Ah yes, content creation. The digital gold of the internet. 

Everyone – business owners and marketers alike – wants to lay their hands on it. 

However, the process of finding this gold can be a hassle sometimes. 

Not because it’s so difficult, but because you don’t have the right tools to mine this gold efficiently. 

That’s why we created this guide  –  to highlight tools you need for the gold rush. 

Here, you will find a comprehensive list of some of the best content creation tools on the market with an in-depth review detailing what each software can offer you.

We also added their pros and cons to ensure you find the best creation tool for your needs.

Keep reading for tools to transform your content creation process.

Disclaimer: The information below is accurate as of August 05, 2024.

Content creation tools: comparison table (with features & pricing)

To kick off our review, here’s a curated overview of content creation tools, spanning from a research tool and writing software to design tools and imagery solutions. Explore their key features and pricing structures below.

If that’s not enough, we’ve added their use case to show you how they fit into your workflow. 👇

Best digital content creation software by use case

Will the right tool for your needs be in our list? Before we confidently answer 'yes,' let's explore the best digital content creation software categorized by specific use cases:

• Ceros — Best tool for creating interactive content.
• Grammarly — Best software for proofreading.
• Audacity — Best audio editing tool. 
• Canva — Best template-based design tool. 
• Adobe Premiere Rush — Best tool for video editing and sharing.
• Google Trends — Best for analyzing content trends on the search engine.
• Unsplash — Best tool for finding free stock photos. 
• Giphy — Best online database for animated GIFs. 
• WordPress — Best content management system software.
• ChatGPT — Best generative AI tool. 
• Picmonkey — Best software for image editing and graphic design.
• Buffer — Best social media management tool. 

Now, let’s chat about each of them in detail.

1. Ceros

Ceros is the digital platform you need to send your content creation to the moon and back.

With its robust features for crafting interactive content, Ceros ensures your target audience enjoys a memorable digital experience, not just passive consumption. 

Make graphic designs come alive with dynamic elements like animations, hover effects, and more, all through a no-code interface that simplifies creation. It’s so easy, even your grandma could do it. 🧓

Leverage ready-to-use templates or collaborate seamlessly using MarkUp. 

Ceros features

• Studio for editing templates.
• Customizable content types.
• A preview function to ensure your interactive content looks exactly how you want.
• Analytics to gauge user interactions.
• Collaboration tools that get team members and stakeholders involved, making “teamwork” more than just a motivational poster on your office wall. 😏

Plus, Ceros seamlessly integrates with various CRM systems and marketing tools and supports the creation of WCAG-compliant content, ensuring accessibility for all users. 

Ceros pricing

Pricing details are available on request, and you can explore its functionalities through a demo. So why not give it a whirl and see how you can transform your digital content?

Ceros pros

• Great tool for creating interactive content. 
• Intuitive interface.
• Responsive customer service. 

2. Grammarly

Just as an art critic suggests refinement to a masterpiece, Grammarly provides detailed feedback to enhance your written content through advanced grammar checks and style suggestions.

Grammarly is an AI-powered tool with one main objective — helping professionals proofread and edit their write-ups.

Image Source: Grammarly

It works with different tools like Slack, Trello, Google Docs, Notion, Gmail, and more so you can use it without copy-pasting or switching apps. 

Now, Grammarly doesn’t just suggest random edits to you. It understands your personal and brand style and makes suggestions based on that. 

See how Senior Content Writer, Meghna describes it:

“I don't have to worry about proofreading ever since I started using Grammarly. It makes my sentences short and better. It also gives my copy clarity and gives suggestions on how to make it engaging. 

Even if you are not using the premium version, the free version also underlines the portions of your writing that need changing. Even that proves to be quite helpful sometimes.”

You can also use Grammarly to check for plagiarism, paraphrase texts, generate citations for academic content, and more.  

Grammarly features

• Essay checker for reviewing papers for grammatical errors.
• AI text generator to assist you when writing text. 
• Analytics to measure Grammarly’s impact on your team and areas for improvement.
• Tone detector to help you communicate with the right tone.
• Chrome extension lets you check your grammar anywhere such as Google Docs, Gmail, Slack, Monday, and more. 

Grammarly pricing

Grammarly has a free plan anyone can use to correct mistakes, check their tone, and generate text.

If you want more features and advanced suggestions like clarity and wordiness, there’s a paid plan starting at $12 per month. 

Grammarly pros and cons

Pros:

• Corrects grammar in real-time.
• Supports multiple languages. 
• Offers insights to improve your writing style. 

Cons:

• It’s only available online.
• Free version is somewhat limited and only offers basic spelling and grammar corrections.
• It occasionally tags fine text as errors.

