellent for researchers gathering notes
• The community is constantly developing new features
• No collaborative feature
• No free storage/cloud
• Like other note-taking apps, it doesn’t check for plagiarism or spelling

Price: $6.99/Month Use for: General writing, editing, and note-taking

Microsoft Word is one of the most widely used word-processing applications for academic writing. Known for its user-friendly interface, it offers various formatting options and tools. It has an inbuilt spell checker, dozens of fonts, and various formatting options.

It’s a fairly general writing tool that lacks some of the more specialized features of some of those mentioned in this article. Nonetheless, Word is a tried and tested writing companion you should consider using with a good referencing software from this list.

• Robust formatting tools for academic writing
• Familiar to most writers
• Available on almost all PCs
• Solid offline writing tool
• Collaboration features are not as good as other options
• Additional cost for extra cloud storage
• Outdated UI
• Lack of specialist tools

Price: Free Use for: Organizing references

Zotero is an open-source reference management software ideal for anyone struggling to keep their bibliography neatly ordered. If you’re writing a lengthy academic paper and haven’t settled on a referencing software, Zotero is worth a try, especially as it’s free.

If you’re working on a group project, Zotero’s collaborative features are helpful when organizing citations in various formats, including Chicago and APA. Naturally, as this is citation software, you’ll want to combine it with a writing platform such as Docs or Word.

• Free version
• Over 10,000 citation styles
• Collaboration features
• PDF reader built-in
• Compatible with Google Docs and Word
• Limited customer support
• Limited offline access without a paid subscription
• Not the easiest to use without spending several hours practicing

Price: Free with optional premium plan Use for: Researching and referencing

Mendely is a free-to-use reference management tool that PhD students created. You can tell from the software that the people who created it had wasted hours manually referencing and wanted a more streamlined and efficient way to add citations to their papers.

The Mendeley Library has millions of papers and can be easily browsed from tablet, PC, and mobile. Combining it with a reference management tool will help you organize your research.

• Social networking for research collaboration
• Over 100 million articles in the database
• Clean UI, even on smaller screens
• It can be used to generate bibliographies
• Storage is limited in the free version
• Reports of poor synchronization on collaborative documents
• The downloadable version for PC is no longer available

Price: $269.95/Full License Use for: Referencing, annotating, and journal matching

EndNote is a premium academic research and writing software that is a market leader in providing reference management, citations, and bibliography creation. The premium price tag might be worth swallowing if you’re a serious academic writer.

EndNote can help you match your research papers with potentially compatible journals via its Manuscript Match tool. This software is easy to integrate with popular writing software like Google Docs and makes reading and annotating PDFs very easy, even on your phone.

• Excellent reference management
• Smooth integration with word processors
• Top-class PDF reader and annotator
• Novel journal matching tool
• Collaboration is made simple
• The price tag is out of most people’s range
• The learning curve for new users
• The student discount isn’t very generous

Price: Free trial or $1000 Use for: Collaborative reference management and writing

Citavi is an academic writing and reference management tool. The software combines a seamless collaborative writing experience with an automatic citation tool with over 10,000 styles. 

The software automatically links citations, creates a bibliography, and allows you to export directly to Microsoft Word. The software is impressive and has received great reviews, but the price tag naturally means most people will probably settle for something cheaper.

• Covers citations and writing
• Easy export process to Word
• Collaborative writing is as good as with Docs
• Complex academic search queries can be narrowed down with several filters
• The price is high as the product is aimed at companies, not individuals
• Lacks Google Docs compatibility
• The free trial is very limited

Price: Free Use for: Plagiarism checker

Turnitin is a plagiarism detection tool that anyone writing research papers should consider using. Most major research institutions use Turnitin to ensure they don’t publish plagiarized work.

The software is easy to use and rates the uniqueness of academic rating based on its massive pool of papers. Turnitin doesn’t just give a yes or no answer. It points out sections of your work that may be plagiarized and links them to citations of the work that appears to be being copied.

• Trusted by major institutions and leading universities
• Easy to use
• The feedback system gives a detailed breakdown of where you’ve plagiarized and helps you avoid it in the future
• Not the most modern user interface
• Does occasionally flag non-plagiarized copy as plagiarized
• No in-depth writing support or cross-compatibility

Price: Free version or pay per word Use for: Plagiarism checker

Copyscape is a plagiarism checker designed for online content creators and anyone who runs a blog or a website. Although it’s probably less helpful for academics than Turnitin, it’s still worth mentioning, as it can help academics in the early stages of research that involves collecting information from sources other than official journals. 

The software is straightforward to use as it is a simple copy-and-paste system. There is a limited free version, but even the premium per-word rate is very reasonable.

• Great for someone running a blog that posts academic content from multiple writers
• PDF compatible
• Generally, Turnitin is more appropriate for academics
• The website has a very cheap feel

Price: Free version or $20/month Use for: AI-enhanced writing, editing, and researching

ChatGPT has been the most talked about technological innovation this year. Its impact on the world of research and writing is still evolving, and the model is still developing. It’s a fantastic tool for researching if you’re willing to spend a few hours learning how to create effective prompts. 

ChatGPT can rapidly search the web for content published before 2021 and present it concisely. Regardless of the topic you’re researching, this software is going to be able to help you research and write more efficiently.

If you want an in-depth review of ChatGPT and how you can use it to become a better academic writer, check out our ChatGPT review . 

• Rapid response to even very niche research requests
• Finds sources from all over the web much faster than a traditional Google search.
• Speeds up the writing and editing process
• It is a useful tool to master, considering the likelihood of more large language models hitting the market in the future
• It does make factual mistakes.
• Sometimes, the AI suffers from so-called hallucinations that can result in very strange answers.
• Its access to the web was cut off in 2021, so it can’t find the latest research papers.
• You’ll need to spend some time learning about writing prompts to get the best out of ChatGPT

Price: Free version or $4.99/month Use for: Spelling and Grammar

Ginger is a spelling and grammar software that offers an interesting alternative to Grammarly. This software is compatible with most popular writing platforms and goes beyond basic grammar and spelling checks.

Ginger offers unlimited rephrasing suggestions and can translate documents into dozens of languages. In addition, they’ve managed to undercut Grammarly’s prices, so this could be worth a try if you feel Grammarly is too expensive.

• Solid grammar and spell checker
• Very nice UI
• The rephrasing tool will help you add new life to your writing
• Well priced particularly if you pay for a yearly subscription
• The translation feature makes it stand out from the crowd of grammar checkers
• The free version isn’t as comprehensive as the one offered by Grammarly
• Only available on three browsers

Price: Free version available Use for: Writing and publishing

Authorea is a collaborative writing tool designed for researchers working in small teams. Importantly, Authorea goes beyond just helping you write by offering several tools that help researchers publish their papers once it’s completed. Beyond the basic collaborative writing features you may expect, it also offers automatic citation formatting even when multiple people are editing one document.

The software can automatically format research papers to suit 40 of the biggest publishers in the world. The free version is fairly comprehensive, but frustratingly, it’s unclear how much they charge for the premium service, as the price has to be negotiated directly via email with the team. It appears to vary depending on the insulation you work for and the size of your team.

• The publishing feature will be beneficial for academic writers.
• Free to use
• Elegant website and UI
• Collaborative writing and automatic formatting of citations
• The premium pricing plan is not clear
• It’s specialized software, so using it will require some practice
• If you only publish in one journal, then the formatting feature won’t be that useful

Price: Free version available Use for: Specialized academic spelling and grammar checker

Trinka is an AI-powered technical writing grammar and plagiarism checker. This is essentially a more technical version of Grammarly that’s been designed specially to help academic writers. It can help you create a more formal tone, introduce technical terms, and even have the option to focus suggestions on specific scientific areas such as medicine, chemistry, and physics. 

In addition, it has a publication feature that can help you get your paper into the format required by most publishers. If you’ve been using Grammarly as an academic writer but feel that its suggestions are too general, then Trinka could be a great alternative.

• A spell checker designed for academic writers
• Suggestions tailored to your scientific field
• Formatting tool and an in-house plagiarism checker
• Tone enhancement designed for academic papers
• Premium version reasonably priced at $80/year
• The free version is slightly limited
• Only 5,000 words per month with the free version
• Slow response times from customer support, according to some reviews

If you need a good grammar checker, Grammarly is our top choice due to its accuracy and speed. Scrivener excels at managing long-form papers, but Ulysses is easier to use. Obsidian is great for managing research as it Papers.

My work as a journalist has been published in major news outlets such as The Daily Mirror, Newsweek, Zenger, and Yahoo. In a hectic newsroom, there’s no time to waste, and mistakes are rarely forgiven, so I’ve spent hundreds of hours using writing software to guarantee accuracy and clarity in my copy. 

In my opinion, you can make the best use of academic writing software by combining different options based on their individual strengths. I recommend using Google Docs if you collaborate with a team combined with Grammarly or ProWritingAid for spelling and plagiarism and then adding something like Papers to help organize your sources. 

We update this roundup of the best academic writing tools regularly. We test key features by checking MS Word documents, blog posts, essays, articles and even book chapters. 

These writing samples range from several hundred to several thousand words. Typically, we use the web, desktop and browser apps and plugins, factoring in price, ease of use, and functionality. We’ve reviewed many of these tools individually and included links to those reviews.

FAQs About The Best Academic Writing Software

Grammarly is useful for checking academic writing for grammar and spelling mistakes. It can also help academic writers improve the readability of their reports or papers. However, Grammarly isn’t meant to function as a tool for planning and writing academic papers. For that use, a traditional word processor or a dedicated academic writing app.

Peter is an experienced journalist and tech-lover who has spent years hunting for the best writing software. He firmly believes that we all need a helping hand crossing our Ts and dotting our Is and takes great pride in sharing his opinions on the best writing software out there.

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• Writing Tips

Six Essay Helper Tools for Students

4-minute read

• 23rd August 2023

Essay writing is a significant aspect of any academic career – regardless of the subject. Creating a research timeline and writing an essay from start to finish can be a daunting task, but luckily, online essay helper tools can assist you throughout the writing process. In this post, we’ve compiled a list of the five popular tools to help you with your essay, from the initial outline to the citations. Keep reading for more.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine provided by Google that focuses specifically on scholarly literature, including academic articles, conference papers, theses, and books. It was created to help researchers and students find authoritative and credible sources for their research and provides links to the full-text versions when available.

One feature of Google Scholar is that it allows you to track citations of academic works. For example, you can see how many times a particular article has been cited by other researchers, which can help gauge its significance.

Scrivener is a popular writing software designed to assist you in drafting, organizing, and editing your work. For example, it allows you to break down your writing into smaller, manageable sections called scrivenings . These can represent different sections or paragraphs of your essay.

You can then view and arrange your scrivenings on a virtual corkboard or in an outline format so you can plan the structure of your work, which is especially helpful if you’re writing a longer essay. Scrivener also provides a research folder where you can store reference materials, images, web links, and notes related to your project, keeping all relevant information in one place for easy access. It also has a customizable full-screen mode that allows you to focus solely on writing without distractions.

Turnitin is a plagiarism checker widely used by educational institutions to help students avoid unintentional plagiarism. It compares submitted work to a vast database of academic content to identify potential matches. After your essay is processed, Turnitin generates an originality report that highlights any text in the submitted document that matches content from other sources. Turnitin can also check citations and references to ensure they are correctly formatted, which helps ensure your sources are credited properly and decreases instances of unintentional plagiarism .

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Thesaurus.Com

Do you ever find yourself reusing the same words over and over when writing an essay? Varying your word choice in your writing helps make your essays more interesting and expressive, but it’s not always easy to come up with the right synonyms . Thesaurus.com is one of the largest and most reliable online thesaurus tools and is a great resource for finding synonyms for commonly used words in essays (such as significantly or additionally ) and expanding your everyday vocabulary. You can even have a synonym of the day sent directly to your email.

Evernote is a note-taking app that provides a platform for students to organize ideas, research materials, and take notes in one place. It syncs across devices and provides a browser extension called the Web Clipper that allows you to save articles, web pages, and images directly to your Evernote account.

Citation Machine

Citation Machine generates citations and references for your essay based on the information you provide, such as the title of the work, the author’s name, and the publication year. It offers a wide range of citation styles commonly used in academic writing, including APA, MLA, and Chicago styles.

Citation Machine can generate reference entries and in-text citations for different types of sources (e.g., books, articles, websites, and videos). In addition, it offers tutorials and tips on proper citation guidelines and avoiding plagiarism .

Expert Proofreading Services

The best essay helper is having your work professionally proofread by our expert editors. Send in your free sample to get started today!

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Write. Cite. Manage References.

The academic writing app for students, scholars & professionals..

How It Works

Choose citation style, add references, write & cite.

Automatic Formatting

Reference manager.

Google Scholar

Apa, mla & more.

Various Reference Types

Figures & equations.

Extra Sections

More features, export to pdf or word, import bibtex, backgrounds, ratings and reviews, outstanding application & support.

I've been using Essayist for years as for a while I only had an iPad as my main driver yet had to write papers for school and this was the only applicaiton that allowed me to do so on the iPad while not only maintaining all APA formatting requirements but making it even easier to cite articles with it's Google Scholar search function. I've also had a couple of times where i'd reach out to their customer support and they were prompt in responding with answers or even potential updates and timing. I highly recommend this app to every student at every level as I used it through my MBA and i'm now using it to complete a doctorate.

AMAZING tool for college students!

I am so glad I found this app because it has come in very handy in writing my essays for college. Essayist is very easy to use and supports many citation styles for all my essay writing needs. Has not let me down yet, thank you!!

It's worth it's weight in gold at least 10X over. I really don't know what I would do without this app. I use it for every single assignment and it's such a time saver and helps make sure everything is correct. I absolutely love it and recommend it to every single person I know in school.

Marvelous, Superb, and a Joy to Use

Essayist is an app designed with simplicity in mind. The team behind this application has eliminated the burden of the “essay criteria.” In its stead, we have a clear and perfectly structured canvas on which to begin writing without distractions. Upon purchase - which is worth every penny, you're prompted to choose your citation of choice. Your paper format and structure are based on this selection. Adding a works cited or bibliography is as simple as pressing a button. The app allows for chapters of books/magazines/ journals, websites, films, etc., and the user-friendly OS will enable you to seamlessly integrate those references as in-text citations, all with the press of a button. This app is a flagship creation of a solution to a long-standing problem. A problem that can perhaps be phrased as, “How can I have all the formatting and citations already done for me so that I can focus on just writing”? Essayist does just that.

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Typewriter. Ring-binder. Scrapbook. Everything you need to craft your first draft.

