Looking for free blogging tools to help improve your writing and workflow?
There are so many hidden expenses for blogging that I always thought I’d only spend money on a domain and web hosting (I was so wrong 😳).
I thought I’d make a list of 21 free blogging tools that I’ve found incredibly useful and reduce your expenses as a beginner blogger.
These tools improve my writing, content ideas, page speed, and more!
Skip to free blogging tools:
– Writing
– Keyword research
– Image resizing
– Email marketing
– Royalty-free images
– Cloud storage
– Plugins
Let’s get started!
Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links, where I may receive a small commission on purchases at no cost to you. All of these tools are ones that I thoroughly recommend. You can read my full affiliate disclosure here.
21 Best Free Blog Tools
Just a heads up, most of these tools have an upgraded paid version or some locked areas. I’ve found that you can get away with using the free version just fine.
Free Writing Tools Online
WordPress
WordPress is the most popular website builder used by more than 40% of the entire web.
I chose it as one of the best free blogging tools because it’s the platform that allows bloggers to monetize their blogs however they’d like.
The WordPress platform is free, but you need to buy web hosting and a domain name. I personally use Cloudways to host my blogs, and I absolutely love it. It’s super-fast, can host multiple websites on a singular server, and is very reliable.
Recommended read: How to Start a Blog in 2021 – Easy to Follow Guide
Hemingway App
Hemingway is an app that helps you to make your writing more coherent and clear.
You can use their online editor or download their desktop app for free. Hemingway App is the perfect visual text editor as it highlights mistakes in colors and explains the errors in your writing.
Grammarly
Grammarly is my favorite grammar and spell checker for all of my blog posts, and it’s used by over 30 million people.
The tool helps with writing, grammar, spelling, tone, and more. The free version is perfect for most people, but it does have a paid upgrade.
Free Keyword Research Tools
These are all of the free keyword research tools I use to plan and write my content. I personally do not have the money to be spending $99 a month on a paid keyword tool.
Wordtracker
Wordtracker is a keyword research tool that displays historical data, search volume, competition, and more. It’s easily one of the best free blogging tools and allows for 12 keyword searches a day (paid version is unlimited).
The tool is also helpful at giving content ideas and suggestions, which is perfect for a beginner blogger.
Ubersuggest
Ubersuggest is the keyword tool I use most frequently. It has a free version that allows for 4 searches a day.
I use Ubersuggest to get content ideas for both of my blogs. Ubersuggest also has a paid version that’s a lot more in-depth and can track multiple websites.
Wordstream
The last of the free keyword research tools I use is Wordstream. Wordstream is a great tool that is very specific. You can search for domains or keywords in certain industries and countries.
Wordstream is supported by Google and will help you plan new content ideas for your blog.
Free Image Resizing Tools
These are the image resizing tools I use with all pictures in my blog posts. I personally prefer to resize and compress the photos for my posts manually rather than relying on a plugin.
Bulk Resize
A tool to bulk resize photos to any width, height, percentage, or file size (I typically resize the images 1000 pixels wide).
Bulk Resize can resize 150 images within 60 seconds and leaves no watermark.
Compressor
Probably my most utilized free blogging tool on this list. I use Compressor for every single image that gets uploaded to my blogs.
Simply upload your files after they’ve been resized and watch as Compressor takes the bulk out of the file size, often reducing images by 80%.
Doing this will allow your blog posts to load quicker and will improve your user experience.
This image below is only 38KB and still looks relatively normal 🙂
Free Email Marketing Tools
These are the free email marketing tools that you should use as a beginner.
Note: These are free for 1000 – 2000 subscribers and then become paid. It’s more than enough to get started with email marketing as a beginner blogger.
ConvertKit
The email marketing platform I use and love. It’s built for bloggers, by bloggers, and is extremely easy to set up.
ConvertKit also has a physical address already included, so you don’t need to buy a P.O. box to hide your personal address. When you use my referral link, you can get started with 1000 free subscribers.
MailerLite
MailerLite is another popular email marketing software that’s free for up to 1000 subscribers.
Create campaigns with their drag and drop editor, landing pages, and pre-built email designs.
MailChimp
MailChimp is the last of my recommended free email marketing tools. It’s the perfect tool for beginner bloggers who want a user-friendly email marketing platform.
The free plan allows for up to 2000 email contacts, basic email templates, and one audience.
Free Images for Bloggers
4 websites to access and download free images for your blog. If you’re new to blogging, you want to use royalty-free photos that won’t get you in trouble (or copyrighted) for using them. These 4 free platforms are the best way to ensure that you don’t get in trouble.
Unsplash
Get access to a library of over 2 million high-resolution, royalty-free videos and images. Unsplash is my go-to if I ever need free photos for my blog posts or featured images.
Pexels
Pexels has millions of royalty-free stock photos from over 300,000 contributors.
They also have collections with different categories that make it simple to find high-quality, hand-picked images from their team.
Canva
Canva is my go-to for royalty-free images, elements, and icons. I use the platform every single day to help with creating infographics and pictures for my blog posts.
Get access to a library of millions of free stock photos, thousands of fonts, and templates. If you’re a blogger, Canva will probably become your favorite tool.
Pixabay
Find stunning, high-quality media from their library of over 2.2 million free stock photos, videos, and music.
Pixabay has an excellent filters option, which can help you find the exact images you’re looking for with dimensions, orientation, or categories.
Best Free Cloud Storage
OneDrive
The cloud storage I use every day, the free version, comes with 5GB of storage and is more than enough for bloggers.
I use OneDrive frequently because I own a MacBook and a desktop computer. OneDrive makes it super simple to access files, photos, and videos that aren’t tied down to one computer.
Google Drive
Google Drive is another great cloud storage option. The free version comes with 15GB of storage and is super simple to use.
Create documents, store videos, PDFs, presentations, and photos.
Google Drive is also perfect for sharing links (I deliver sets of product photography to clients with shareable link folders).
Best Free WordPress Plugins
Yoast SEO
The #1 SEO plugin with over 5 million active installations. Yoast SEO is the perfect plugin to help with SEO and ranking higher in search engines.
The free version is perfect for most bloggers, which allows for 1 focus key phrase and a checklist to implement some of the best SEO practices.
LuckyWP Table of Contents
A table of contents plugin allows users to skip to specific sections (headings) in your blog posts.
The plugin is super easy to install and fully customizable with colors, headings to include, and more.
Pretty Links
Pretty Links is one of my most used and loved blogging plugins. The plugin will help you shrink and make affiliate links look appealing. It’s a way to hide the ugly long affiliate link and keep all of your links in one place.
A pretty link on my blog will look like ‘strivingblogger.com/recommends/product.’ You can customize it to however you’d like.
Note: Do not use Pretty Links on Amazon links; otherwise, you face getting banned.
Grow Social
This social sharing plugin is one of my favorite free blogging tools on this list.
Grow Social lets you add customizable social share buttons throughout your blog posts. You can add the buttons before, after, or floating throughout the content, and they get added automatically to every post.
Wrapping Up
So there we have a list of 21 of the best free blogging tools.
Hopefully, you can use a few of these tools to make your blogging workflow run smoother, I’ve had great success with a lot of these tools, and I hope you do too!
How many of these free blogging tools do you use?
Read next:
– How to Make Money Blogging in 2021
– 10 Best Free WordPress Themes for Blogs