No Budget, No Problem: Best Free Blogging Tools for Beginners in 2025

You Only Need 5 Tools to Start Blogging! And they are all Free!

Thinking about starting a blog but worried it’ll cost you a fortune? Well, I have good news for you— it doesn’t have to. You can launch your blog with no budget whatsoever, as long as you’ve got the right tools to help you write, stay organised, and bring your ideas to life.

In this post, I’m sharing some of the best free blogging tools for beginners.

1. Google Docs
2. Grammarly (Free Plan)
3. Notion
4. ChatGPT (Free Plan)
5. Unsplash

These tools will help you write better, stay on track, and make your blog look way more polished (without spending a single penny).

So without further ado, let’s dive into these tools in a bit more detail 👇

1. 📝 Google Docs — The Ultimate Free Writing Space

When you first start your blog, you just need somewhere to write; it doesn’t need to be a fancy app, and that’s where Google Docs comes in. It’s cloud cloud-based, so you can access it from any of your devices anywhere, and it’s super easy to use – perfect for when you are getting up and running with your blog.

💡 Why it’s great:

• No setup needed — Just log in with your Google account and start typing away
• Auto-save magic — Ever worry about losing your work? Not anymore. Google Docs saves everything in real-time.
• Access anywhere — As mentioned already, you can access it on your laptop, phone or tablet. Your content is always synced.
• Collaboration made easy — If you’re working with an editor, coach, or friend, you can share and comment in real-time.

✍️ How to use it as a blogger:

• Set up a folder called “Blog Posts” to help you keep all your posts organised in one place.
• Draft your posts with proper headings (use Heading 1, Heading 2, etc.), mirroring how you’ll format them when you upload them into WordPress, etc.
• Use “Suggesting Mode” if someone else is reviewing your content — it’s like Track Changes in Word.

🚀 Pro tips:

• Turn on Outline View in the left panel — it gives you a clickable outline based on your headings, which is super helpful for longer posts.
• You can install Grammarly’s browser extension for live editing as you write.

Google Docs acts as an all-in-one system for writing, editing and backing up your content. It’s free, easy to access and familiar to most, if not all of us, making it a must for your beginner blogger toolkit.

2. 💻 Grammarly (Free Plan) — Instant Proofreading Help

Everyone makes mistakes, and that’s where Grammarly comes into play. It checks your grammar, spelling, punctuation, and even tone as you write. None of these are my strong points, so it’s a must-have for making my writing make any sort of sense to you, lovely lot. 

💡 Why it’s great:

• Fixes errors instantly — It catches the little stuff that we often miss.
• Tone detection — Helpful for making sure your writing comes across the way you want it to.
• Works almost everywhere — Including Google Docs, WordPress, and email.

✍️ How to use it as a blogger:

• Install the browser extension (Chrome, Firefox, or Safari) and get real-time suggestions as you write.
• Use Grammarly’s web editor if you want to copy/paste your final draft and do a focused edit.
• Review the tone and clarity suggestions before publishing to make sure that your writing sounds the way you want it to.

🚀 Pro tips:

• Don’t just accept suggestions — read them to learn why they’re being made.
• If you write long-form posts, use Grammarly’s “performance score” to track how your writing is improving over time.

Grammarly is one of those tools that makes blogging that little bit easier when you’re first starting. It helps you to write more clearly, sound more confident, and build up trust with your audience and all for free.

3. ✅ Notion — Your All-in-One Blogging Dashboard

I love Notion, it’s the productivity king for me. It’s the HQ for all things your blog. The perfect place to create your content plan, outlining and planning your blog posts as well as tracking the progress through your blogging process from researching to writing to publishing.

💡Why it’s great:

• All-in-one tool — Notes, calendars, task lists, and databases in one workspace.
• Highly customisable — Build your own content plan, calendar and ideas tracker.
• Free for personal use — And packed with features.

✍️ How to use it as a blogger:

• Start by creating a simple content board: “Ideas → Drafts → Published”
• Use a table or calendar view to plan your posting schedule.
• Store writing prompts, checklists, etc.

🚀 Pro tips:

• Use free templates to speed up setup — there are tons for bloggers

There is so much that you can do in Notion that it can seem a bit overwhelming at first. It is, however, very user-friendly once you get the hang of it, and there are plenty of videos on YouTube (see below) to help you master the basic and more advanced features if you like.