Get your thoughts onto the page and explore the connections between them.

Join the conversation. Ask a question or just get to know your fellow users.

What we’re working on, interviews with users, and general prolixity.

Typewriter. Ring-binder. Scrapbook. Scrivener combines all the tools you need to craft your first draft, from nascent notion to final full stop.

Scrivener takes tools familiar to writers everywhere and integrates them in new and exciting ways.

Start a new chapter: Scrivener 3 is now available for macOS and Windows.

No matter what you write, Scrivener brings together all of your notes, research and writing so that it's always at hand.

For writing. And writing. And writing.

Scrivener is the go-to app for writers of all kinds, used every day by best-selling novelists, screenwriters, non-fiction writers, students, academics, lawyers, journalists, translators and more. Scrivener won't tell you how to write—it simply provides everything you need to start writing and keep writing.

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Grow your manuscript your way.

Tailor-made for long writing projects, Scrivener banishes page fright by allowing you to compose your text in any order, in sections as large or small as you like. Got a great idea but don't know where it fits? Write when inspiration strikes and find its place later. Grow your manuscript organically, idea by idea.

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Whether you plan or plunge, Scrivener works your way: hammer out every last detail before typing a word, or carve out a draft and restructure later. Or mix your methods and do a bit of both. In Scrivener, everything you write is integrated into an easy-to-use project outline. So working with an overview of your manuscript is only ever a click away, and turning Chapter Four into Chapter One is as simple as drag and drop.

Research within reach

Need to refer to research? In Scrivener, your background material is always at hand, and you can open it right next to your work. Write a description based on a photograph. Transcribe an interview. Take notes about a PDF file or web page. Or check for consistency by referencing an earlier chapter alongside the one in progress.

Getting it out there

Once you're ready to share your work with the world, compile everything into a single document for printing, self-publishing, or exporting to popular formats such as Word, PDF, Final Draft or plain text. You can even share using different formatting, so that you can write in your favorite font and still satisfy those submission guidelines.

Who uses Scrivener?

• Autobiographers
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• Journalists
• Screenwriters
• Translators

I genuinely think this is the biggest software advance for writers since the word processor. Michael Marshall Smith , NYT best-selling author.

Scrivener gives you the freedom to make a mess, the confidence to know you’ll clean it up, and the semantic relationships to tie it all together in whatever way makes the most sense to you. Merlin Mann , indie writer, speaker, and broadcaster.

If there was a list of the top five greatest apps of all time in the Mac App Store, it would start with Scrivener and then there would be four other things. Andy Ihnatko , technology columnist.

As a writer's application, Scrivener is damn near perfect; it means outlines, treatments and then first drafts can be put together in the same application. Neil Cross , author and screenwriter.

Scrivener is worth every penny: quite simply, it’s the best writers tool there is. Zoe Margolis , best-selling author.

Scrivener is the biggest leap forward in writing software since the venerable days of WordPerfect, and believe me, I’ve tried them all. Antony Johnston , comics writer and novelist.

Scrivener has so many useful features, there’s almost too many to list. Mike Sussman , Writer-Producer.

I'd thought it was yet another hobby app at first but this is genuinely for working writers with real deadlines and monster workloads. Karen Traviss , #1 NYT best-selling author.

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5 Best Essay Writing Apps For Students and Academics   

Sumera B | 23 Aug 2023 | Featured

In the rapidly evolving realm of education and professional writing, the availability of essay writing apps has emerged as a game-changer. These apps serve as invaluable companions for students and academics, streamlining the writing process, enhancing grammar and readability, and ensuring the creation of high-quality content.

In this comprehensive review, we explore the best essay-writing apps available on iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS. These top 5 apps, including EssayPro, Scrivener, Microsoft Word, Evernote, and Grammarly, offer unique features tailored to diverse writing needs , making them versatile tools for essay writing across different platforms.

1. EssayPro: Elevate Your Essays with Expert Assistance

EssayPro.app is an online platform that offers academic writing services to students. It connects students with professional writers who can help with a wide range of writing assignments, such as essays, research papers, and dissertations. 

Users can choose a writer based on their qualifications and reviews, and the platform provides a collaborative environment for communication throughout the writing process. Keep in mind that using such services should be in line with academic integrity guidelines.

EssayPro stands as a beacon in the world of essay writing services. It connects students and academics with professional essay writers who craft customized essays, research papers, and assignments tailored to specific requirements.

• Expert Writers: EssayPro boasts a team of skilled essay writers, each specializing in various academic disciplines and topics.
• Customized Approach: Collaborate closely with writers to ensure essays meet specific guidelines and academic standards.
• Wide Range of Subjects: From complex thesis projects to research papers, EssayPro caters to a diverse range of academic topics.
• Compatibility : Accessible through web browsers, EssayPro ensures seamless cross-platform access for users on Mac, Windows, Android, and iOS devices.
• Pricing: EssayPro’s pricing varies based on factors such as essay complexity, deadline, and academic level. The transparent pricing system ensures you receive accurate quotes before placing orders.
• Devices and Accessibility: Enjoy the convenience of using EssayPro’s services on a wide range of devices, including Mac, Windows, Android phones, iPhones, and iPads.

2. Grammarly: Your Comprehensive Guide For Essays

Grammarly is a widely used digital writing assistant that helps users improve their writing by checking for grammar, spelling, punctuation, and style errors. It provides real-time suggestions and corrections as you type in various text fields, including documents, emails, and social media posts. 

Grammarly also offers insights into sentence structure, tone, clarity, and word choice, making it a valuable tool for individuals looking to enhance their written communication skills.

Grammarly has earned its reputation as one of the best essay writing apps, offering advanced grammar and style checks.

• Advanced Grammar Checks: Correct grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and punctuation issues.
• Style and Clarity: Receive suggestions to enhance sentence structure and overall writing style.
• Vocabulary Enhancement: Explore synonyms and vocabulary improvements to elevate your writing. 
• Compatibility : Integrate Grammarly seamlessly into your writing routine on platforms such as Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and web browsers like Chrome. Grammarly also acts as a proofreader for the user’s essay. The software also works as a plagiarism checker so that the document is not plagiarised.
• Pricing : Grammarly offers a free version with basic grammar checks. The premium version, starting at $29.95 per month, provides access to advanced features.
• Devices and Accessibility: Benefit from Grammarly’s convenience across platforms, including Mac, Windows, Android, and iOS devices, ensuring your writing remains error-free on any device. 

3. Scrivener: Your Writing Companion For Complex Essay Writing Projects

Scrivener is a powerful writing software designed to aid authors, screenwriters, and other creative writers in organizing and managing their writing projects. Unlike traditional word processors, Scrivener offers a range of features, such as a virtual corkboard, outlining tools, and customizable organization options. 

It allows writers to break down their work into smaller sections, view research alongside their writing, and maintain a cohesive structure throughout the writing process. This makes Scrivener a popular choice for those working on complex or large-scale projects. Making edits in Scrivener is also an easy task.

• Virtual Binder Interface: Organize research materials, drafts, and diagrams with a digital binder-like interface.
• Hierarchical Outlining: Develop well-structured academic papers and theses with detailed outlining.
• Distraction-Free Writing: Enjoy a focused writing environment for drafting complex assignments.
• Compatibility: Available on both Mac and Windows platforms, Scrivener provides a stable writing environment for your academic pursuits.
• Pricing : Scrivener offers a one-time purchase option, with prices ranging from $49 to $79, ensuring a worthy investment in your academic writing endeavors.
• Devices and Accessibility: Embrace the dedicated writing space Scrivener offers on both Mac and Windows devices, enhancing your ability to manage intricate academic projects.

4. Evernote: Organize Research For Seamless Writing

Evernote is a versatile note-taking and organization app that helps users capture and manage various types of information. It allows you to create and store notes, images, web clippings, audio recordings, and more in a digital notebook format. With features like tagging, searching, and syncing across devices, 

Evernote makes it easy to access and organize your content from anywhere. It is commonly used for the personal and professional purposes, helping users stay organized and efficient in their day-to-day tasks and projects. 

• Note-Taking Excellence: Capture and categorize research materials, quotes, and ideas seamlessly.
• Web Clipping: Save online articles and references directly to your notebooks for future reference.
• Multimedia Integration: Enhance your notes with images, audio recordings, and diagrams. 
• Compatibility: Evernote ensures cross-platform access with dedicated applications for Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS devices.
• Pricing: While Evernote offers a free version, the premium version, starting at $7.99 per month, provides advanced features and additional storage.
• Devices and Accessibility: Access your research materials and notes with ease on devices such as Mac, Windows, Android phones, iPhones, and iPads.

5. Hemingway Editor: Crafting Clear and Engaging Essays

The Hemingway Editor is a writing tool that focuses on improving the clarity and readability of your text. Named after the renowned writer Ernest Hemingway, the editor highlights complex sentences, passive voice, adverbs, and other potential issues in your writing. 

It assigns a readability score and suggests improvements to make your writing more concise and impactful. The tool is especially useful for individuals seeking to enhance the simplicity and effectiveness of their prose, making it easier for readers to understand and engage with the content.

• Readability Enhancement: Simplify sentences and enhance the overall clarity of your essays.
• Passive Voice Detection: Identify and replace passive voice with active alternatives for more engaging writing.
• Instant Feedback: Gain real-time feedback on your writing style and readability score.
• Compatibility: Accessible through web browsers and available as a desktop application for both Mac and Windows, Hemingway Editor offers cross-platform convenience.
• Pricing: Hemingway Editor provides a free online version with limited features. The desktop version, available for a one-time purchase of $19.99, offers additional functionalities. 
• Devices and Accessibility: Experience the benefits of Hemingway Editor’s readability enhancements on both Mac and Windows devices, ensuring your essays are clear and engaging.

Things To Consider While Selecting Essay Writing Apps 

When choosing an essay writing app for students and academics, it’s important to consider several factors to ensure that the tool meets your specific needs and helps enhance your writing and research process. Here are the points to consider:

Features And Functionality

Prioritize apps with robust features like grammar and spell checking, plagiarism detection, and style suggestions to enhance writing quality and adherence to academic standards. 

Look for those with research tools, such as citation generators, to streamline academic research.

User Interface And Ease Of Use

Choose an app with an intuitive interface that minimizes the learning curve. Ensure it’s available on various platforms to allow seamless work across devices.

Cost And Accessibility

Consider your budget and evaluate whether the app offers a free version with basic features, student discounts, or trial periods for testing. Ensure the cost aligns with your needs.

Privacy And Data Security

Check the app’s privacy policy and data security measures to guarantee the confidentiality of your research and writing. Verify if it uses encryption for added security.

Customer Support And Updates

Prioritize apps with responsive customer support through email, chat, or phone. Frequent updates indicate a commitment to improving functionality and fixing issues.

Compatibility With Citation Styles

Ensure the app supports various citation styles (e.g., APA, MLA) for academic writing, making referencing and formatting easier and more accurate.

Collaboration Features

If you collaborate frequently, choose apps with real-time editing and commenting to facilitate teamwork on essays and research papers.

Integration With Other Tools  

Look for apps that integrate with other essential tools such as cloud storage services or academic databases to enhance your workflow.

Offline Accessibility 

Consider whether the app allows you to work offline, ensuring productivity even without an internet connection.

User Reviews And Recommendations

Read reviews and seek recommendations from peers to get insights into real-world experiences with the app. This can help you make an informed decision based on user feedback.

In the world of academic writing, these essay writing apps serve as indispensable tools, whether you’re seeking expertly crafted essays, refining your grammar and style, managing complex research projects, or focusing on readability. Across platforms and devices, these apps offer cross-platform compatibility, ensuring users writing experience remains distraction-free and productive. 

A user should embrace these essay writing tools to elevate their writing skills, enhance their quality of essays, and embark on a journey of academic excellence. With money-back guarantees, free versions, and premium options, each of these apps brings a unique contribution to the user’s writing endeavors, ultimately enriching the academic experience and achievements.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) 

Which app is best for academic writing.

EssayPro, Evernote, and Scrivener are popular choices for academic writing. Evernote is versatile for note-taking, research, and organization, while Scrivener’s advanced tools are great for structuring and managing complex writing projects.

Is EssayPro suitable for academic integrity?

EssayPro’s services are intended to provide writing assistance and should be used ethically, adhering to academic integrity guidelines. Directly submitting purchased content as one’s own work is generally discouraged.

Does Hemingway Editor work offline?

Yes, Hemingway Editor can be used offline. However, the web version requires an internet connection to access the tool initially.

Is Grammarly compatible with mobile devices?

Yes, Grammarly offers mobile apps for both iOS and Android platforms, allowing users to access its features on the go.

Can Scrivener export to different formats?

Yes, Scrivener offers a wide range of export options, allowing you to save your work in various formats, including DOCX, PDF, e-books, and more.

Can essay writing apps replace the need for proper writing skills?

While these apps are valuable tools, they are not a substitute for developing strong writing skills. They can assist in proofreading and formatting, but it’s essential to cultivate your writing abilities through practice and learning.

Are there any ethical concerns with using essay writing apps, particularly in academic settings?

The ethical use of essay writing apps is essential. While they can assist in writing and research, they should not be used to plagiarize or submit work that is not your own. Always adhere to academic integrity standards and use these apps as aids in your writing process.

Do essay writing apps work offline?

Some essay writing apps offer offline functionality, allowing you to work without an internet connection. This can be useful for students who need to write in places with limited connectivity.

What features should I look for in an essay writing app as a student or academic?

Key features to consider include grammar and spell checking, plagiarism detection, citation generators for different styles (e.g., APA, MLA), research tools, real-time collaboration, and export options in various formats (e.g., Word, PDF).

Can essay writing apps help with research and referencing?

Yes, many essay writing apps offer research assistance by providing access to academic databases and helping with citation management. They can help you locate relevant sources and properly format your references.

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191 Best Writing Tools And Resources Every Student Needs

Have you ever struggled with your writing assignments? Essays, reports, term papers… There are so many various types of academic writing.

Now it’s time to throw out all those struggles because we’ve picked 198 writing tools and resources that will help you to enhance your studies.

Check them out now!

Academic Papers: Feel the Difference

• Choose Your Topic
• Research Your Topic
• Boost Your Creativity
• Ace Your Writing
• Check Grammar and Punctuation
• Say No to Plagiarism

Bonus: 29 Must-Have Apps for Every Student

What’s the difference between an essay and a research paper, a term paper and a critical academic paper?

Each type of academic assignment has a specific purpose and helps students develop their analytical and writing skills in unique ways.

Knowing the various types of academic writing is essential because each university and college has its own specific standards for assignments.

