![25 Best Content Creation Tools in 2024 [Free and Paid]](https://blogcontents.mandalasystem.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/content-creation-tools.png)
- 25 Best content creation tools for efficient workflows
- Content ideation and planning tools
- Writing and editing tools
- Image editing and sourcing tools
- Video creation or editing tools
- Content management and scheduling tools
- Social media content-generating tools
- Podcast content creation tools
- How to choose the right online content creation tool for your business
25 Best content creation tools for efficient workflows
There are many stages involved in creating content for marketing campaigns, including the following:
- Ideation/Planning
- Drafting/writing/editing
- Formatting
- Scheduling
- Publishing
- Channeling
Let’s take a look at the best tools for each stage of content creation.
Content ideation and planning tools
- Mandala Analytics (for social media)
Mandala Analytics is our top pick for developing content ideas for social media across multiple niches. The tool comes in two powerful platforms – Mandala Cosmos and Mandala Analytics – tailored to help you get consistent results from your social media content creation.
Features:
- Trend monitoring and social listening: This feature allows you to track what people are saying about your brand or industry online. You can use this information to identify new trends, understand customer sentiment, and improve your marketing strategy.
- Content inspiration and development for social engagement and ads: This feature helps you to create engaging and effective social media content. You can use it to find inspiration from other brands, track what types of content perform well on social media, and create custom reports for your team.
- “Free forever” to $69 for starters and content creators
- $159-$699 for businesses and agencies
- Custom pricing for enterprises
- Google Trends
Google Trends is a content development tool that allows users to find topics that are trending in their specific industry or location. The data from Google Trends can help you explore other helpful ideas for creating content relevant to your business.
Features:
- Geolocation: Google Trends can show you how search interest varies by location. This can be helpful for understanding how different cultures or regions are using the internet.
- Related topics: Google Trends shows you related topics for each search term. This can help you to discover new trends or find more information about a particular topic.
Pricing: Free
Writing and editing tools
- ChatGPT
ChatGPT is a disruptive AI tool for content creators that’s also helpful for ideating and creating content. With ChatGPT, you can research, organize, and write content for your marketing campaigns.
Features:
- Conversational and contextual understanding
- Natural language processing
- Multilingual capabilities
- General knowledge
- Creativity and imagination
- Personalization
Pricing:
- Free version available
- $20 per month for ChatGPT Plus
- Grammarly
Grammarly is an AI content optimization tool used by over 30 million people worldwide. This proofreading and editing tool provides suggestions that are consistent with your tone and can improve your writing.
Features:
- Identify and correct grammatical and spelling errors.
- Improves style by suggesting more concise, clear, and engaging language.
- Cuts down on complex sentences to make your writing clearer.
Pricing:
- Free version available
- Premium starts at $12/month
- Business starts at $15/member/month
- Google Docs
Google Docs is a content writing and formatting tool with multiple features to format your content before publishing.
Features
- Real-time collaboration
- Version history
- Commenting and suggestions
- Formatting options
- Integration with other Google apps
Pricing:
- Free version available
- The priced version starts at $6 per month
- Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word is a word processing and formatting tool similar to Google Docs. The tool comes in handy with many impressive features for formatting content before formatting.
Features
- Content formatting
- Tables, images, charts, and SmartArt graphics
- Revision tracking, AutoCorrect, spelling and grammar checking
- Thesaurus and built-in research tools
Pricing: Free from one month and then starts at $9.99 monthly
Image editing and sourcing tools
- Canva
Canva is a multipurpose design tool. Aside from being the go-to platform for unlimited image editing and design, you can source other graphical content, such as carousels, infographics, flyers, videos, and more.
Features:
- Templates, image library, and unlimited graphical elements
- Drag-and-drop editor
- Collaboration and sharing
- Branding and brand kits
- Presentations and infographics
Pricing
- Free version available
- Canva Pro priced at $12.99 per month (or $119.99 per year)
- Canva for Teams starts at $14.99 per month for up to 5 team members
- Microsoft Designer
Meet Microsoft Designer, an AI-based graphic design tool that allows you to create images only by entering your desired text. The tool’s integration with DALL·E 2 enables it to generate a range of customizable design options for your images based on text descriptions.
Features
- AI-powered design
- Template library
- Real-time collaboration
- Export options
Pricing: Free
- Unsplash
Unsplash is a royalty-free image database for sourcing images for your content production. The images on this platform are totally free and non-watermarked.
Features
- High-quality images
- Search filters
- Download options
Pricing: Free
- Remove.bg
Remove.bg uses AI capabilities to remove the background from images. This feature is useful for designing flyers, landing pages, and video content.
Features
- Automatic background removal
- Manual background editing
- Upload and download
Pricing
- Free and limited plans available
- Pay-as-you-go subscription model
- Nimbus screenshot & screen video recorder
Nimbus Screenshot & Screen Video Recorder is a Google Chrome extension for capturing, editing and annotating screenshots, screen clippings, and screen recordings.
Features
- Screenshot capture
- Screen recording
- Annotation and editing
- Video settings
- Cloud storage and sharing
Pricing
- Free version available
- Priced version is $5 per user per month
- Shutterstock
Shutterstock is a stock image site similar to Unsplash. However, the images on Shutterstock are of better quality. Aside from the images, the tool also offers videos, music, and other media assets.