3. Audacity

If you’re an audio person on the lookout for tools to help you get creative with sounds, then Audacity is just the tool you need. It’s a software for recording and editing audio. 

Image Source: Audacity

You can use it to make music, record podcasts, and voice-overs, and edit them. 

As long as it’s related to sound, Audacity is for you. 

And if you’re thinking about where to publish your audio files, Audacity is partnered with Audio.com, an audio hosting platform. You can upload your files straight to Audio.com and share them with the world. 

Rhys, a software analyst describing how Audacity helps him said..

“It helps me to record and edit the audio easily. The macro feature helps a lot to automate all the repetitive work with just single click it automatically apply filter remove background noise.”

Audacity features

This audio content editor has different features such as:

• Deep audio analysis for extracting meaningful information. 
• Importing, exporting, and converting audio files. 
• Plugins database to improve your audio production.

Audacity pricing

Audacity is free for anyone to use.

Audacity pros and cons

Pros:

• It’s available for Windows, Linux, and Mac users. 
• It’s open source so anyone can modify it to suit their needs. 
• Users can edit and export multiple files simultaneously.

Cons:

• User interface looks old-fashioned. 
• Its multitrack editing feature is slow. 
• Real-time collaboration is unavailable. 

4. Canva

If you want to create professional-looking designs without any design experience, you can use Canva.  

It’s a visual suite that lets you create beautiful designs using prebuilt templates. 

Canva has a huge stack of templates across different industries just waiting for you to edit and publish when you’re done. 

Image Source: Canva

If you don’t want to go the template route, you could start with a clean canvas, moving design elements like icons, vectors, images, banners, etc. around until they align with your style. 

Canva also lets you work with others on different design projects. They can comment and make edits in real time. 

Canva features

Some of Canva’s main features include:

• Template library, where you pick a design to edit. 
• Magic Studio, Canva’s AI tool for generating copy and editing images. 
• Color palette generator to create color combos from photos.
• Freehand drawing tool to illustrate an idea on your canvas. 

Canva pricing

It’s available for free to anyone who wants to create designs alone or with others. If you want access to premium features, the paid plan starts at $14.99 per month. 

Canva pros and cons

Pros:

• Supports real-time collaboration. 
• Inbuilt photo and element library. 

Cons:

• Limited output formats.
• Offline app has limited functionality.

5. Adobe Premiere Rush

Adobe Premiere Rush is a visual content creation app you can use to record, edit, and share high-quality videos. 

Image Source: Adobe

It’s equipped with features like pan and zoom, auto reframe, transition graphics, etc. for creating eye-catching videos.

Media coordinator, Arianna says, “I often have a lot of video ideas, but my computer isn't always in front of me. Adobe Rush allows me to play out my thoughts and make reels on the go. It has more features than other apps like being able to edit the audio as well.”

As Arianna mentioned, Premier Rush is available as both a desktop and mobile app. 

If you need video editing software to manage your creation process from start to finish, Premiere Rush is the way to go.

Adobe Premiere Rush features

Adobe Premiere Rush has features like:

• AI audio tools for editing audio files automatically and enhancing speech.
• Built-in effects to add unique artistic styles to your video content.  
• Third-party plugins to improve your workflow. 
• Tone mapping to match your videos with near true-life colors.

Adobe Premiere Rush pricing

Premier Rush is available for free download on macOS, Windows, Android, and iOS.

The paid version starts at $9.99 per month.

Adobe Premiere Rush pros and cons

Pros:

• It’s easy to use for beginners.
• Intuitive user interface.
• Functions well across different devices. 

Cons:

• Design features in the free version are limited. 
• Sorting files in a folder is a bit complicated.
• Limited advanced features for complex projects. 

6. Google Trends

Content creation begins with keyword research and understanding what your audience needs so the content immediately catches their attention. 

Google Trends is a tool that can help with just that.

Image Source: Google Trends

Google Trends allows you to search and analyze popular search queries that have been entered into the Google search engine. 

It features a visual chart that lets you see when people’s interest in a keyword picks up and declines. 

This way, you know just when to create new content for a particular query. 

One user said, “It provides highly valuable information in understanding what is hot right now for content creation and product testing.”

In addition, Trends lets you analyze available interests by region and date to help with audience targeting. You’ll also find other data such as data by subregion, related topics, and related queries. 

Google Trends features

This marketing tool has features like: 

• Explore, where you enter search queries to see how they’re performing. 
• Trending now, a section showing search trends in real-time. 
• Overview graph, where you’ll see a chart of the keyword’s performance over time. 
• Comparison to compare different terms side by side. 