With the help of this chapter, you will understand the difference between the basic types of academic writing.

Let’s start our short overview:

The purpose of the essay as an academic paper is to defend an argument, state a personal opinion, or answer questions on a topic by providing supporting evidence.

Essays are the most popular type of academic writing. Depending on the purpose, there are many different types of essays: descriptive, critical, admission, personal, comparison, cause and effect, and so on.

Typically, an essay will be around one page in length or between 1,500 and 6,000 words.

Check out these resources to get a better understanding of which elements to use in your next essay:

• Essay Basics | SUNY Empire State College
• Basic Essay Format | Utah Valley University
• How To Write an Essay |Thought.Co
• The Basics of Effective Essay Writing | Education Corner

Research paper

A research paper is another type of academic writing. It is based on the author’s original research on a specific issue, as well as an analysis and interpretation of the research findings.

A research paper should start with the author’s interests, including the questions and subjects that the author finds important:

• Research Paper Basic Guidelines | Iowa State University
• Ten steps for writing research papers | American University
• Make your online research more effective [8 super hacks] | IvyPanda

Reaction or response paper

Sometime during your studies, you will surely be asked to write a response or reaction paper. These types of assignments are just what they sound like. You have to write down your thoughts and feelings related to an assigned text or film.

Review the following guidelines to use when reacting to text or film content:

• Writing Summary, Analysis, Response Papers | Owlcation
• Writing a Response or Reaction Paper | Hunter College
• 10 tips for writing a good reaction paper | Honest College
• Response Paper | Duke University

This type of academic assignment is written once a semester or term. Why do students need to write term papers?

The bottom line is…

By writing a research term paper, you’ll deepen your knowledge base of the course content, increase your proficiency level in that subject area, and sharpen your analytical, research, and writing skills:

• Term paper guidelines | College Of Social & Behavioral Science – The University of Utah
• Guideline for writing a term paper | Universität Freiburg
• Essays and Term Papers | College of Earth and Mineral Sciences PSU
• Term Papers Online: 99+ Sites for Your FREE Paper | IvyPanda

Book or movie review

During your career as a student, you may be assigned a book or movie review. A typical book review contains three essential parts:

• A short summary of the book
• Your critical assessment of the content
• A conclusion about the meaning or significance of the author’s argument

Typically, the length of a movie or book review is about 750 – 1,000 words.

• Writing Academic Book Reviews | USCLibraries
• Book Review Guidelines | Armstrong State University
• Book Reviews | GoodReads
• Movies and TV shows database | IMDB

Synthesis essay

When you’re instructed to write a synthesis essay, you should focus on comparison and contrast, division and classification. Synthesis essays can be both informational and persuasive. The main difference is in how you present your ideas and arguments.

Want more information? Just check out these guidelines:

• Help…I’ve Been Asked to Synthesize! | Bowling Green State University
• Synthesis Introduction |Lumen Learning

Annotated bibliography

An annotated bibliography is a list of sources that includes short evaluations and descriptions of each source. Don’t forget to choose the right formatting style!

• Basics of Annotated Bibliographies | Walden University
• Information Literacy 101 – The Basics of Using the Salmon Library |  The University of Alabama in Huntsville
• Bibliography and Annotated Bibliography | Eastern Institute of Technology
• How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography: The Annotated Bibliography | Cornell University

Writing a Paper: Choose Your Topic

Choosing the right topic accounts for almost 50% of any assignment’s success. Nevertheless, selecting a subject can be a difficult task, even for an experienced researcher.

You may ask…

What should I do?

Here are three simple steps for finding good writing ideas:

• Within the content of the course, pick something that appeals to you.
• Analyze the chosen topic. Is it too broad? Don’t try to embrace a topic that’s too large.
• Check whether there are enough resources for your research topic.

This all may seem easy to say. But there are a few common mistakes you should avoid when choosing good research topics:

• Don’t select a tedious subject just because it seems simple to write about. When you’re bored with the issue you’ve chosen, you’re more likely to compose a dull, colorless assignment.
• Don’t choose too original of a topic. You may not find enough sources for your research.
• Don’t hesitate to ask your professor for advice on what subject to write about.

Here are more useful resources on choosing research topic ideas for your next writing assessment:

• Choosing and Narrowing a Topic to Write About (for Research Papers) | Sophia
• Choosing Research Paper Topics: Reading for Information | Write.com
• Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper: Choosing a Title | USC Libraries

If you still have no idea where to start, try the tools below:

• Essay Topic Generator
• IvyPanda Essay Idea Generator
• Ashford Thesis Generator
• Random Topic Generator

Writing a Paper: Research Your Topic

Well, you’ve picked your essay topic. What’s next?

Time to do some research.

First of all, don’t leave your assignment until the last minute, because you may need more time than you expected.

The second step to successful research is to understand your research question thoroughly. If you skip this essential step, you may end up taking the wrong direction with your research.

Third, clarify what you already know about the topic and identify any informational gaps. Doing this will help you narrow the research you need to do.

Fourth, while doing your research, don’t forget to take notes as you go along. Write only fragments that can help you answer the essay question. Research a range of perspectives on the chosen problem.

Here are some guides on how to gather the information for your paper:

• Strategies for Gathering Reliable Information | University of Minnesota
• 6 Tips to Finding Research Paper Sources that Set You Apart | StudyRight

Moreover, we believe that you’ll want to use the tools listed below:

• Google Scholar
• ERIC (Education Resources Information Center)
• Microsoft Academic
• Wolfram Alpha
• iSEEK Education
• ResearchGate
• Hyper Articles en Ligne (HAL)
• MyScienceWork
• LazyScholar

Writing a Paper: Boost Your Creativity

First and foremost, what you need to do is overcome your writer’s block. Have you ever felt like you just couldn’t write even a single sentence?

Most writers share a fear of the blank page.

Think about the concept behind the assignment. You may want to begin with a brainstorming session. Take a look again at the notes you took while doing research. Check out some essay samples . Use a mind map to generate writing ideas and plan your future essay:

• 10 Ways to Use a Mind Map | SmartDraw
• 10 Longtime Brainstorming Techniques that Still Work | Inc.
• The Complete Guide on How to Mind Map for Beginners | IQMatrix
• Effective Brainstorming Techniques | Medium

You may also want to use these free writing tools for brainstorming:

• SpiderScribe
• Mind Maps | GoConqr
• WiseMapping
• Imagination Prompt Generator

Do you want even more creative writing tips? Just look through these guides and strategies:

• 13 Ways to Make Your Writing More Interesting to Read | Oxford Royale Academy
• 10 Tips on How to Write Without Distractions | WriteToDone
• Time Management: The Essay Writing | College Essay Advisors

Writing a Paper: Make a Draft

So, you’ve chosen your essay topic, created your mind map, and done thorough research.

What’s your next step?

Time to write the first draft.

Compose a draft assignment

Let’s take a closer look at the drafting process. A draft is simply a rough sketch of your writing assignment. Try to write it as fast as possible. This can prevent you from losing interest.

Here are some useful guides on writing your first draft:

• Creating a Rough Draft for a Research Paper | University of Minnesota
• Dos and don’ts of writing the first draft of your science paper | Elsevier
• Putting pen to paper: How to write a rough draft | Inklyo
• Essay Writing Basics: The Fast First Draft | My College Advice

You may ask: Are there any free writing tools to help with drafting?

Sure! Check out these apps:

• Write 2 Lite

While writing your draft, be sure to structure it!

Start with an outline

Make a list of 3 – 5 crucial essay points. Put them in a logical order. Then write 3 – 5 subpoints below each point. These subpoints should support the logic of the main point:

• Writer’s Web: Creating Outlines | University of Richmond
• Prewriting and Outlining | University of Maryland

If you wish to automate the outlining process, the tools below will come in handy:

• BubbleUp Essay Outline Generator
• Essay Generator
• Online Outliner
• Thesis Statement Generator

Your professor may ask you to include a summary of your assignment, or an abstract, with your research paper. An abstract is usually one paragraph of 300 words or less that introduces:

• The purpose of your research and the issues you investigated
• The basic structure of the essay
• Significant trends or findings from your research
• A summary of your conclusions

Here are few useful guides on how to write an abstract:

• How To Write A Great Essay Abstract With 4 Simple Questions | NaijaWritersCoach
• How to Write an APA Abstract | Verywell mind
• How to write a scientific abstract in six easy steps | Serendipity

Do you need an online summarizer? Pick it up from the list below:

• Automatic Text Summarizer
• Summary Generator
• Tools4Noobs Summarizer
• SummarizeThis

Introduction

Consider the introduction to be a plan that must answer the following questions:

• What was my research about?
• Why did I choose to investigate this topic?
• What did we already know about this issue before I conducted my research?
• How will my research boost new points of view or new knowledge?

For more advice, check out these academic writing sources:

• How to Write an Introduction | Explorable
• 10 tips for writing an effective introduction to original research papers | ThinkScience
• How to Write an Effective Introduction for a College Research Paper | Pen and The Pad

Writing the body for an essay is often one of the most complicated parts of the assignment.

What should you do?

First of all, look back at your outline. You may use it as a guide. When writing the body of your essay, you should not only expand your opening statement but also dive into the research methods you used and give answers to the questions you examined.

Look through the guides below to ace your essay body writing:

• How to write a good paragraph | TU Eindhoven
• The Secrets to Good Paragraph Writing | Time4Writing
• Strong Body Paragraphs | University of Washington
• ICE: Introduce, Cite, and Explain Your Evidence | Penn State Abington

Now you’ve come to the last (but not the easiest) part of your assignment.

When writing an essay conclusion, you should not merely summarize the main topics covered, but also synthesize the key findings of your research and recommend new ideas for future investigation of selected issues:

• Essay Conclusions | UMUC
• Introductions and Conclusions | University of Toronto

Do you want more tips and hints on academic writing?

Just keep reading!

Try to avoid passive voice

Using the passive voice makes your academic writing assignment sound indefinite and less direct. This may cause the paper to lose the reader’s attention.

There are a few situations where the passive voice in writing may be appropriate:

• Using the active and passive voice in research writing | Editage
• When To Use The Active Voice | College of Earth and Mineral Sciences PSU

If you decide to wipe out the passive voice from your writing, use one of the tools below:

• Analyze My Writing
• Passive Voice Detector
• “To Be” Verbs Analyzer
• Passive Voice Checker
• Expresso App

Eliminate clichés

Clichés are a part of our daily life—that’s why they’re clichés! But when you are writing an academic assignment, you’d better avoid using them.

It’s simple. Clichés can irritate people and make you seem like a lazy writer who lacks careful thought. So it’s better for you to learn how to avoid writing cliches:

• What is cliché? Cliché examples (and how to avoid) | Now Novel
• 5 College Essay Clichés You Should Avoid | Stanford University

If you want to quickly find a cliché in your writing, check these services:

• Cliche Finder
• Cliche Finder – S. Morgan Friedman’s
• Cliché Finder | Writerly Words
• Pro Cliche Finder

Use metaphors and similes correctly

Similes and metaphors are similar, but they’re not the same figures of speech.

Metaphors equate things for a descriptive purpose, while similes compare something to something else using the words like and as.

Browse through these guides to learn how to improve writing using good similes and metaphors:

• How to Use Effective Metaphors in an Essay | BookRags
• Using Metaphors When Writing A College Essay | CollegeLax
• 100 Metaphor Examples | EreadingWorksheets
• How to Spice Up Your Writing With Similes and Metaphors | HobbyLark

Keep sentences short

Using sentences that are too long in academic papers may decrease the quality of your writing. The logical flow will be disrupted.

At the same time, however, using too short sentences might sound like you can’t link words correctly or have a poor language level.

Learn more about sentence length here:

• Editing Tip: Sentence Length | AJE
• Sentence Length | GrammarGirl

Good news! You don’t need to count each word in your writing. Just use the tools from our list below:

• Word Count Tool
• Count Wordsworth
• WordCounter
• Word Counter

Write clearly

To write precisely, you should cut out unnecessary words and create strong mental pictures.

Discover how to write concisely and clearly:

• 8 Steps to More Concise Writing | Daily Writing Tips
• Writing Concisely | UNC Writing Center
• Writing clearly and concisely | The University of Arizona

Avoid overused words

In academic writing, it’s crucial to avoid overly vague, exaggerated, informal, subjective, generally incorrect, and unnecessary words and phrases.

Below are some lists of words that you should cut out from your essay:

• 18 Overused Words to Replace When Writing | Oxford Tutoring
• Overused and Tired Words | ThoughtCo
• 44 Overused Words & Phrases To Be Aware Of (Infographic) | GrammarCheck

You can use web apps below to replace overused words in your essay:

• PowerThesaurus
• ProWritingAid

Use abbreviations properly

Abbreviations are shortened words or phrases, and they come in many forms: initials and acronyms, Latin abbreviations, titles, measurements, dates, and so on.

These guides will help you figure out how and when you should use them in your assignment:

• Grammar: Abbreviations and Acronyms | GCFLearnFree
• When is it appropriate to use abbreviations? | APA Style

Writing a Paper: Check Grammar and Punctuation

When you have a lot of classes to attend, tests to prepare for, and papers to write, it’s no wonder that foolish grammar mistakes can easily slip into your assignment.

When using grammar checkers, you should keep in mind these simple tips and hints:

• Most grammar checkers are useful for finding subject/verb issues and reducing the passive voice but are extremely poor at recognizing the proper use of articles.
• Use a grammar checker to detect your typing errors, such as an unintentionally repeated word, an unnecessary space before a comma, a sentence with no end punctuation, etc.
• Don’t eliminate a manual check of your assignment. You can ask your friend to conduct a grammar check of your essay or ask IvyPanda’s Academic Experts for proofreading.

You may also want to try these free grammar tools for writing:

• SpellCheckPlus
• GrammarCheckForSentence
• Ginger Grammar Checker
• GrammarLookup
• Punctuation Check
• Hemingway Editor
• Sentence Checker
• After the Deadline
• LanguageTool
• Virtual Writing Tutor

Writing a Paper: Say No to Plagiarism

And the last but not the least thing that scares most students is the risk of being involved with plagiarism.

How can you avoid this?

Try these simple ways:

• Paraphrase original texts using your own words.
• Put quotes into your paper.
• Summarize the original document or book.

Bottom line?

Don’t forget that any borrowed material must have a proper citation. Be sure that you present any relevant features of other authors’ publications in your own words.

In terms of which citations styles to use, it usually depends on the discipline involved. For example:

• Modern Language Association (MLA) style is usually used in the Humanities.
• Chicago style citation should be used when writing Fine Arts, History, or Business assignments.
• American Psychological Association (APA) style is applicable for Sciences, Psychology, and Education academic writing.