Features
- High-quality stock photos
- Videos
- Music
Pricing: Pay per download or subscribe to a plan
Video creation or editing tools
- Animoto
Animoto is an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop video editor. The tool is packed with multiple templates you can build on to create a video. But you can also upload a video to edit it. It is commonly used by social media marketers.
Features
- Video creation
- Templates and themes
- Text and captions
- Music library
- Voiceovers
- Sharing and exporting
Pricing:
- Free plan available
- Basic plan – $96/year or $16/month.
- Professional plan – $180/year or $29/month.
- Professional plus – $468/year or $79/month.
- Descript
Descript is an AI video editing platform for creating highly engaging videos. You can create engaging scenes by placing your presenters into any setting using the AI-powered green screen. Also, it’s very helpful for screen recordings.
Features
- Transcription and text editing, multitrack editing, and automatic sound editing
- Voice and overdub
- Collaboration and version control
- Screen recording
- Publishing and exporting
- Integration with external apps
Pricing:
- Free plan available
- Paid plans start at $12 per month
- WebinarNinja
WebinarNinja comes in handy for hosting a live webinar or a pre-recorded session.
Features
- Webinar Creation
- Registration and landing pagesAutomated emails
- Live and on-demand webinars
- Analytics and reporting
Pricing:
- Free trial available
- Paid plans start at $29
- Instant Video Creator
Instant Video Creator is a content generation tool that converts articles into shareable videos. Plus, you can access multiple templates to create your own videos from scratch, especially for improved social media engagement.
Features
- Create videos from blog posts
- AI-powered video creation
- Customization options
Pricing:
- Free trial available
- Pro version for $60/month
- StreamYard
If you need a tool for live streaming across social media platforms, StreamYard allows you to live stream and interact with viewers simultaneously on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Twitch.
Features
- Live broadcasting and screen sharing
- Multi-participant streaming
- Custom branding and brandable frames and overlays
- On-screen comments and reactions and live chat management
- Pre-recorded content
- Recording and downloading
Pricing:
- Free version available
- Paid plan starts at $25
Content management and scheduling tools
- WordPress
WordPress is a widely-used content management system that empowers users to create and manage websites conveniently.
Features
- User-friendly interface
- Content creation and management
- Themes and customization
- Plugins and extendability
- Mobile responsiveness
- SEO-friendly
Pricing: Free but may require paid plugins and hosting for optimum performance.
- Google Workspace
Google Workspace brings together multiple tools for an online content creator. These tools include the following:
Features
- Calendar: An online calendar that lets you track to-dos and events
- Docs: An online word processor that’s great for collaboration with real-time editing
- Drive: Cloud storage for documents, images, videos, and more
Pricing:
- Business Starter: $6 USD
- Business Standard: $12 USD
- Business Plus: $18 USD
- Asana
Asana is a project management tool helpful for teams to organize, track, and collaborate on their work.
Features
- Create and manage tasks seamlessly
- Start and organize projects
- Create portfolios of related projects
- Collaborate with team members on tasks and projects
- Hassle-free communication with team members
Pricing:
- Free but limited version available
- Premium starts at $10.99 per user per month
Social media content-generating tools
- Mandala Cosmos
Mandala Cosmos is one of the free content creation tools for social media that helps you track what people are saying about your brand or industry online, create engaging and effective social media content, and discover powerful insights from your data.
Features
- Customized feeds and playlists
- Trend monitoring and social listening
- Content inspiration and development
- Discover powerful insights
- Seamless team collaboration
- Perfect companion for social commerce
Pricing:
- “Free forever” to $69 for starters and content makers
- $159-$699 for businesses and agencies
- Custom pricing for enterprises
- Semrush’s Social Poster
Semrush Social Poster is a social media management tool that allows you to schedule and publish posts across multiple social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
Features
- Schedule and publish posts across multiple social media platforms
- Create and customize social media posts
- Track the performance of your social media posts
- Get insights into your target audience
- Collaborate with team members.
Pricing: Requires subscription to Semrush’s plans
Podcast content creation tools
- Audacity
Audacity is a workstation for a variety of digital audio tasks. This tool allows you to record audios directly, upload existing files, and edit audios using an array of tools hardly found on other audio management software.
Features
- Recording
- Editing (and multi-track editing)
- Third-party audio plug-in support
- Batch processing, export, and import
Pricing: Free
- Buzzsprout
Buzzsprout is a podcast hosting platform that offers a range of features to simplify podcast creation, hosting, and distribution across popular podcasting content creation platforms like Apple Podcasts.
Features
- Podcast hosting and episode management
- Podcast distribution
- Analytics and statistics
- Monetization
Pricing:
- Free plan available
- Paid plan is $24/month
- Scribie
Scribie is an online platform that provides transcription services useful for podcast content creation.
Features
- Verbatim transcription services
- Multiple file formats
- Timestamps and speaker identification
- Editing and review
- Fast turnaround time
Pricing: Pay per audio minute
How to choose the right online content creation tool for your business
Using the right digital content creation tools can help you get higher ROI in your business in a short period. On the flip side, you might dilly-dally around content creation with disappointing results if you employ content tools your team members don’t understand.
Before selecting any tool, look out for the prominent features, customer feedback, user interface, and pricing to see if they align with your business’s needs and budget. Also, it would help to try out a demo before subscribing to a paid plan.
Our selections in this article are recommended by experts in the industry. We believe they can help you achieve your content marketing goals. For all things social media, Mandala AI is your best tool with incredible features built to help you stand out on social media.
Supercharge your social media content creation journey with Mandala AI today!
