Creation Tools

Drag-and-drop design platform for social posts, presentations, docs and video. The free plan covers most everyday creators.

Collaborative interface design tool. The free Starter plan supports unlimited personal files and three team files.

Online whiteboard from Figma for brainstorming, workshops and diagrams; free tier includes three FigJam files.

Browser-based Photoshop alternative that opens PSD, AI, Sketch and XD files — free, ad-supported.

Online photo editor and design tool with a generous free tier — Pixlr E for advanced edits, Pixlr X for quick ones.

Free vector graphics editor that runs in the browser or as a desktop app.

Browser-based SVG editor with a free web version and paid desktop tier.

Simple open source SVG editor that runs in the browser.

Hollywood-grade non-linear video editor with colour, audio and VFX. The free version is fully featured for most workflows.

Free video editor from ByteDance for desktop, mobile and web — popular for short-form social video.

Open source non-linear video editor based on the MLT framework. Cross-platform and feature-rich.

Free, open source, cross-platform video editor with wide codec support.

Easy-to-use open source video editor for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Open source video transcoder for converting almost any format to modern, widely supported codecs.

Microsoft's browser video editor included with Windows; the free tier is enough for most short videos.

Online video editor with subtitle generation and screen recording. Free tier with watermark.

Edit video and podcasts by editing the transcript. Free plan covers light podcasting work.

Free, open source digital audio workstation for music production — Linux MultiMedia Studio.

Professional open source DAW for recording, editing and mixing audio. Free if built from source.

Full-featured DAW with a generous, fully functional 60-day evaluation and a low-cost personal licence.

Free cloud-based music studio with unlimited projects, collaboration and a built-in social network.

Browser-based music and podcast studio from Spotify; free tier for casual creators.

Free hosting, distribution and analytics for podcasts (formerly Anchor), with monetisation tools.

Beautifully designed Apple-only writing app. The free tier covers single-device markdown notes.

Free in-browser markdown editor with cloud sync to Dropbox, Google Drive and GitHub.

Free web tool that grades your writing for clarity and readability — paste-and-go in the browser.

Open core grammar, style and spelling checker supporting 30+ languages. Strong free tier and self-hosting option.

Spelling, grammar and tone suggestions across the web. The free plan handles everyday writing.

Visual bug reporting tool. Free tier available for small teams.

Open source infinite canvas whiteboard with a polished, fast UI — free to use and self-host.

Online collaborative whiteboard. Free plan includes three editable boards — enough for many small teams.

Visual workspace for flowcharts, wireframes, mind maps and docs. Free tier covers light personal use.

Diagramming tool for flowcharts, network diagrams and more. Free plan limited to three documents.

Completely free diagramming tool you can run in the browser, desktop or self-host. Great Google Drive/OneDrive integration.

Free editor for Mermaid diagram syntax — quick way to generate flowcharts, sequence and ER diagrams from text.

Hosted version of the popular hand-drawn whiteboard. Free tier for personal use; underlying tool is open source.

Open source GUI prototyping tool for desktop, useful for early-stage wireframes.

A text-to-music generator that produces full songs with vocals from a prompt. The free tier gives daily credits for plenty of experimentation.

Another high-quality AI music generator with a free monthly credit allowance. Handy for jingles, ideas, and full tracks.

An image-generation platform with multiple models, controls, and a daily free token allowance. Aimed at game art, illustration, and design.

Image generation that's particularly good at legible text and typography. Free tier covers plenty of social and design experimentation.

A friendly image generator with a daily free image quota and useful editing tools. Good for casual creators and quick concepts.

AI image generation tuned for vector and brand-style work, with a free monthly allowance. A favourite for icons, illustrations, and clean graphics.

Realtime AI image and video tools with a generous free tier. Great for quickly iterating on visual ideas.

A creative AI suite known for text-to-video and video editing tools. Free credits help newcomers test the waters before subscribing.

AI text-to-video generation with a daily free generation quota. Useful for short clips, ideation, and visual storytelling.

A text-and-image-to-video tool with a friendly UI and free monthly credits. Great for short, shareable clips.

Turn written ideas into editable visuals, diagrams, and infographics. Free plan is great for slides, blogs, and explainers.

AI-powered slide, doc, and webpage generation with a free credit allowance. Perfect for fast pitches and decks that don't look like 2007.