For properly cited sources, use these bibliography citation makers:

• Citation Generator
• Citation Builder | NC State University
• KnightCite | Calvin College
• Citation Machine™
• CiteThisForMe

Plagiarism is a quite critical ethical offense for a student. It is recognized as a violation of academic honesty principles. Because it’s so important, you should never forget to check your assignment for any uncited borrowings.

There are a lot of paid and free writing software that will check your assignment for plagiarism.

We are sure that you may want to try one of these online tools for students:

• DupliChecker
• Plagiarisma
• PlagiarismChecker
• PlagTracker

Do you want more online writing tools for students?

We’ve gathered a few of the best writing apps and tools that will come in handy for you and your friends:

• WorkFlowy . Shape your thoughts by creating structured plans and outlines for your academic assignments.
• CheckVist . This is another excellent tool for creating and sharing plans, checklists, and outlines.
• Etherpad . You can use this online writing editor to collaborate with your mates.
• EverNote . This is a great tool that every student needs. Take your notes and organize your daily schedule on any device.
• Google Docs. Google Docs is perhaps one of the most well-known online writing editors, allowing you to create, edit, and collaborate with others on documents.
• PDF Pro . Edit PDF files for free. The tool allows you to convert Word, Excel, PowerPoint to PDF, add text and images, etc.
• Dropbox. Use this app to store your files in one place, sync them across all devices, and share them with your friends.
• Animoto. Make exciting video presentations for your assignments.
• Piktochart. Imagine that you could create presentations in three simple steps. Use ready-made designs or produce your own. You can also use this tool to share your slides or infographic with your classmates.
• Canva . Perhaps, you’ve already heard about this app for graphics. Use it to create presentations, diagrams, or even posts for your social media!
• Tinkercad . This free online app would be helpful for everyone who would like to create 3D designs but doesn’t want to pay hundreds of dollars for professional software. Use it for your projects or even for 3D printing.
• Skitch . The service allows you to get your point across using annotations, sketches, and shapes. You can use it to save your sources of inspiration too.
• Pocket . Use the tool to organize your college reading list.
• Thesis Creator . Create your assignment’s main statement with just five clicks.
• Summarizer . Use this tool to create summaries, abstracts, and statements.
• Quillbot . This online application will help you to paraphrase your sentences.
• De-Jargonizer . Wipe out the jargon from your writing with this easy-to-use online service.
• OneLook Reverse Dictionary and Thesaurus . This is not a typical thesaurus software. You may type a phrase or even a sentence and get multiple suggestions.
• Merriam-Webster . The online version of the famous dictionary would help you t find the exact meaning of the word, synonyms, and antonyms.
• MacMillan Dictionary . Another great online dictionary to boost your writing.
• Todoist . How many times have you missed important deadlines? This tool will help you keep organized and manage your time.
• MyHomeWorkApp . Track your assignments and classes with this free application. The service is available on all popular platforms.
• ResqueTime . This app tracks the time you spend on various websites and tools and provides you with an accurate picture of your day. Use it to analyze and eliminate distractions.
• TomatoTimer . Try this free online service to stop procrastination using the Pomodoro technique. Set the timer for 25 minutes and take care of your writing without being distracted by other tasks.
• Cold Turkey . A multi-system app that will help you to get rid of distracting websites, track the time and applications, and provide advice on your schedule.
• ScanBot . You don’t need to buy a scanner anymore to scan your notes. The ScanBot is a free app for your smartphone that scans documents and uploads it to popular services like iCloud, Dropbox, etc.
• The Student Room . Perhaps, you might want to join this student community to discuss colleges, student jobs, exams, and get a piece of advice on your assignments.
• Quora . Here you can find a lot of answers and get advice from people all over the world.
• Mavis Beacon . If you need a tool to improve your keyboarding skills, check this link. A simple but effective software will help you to make your typing faster and more efficient.

Academic writing can be a complicated task for any student. But using the best writing apps and resources will definitely reduce your stress.

Do you have any favorite writing tools or resources that you use for your assignments? Share them with us in the comments below!

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Awesome list thanks. As an academic, I also use Writefull. It’s like Grammarly but specifically designed for academic writing!

Thank you for the feedback!

Thanks you! thank you!! thank you!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

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We look forward to seeing you again. Thanks for stopping by!

When I’m writing, I tend to repeat myself. Hemingway doesn’t tag this kind of repetition. If anybody else has this problem, INK suggests that I change my sentences if they sound too much alike.

As a writer, I frequently scour the internet for helpful tips, clarifications, and editing assistance. Ms. McQuarrie’s article on writing tips for students covers a wide spectrum of topics and contains an extensive list of resources that are invaluable. I have bookmarked several to use myself.

Thank you for your kind words, Joan! I’m glad you enjoyed the article.

Thanks for sharing a great and lovely article. I hope you will share more articles for everyone here.

Top Writing Tools All College Students Should Use

Turning a good essay into a great one can be as simple as finding the right writing tools to use. Online writing tools can make writing essays easier and help you earn better grades for your writing assignments.

If you're looking for how to improve writing skills, these online writing tools are a great place to start.

Top Writing Tools for College Students

There are so many tools to choose from. Here are some of the best sites that can help you with all different aspects of your writing.

Bonus: Most of these tools can be used for free! So you can enhance your writing without sacrificing your budget.

1. Google Docs

Price: Free

If you're looking to collaborate with other writers or you're working on a group project, this free site is perfect for you. The program is similar to Microsoft Word, but it's free and its documents can be shared in real-time.

You and multiple classmates can be working on the same document anywhere, anytime. Even if you don't use this program for collaboration, it's nice to write in Google Docs because all work is automatically saved- so no need to worry about losing work if your computer starts doing something crazy.

When your writing is done, you can share the doc with a friend to help proofread it, or you can submit it to a professor who also uses Google.

2. bubbl.us

Price: Free with an option for premium at $6/month

Bubbl.us is a tool to use to get your ideas flowing. This virtual mind map helps you brainstorm how your essay will take shape.

Before you begin writing, visit Bubbl.us to make a free map of your thoughts. It helps you structure your big ideas, add supporting details, and eliminate non-essential information before you dive into the actual writing of your paper.

You can also share your map and use it to collaborate in group projects whenever you need.

Once you've started putting together a draft, you'll need a tool to help you choose your words wisely. OneLook offers free assistance in making your words unique and less repetitive.

OneLook has a dictionary tool that provides many different sources to help you choose the right use of a word. More importantly, it offers an intense thesaurus and reverse dictionary that can help you create colorful and exciting language in your essays.

4. Readable

Price: Options for $4-$24 per month, depending on desired features

If you've ever wondered what grade-level your writing is, Readable will let you know. This site (which has a limited, but helpful free version) will let you know the readability of your text along with offering help with spelling and grammar and giving you lots of data about your text (syllables in words, number of adverbs, and more).

Readable is the perfect tool for decoding your writing and help you make sure your writing is suitable for your audience.

5. ProWritingAid

Price: $70 per year

ProWritingAid markets itself as a "grammar checker, a style editor, and a writing mentor all in one package." This site will provide you with basic editing, but also (for a fee) help with style issues and repetitive mistakes.

For college students, the plagiarism check feature is a nice addition to make sure the words you are choosing are strictly your own.

6. Word Counter

Every student needs to be aware of the length of their writing. This easy-to-use online tool will count words, characters, sentences, paragraphs and pages in real-time, along with spelling and grammar checking.

You can type directly in the site or you can simply copy and paste your paper into the tool to make sure you are within your assignment's guidelines.

7. Grammarly

Price: Free with an upgrade option for $11.66/month

Grammarly is a free online proofreading tool that offers suggestions for grammar and spelling edits. Its free version offers basic writing edits, but for its paid subscribers, Grammarly will check for things like tone, offensive language, and plagiarism.

Grammarly can also be added as an extension to your browser to help you catch any errors in emails and online documents.

Price: Free with an upgrade option for $9.95/month

Hate adding citations to your papers? Yeah...us too.

But BibMe makes the process of sourcing your work much less painful. It will help create citations for APA, MLA, and Chicago styles. The paid version also checks for unintentional plagiarism and missing citations.

9. StayFocusd

StayFocusd is an add-on extension that helps you to...well, stay focused. Although it might not directly affect your writing skills, it may very well help you get your paper completed on-time.

This extension increases your productivity by limiting the amount of time that you can spend on time-wasting sites. Once you've wasted your allotted amount of time, those sites are blocked, so you are forced to get back to work and get your writing done.

Writing an essay requires time, creativity, and concentration, but it also requires help. Using online writing tools to assist your writing process will take much of the guesswork and confusion out of the way for you.

A few simple clicks on your computer and you can have access to multiple writing tools to take your writing to the next level.

How to Write Essay Titles and Headers

Don’t overlook the title and section headers when putting together your next writing assignment. Follow these pointers for keeping your writing organized and effective.

101 Standout Argumentative Essay Topic Ideas

Need a topic for your upcoming argumentative essay? We've got 100 helpful prompts to help you get kickstarted on your next writing assignment.

Writing a Standout College Admissions Essay

Your personal statement is arguably the most important part of your college application. Follow these guidelines for an exceptional admissions essay.

Best free writing app of 2024

Bring your words to life with the best free writing apps

Best overall

Best for markup, best word alternative, best word processor, best for mac, best online.

• How we test

The best free writing apps serve up more than just text tools - they also offer betters ways to manage and organize all your ideas, outlines, and projects. 

1. Best overall 2. Best for markup 3. Best Word alternative 4. Best word processor 5. Best for Mac 6. Best online 7. FAQs 8. How we test

Like the best free word processors , writing apps help you get your thoughts on the page without breaking the bank (or your train of thought). But we’ve also made sure they’ll make it easier to save, share, and sync all your documents and keep them safe, whether you need a desktop writing app for work, school, or play. 

If you struggle to stay focused, we’ve tested some of the best free writing apps come with distraction-free layouts or gamification challenges to keep you in the zone. We’ve also reviewed those built for professional document creation, with advanced business features such as speech-to-text transcription and online collaboration tools. 

Our picks cover the best apps for writing on the web, Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS - so you’re always ready whenever and wherever creativity strikes. 

Scrivener: best writing software for authors Scrivener is packed with all the features a novelist needs, helping you track plot threads, store notes on characters and locations, structure your work and (most importantly) get some serious work done. It's not a free writing app like the tools below, but it's well worth the investment if your budget will allow it.

The best free writing app of 2024 in full:

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

1. FocusWriter

Our expert review:

Specifications

Reasons to buy, reasons to avoid.

FocusWriter helps writers combat one of their biggest challenges: distractions. One of the best free writing software tools out there, it's specifically designed to let you just concentrate on your writing. 

The stripped-back interface is deliciously sparse - ideal for when you just need to get your head down and write - and not dissimilar to a moderately powerful version of Notepad, featuring support for TXT, basic, RTF, and ODT files. 

Even the toolbar is hidden until you actually need it. Just swoop your cursor to the top on the screen to reveal a barren menu, from basic formatting to themes and timers.

Features are light within the software, but FocusWriter isn’t made for heavy editing sessions. It’s designed to make the act of writing flow seamlessly onto the page. 

Elsewhere, the writing app boasts the ability to add themes and your own background images, which can help you stay motivated. 

The Daily Progress tool is a sweet extra, adding Duolingo-style gamification that lets you track your daily writing streak. For when it’s oh-so-easy to slip onto social media when you can’t find the perfect word, it’s a nice way to keep you within the app. 

Available for Windows, Linux, and macOS, the writing software also comes as a portable download, no installation required. So, you can pop it on a USB stick and plug it into any computer you’re working on. 

Read our full FocusWriter review .

• ^ Back to the top

2. WriteMonkey

WriteMonkey is another piece of free writing software that cuts down on the clutter to deliver uninterrupted writing sessions. 

The free word processor, cleverly described as zenware, is unbelievably pared back compared to more traditional writing apps. 

There’s very little in the way of distracting ‘screen furniture’, which means you’re better positioned to concentrate on the writing process. And absolutely nothing else. 

But don’t let that stripped-back approach fool you. As one of the best free writing apps, WriteMonkey is still rich with the sort of core features that matter to writers. 

However, most options are hidden in a context menu (so you’ll need to right-click to view it). It also only supports TXT files, which may limit those looking to read, write, or edit across multiple formats. It is, at least, a portable download, letting you take it wherever you need.

If you’ve enjoyed Markdown, the simplified text-editing language that lets you format, annotate, classify, and link as you type, then great. WriteMonkey’s inner workings will instantly chime. 

First-timers should spend a little time with this free writing software, to uncover that intuitive simplicity. 

Read our full WriteMonkey review .

3. LibreOffice Writer

Writer, the open-source, free writing software, serves almost all general writing needs.

LibreOffice is a near-perfect example of free office software - a familiar, feature-rich take on the office suite. What the veteran software package lacks in Microsoft polish (its interface is undeniably old-fashioned, for starters), it makes up for in its price-point: free. For that, you get access to six tools: Calc, Impress, Draw, Base, Math, and Writer. 

Earning it a slot on our list of best free writing apps is the fact that LibreOffice Writer packs the full editing toolbox. 

This isn’t just a note-taking app for staving off distractions when you’re deep in the zone; it’s for when you’re in pure writer-mode. 

If you’re at all proficient with Microsoft Word, you won’t have any problems using the Writer software. Layouts and functions are almost identical, and there’s support for DOC and DOCX file types, making it efficient to switch out of the Microsoft garden.

This free writing app is ideal if you’re hunting for a tool that almost perfectly replicates the Word experience without the cost. 

Read our full LibreOffice review .

4. Microsoft Word

When it comes to word processors, Microsoft Word is probably the baseline against which all others are compared. It’s the one most of us use at school, home, and work. It’s familiar, comfortable - and it’s available free on the web and mobile devices. 

That may not be the best way to write your masterpiece (unless you’ve hooked up a Bluetooth keyboard). But it’s a great way to jot down ideas on-the-go. When we tested the browser-based version we found it could be a bit slow at first, and we were typing faster than the words appeared on screen. This settles down (mostly) after a minute or so. 

Microsoft’s free writing apps on Android and iPhone had no such issues. Using these was velvety smooth. We especially appreciated the option to switch between mobile view and desktop view, so we could gauge how the document would appear in full-screen. 

As with Google Docs, you’ll need to sign up with a Microsoft account. And, like Google, that also lets you use free versions of PowerPoint, Excel, and the like. While Word offers one of the best free writing app experiences, there’s no denying that the paid-for upgrade is superior, offering more tools, and a true desktop app. 