Google Trends pricing

Google Trends is a free tool available for anyone to use. 

Google Trends pros and cons

Pros:

• Gives you access to real-time data. 
• Supports geographic insights. 
• Lets you leverage trending data to improve your content. 

Cons:

• Lacks context of trending data sometimes as you may not know why a keyword is trending.
• Doesn’t show the volume of specific searches.
• Keyword comparison is limited.

7. Unsplash

Ever found a perfect picture to add to your design only to see it’s been painted with watermarks?

We’ve all been there.

If you want to avoid scenarios like that, it’s time to move your search to Unsplash.

Think of it as a treasure island filled with every visual wonder you can think of. 

Image Source: Unsplash

It’s a platform dedicated to providing free stock photos available to anyone.

All you have to do is search for pictures you like, choose the dimensions and sizes you want, and download them.  

Unsplash also has an API that lets you integrate its visual content with other platforms. To do that, you need to sign up as a developer on Unsplash and register your site as an application. This way, you can streamline your workflow and get more work done. 

Here’s how user Suraj described this tool:

“Unsplash is a unique and copyright and royalty-free platform that helped me collect the best images for multi-purpose digital projects for free. 

The vast range of stock images it provided helped us in creating professional posters that fulfilled all of our digital marketing needs which we used for online ads and paid promotions.”

Unsplash features

See some of its features below:

• Integration with third-party apps like Figma, Sketch, Codepen, etc. 
• Filter bar to help you streamline your photo search. 
• Explore, where you find images, backgrounds, and wallpapers.
• Unsplash license that gives you the right to use, modify, and share download photos. 

Unsplash pricing

Unsplash has a free plan and a paid plan starting at $10 per month. 

Unsplash pros and cons

Pros:

• It has pictures for a wide variety of topics.
• It’s easy to use. 
• It has lots of trendy, stylish photos. 

Cons:

• No vector images or graphic icons.
• Recommended section doesn’t always show relevant photos.
• Requires signing in to download high-res photos. 

8. Giphy

Sometimes, when you create great content, like a blog or a video, you might feel the urge to add a touch of fun to it. 

That’s where Giphy comes in handy, providing you with a database of animated GIFs to help you stand out.  

Priyanka describes it as “a great way to lighten up conversations.”  

Image Source: Giphy

It works like Google’s search engine where you type in a keyword that describes what you’re looking for to get matching results. 

But beyond finding GIFs, you can also upload or create one from scratch. 

And if you’d like to go all out with animations like this, Giphy has a marketplace of GIF artists you can hire.

Giphy features

Some of Giphy’s features include:

• GIF search engine that allows users to search for GIFs. 
• Integration with social media platforms so you can share GIFS to your timeline. 
• Artist marketplace to find freelance GIF artists. 
• Giphy API to access the GIF library directly on your app.
• Sticker maker for turning static images into animated stickers. 

Giphy pricing

Giphy is a free software that’s open to everyone.  

Giphy pros and cons

Pros:

• It’s easy to use. 
• Available for free.

Cons:

• GIF resolutions aren’t always great. 
• It might take a while to find a GIF that reflects your intent because of the different options available. 

9. WordPress

In the content creation world, WordPress is the jack of all trades, predominantly known for its robust content management system capabilities.

It has a hand in different stages of the content creation process, from creating blog posts and articles to building websites.

Image Source: WordPress

Here’s how Omer put it:

“My favorite aspect of WordPress.org is its empowerment through choice…The vast number of features and constant updates ensure I can do anything I dream of, from basic blogs to complex eCommerce sites.”

Say you want to build a website from start to finish.  

It has website templates you can customize, a content management system where you can create blogs and write content for the site, and a hosting service where you can publish the site when you’re done. 

WordPress also helps optimize your content so it has better visibility and ranks higher on the search engine.

WordPress features

WordPress offers features such as: 

• Template library to give you a headstart with the website design.
• Drag-and-drop editor for customizing the templates.
• Analytics to track the site’s performance and user engagement.
• Plugins to add different functionalities to the website.  

WordPress pricing

WordPress has a free plan that gives you access to premium templates, email support, and an ad-free experience. If you want more features, there are paid plans starting at $9 per month.

WordPress pros and cons

Pros:

• Robust template and plugin database.
• It allows you to publish content fast. 
• User-friendly interface. 

Cons:

• No WYSIWYG editor.
• Lacks advanced image editing features.
• Plugins can be expensive to implement.

10. ChatGPT

In November 2022, ChatGPT was launched and the internet went nuts.

While some were impressed with its abilities, some felt it was the beginning of the AI uprising. 

