Every creator needs a great set of tools at hand to ensure their videos are produced to the best of their ability. Here are 71 of the best tools, highlighting free options wherever possible, for everything from video editing, audio editing, graphic design, stock images and videos, plus tools to help with content ideation and development, data and analytics and more.
Table of contents
Best Video Editing Tools for Content Creators
For the best all-around video editing options, see our list of the top video editing software as chosen by the TubeBuddy community. These are some more purpose-built video editing tools.
Descript
Free + paid options
Revolutionary video and audio editor driven by AI. Helps you edit content as easily as a text document, with features like transcript-based cuts and voice synthesis.
CapCut
Free + paid options
CapCut is a versatile mobile and desktop video editor with powerful AI features. Create trendy edits, add special effects, and generate automatic captions. The free version does a lot.
RunwayML
Paid
A suite of AI-powered video editing tools for creators. Features include object removal, background replacement, motion tracking, and other advanced capabilities.
Pictory
Free + paid options
Transforms articles or scripts into videos, with advanced AI editing features. Repurpose existing content into engaging video formats.
Zubtitle
Paid
Automated video captioning with customization options for style and accuracy. Ensure accessibility and boost audience engagement.
Lumen5
Free + paid options
Easy-to-use video creation with a massive library of stock footage and AI-powered assistance. Perfect for pulling together quick, professional promotional or educational videos.
InVideo
Free + paid options
An online video editing tool with templates and a focus on creating short-form videos for social media. Ideal for TikToks, Reels, or YouTube Shorts.
VEED.io
Free + paid options.
Versatile online video editor tool with features like auto-subtitles, screen recording, and collaboration tools. Streamlines your editing workflows with powerful automation.
HitFilm
Free + paid options.
The free version is a powerful video editing tool in its own right. Pay up and its usefulness expands with plugins for advanced visual effects.
DaVinci Resolve
Free + paid options.
Professional-grade video editing software with a powerful free version, known especially for its color grading and correction tools.
Olive
Free and open source.
A promising non-linear, open source video editor in active development, aiming to be a free alternative to professional software.
Shotcut
Free and open source
Cross-platform video editor with a wide range of features and support for various video formats.
Best Graphic Design Tools for Content Creators
Graphic design tools empower video creators to enhance the visual appeal, professionalism, and effectiveness of their video content. Creating killer YouTube thumbnails will help attract and engage viewers, and build a strong and recognizable brand presence across various platforms.
Canva
Free + paid options
All-in-one graphic design tool with a huge library of templates, image elements, and powerful editing features. Design thumbnails, social media posts, and video assets with ease.
Vectary
Free + paid options
Browser-based 3D design tool, excellent for unique titles, overlays, and motion graphics. Add a professional 3D touch to your projects.
AutoDraw
Free
AI-powered drawing tool by Google turns basic doodles into polished visuals. Create simple explainer clips or custom icons.
Let’s Enhance
Free + paid options
AI image upscaling and enhancement for improving the quality of existing graphics. Breathe new life into low-resolution visuals or old footage.
Bigjpg
Free + paid options
Similar to Let’s Enhance, focusing on image enlargement and quality boosts. Perfect for ensuring your thumbnails look crisp on larger displays.
Fontjoy
Free
AI-powered tool for finding perfect font pairings for your videos. Achieve visual harmony and impactful typography.
Coolors
Free
For those of us not blessed with an in-depth knowledge of color theory, this fast and easy color scheme generator helps ensure a consistent visual identity. Find cohesive palettes for your video graphics and your own creator branding.
Remove.bg
Free + paid options
Instantly remove backgrounds from images with the power of AI. Create transparent backgrounds or isolate subjects for creative overlays.
Best Audio Editing Tools for Content Creators
Adobe Podcast
Free + paid options
AI-powered audio enhancement tool. Helps reduce background noise, improve speech clarity, and create broadcast-quality audio.
Krisp
Free + paid options
AI noise cancellation for both recording and playback. Removes background noise to ensure clean, professional sound in your videos.
Auphonic
Paid
AI-based audio processing for automatic leveling, noise reduction, and achieving broadcast-ready sound. Ideal for podcasters or creators focusing on audio quality.
Cleanvoice
Paid
AI podcast editor designed to remove filler words, stutters, and unwanted background noise. Polish your audio recordings for a smoother listening experience.
Otter.ai
Free + paid options.
AI transcription tool, useful for subtitling or repurposing video content into text. Increase accessibility and create new content from your recordings.
Audacity
Free and open source
Powerful audio editing tool used by podcasters and creatives worldwide offers advanced features for free.
Ocenaudio
Free
Cross-platform audio editor focused on ease of use and fast analysis of audio files.
TwistedWave
Paid
Online and app-based audio editor. Offers a clean interface and tools tailored for podcast production.Best Stock Assets Tools for Content Creators (16)
Using stock images and b-roll in your content can take your videos from good to great. Make sure you read and understand the licensing agreement, especially for free assets.
Pexels
Free
A huge library of high-quality stock photos and videos perfect for video backgrounds, b-roll, and visual content additions.
Unsplash
Free
Another fantastic source for royalty-free images, known for its artistic and curated selection.
Mixkit
Free.
Provides high-quality videos, sound effects, and music tracks, all free to use in your video projects.
Videezy
Free + paid options
Offers a mix of free and premium stock footage, including beautiful aerial clips and animated backgrounds.
Freepik
Free + paid options
A vast collection of vector art, illustrations, and design elements, including assets useful for video production.
Flaticon
Free + paid options
A massive database of icons available in a variety of formats, perfect for motion graphics or overlays.
The Noun Project
Free + paid options
The source for simple visual icons to represent ideas and concepts in your videos and other content.