Read our full Microsoft Word review .

Author promises to make it easier to ‘think, write, and cite’. It’s a promise capably delivered, with a clean interface and bags of writing features designed to make it easy to go from first draft to final copy. 

If you're an Apple user in search of the best free writing apps on macOS, this one demands your attention. 

Concept Maps is one of the best features. It’s a great mind-mapping tool to visualize and lay down all your thoughts while they’re fresh in your head without constraint. You can worry about whipping them into shape later. 

Students and report writers will appreciate Author’s ‘fast citing’ tools - speeding up assignment-writing by correctly adding and formatting citations, references, and contents. 

A paid-for upgrade of the writing software that offers exporting options is available. However, unless you need automatic formatting on export, you can stick with the free version. 

6. Google Docs

Google Docs is a great free writing platform for any writer. It’s an extremely clean, quick word processor available in the browser, on desktop, and phone and tablet apps. So, you can take notes wherever inspiration strikes. 

Docs is more or less Google’s spin on Microsoft Word. The interface is a bit more simple than the professional office software - although it’s no less powerful. 

You’ll find heaps of writing tools, including a pretty accurate speech-to-text transcription tool (just enunciate and don’t talk too fast). Keyboard shortcuts are very well-supported. 

For best results, you’ll need an internet connection, though documents can be used offline. They’ll be synced, and in our experience, that happens swiftly behind the scenes. 

To take advantage of the free writing app, you’ll need a Google account, which may be a deal-breaker for some - but that also opens up the rest of the Google-stuff in the Google-sphere, such as Sheets, Slides, and . With a free account, you get 15GB of storage, which should be more than enough for word documents. A Google One subscription upgrades your storage space, amongst other things. 

Additionally, Google Docs is great if you want to collaborate with one or more other writers. Just be warned to stay in Google Docs for that, because exporting the data into Word or other writing applications can result formatting errors.

Read our full Google Docs review .

Best free writing app: FAQs

What's the difference between a writing app and an ai writer.

AI writers vs writing apps - what's the real difference?

Artificial intelligence is growing in a big way - and when it comes to writing, it's ChatGPT that's been snatching all the headlines of late, with its ability to generate short- and long-form content based on user prompts.

Generally, an AI writer will write your content for you, based on its current learning (although often without 'understanding' the context). A writing app simply lets you write your way, in your own voice. 

Some platforms, such as Canva , have even integrated AI into its Canva Docs and Canva PDF Editor services. However. its Magic Write tool acts as a writing assistant, serving up suggestions and ideas, leaving real writers to work their magic on the content. Though usually hiding in the back-end, you can also find AI integrated in other ways across other the best PDF editor apps (and even the best free PDF editor apps, too).

As always with AI-generated content, whether it's the written word or an artwork masterpiece, human involvement is usually necessary and always desirable. Even if you're using the best AI writers out there, editing and proofreading is essential to give the content accuracy and emotional resonance.

How to choose the best free writing app for you

When deciding which free writing app is best, start by figuring out what sort of writing you want to do. 

Do you need a handy tool for quick scribbles and jotting down ideas here and there, or are you using the writing software to write and edit an epic novel? Tools like FocusWriter and Write Monkey are great for getting thoughts on the page without friction.

It’s also worth considering if you need a writing app with a distraction-free design, so you can concentrate on what really matters to you. Again, FocusWriter performs admirably here, but as a result, you lose core typography and editing functions. Unlike LibreOffice, this isn’t the best Microsoft Office alternative if you need those tools. In that scenario, it may be worth considering looking at some of the best free office software , which includes MS Word-style apps, alongside other tools similar to Excel, PowerPoint, and so on. 

Access is an important factor when using your writing software. A tool like Scribus needs to be downloaded to your machine. Lightweight apps like FocusWriter, however, offer a portable download that can be downloaded to a USB and carried with you. 

Check what file formats your chosen writing app supports, too. While some let you create and edit the common DOC and DOCX files, others only allow TXT or RTF documents.

But most of all, it’s important to choose the best free writing app for your unique creative flow. 

How we test the best free writing apps

Testing the best free writing apps and software, we assess how easy it is to get your words down on the page with the least amount of friction. Portable writing apps rank high, because they let you use the program on whatever computer or laptop you’re using. 

We also look at performance for its intended audience. For distraction-free writing apps, do they really foster focus? For word processor-style software, does it offer good formatting and editing options? 

Most importantly, we expect to see free writing apps that are genuinely cost-free - no-one wants to stumble across hidden fees and charges in the contracts. 

We've listed the best laptops for writers .

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Steve is TechRadar Pro’s B2B Editor for Creative & Hardware. He explores the apps and devices for individuals and organizations that thrive on design and innovation. A former journalist at Web User magazine, he's covered software and hardware news, reviews, features, and guides. He's previously worked on content for Microsoft, Sony, and countless SaaS & product design firms. Once upon a time, he wrote commercials and movie trailers. Relentless champion of the Oxford comma.

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Top 10 Apps That Write Essays for You in 2024 (Free & Paid)

Senior Content Marketing Manager

February 13, 2024

You have a big research paper or essay due soon, and you’re looking for a way to save time and energy or enhance the way you write. You’re tired of staring at a blank page, hoping it’ll magically become your best assignment yet.

What you need is an app that writes essays for you.

There are lots of essay writing tools available for every possible use. Whether you need an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that helps you draft the outline, generate text for different sections, or improve your essay to make it sound better overall, you’re in luck.

In this guide, we’re sharing with you the 10 best essay-writing apps available today. Each one offers writers, students, and other essay writers of all kinds a better way to get started or finish your assignment.

Let’s explore the options for apps that write essays for you, and let’s start writing better essays together. ✔️

What Should You Look for in Apps That Write Essays for You?

3. writesonic, 4. essayailab, 6. sudowrite, 8. hyperwrite.ai, 9. ai-writer , 10. storylab.ai.

Like any type of essay writing service or product, not all of these apps are built the same. Some AI content tools are designed for research and outlining, while others excel at transforming your words into compelling thought pieces, arguments, or statements. 

As you consider which essay writing app is best for you, think about the following. 

• Use case: Is this app designed for essay writing? Or is it a more generic AI writing tool? 
• Features: Does the app have the research, writing, or proofreading features you need? Does it offer you even more options?
• Ease of use: Is the app easy to use? What’s the user experience like?
• Ratings and reviews: What do real-world users think of the app? 
• Language: Does the app only work in English? Can I write in another language or translate my essay?
• Pricing: Is there a free version of the app? Does it have an affordable or expensive monthly subscription cost?

These questions should lead you closer to the best app that writes essays or academic papers for you. Consider what matters most to you, which features you can live without, and what’s your number one priority for this app—then use our top 10 list to find your ideal match. 🔗

The 10 Best Apps That Write Essays for You to Use in 2024

With an ever-increasing number of AI writing tools coming into existence, it can be overwhelming to figure out which ones are worth trying. That’s why we’ve brought you our shortlist of the 10 best essay-writing apps for 2024. 

There’s something here for everyone—whether you want a dedicated essay writing tool, an AI tool that can assist with all types of writing or an all-in-one app that lets you do so much more than just improve your writing skills or optimize your assignment.

ClickUp may be known as a productivity and project management tool for businesses, but it’s also a great place for writers and students of any level. ClickUp provides you with a destination to store and work on your ideas, research, and writing—and features to prioritize your work throughout the process.

One of the best features for essay writing is ClickUp AI . Our new user-friendly AI writing assistant is tailored to your role, with a huge variety of use cases, tasks, and features, depending on how you want to use the app. Use ClickUp to assist with brainstorming essay or research paper topic ideas, summarizing your essay to write an impactful conclusion, or rewriting paragraphs so you sound more professional.

All the ideas and words you generate with our AI assistant live inside ClickUp Docs . Not only is this Microsoft Word and Google Docs alternative a great place to store notes and ideas, but it can become your personal wiki or repository for all your essay writing needs—one of our favorite productivity hacks . 

Store ideas, notes, citations, essay drafts, and interview notes in one place. Format your Docs, add images and colors, and personalize the experience so writing your essay is more fun.

If you’re not sure where to start, the Writing Guidelines Template by ClickUp is your go-to place to get clarity on how to write the best content. The template includes advice on being consistent across language, tone, and formatting so you can produce error-free, cohesive, and accurate content every time. 

With ClickUp AI, ClickUp Docs, and our comprehensive Template Library , ClickUp has everything you need to start writing your best essays yet. 🤩

ClickUp best features

• Store all your essay or assignment notes, drafts, and files in one place
• Invite mentors to collaborate with you or share real-time feedback within your Docs
• Use ClickUp AI to generate high-quality ideas, rephrase sentences, and create text for your essay
• Streamline your process and get inspiration with relevant templates
• Save time and work faster by using ClickUp to assist with research, writing, and as a focus app while you work

ClickUp limitations 

• With so many features and use cases, some users may need a while to explore all the possibilities of using ClickUp
• ClickUp AI is a new feature, so the functionality will grow and develop over time

ClickUp pricing

• Free Forever
• Unlimited: $5/month per user
• Business: $12/month per user
• Business Plus: $19/month per user
• Enterprise: Contact for pricing
• ClickUp AI is available on all paid plans for $5 per Workspace member per month

ClickUp ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.7/5 (8,700+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.7/5 (3,800+ reviews) 

Frase is an AI content creation tool that combines writing and SEO research to create copy that’s easy to read and designed to rank in search engines. This AI writing software can pull background research and stats from search results, and the outlining tool makes organizing your thoughts into a coherent essay easier. 📝

Frase best features

• Source stats, research, and background information directly from search engines
• Create an outline with structured headings and sections
• Use AI to generate introductions, FAQs, headings, and more
• Write, edit, and share documents easily within Frase

Frase limitations 

• Frase is designed for individuals and agencies working on SEO copy, so some of the features may not be relevant for essay writing or academic writing
• Some users report that sometimes the text output can be repetitive on the essay-writing app

Frase pricing

• Solo: $14.99/month per user
• Basic: $44.99/month per user
• Team: $114.99/month for three users

Frase ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.9/5 (200+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.8/5 (300+ reviews) 

Bonus: Check out 7 Free Content Writing Templates for Faster Content Creation

Writesonic is a comprehensive copywriting and paraphrasing tool that gives you the features to write, edit, optimize, and improve your content writing—including essays. Writesonic’s feature list includes an AI writer, paraphrasing tool, text expander, article summarizer, and idea generator. 💡

Writesonic best features

• Get factual content with data pulled from top search results to help find the best essay and academic papers
• Upload documents to guide the tool on your unique style for a more personalized writing style
• Paraphrase your text or get a summary of your essay in one click
• Check your essay before you submit with a built-in spell checker, grammar checker, and plagiarism checker

Writesonic limitations

• Some users may run into issues with word count limits, especially for writing essays and longer assignments
• You may need to prompt multiple times to get longer responses, some users suggest

Writesonic pricing

• Unlimited: $20/month per user
• Business: From $19/month per user

Writesonic ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.8/5 (1,800+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.8/5 (1,800+ reviews) 

EssayAiLab is a free AI essay writer app that helps users find ideas, write essays, and edit for grammar before they submit. This dedicated app that writes essays for you has a range of niche features including Modern Language Association (MLA) and American Psychological Association (APA) citations and a hypersensitive plagiarism checker. 🔍

EssayAiLab best features

• Search through millions of credible results to surface the most relevant information when writing essays
• Find new ways to compose sentences with automated suggestions to speed up the writing process
• Check for issues with the built-in grammar checker and plagiarism checker
• Automatically generate MLA and APA citations in one click across the entire essay

EssayAiLab limitations 

• There aren’t many user reviews of EssayAiLab, so it’s hard to get an idea of what other users think about this free app
• This essay writer app is designed specifically for essay writing, so you may wish to explore other essay apps for other types of academic writing

EssayAiLab pricing

Essayailab ratings and reviews.

• Capterra: N/A

Jasper is one of the most well-known AI content writing tools available today. This popular tool specializes in generating short-form and long-form copy that’s aligned with your brand—which is a plus point for users who want to compose multiple essays that sound like them.

Jasper’s features include an AI writer, a chatbot, and a template library. Easily make suggestions for word count or for optimizing academic writing in a specific style or tone.

Jasper best features

• Share documents to train the AI on your personal paper writing skills and style
• Access recent search data to check facts and add credibility
• Edit and optimize your essays so that they read professionally
• Check for any issues with a built-in plagiarism checker

Jasper limitations 

• Some users, especially students, may find the pricing model unaffordable
• Sometimes the outputs don’t always feel relevant, some users suggest
• No real free version compared to some other AI essay writer apps

Jasper pricing

• Creator: $39/month per user
• Teams: $99/month for three users
• Business: Contact for pricing

Jasper ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.7/5 (1,200+ reviews)

Sudowrite is an AI writing tool that bills itself as a writing companion. This tool is designed for creative writers and authors working on stories and scripts, but many of its features—like autocomplete and rewrite—translate well to academic writing.

This essay-writing software also helps you hone in on your specific writing style for more clarity and readability—so you produce the best essay possible.