It’s been over a year now and here’s what users are saying about it: “[It’s a] great resource for a number of tasks that I need to complete regularly, from blog post writing to strategizing and creating images and graphs and charts. 

Chat GPT has basically replaced Google for my day-to-day work and has helped me to complete my tasks more quickly and efficiently. It is a personal assistant that I have never had.”

Image Source: OpenAI

ChatGPT is a conversational AI chatbot that allows you to request information on different topics.

Like the user mentioned, it’s like Google, but better. 

You can use it for research, to ask follow-up questions, and for copywriting.  It allows you to perform specific tasks like generating images, developing content strategy, etc.

It’s an AI assistant to simplify your workflow such as helping in data analysis, doing research, and automating customer service responses.  

ChatGPT features

Here are some of its features:

• Prompt examples to help you start new conversations with ChatGPT. 
• Content generation for creating text based on your prompts. 
• Language comprehension so you can communicate with it in any language. 
• Art and image generation to help you produce compelling visuals. 

ChatGPT pricing

ChatGPT has a free plan and a paid version starting at $20 per month. 

ChatGPT pros and cons

Pros:

• It’s trained on a diverse dataset, allowing it to provide information that is often accurate.
• It can help you automate tasks. 

Cons:

• It logs out users occasionally.  
• It sometimes generates wrong information. 
• The free version is limited.

11. Picmonkey

This next tool, Picmonkey, is an online tool designed for making graphics and editing pictures for social media. 

Lindsey describes it this way: “Super helpful tool… that provides an easy way to edit pictures without having sophisticated software.”

Image Source: Picmonkey

Picmonkey has templates for different designs you can edit, like logos, banners, social media graphics, etc. 

You’ll also find a repository of vector-based graphics like emojis, icons, fonts, and more to help you create cute designs.

To get started on Picmonkey, you just need a template to edit and you’re good to go.

Picmonkey features

Here are some of this graphic design tool’s features:

• Graphics database to find elements for your design. 
• Online photo editor for making adjustments to your images. 
• Stock photos and videos to use in your design projects. 
• Brand toolkit to create a special design that suits your brand style. 

Picmonkey pricing

Picmonkey has a 7-day free trial. Its paid options begin at $7.99 per month for the Basic plan. 

Picmonkey pros and cons

Pros:

• User-friendly interface. 
• Real-time collaboration.
• It’s easy to use. 

Cons:

• It can be difficult to work with multiple images. 
• Limited premade templates. 
• No integration with third-party tools.

12. Buffer

You’re done creating content for your social media accounts.

And now, it’s time to publish it. Well done! 👏

But before you upload and hit the publish button, meet Buffer. 

It’s an online tool designed to let influencers and small business owners manage their social media marketing campaigns. 

Image Source: Buffer

More specifically, Buffer lets you:

• Know when and what to publish based on trending topics in the industry and tracking previous posts’ performance. 
• Share content on the right channels to help you build a community. 
• Schedule content for publishing.
• Collaborate and get approval from stakeholders. 

It also has an AI assistant that can help you come up with ideas for your post, brainstorm new ideas, and repurpose posts.  

Overall, it’s quite handy for social media. That’s why one user Tracey described it this way:

“Buffer is extensively used in our company in marketing and corporate communication departments. It enables users to schedule and track scheduled posts across all major social networks. The analytics show the performance of each post… Buffer is also pretty affordable.”

Buffer features

• Post-scheduling and publishing to help you determine when to upload posts.
• Engagement tool so you can respond to your followers from Buffer’s dashboard.
• Analytics for in-depth insights into your post’s performance with recommendations on how to improve engagement and reach. 
• AI tools to help you write copy for your social media posts. 

Buffer pricing

Buffer has both free versions and paid plans. The free plan comes with a landing page builder, AI assistant, and publishing tools. 

But the paid plans starting at $6 per month for one channel have more features like reports and engagement tools.

Buffer pros and cons

Pros:

• Intuitive interface.
• Helps analyze your post’s performance.
• Makes managing social media accounts much easier.

Cons:

• Instagram isn’t available on the Basic plan. 
• Integrating with third-party apps is a bit difficult. 
• It gets buggy and slow sometimes.

Over to you

Choosing the right tool from this diverse set can be daunting, but take your time to assess what fits best with your needs. 

Whether you’re a marketer, educator, or content creator, remember that Ceros stands out by transforming the way you engage with your audience. With Ceros, capturing attention becomes effortless. You brainstorm, create, and captivate—all in one seamless process.

Experience the power of interactive content creation firsthand. Sign up for a free Ceros demo today and discover how you can keep your audience not just interested, but engaged and returning for more.