Storyblocks
Paid
Subscription-based service offering unlimited downloads of video, audio, and images.
Envato Elements
Paid
Another subscription service with a vast library of stock assets, including video templates, music, fonts, and graphics.
Motion Array
Paid
Marketplace for video templates, plugins for various video editing software, stock music, and more.
Burst by Shopify
Free
A smaller but curated and searchable selection of free stock photos, videos, and other assets focused on business and e-commerce
Pond5
Paid
Massive marketplace for video clips, sound effects, music, and even 3D models. Great for finding specific types of footage.
Artlist
Paid
Subscription service with a focus on high-quality music licensing for videos. Find the perfect soundtrack for your projects.
Epidemic Sound
Paid
Another royalty-free music library featuring a vast selection of tracks and sound effects.
Adobe Stock
Paid
Integrated into Adobe Creative Cloud, offering stock photos, videos, illustrations, and design templates.
Giphy
Free
The king of GIFs. Inject humor or pop culture references into your video content with a massive searchable database.
Best Organization & Planning Tools for Content Creators
Planning and good organization are the foundations of successful content creation, allowing creators to align their content with their goals, target audience, and brand identity. With a good set of planning resources, such as editorial calendars, content planning frameworks, and brainstorming tools, creators can organize their ideas, schedule content publication dates, and develop cohesive content strategies.
Jasper
Paid
AI writing assistant that helps with brainstorming video ideas, scripts, writing engaging titles, and crafting descriptions to boost search rankings.
Airtable
Free + paid options
Flexible spreadsheet/database hybrid. Organize your content creation process, track ideas, and create editorial calendars.
Notion
Free + paid options
Super-flexible workspace. Create custom databases, content calendars, and idea repositories, tailored to your video workflow.
Milanote
Free + paid options
Visual organization tool for mind-mapping, mood boards, and capturing project inspiration. Perfect for the creative planning phase of videos.
Evernote
Free + paid options
Note-taking app, perfect for jotting down video ideas, research, and scripts.
ClickUp
Free + paid options
Powerful project management tool with customizable workflows, perfect for managing your video production process.
Asana
Free + paid options
Popular work management platform with options for task tracking, timelines, and team collaboration, applicable to video creation pipelines.
Trello
Free + paid options
Lightweight, visual task management system using boards, lists, and cards – great for those who prefer a Kanban-style approach.
Todoist
Free + paid options
Powerful to-do list app with natural language input and project organization features, great for breaking down video tasks.
Free
Note-taking app from Google, perfect for quick idea captures, checklists, and reference images.
Whimsical
Free + paid options
Visual workspace with tools for mind mapping, flowcharts, and sticky notes – great for early-stage brainstorming.
Best Analytics and Measurement Tools for Content Creators
The game doesn’t stop when you hit upload. Analyzing the performance of content is vital for understanding its impact, identifying areas for improvement, and informing future content creation strategies.
YouTube data and analytics tools help content creators to track metrics like engagement, reach, conversion rates, and audience demographics. By analyzing these metrics, creators can gain valuable insights into what content resonates with their audience, which platforms are most effective for distribution, and how to optimize their content strategy for better results.
TubeBuddy
Free + paid options
Chrome extension packed with YouTube optimization tools, keyword research, and channel management features.
Google Trends
Free
Discover popular topics and audience interests relevant to your niche. Tap into search trends to inspire video content.
Social Blade
Free + paid options
Analyze channel performance across various platforms and compare yourself to competitors. Track your growth and benchmark against others.
Hypotenuse AI
Paid
AI tool for analyzing your content and generating performance forecasts. Uses AI to predict audience response before your videos go live.
Best AI-Focused Tools for Content Creators
AI is the future of digital creation. Creators should get used to using AI resources to help with any and every aspect of making videos.
Gemini
Free + paid options
Large language model chatbot, similar to ChatGPT but with access to up-to-date information. Can be used for idea generation, research, scriptwriting help, image generation, and more.
ChatGPT
Free + paid options
Conversational AI chatbot from OpenAI. Can brainstorm video topics, provide summaries of information, or even assist in writing outlines.
Rephrase.ai
Paid
AI tool focused on rewriting and paraphrasing content. Perfect for reworking your script for different social platforms or creating alternative descriptions.
Copy.ai
Free + paid options
AI copywriter focused on generating marketing copy, but it can be adapted to write video descriptions, catchy titles, and promotional text for your videos.
Rytr
Free + paid options
Another AI writing tool with templates designed for different content formats, including video scripts and ideas.
Synthesia
Paid
AI-powered video generation platform where you can type text and create a video with a realistic AI presenter.
DALL-E
Paid
Generate images from text descriptions – this can be a powerful source of unique visuals and thumbnails for your videos.
Imagen
Currently in the research phase.
Google’s rival to DALL-E, another powerful AI for creating images based on your descriptions.
Steve.ai
Free + paid options.
AI tool to create short videos automatically from existing assets like blog posts or articles.
Midjourney
Paid
Discord-based AI image generator, similar to DALL-E, but known for its artistic and stylized results.
Stable Diffusion
Free and open-source
Powerful AI image generation tool that can be run locally (if you have the hardware) or through various online interfaces.
This X Does Not Exist
Free.
Website showcasing various AI generators – from fake faces to rental listings – can inspire creative uses for AI in video.
By leveraging tools and resources, creators can not only enhance the quality and professionalism of their videos but also gain valuable insights to continuously improve and refine their content creation process.
Special Creator Day live stream
📅 April 23, 2024
⏰ 6 – 7:30pm PST
What’s next in creator tech? Join BENlabs CEO Ricky Ray Butler, host Judah Lee, and creators King Bach, Hannah Stocking, and Kris London for a special Creator Day event, streaming live from LA.
by TubeBuddy as part of 