Sudowrite best features

• Automatically complete sentences and paragraphs i the writing app
• Use rewrite to add variety to your essay language and improve readability
• Get suggestions on replacement words to enhance the impact of your sentences
• Get feedback on how to improve your essay within the app

Sudowrite limitations 

• Sudowrite is built with creative writing in mind, so it may not be the best option for professional essay writers or business users
• As it’s a relatively new tool, there aren’t many reviews from real-world users yet
• Writing app has no real free version

Sudowrite pricing

• Hobby & Student: $10/month for 30,000 words
• Professional: $25/month for 90,000 words
• Max: $100/month for 300,000 words

Sudowrite ratings and reviews

Rytr is an AI-powered content writer and writing assistant that’s ideal for a variety of uses including business ideas, emails, cover letters, and essays. The platform asks you to choose a use case and add context, and it’ll create content based on your goals and prompts. ✏️

Rytr best features

• Choose from 40+ built-in use cases and templates
• Use scientific copywriting formulas to make your essays more persuasive
• Expand, reword, and polish sentences to make them read better
• Submit your essays without worry thanks to the built-in plagiarism checker

Rytr limitations 

• Some users report that the facts given can feel basic or repetitive compared to other apps that write essays
• The AI writer can cut off mid-sentence if you run out of credits, which can happen unexpectedly

Rytr pricing

• Saver: $9/month per user
• Unlimited: $29/month per user

Rytr ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.7/5 (700+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.6/5 (10+ reviews) 

HyperWrite.ai is an AI copywriting tool that blends research, writing, and personal AI assistance to create a useful tool for writers. Its features include a summarizing tool, an intro generator, a speech writer, and a universal translator. 💬

HyperWrite.ai best features

• Use AI to help you write an essay on any topic
• Generate a list of essay topic ideas before you start writing
• Rewrite content so that it sounds more powerful in enhances your writing ability
• Summarize text to automatically create summaries and conclusions

HyperWrite.ai limitations 

• There’s no built-in plagiarism checker, so you’ll need to use another app for this
• As a relatively new tool, there’s little social proof and few reviews about HyperWrite

HyperWrite.ai pricing

• Premium: $19.99/month per user
• Ultra: $44.99/month per user

HyperWrite.ai ratings and reviews

• G2: 5/5 (2 reviews)
• Capterra: N/A 

AI-Writer is a new AI writing tool that bills itself as “the only AI text generator built to be trusted.” This app focuses heavily on citation and transparency, which is a bonus for those writing essays or assignments. AI-Writer’s features include research, AI writing, verifiable citations, and text rewording. 📚

AI-Writer best features

• Automatically generate a full article draft or an entire essay draft in minutes
• Get citations for every source that AI-Writer pulls data or facts from
• Reword your text so that it sounds more professional or persuasive
• Automatically generate a list of references that you can include when you submit your essay

AI-Writer limitations 

• Like many AI essay writing apps, this one is designed with SEO copy in mind so the workflow may not feel relevant for essay writers
• Those with longer assignments may find the per-article word cap too small (especially for those who write essays regularly)

AI-Writer pricing

• Basic: $29/month per user
• Standard: $49/month for three users
• Power: $375/month for 10 users

AI-Writer ratings and reviews

• Capterra: 5/5 (1 review) 

StoryLab.ai is a comprehensive AI content marketing toolkit designed for marketing teams and agencies that want to boost engagement and revenue by creating content at volume for their content calendar . As part of this, the platform has a range of copy generators that can help you create a strong essay title, essay copy, and more. 📣

StoryLab.ai best features

• Generate introductions, titles, content ideas, and more
• Get unique outputs every time you run the generator
• Experiment with 13 different writing styles
• Available in 17+ languages

StoryLab.ai limitations 

• StoryLab.ai is designed for marketing teams, so essay and assignment writers may find the range of features distracting or unnecessary
• The product isn’t explained in as much detail as other AI writers, but there is a free plan you can experiment with

StoryLab.ai pricing

• Pro: $15/month per user
• Unlimited: $19/month per user

StoryLab.ai ratings and reviews

Ace your next assignment with the best essay writing apps.

There are lots of essay writing apps out there that claim to be the best, but we believe those in our shortlist live up to the title. Explore these apps that write essays for you, test some out, and find a new way to make your essay-writing process easier.

As you explore the apps above, we recommend prioritizing ClickUp. Our all-in-one app doesn’t just come with an AI writing tool—it’s a destination for all your notes, drafts, tasks, interviews, and files throughout the essay writing process.

Gather your thoughts, write your essay, make improvements, and more—all within one app.

Try ClickUp for free today to understand why it’s appreciated by so many writers and students. ✨

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The 5 Best Writing Apps for College Students

Consider downloading these best writing apps for college students to help you in all of your college courses and beyond.

• News and Events

Tags in Article

• Creative Writing
• Mobile Apps
• Saint Leo Learning

Want to listen to your favorite music anytime, anywhere? There's an app for that. Need a quick and easy way to communicate with family and friends? There are apps for that too. There are also apps for playing your favorite games, monitoring your finances, tracking your fitness activity and goals, storing your photos, increasing your productivity, and practically anything else you could ever want to have right at your fingertips.

But one of the questions Saint Leo University students have when it comes to apps is which ones are best for assisting with their coursework, specifically the work that requires a fair level of writing. With that in mind, here are the best writing apps for college students who prefer to use technology to enhance their education.

For Taking Notes: Evernote

Maybe you're just looking for a writing app that enables you to take notes so you can use them later in your current writing system. In this case, Evernote delivers by providing a place to keep those notes and organize them so they're easy to find when you're ready to retrieve them. The Evernote app also enables you to not only capture text, but also pictures and voice notes too. So, it doesn't matter what format your source is in since you can store it for later use.

You can download Evernote on your Android, Apple device, or via Microsoft. Additionally, Evernote Basic is totally free to download if you're only interested in having a place to record all of your notes. However, if you want to be able to organize them and share them with others, it's going to cost you $7.99 a month. There are other differences between packages as well, such as monthly upload limits and maximum note size, so these are things to consider before making your final decision as to which version would suit your needs best.

For Students Concerned About Proper Grammar: Grammarly

Let's face it. You can have the best content in the world, but if your grammar is off, your grade is going to reflect it. Therefore, downloading the Grammarly app is one way to not only show off what you know about a particular topic, but also to provide the information in a way that follows basic writing guidelines, providing you even more credibility as the write. Not only is this one of the best writing apps for enhancing the overall verbiage in your documents and projects, it also corrects any grammar issues in your email and social media posts too.

Grammarly is free to download and interacts directly with Google Chrome if you use this particular browser. You can also purchase Premium Grammarly for $11.66 per month if you pay for it annually, which offers additional features beyond basic spelling, grammar, and punctuation. For instance, the paid version will tell you if you've overused words, used impolite language, have an inconsistent writing style, or have plagiarized content.

For Writing Projects that Require Collaboration: Google Docs

In college, it's not uncommon for instructors to assign writing assignments that require you to collaborate with other students. In the past, this meant each person doing his or her part, then putting it all together at the end so it flows from one part of the document to the next. Yet, the problem with this approach is that it makes it difficult to track which version is the most up-to-date because so many people are involved. Yet, use of the Google Docs app eliminates this issue because you're all working off the same document, which is updated and saved each time anyone makes changes.

Perhaps the best thing about Google Docs is that it is absolutely free. That makes it perfect for college students on a tight budget. Plus, it has the same basic features as Word and other document recording systems by letting you know when there are spelling errors and if your grammar could be improved. It's kind of the best of all worlds and is generally viewed as one of the best writing apps for collaboration.

For Those Who Don't Like to Write: iA Writer

If you struggle with writing because this is a task that you really don't enjoy, the iA Writer app can help as it is designed to enhance the writing process. How? It offers features based on research about what types of typography and fonts are more appealing. This company even looked at the sounds people make when they write – referring to the way we think about the words we're about to put on paper – and used that data to create features that help you stay "faithful to your perceptions" so your words come out right.

This app is available in a variety of formats so it works with Windows, Mac, Androids, and Apple devices. With Windows and Mac, you can download a free trial to see whether iA Writer is one of the best writing apps for you. If you want it on your Android, you can install it without cost, but in-app products cost $8.99 each. Download it via the App Store and the cost is $8.99 up front.

For Planners and Non-Planners Alike: Scrivener

A big factor that makes the Scrivener app one of the best writing apps available is that it is extremely flexible. For instance, if you are a planner and prefer to outline your writings in great detail before filling in the blanks, Scrivener allows for that. Alternatively, if you'd rather just start typing and worry about what goes where later, Scrivener lets you do that too.

Other features available with the Scrivener app include:

• Inserting images and tables
• Format presets and templates
• Importing documents from other writing and research apps
• A corkboard and outliner for planning
• Footnote support
• Setting (and monitoring) writing targets

This app works with mac OS 10.12+, Windows 7 or newer, and if you want it on an Apple device (iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch), it has to have iOS 9 or above and a Dropbox account is necessary to get it to sync. The cost depends on which version you download and ranges from $19.99 for the iOS version to $42 for mac OS, the latter of which includes a student discount.

How the Best Writing Apps Can Help You Succeed in College

Most college classes require some form of writing, and some courses may have a fair amount of essays, discussion posts, or term papers. Utilizing apps such as these can make your college papers and essays easier to write and edit. They'll serve you

Saint Leo University See more from this author

The Best 50 Free Writing Software And Free Writing Apps

Writers are spoiled for choice when it comes to free writing software, tools, and free writing apps.

Are you a blogger, author, content writer, or student?

You want the best creative writing tools and software that will do the job for you.

But you don’t want to pay a lot of money to be able to write more effectively. Read on to discover all the choices you have for software, programs, and apps to help you write better and more productively.

In This Article

Your free writing software choices

There is no need for you to spend a penny to get some of the best free writing programs to help you write more productively and accurately.

You can choose and try so many terrific writing programs and tools today. You will find that most of them are unrestricted and will cost you nothing to use.

If you are looking for new apps and tools to improve your writing, you have come to the right place.

This page is regularly updated to bring you the biggest choice of free software and apps for writers.

It includes free writing apps for Windows, Mac, and Linux users.

You can find creative writing apps, grammar checking apps, word processors, mind maps, index cards, book writing programs, and productivity tools.

All of them will help you get on with what you do best, which is writing, of course.

There are also many lite versions of popular premium apps available that can offer you tons of fantastic features.

I have tried almost all the writing tools and apps in this article and use a lot of them every day.

Find the best free writing software and apps for you

You can find lots of free writing software online, but you want writing apps that work best for you and your writing process and style.

With online writing software, I always start with a free version to make sure a new app does what I want it to do.

Very often, a free app will do everything I need.

But yes, sometimes I opt for a premium version to get all the features if it is really a fantastic tool.

It doesn’t matter if you are an author, a blogger, or an article writer.

Choosing the best tools for your writing needs will save you time, effort, and lots of money.

Free apps and writing software for students  are a huge bonus.

They will help you at school, college, or university.

For every type of writer, here are some of the very best free-to-use and freemium apps for you to make your choice.

Scan through my list of the best free writing software and apps below.

See if you can find a few new favorites to download for your laptop or to use online.

Please note that all the apps and software listed on this page are free to use. However, some are a free version of a premium application, and in this case, the free version may be limited in features.

6 Free writing apps for accuracy

The most essential writing app you always need must be a reliable grammar corrector and a spellchecker.

There are a lot of online apps to check, correct, and improve your writing.

For every writer, the options will be different depending on your writing style and needs. There is no one best or better choice.

Some writers might only need a simple online checker for blog posts, articles, or essays.

But for a content writer or author, it is different. You are probably looking for more developed programs and options.

In my case, I always use two programs to check my writing.

I use one for grammar and spelling and another for writing style and readability. It always pays to check and double-check your writing and sentence structure before you publish it online.

Here are six of the most popular free grammar apps to get you on your way. Each one will help you improve the quality and accuracy of your writing.

Try them all to see which one or two work best for you and your style or type of writing.

1. Hemingway Editor – Free

I have a love-hate relationship with the Hemmingway Editor app.

The love is due to how quick and easy it is to check my readability score and grade.

The negative is that it always tells me to simplify my writing. It hates the passive voice, but that’s a good thing.

It is also a great tool for finding overused adverbs and difficult to read sentences.

It’s a simple app. But if you are looking for a free writing assistant, it is one of the handiest tools   a writer can have at their fingertips.

You can choose which Hemingway mode to use – either write or edit.

The online version is very convenient for checking up to a page or so of text. It gives helpful hints to improve your writing.

It’s one of the must-have free apps for any writer.

There is a paid version, but I am not sure it offers much value.

2. QuillBot – Free

QuillBot Grammar Checker is a quick and easy free tool you can use to check your manuscript.

One of the best features is that you can use one-click corrections to fix your grammar, punctuation, and spelling very quickly.

Another advantage is that it has a generous word count limit. I tested it with a text of over 2,000 words, and it quickly analyzed all of my text.

You can probably check one chapter at a time with the tool.

You can check each underlined suggestion and make a quick correction. But it also has a “Fix All Errors” button.

I’m not sure I would trust it for a long text. But it could be useful for a shorter text.

To use the checker, simply paste in your text, or you can use it as an editor and type your text.

When you finish correcting your writing, copy and paste it into your word processor.

Quillbot has other features, but these are only available with the premium version.

However, the grammar checker is totally free to use, and it is an excellent tool to check and correct your writing.

There is also a free Chrome extension you can try.

3. ChatGPT – Free and Premium

ChatGPT has to be on my list of free writing tools, but why is it under apps for accuracy?

Yes, it is a valuable and free tool for writers in several ways. You can use it as a writing prompt generator for inspiration and ideas for new stories or articles.

All you need to do is include keywords or phrases related to the topic you want to write about. ChatGTP will respond with various ideas and writing points to help you.

But you might not know that it can also help you correct your grammar and spelling.

All you need to do is start your prompt with, check the grammar and spelling:  then paste your text.

It will rewrite your text with the corrections.

You can also ask it to do other things. Ask it to change passive to active voice , and it will rewrite your text in all active voice.

Another use is to ask it to rewrite your text in a different point of view. Just ask it to rewrite in the second person .

However, don’t rely on it 100%.

It does an excellent job most of the time, but it doesn’t always get everything right, so make sure you proofread carefully.

AI writing tools are everywhere now, so writers can’t ignore them.

The free version of ChatGPT offers plenty of options with very few limitations.

So it’s probably one of the best tools to start learning how to use AI technology to help you with your ideas and writing accuracy.

Read more about how to use ChatGPT to correct your writing .

4. Grammarly – Free and Premium

Without a doubt, Grammarly is the number one online grammar checker.

For a lot of writers, it’s one of the best writing apps around.

I have used Grammarly for years now.

It is one online writing tool that I always have switched on in Chrome to use with my WordPress editor.

It works with so many sites, platforms, software, and applications. So it is always on and always helping me correct my writing in real-time.

Grammarly has a desktop app. It also has a plugin for Word in Microsoft Office for PC users.

You can use it in any web browser, with WordPress, and even on your social media sites. It also works on mobile devices as well as with an iOS Grammarly Keyboard app.

There is also support for Google Docs, but this feature is still in beta.

No matter what, when, or where you write, Grammarly will always help you write better and more accurately.

The browser version of Grammarly works very well for most users. However, a premium version is available for more advanced features to help you in your writing process.

You can read more in my Grammarly review .

5. Prowritingaid – Free and Premium

Prowritingaid is one of my favorite writing checkers for long-form writing.

You can use the free version of ProWritingAid.

It offers you a lot of functionality to help you write more accurately online using a simple Chrome extension to check your grammar and spelling.

Are you an author? Then you should consider all the editing and checking tools that are available with this app.

It is a superb writing aid for authors and writers of long-form content articles.

The premium version includes over twenty different writing analysis tools and reports. These will give you a wide range of suggestions for improving your writing.

