Tool-stack posts are usually thinly-disguised affiliate dumps. This one isn't — these are the eight tools we evaluated this year, with honest verdicts on each.
Every copywriter has a list of "must-have tools" they share at conferences. Ours is short, boring, and mostly free. Here's what's actually open in our browsers most days.
What we use
1. Hemingway Editor — for cutting
Hemingway is blunt. It flags long sentences, passive voice, and adverbs. We don't follow it blindly — it has no taste — but it's brilliant for catching the lazy phrasing your eye skips over on the third re-read. Free version is fine.
2. Ahrefs — for understanding intent
Not for keyword volume. For understanding what users actually search. The "matching terms" report shows you the real phrases customers use, which is gold for hero copy. Yes it's expensive; yes we still pay for it.
3. Otter — for client calls
Records and transcribes voice immersion sessions. Two huge benefits: writers can pull quotes for testimonials and About copy, and clients hear how they actually sound (revelatory, sometimes painful).
4. Google Docs — for everything else
Boring choice. Beats Notion, beats Word, beats every "AI-first writing platform" we've tried. Comments are excellent, version history is excellent, and clients already know how to use it.
5. AnswerThePublic — for the awkward questions
Free, ugly, and indispensable for the early research phase. Shows you the real questions people ask around a topic. Most of our FAQ sections start as an AnswerThePublic export.
What we tried and dropped
1. Jasper / Copy.ai / generative-AI writers
We genuinely tried. The output is fluent and instantly forgettable — exactly the trap we're trying to help clients escape. AI works for outlines and brainstorming, not for the actual words. We use ChatGPT (the free one) for that and skip the dedicated "copywriting" AI tools entirely.
2. Grammarly Premium
Free Grammarly is fine. Premium tries to rewrite your sentences for "clarity" and makes everything sound like a 2018 corporate blog. The cost-to-value isn't there for professional writers; it might be useful if writing isn't your day job.
3. Notion for client docs
Lovely product. Awful for shared writing work. Clients lose pages, the comment threads vanish behind permalink hell, and the writing experience itself is fussy. We use it internally; we never touch it with clients.
What's missing from this list
Headline analysers (CoSchedule, etc.) — gimmicky scores, useless advice. Thesaurus apps — you have one in your head. SEO content briefs — every tool in this category is wrong about something important. We write briefs ourselves.
The honest summary: most of the value comes from four free tools and one paid one. If anyone tries to sell you a £200/mo "writing platform", check what it actually does that Google Docs + Hemingway + your brain doesn't.
