I am very choosy when it comes to the tools that I use for writing, blogging, and for other tasks on a regular basis. I won’t use the ones that show annoying ads and has a terrible user experience.
Even if a tool is working just fine, I have a bad habit to keep looking for better alternatives. I try everything and then settle for the one.
Okay, enough bragging! Let’s get to my tools stack:
Tools I use
1. Zoho Annotator – (Free)
An excellent Chrome extension that lets you take full or partial screenshots of the web pages. It has some amazing annotation features.
2. Notion – (Free)
I use Notion to manage my all personal and collaborative projects. Yes, the initial setup may seem difficult to some people but it’s very easy to use after that.
Notion is free to use but I use the Personal Pro version for some extra features.
3. Zoho Vault – (Free)
Zoho Vault is the best password manager I’ve ever used. It’s free and 100% secure to use.
Right now, I’m using the tool as a Chrome extension, Firefox extension, and Android app.
4. Digital Ocean – (Paid)
All the websites that I’ve created using WordPress are hosted on Digital Ocean — it’s crazy fast and affordable.
In fact, I have been able to receive a full 100 score on Google Lighthouse for one of my WordPress websites.
5. MailerLite – (Paid)
I use MailerLite to send emails and to capture leads for all my websites. It’s affordable and the email’s reputation is great too.
I settled down with MailerLite after trying MailChimp. I find it easier and better to create automation.
6. Gumroad – (Free)
Gumroad is a great platform to host your digital products. I use it to host all the paid and free mini products that I create.
And, the best thing is it’s not just a product hosting website. Gumroad lets you specifically target your customers and send them emails.
7. Figma – (Free)
Earlier I used Gravit for all my graphics needs. But now I have moved to Figma and you can pretty much design any kind of graphic for social media and websites.
I design featured images and other kinds of graphics (much like the one on this page) using Figma.
8. Obsidian – (Free)
Earlier I used Notion for writing but realized later that Notion is not for writers.
I use Obsidian for outlining, writing, and editing processes. You can know more about my writing process here.
Earlier, I was using Obsidian with Syncthing but now I have got the Obsidian Sync for better performance.
9. Grammarly – (Free)
Grammarly never lets you commit a single grammatical or spelling mistake. It points out the wrong words and sentences as soon as typed. And, the best thing, it works everywhere — Google Docs, Social Media, WordPress, Notion, MS Word, everywhere.
I have been using Grammarly for more than 4 years now and it has been amazing ever since.
10. Dropbox – (Paid)
I use Dropbox to sync all my files to the cloud. This way there are lesser chances of losing my files and I can sync the same files across different devices.
Earlier, I used Google Drive but recently I’ve moved to Dropbox. However, I also use pCloud to store my website’s backup.
11. Visual Studio Code – (Free)
Visual Studio Code is my go-to tool for editing code. I absolutely love it and open it almost daily.
I use it to create fun projects like Dad Jokes and Writing Prompts Generator.
12. Raindrop – (Free)
I use Raindrop to manage all my bookmarks. It lets you organize all your bookmarks using folders, sub-folders, and tags.
Raindrop has literally made my life easier in many ways. I have set up a few automation using IFTTT that puts my liked tweets and saved Reddit posts automatically to a specified folder in my Raindrop account.
And the best thing is all the articles, tweets, and other saved items are completely searchable.
12. Google Keep – (Free)
I use Google Keep to capture quick notes. It’s easily accessible through your phone and can also be accessed through the website.
I do not use color coding or tags to organize my notes though. And, the main reason is, I do not take permanent notes in Google Keep; I’d just note down raw ideas and stuff that I haven’t given much thought to yet.
Later, when I go through the notes, I’d clear from there, after noting them down in Obsidian or Notion.
14. Microsoft To Do (Free)
I use Microsoft To Do app on my phone as well as on my laptop to note down all the possible work that I have to do. Mostly, I note down all the writing topic ideas that I ever get. It’s very easy and convenient to use it.
Got a new topic idea? Just open up the app and note it down and once you finish writing, just check the to-do list.
15. Logseq (Free)
I have recently started using Logseq for writing private journals and organizing all the information that I come across on a regular basis. It’s an open-source and free tool.
I still use Obsidian for writing articles though but Logseq is better for personal knowledge management, in my opinion.
Update: 2 Jul 2022 — While I absolutely loved using Logseq at first, slowly I started to not like it just because it doesn’t allow long-form writing. I mean, there must be a feature that lets me write without bullet points.
16. Loom (Free)
Loom is the most recent addition to my toolset! Out of nowhere, I got the idea that I would embed small videos inside blog posts to illustrate complex concepts in a better and more efficient way.
And, that’s when I installed Loom and started using it — now, I must say that it’s an amazing tool and I’m looking to use more of it.
That’s it.