There are also easy to use extensions available for Chrome, Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and Scrivener too.

It is my number one go-to editing tool when I need to work intensively on very long documents such as long-form articles or book manuscripts.

You can also read my full Prowritingaid review.

6. Grammar Lookup – Free

Grammar Lookup is another good choice for an online grammar-checking app.

I used 3,000 words from one of my book manuscripts to test the app.

It started checking for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors almost immediately. It is a good app for checking short-form writing, such as blog posts and short stories.

If you’re looking for a robust grammar app with a generous word limit, this one is well worth trying.

Again, like a lot of online writing tools, it is ad-supported.

12 Free word processors

The first name writers associate with word processing is almost always Microsoft Word.

It is the default writing tool for many writers, bloggers, and authors. But it is definitely not cheap.

Depending on your country, the annual license for Office 356 can range from $60 – $100.

If you want to buy the one-time purchase version, which is called Office Home & Student, it can cost you as much as $150.

Microsoft Office is, as its name implies, software for office use. It includes Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint, and other programs. You will never use these software programs for creative writing.

Do you need to pay for all these extra programs to have a word processor to write a blog post, article, or short story?

What is the best word processor for writers? Are there free writing software tools equal to Word?

Yes. If you want to write, you can always find great word processors that cost you nothing to use. Often they come with many other options and tools that are better suited for writers.

Most of them will be suitable for your writing goals and any form of short creative writing project.

But you should note that a word processor is not the best app for writing a book. You can find better programs for authors in the next section of this article.

1. Google Docs – Free

Like Microsoft Office, Google Docs is a suite of office tools. The big difference, of course, is that Google Docs is available for free online.

If you are familiar with Word, you will have no problem at all adapting to Docs, which is the word processor component.

All the formatting options are very similar, as is the user interface.

Unlike some word processors, Docs has a word count so you can keep track of your word count goal.

I know that many writers, particularly content writers, use Google Docs because of the simplicity of sharing documents online.

Writing projects can be quickly and easily shared using Google Drive, which comes with 5 gigabytes of storage. It is usually plenty of storage space for writers. You can also use Docs offline .

If you are writing every day and working with other writers, content editors, proofreaders, or editors, Google Docs allows you to collaborate with ease.

There is no need to know what file format or program others are using.

As long as each person has a Google account, and who doesn’t, working together is very easy.

2. Apple Pages for Mac Users – Free

If you are a Mac user and all you need is a word processor, Apple Pages can handle everything you could possibly need to do.

It really is the best free writing software for Mac.

Like Word, you can start with a blank document or use the template chooser.

Word processing in the page layout document view is easy to work with. All the text formatting, fonts, and writing tools are easy to find and use.

There is a spell checker, word and page count , and track change with an add comments option.

It also auto-saves directly to your hard drive or your iCloud drive when you are online. There is also the file duplicate function. It gives you very easy version control of your revisions and edits.

It is difficult to think of a standard feature or function in Word that is not available in Pages documents.

There is one other area where Pages shines. It has a lot more control over images compared to Word.

One other big plus with Pages for authors is that you can export directly to epub. You don’t need to convert your file formats into another program.

Pages is one of the best free writing software programs for Mac users.

There is also a mobile app for iPad and iPhone. You can download it from the Mac App Store.

Related reading: Can Apple Pages Replace Microsoft Word For Mac?

3. MS Notepad and Mac TextEdit – Free

These two writing programs are already under your noses. They are installed by default on Windows and Apple computers.

They are both ideal little apps for writing blogs or short articles.

However, they are both worthy of mention because of their usefulness in converting to plain text.

Most word processors can add a lot of background code over the time you take to write a long document.

Cut and pasting, saving, deletions, forgotten tabs and spaces, and formatting changes all add up to a lot that can go wrong.

Because of all this code, there is a chance that the text might have issues when you use it online. It can be especially true if you use WordPress and also in publishing ebooks.

The quickest and easiest way to clean a document, big or small, is to copy all the text into a plain text editor such as Notepad or TextEdit. You can then convert everything to plain text.

Then you can copy back the clean text into your blog editor or word processor for ebook formatting.

4. Libre Office – Free

I used Open Office for many years. It is an open-source project and is still available.

However, many writers now favor Libre Office.

These two office suites branched from the same development stable, so they have a lot of similarities.

Learning to work with Writer, which is the word processor, is easy.

However, it uses traditional and straightforward menus, toolbars, and icons but does not have the ribbon function found in Word.

In some ways, this is a good thing because it lets you get on with the writing process instead of hunting in ribbons for buttons.

If you want a word processor, and that’s all, Writer in Libre Office won’t disappoint you.

5. Word Online – Free

Microsoft Word Online is a free web browser version of Word.

You can create, edit, and share Word documents, but it comes with relatively basic features compared to the paid desktop version.

But for students and part-time writers, it’s a handy free alternative.

One benefit is that you can use it on any device with a web browser, including computers, tablets, and smartphones.

You will need to create a Microsoft account, which is free. You also get 5GB of free storage.

Overall, it’s a worthwhile option for users who want a free and easy-to-use word processing software similar to Google Docs.

6. WPS Office – Free Edition

If you have used Microsoft Word or Google Docs, then you can work with WPS Office immediately.

Like other alternative word processors, it has all the standard features you would expect, and it works with most file types.

One of its key features is that it allows drag-and-drop paragraphs, which can, at times, be practical.

Another time-saving yet straightforward feature of WPS is tabbed documents.

While Excel has had this for years, Word never has, so working on two documents at the same time is much more efficient in WPS.

WPS also has a cloud storage service with 1G for PC and iOS.

7. SoftMaker Free Office – Free

Free Office gets a mention because it can export .epub. It is a convenient tool for self-publishers.

TextMaker is the word processor in this office suite.

But it doesn’t come with the ability to save in docx format unless you opt for the premium version.

But you can open and edit docx files.

Apart from that inconvenience, it has all the advanced features you would expect in a modern word processor.

It comes with advanced formatting options, the ability to create databases for bibliographies and footnotes, as well as track change.

8. Dropbox Paper – Free

All you need is your free Dropbox account to use Dropbox Paper .

It is a word processor, but there is so much more you can do with this app.

The design is clean and simple, but there are so many features at your fingertips.

As well as being a text editor, you can add audio, images, YouTube videos, Slideshare documents, and Trello cards.

It really is a great free writing app for you to create documents and then share them with your team or online.

9. Focus Writer – Free

FocusWriter is a simple, distraction-free writing environment.

It uses a full-screen hide-away interface that you access by moving your mouse to the edges of the screen.

It allows the program to have a familiar look and feel to it. But by getting everything out of the way, you can immerse yourself in your work.

It’s available for Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X.

10. Calmly Writer – Free

Calmly Writer has been designed to help you focus on writing.

As you start typing, all the distracting options disappear from the interface.

Calmly also includes a “focus mode” option, which highlights only the paragraph you are editing at the time.

If you are a writing minimalist, it could be a good choice for you.

It is a browser-based app, and there is a Chrome extension available.

11. Zoho Writer – Free

Zoho Writer is an online alternative to Microsoft Word.

You can sync between your PC or Mac, iPhone, Android, or iPad.

Almost everything you do in Word, you can do with this word processor. There are even collaboration tools.

You can import your existing Word documents and get to work.

There is also a plugin to link your Zoho documents to Word.

That’s not a bad deal for at all a gratis online writing tool.

12. Scribus – Free

Scribus is an open-source program for desktop publishing.

It gets a mention here because it is free writing software, but also because it is such a feature-rich cross-platform program.

Scribus is a page layout and desktop publishing program for Linux, FreeBSD, PC-BSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, OpenIndiana, Debian GNU/Hurd, Mac OS X, OS/2 Warp 4, eComStation, Haiku, and Windows.

Scribus supports professional publishing features, such as CMYK colors, spot colors, ICC color management, and versatile PDF creation.

Perhaps it is not a choice for most authors and bloggers. But you might have a desktop publishing need one day.

4 Free book writing apps

Are you ready to start writing a book? You need to hunt a little to find good writing programs for writing books and novels.

A writing app or author software for a book is entirely different from a word processor.

The best book writing programs consist of many elements.

You need plot timelines, character builders, and event tracking. It should also include note-taking and research pinning tools.

Here are four of the best free book apps to help with writing, formatting, and publishing your books or ebooks.

There is a link to seven more free book writing programs at the end of this list.

1. Shaxpir – Free and Premium

For a dedicated book writing tool, Shaxpir gives you a lot of features in its free version.

The Manuscript Builder uses drag-and-drop tools to rearrange your manuscript. You can change the order and hierarchy of chapters and scenes. So you can find a structure that works for you.

You can set your goals and track your progress. You can also keep detailed notes about your characters, places, and events.

It also allows you to add margin comments as well as collect concept art.

There is also an in-built spellchecker.

As far as a book writing program or author app goes, Shaxpir offers you a   huge range of features.

It is available for Mac and PC with offline and cloud access.

2. Scrivener – Free Trial

It is not free writing software, but I have to include Scrivener in this list of apps because there is a generous trial available.

Scrivener is one of the best book writing software tools for authors and screenwriters.

It has an outliner for chapters and scenes, a corkboard, and index cards.

There is also side-by-side viewing, word count targets, and a full-screen editor, along with print, export, and publishing tools. It has everything any writer could ever need.

There is a 30-day trial period offered by Scrivener.

But it is counted by the days that you use the software. So if you use it every second day, your trial period will last you for 60 days.

If you only write at the weekend, it will last you for a good few months.

Scrivener is available for download for both Windows and Mac. There are also iOS apps for iPhones and iPad.

To access your trial, click the Download Trial link.

3. Calibre Ebook Tool

Calibre is often called the Swiss Army Knife of ebook formatting tools.

There is so much you can do with Calibre.

But for most new authors, you will use it to convert your Word manuscript to mobi, epub, and pdf.

If you have some technical ability, you can also edit the epub or HTML files of your ebook.

It really is one of the most powerful ebook tools for authors.

It is available for download for PC, Mac, and Linux.

4. Kindle Create – Free

If you are a self-publishing author on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Kindle Create is a must-have free writing software app for you to use.

The program has improved a lot over the last couple of years. Initially, it was a little unstable, and its primary function was to help you format a Kindle book.

But stability is much better now, and Amazon has been slowly adding new features since it merged Createspace into KDP.

Kindle Create can now format not only ebooks but paperback books as well. But this latest option is still in beta.

It is so easy to format beautiful ebooks using Kindle Create.

Do you want more free book writing software?

Are you trying to find the best apps for writing your book?

Do you want the best novel writing tool that can help you work on individual chapters and scenes?

Here are seven choices for apps and free writing programs for you that are specifically designed for writing your book.

Read our review of nine free book writing programs for authors.

7 Free apps for bloggers

Are you a content writer or blogger? You need to work with ideas, keywords, data, headlines, and images all day long.

It pays to stay one step ahead of your competition. You are continually working on improving your content, search engine optimization (SEO), and SERP rankings.

There is no way you can do all this work without having the best tools for the job at hand.

Make your life a little easier with some of these blogging apps to help you write and rank better.

Here is a choice of seven of the best blogging tools for busy content writers and bloggers. All of them will save you hours of work every day.

1. Fyrebox – Free and Premium

You’re writing lots of content for your blog.

But wouldn’t it be great if you could engage your readers a little more in your post topics?

Well, you can with Fyrebox by creating a free interactive quiz.

All you need to do is create your free account, and then you can start designing your quiz in a few minutes.

There are templates to help you get started with pre-made quizzes for you to personalize.

A quiz is a great way to keep your readers on your blog for much longer by letting them participate in your blog post subject.

2. Hubspot Blog Ideas – Free

Hubspot’s blog topic generator is an old favorite for many writers.

All you need to do is enter a few nouns, and it will produce a list of blog title ideas for you.

It is such a handy tool to have when you are looking for new writing ideas.

3. Portent’s Idea Generator – Free

Do you need a cure for writer’s block?

I adore this blog topic generator app.

Portent is an easy and clever way to find new writing ideas.

It is an app primarily designed for bloggers to find headlines and titles and not a genuine headline analyzer. But writers can use it to discover new ideas for any piece of writing.

All you have to do is input your base word or words, and then you can select a working title for a new writing prompt.

4. ShareThough Headline Analyser – Free

How engaging is your article headline?

Sharethrough must be my absolute favorite little app. Once you have a blog or article title idea, run it through this app to see how effective it will be in attracting readers’ attention.

You can edit as you go, and the app keeps a record of your variations so you can choose the best one.

The app’s blurb says: “Like the lead paragraph in a news story or thesis in an essay, your headline is your one true sentence: the single most important asset for capturing attention in the feed.”

5. Website Grader – Free

Website Grader is a quick and easy app to help you improve your blog.

Checking and optimizing your blog’s performance is essential if you want to increase your site traffic.

You should make sure that your website is easy for users to discover and easy for search engines to understand.

It is a quick app to check your page titles, headings, and meta descriptions.

It only takes a few seconds to run this performance check of your blog to see if you need to make any improvements.

6. Privacy Policy Generator – Free

Privacy Policy Generator is an app to help you write your privacy policy page for your blog.

You don’t even need to register or give your email address.

It is a time and money saver for all bloggers.

Just add your basic information, and the app will create the full text for your privacy terms.

All blogs should have a policy page about privacy to make sure that your site is GDPR compliant.

7. Canva – Free and Premium

Now, this is not an app for writing articles. So it might not truly belong in a list of blog writing tools and programs.

But Canva is a fantastic tool for promoting your writing.

Canva is a free online tool for creating images.

Because using Internet images you find on Google images are very often copyright protected, it is a much better idea to create your own unique images.

You can find and use stock images to upload to Canva that you can then design and transform into a unique image.

You can use Canva to make images for social media promotion, images for your blog posts, Facebook headers, and even for quick and dirty ebook covers.

While there is a paid option, the free version offers more than enough images, graphics, icons, shapes, and backgrounds for almost any image creation project.

It’s so useful; I sometimes feel a bit guilty because I use this app almost every day.

10 Free productivity apps

There are so many facets to writing. It would be great if all you had to do were to write.

But we all know that a writer’s life consists of lots of tasks and distractions.

You have to be organized to be able to write. Just collecting and collating your ideas takes a lot of time in your day. Then there is your to-do list and probably a long list of pending items.

It would be great if there was an all-in-one help for a writer’s app. But until it ever eventuates, here is a selection of some of the best productivity apps for writers.

Hopefully, some of them will help you stay organized and perhaps save a little time that you can invest in writing.

1. Trello – Free and Premium

Trello must be one of the most popular apps for writers.

