In my 7+ years of working as a professional writer, I’ve tried my share of tools and apps online while working. Some were more enjoyable than others, and some were more practical than others regarding daily writing. Below, I’ve created my list of favourite apps and online platforms for professional writing!

My most-used and approved apps and online toys for writing

It took me a while to decide what I wanted to focus on for this post since I’ve got several that I rely on. These ones are the services that I use and trust most often!

• Grammarly*: Whether you’ve seen their ads on YouTube or you’ve tried their services yourself, this is probably my favourite professional writing tool. You may have noticed by now that grammar is not my strong suit. In using Grammarly to check my work, I’m not only alerted to the mistakes that I don’t see, but I also learn why they’re mistakes. As someone who often feels like I’m playing catch-up on basic grammar, this is a great learning opportunity!
• Hemingway Editor*: While I don’t rely on this one for every project, I really enjoy it for those projects that need a little something extra. My top focuses on this include their readability score, to help you reach the right audience level, and how they will highlight your “very hard to read” sentences so that you can take a second look at them. As someone who naturally enjoys long and complex sentences, this helps me make sure it’s meeting my clients’ needs rather than my own!
• Pages*: If I work on an editing or critiquing project for a customer, Pages’ “Track Change” function becomes essential. Since I don’t want to directly edit or adapt the client’s work without them understanding what I am changing, this function allows changes to become suggestions that they can then approve or discard. I love the colour coding, too, since we can each change things and go back and forth with our unique author colours keeping everything clear and distinguishable.

The right tools make the job easier

While none of these tools will do the job of freelance writing for me, they certainly help make some parts of it easier. The client feels that ease as much as I do, so I see it as really important when looking for the best of both worlds. While I’m certainly not as integrated into the world of apps as others are, I am pleasantly surprised to know that I can find ones that help me make better decisions professionally. While apps get a lot of recognition for personal convenience and amusement, they’re as practical professionally as they are personally!

Did any of these surprise you? Do you disagree with any of my choices? If so, I’d love to know!

Have any of you tried any of these online offerings? If so, what did you think? Are there any others that you love more? I love hearing from you, so feel free to comment below!

*NOTE: I am not endorsing any of these platforms or apps, nor am I earning a commission! I’m just sharing what I use for my professional services.

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