There is so much you can do to organize your writing projects, notes, and to-do lists. You can collaborate and assign tasks, start discussions, and so much more.

Trello is a beautiful as well as highly functional app. It is available for Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer, iOS, and Android.

2. Evernote – Free and Premium

Evernote is a popular application for lots of writers. It is one of the most popular note-taking apps, but it is much more.

Never let an idea escape when you are not at your keyboard. You can organize your thoughts, and create checklists and to-do lists.

There is also a handy web clipper that lets you save parts of web pages to help you with your writing research.

The free version comes with more than enough storage memory to suit most writers.

3. OneLook – Free

OneLook lets you describe a concept and get back a list of words and phrases related to that concept.

Your description can be anything at all: a single word, a few words, or even a whole sentence.

Type in your description and hit Enter to see all the related words.

This little writing app is a thesaurus on steroids.

4. Free Pomodoro Timer – Free

If you are a fan of the Pomodoro technique, to improve your productivity, you will need a Pomodoro timer .

There are many apps to choose from online.

But I like this one because it’s easy to set and to read. Nothing fancy, but effective.

5. Read-O-Meter – Free

How long will it take to read your article?

Find out with Read-O-Meter , and then you can add reading time to your blog post or article.

6. Wordcounter – Free

Wordcounter ranks the most frequently used words in your text.

You can use this browser app to see what words you are repeating too often and then make changes.

All you need to do is paste your text into the box. Then this little app will go to work and list all your repetitions.

7. Quetext – Free

Quetext is an online plagiarism checker.

Many paid apps feature checking plagiarism as a premium option.

But with this browser app, you can check your documents anytime you like.

8. Otter V0ice Notes – Free and Premium

Otter is a dictation-to-text app for iOS and Android.

All you need to do is hit the record button, start speaking, and watch your words appear in the app. It even adds in punctuation.

There are many paid and premium dictation apps, but Otter offers a generous free option of 600 minutes a month.

9. Freemind – Free

If you are into mind maps to develop story ideas, here is a software download for you.

Many authors use mind map apps to help write a book by keeping their ideas connected and logical.

Freemind is open-source mind-mapping software built in Java.

It is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

It has a wide variety of features, including location-based mind mapping, collaboration tools, restore sessions, and more.

10. DiffChecker – Free

Do you sometimes get into a tangle when editing different versions of a text?

What and when did you make a change? Is it nearly impossible to remember every edit you make?

Well, with DiffChecker , it is easy to compare two versions of a text and find the differences between them.

It is a browser app, but if you want to save your revisions (Diffs), you will need to create an account to log in.

8 Quick mentions

The following free writing software and writing apps are recent additions to our list.

They are not categorized. But all of them could be worth a look to see if they are a match for what you need in an app or program.

As they are quick mentions, you will need to investigate for yourself to see if they might be worthwhile.

1. Kindle Previewer – Free

The Kindle Previewer application is a free desktop program that lets authors preview how their ebooks will appear on all Kindle devices.

It makes it easy to check your ebooks for different screen sizes, display orientations, and text font sizes.

2. Zotero – Free

Zotero is a free and easy-to-use program to help you with sources and citations.

You can collect, organize, cite, and share your research.

You can create references and bibliographies for any text editor directly with Word, LibreOffice, and Google Docs.

3. Reedsy Book Editor – Free

It is also a writing program and editor.

4. NaturalReader – Free

It’s often a good idea to read aloud when you proofread a draft text.

But with NaturalReader , you can create mp3 files from your text and then play them back to you. It makes it much easier to check your text for accuracy as you listen.

There is a generous free daily limit of 20 minutes for access to premium voices.

But if you select free voices, there is no restriction.

5. Bubbl.Us – Free

When you want to mind map your ideas, it is easier with an app.

Bubbl.Us is a good choice if you want free mind mapping. You can share your maps with others and even on social media.

6. Pixabay – Free

You’re right; this is not free writing software. But I have to include Pixabay because I use it every day to find great free images for my blog.

There are a lot of free stock image sites, but this one is my favorite because the choice of images is enormous.

7. Pixlr – Free

Again, this is not a writing app. But when you need to edit an image for your blog or ebooks, then Pixlr might do the job for you.

There is a premium version, but you will find that the free version can do most of the basic photo editing tasks you would need to do.

8. DramaQueen – Free

If you are writing scripts, this program could be what you are looking for.

With DramaQueen , you can format your script yourself or according to the official rules of the Writers’ Guild.

3 Fun free writing apps

Writers can sometimes be a serious bunch of people. But everyone needs to have a bit of fun from time to time.

To end my long list of apps for writers, here are three little apps to put a smile on your face.

Have fun, and enjoy being a writer.

1. Hipster Sound – Free

Do you have time to go to a café to relax and write?

If you don’t, you can bring the sounds of a Texas or Paris café to you with this cute little app.

Go to Hipster Sound , click play, pop in your air pods, and you will have all the ambient sounds you need to get your creative juices flowing. As an extra bonus, your coffee is on the house!

2. FlipText – Free

Okay, you are not going to use Fliptext often. But it is a fun and funny little writing tool.

¡uoıʇuǝʇʇɐ ʇɔɐɹʇʇɐ oʇ ǝɹns sı ʇı ˙uʍop ǝpısdn buıʇıɹʍ ʎɹʇ ʇou ʎɥʍ ‘uoıʇuǝʇʇɐ ʇɔɐɹʇʇɐ ןןıʍ ʇɐɥʇ buıɥʇǝɯos op oʇ ʇuɐʍ noʎ uǝɥʍ

Yes, you can write upside down. Did you have to turn your screen upside down, or did you twist your neck in pain trying to read it?

3. The Most Dangerous Writing App – Free

The Most Dangerous Writing App is a fun little writing tool with a mean side to it.

You start by setting yourself a writing time of, say, five minutes. Then you start writing. But if you stop writing for more than five seconds, you lose everything you wrote.

However, if you get through your allotted time without stopping, your reward is that you can save your work.

Yes, that’s a seriously nasty little writing app. It is a brutal yet brilliant idea.

But if you treat it like a game, it is a fun challenge and maybe a clever way to help you overcome writer’s block.

Summary of free writing software

For all writers, there are plenty of free writing software, programs, publishing apps , and tools.

You can also find free book writing programs that work very well for any book project.

You don’t need to spend any money at all to get some of the best free writing software and apps.

There are so many open-source and free software alternatives for word processors, book writing, short story writing, and spelling and grammar correction tools.

Are you ready to write your book or get started as a content writer or blogger?

Then the writing tools in the list above will be more than enough to get you off on the right foot.

All of them are user-friendly and quick, and easy to learn how to use.

Make your choices based on what you need and want to achieve as a writer and what you think you will need to succeed.

Then head off to the coffee shop with your laptop, or pump up Hipster Sound at home and start writing.

Related reading: Choose Your Writing Apps For iPad To Write Anywhere

About The Author

Derek Haines

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28 thoughts on “the best 50 free writing software and free writing apps”.

No Ywriter? Easy to set up and use. Takes around two minutes to learn from installation. More important it’s free.

I have noted yWriter in our article about free book writing software.

Thank you for this article. It’s very useful.

As an editor and writer for thirty years, I’m not at all fond of grammar and style programs. None of them work well at all for the people who need them most. Every one I’ve tied, including Grammarly, makes terrible mistakes, and if you follow the style these programs want you to follow, you’ll never be a good writer. I can tell in a page or two whether a writer has used and RELIED such a program, and it’s almost always an instant rejection.

These programs should only be used by writers who don’t really need them, except for those brain fart moments, or when a truly esoteric question of grammar pops up. As a writer, you MUST know grammar inside out, and you must know style inside out, or you won’t have a clue whether Grammarly, or any such program, be it for grammar or style, is lying to you.

At BEST, these programs produce cookie cutter style that may be technically correct, but that simply is not professional level writing. Such writing may make you a couple of dollars on a site such as Medium, and you may even sell a few copies of something on Amazon, but this is all you’ll do.

If you really want to be a professional writer, you MUST learn grammar inside and out. These programs can’t give you the grammar you need, and contrary to popular belief, it is NOT an editor’s job to correct a manuscript full of bad grammar. Ain’t gonna happen. Grammar is your job, not the job of a software program, and not the job of an editor. Period.

Nor can you leave style up to software, or to an editor. Software can’t give you professional level style, and an editor simply doesn’t have the time. An editor will correct minor mistakes here and there, overlooked brain farts, but that’s it.

If you really want to be a writer, forget such silly software. Plant your butt and learn grammar. For style, story, characterization, plot, and other such necessities, read five hundred novels and a thousand short stories, then write several novel or fifty short stories. If you have any talent at all, this will bring it out. If you lack talent, well, you need a new profession.

This era of digitization has changed the publishing industry completely and is still revamping it . The book writing software and industries are a true companion for writers and editors. They are just making our work more easy and accurate. Totally agree with your article.

I have a fixed income due to my disabilities. I plan to purchase a new computer but is Microsoft Home and Personal a very reputable writing program? Is a Dell computer highly recommended?

I write • plays • poetry • historical fiction • children’s picture books • essays • short fiction for children and adults

Thank you! :-)

Sorry, Tom. But I can’t help you with advice about buying a computer. You’d be better trying computer review sites.

Hi Derek, I hope someone is interested in my Scribis Project, a series o free online editors dedicated to those who want to work quickly moving between dictionaries, thesauri and databases of sentences selected from the great classics. Based on what you type in the editor, you will get synonyms, collocations, intermediate concepts, semantic fields, and dozens of sentences that contain analogies, similarities, emotions and images. With another tool, Scribis Matrix, you can generate word matrices from the same dictionaries and thesauri.

Why no YWriter? It does everything important that scrivener can do, but it is free.

We do feature yWriter in our listing of free book writing software. So, we haven’t missed it. https://justpublishingadvice.com/choose-your-free-book-writing-software-for-your-new-book/

PowerWritingAid and Grammarly are not free programs. You have to pay expensive monthly subscriptions.

StyleWriter will make you a better writer and does not get a mention in your reviews!

Prowritingaid and Grammarly both offer free versions. But I will investigate Stylewriter.

I use Grammarly on a daily basis and only the free version and I don’t feel I am missing out on anything. I also use the free version of pro writing aid, not as often but I’ve never encountered an instance where I have wished I had the paid version. A lot of paid apps have a really good free version of those apps too. This is a pretty perfectly crafted reply because of my free Grammarly lol

Very great article with many great Apps. Recently I discovered Neperos, it is very intuitive and gives you the possibility to style your article with multiple pictures.

I bought Prowritingaid for the Word add-in, but found one of the most important features, the ability to customise reports, doesn’t work. Contacting the Support team led to promises of an investigation followed by nothing. A reminder led to a promise the issue would be passed to a developer who,would be in touch, then nothing. If you want it work with Word, look elsewhere or you’ll pay for a non-functional product with no support!

Hi Peter, Lisa here from ProWritingAid. I’ve just been through our support inbox and can’t find any emails under the name Peter Caffrey.

So far, I am enjoying 3 out of your 10 recommendations. Your reviews seem honest and unscripted-thank you for that.

The only serious free option for desktop publishing right now is Scribus. It’s software, not web-based. I’ve used it a few times and it’s pretty decent. Of course, I also have QuarkXPress, which I prefer. Hope that helps!

It was informational and I liked it very much.

I found this article to be informative. In search of one thing, I happily stumbled upon much more. Thanks!

Generally in life you get what you pay for so you should expect limitations from anything free. If you’re serious about writing then Scrivener is what you need. Yes, you have to pay for it but it costs about the same as a couple of takeaways and once you learn how to use it you’ll wonder how you lived without it. I agree about Canva, but I wouldn’t bother with anything else on the list!

There is free Windows alternative for Scrivener named Quoll Writer. Of course, it has some limitations but is a lot easier to use and gives you all essential features writer or journalist needs. Chapters, characters, items, linking, tagging, annotating and more. It has Idea Board and stats and readability indexes. Text formatting is basic but hey, it’s software for writers not for editors. You can export your texts as .docx or .epub and format them with Sigil or Calibre. I’m using it for couple of years.

Good article, but you don’t mention StyleWriter – a powerful program to change the way y0u write. It shows you how to write and edit like a professional.

So thankful I found this site. All the info I need in one place and much simpler than what I was trying to work with. Especially great for a tech dummy like me.

Great post, informative and gives me some options to consider that I didn’t know about before. Thanks.

Great article, I love Canva, Couldn’t run my website without it! Thanks for this. I learned some things.

Thanks for this informative post. :) — Suzanne

This post is one of the best and most informative I have read in years on publishing for home-based writers. Through your post, I have discovered new resources that will make my writing life easier. Thanks!!!

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Wayne State University

School of information sciences, school of information sciences current students, instructions for writing reflective essays.

Instructions 

In the reflective essay, the student will discuss how s/he has developed as an information professional during the School. The student will discuss each of the four MLIS student learning outcomes, and demonstrate how they have become proficient in these learning outcomes. 

The essay should following standard writing practice, with introduction, subheadings, and conclusion piece, free of grammar and typo mistakes.  References are required.  

For each MLIS learning outcome, the student uses 300-350 words to demonstrate their understanding of the learning outcome, and then uses an appropriate artifact to support their competency in the learning outcome.  

Since multiple components are included in each learning outcome, the student can address one or two components for each learning outcome. Please use several sentences to justify your focus on those components. 

For example : for LO#3, “Demonstrate professional competency, including critical thinking, research, communication, cultural competence, technology development, digital literacy, leadership, lifelong learning, and adherence to professional ethics”, students might address only “technology development” and “lifelong learning” components in their reflections.  

As a concluding piece of the essay, the student will include their stance or philosophy of the information profession. The student will gird the philosophy piece using readings of the research, professional literature, personal experiences, and the learning outcomes. Students can address questions like: What is an information professional? What are the characteristics, qualities and knowledge that will be most important to you as an information professional? 

Use of writing in the first person is encouraged.    Essay Submission 

The final product will be a 1400-1700 word reflective essay, with suitable and ethical citation practices followed (final word count excludes bibliography). Please note that this is not a personal history or review of courses taken during the School. Instead, it is an articulation of your growth as an information professional and your adoption of a personal professional philosophy. 

You may submit the reflective essay in .doc, .docx, or pdf formats. Please do not submit the essay in .zip or .rar format. 

Make sure your reflective essay has the following elements: 

Introduction 

Discussion of each MLIS learning outcome 

Discussion of appropriate artifacts in relation to each MLIS learning outcome 

Professional philosophy 

Conclusion 

References