10 Best AI Writing Tools (Recommended by 200+ Marketers)

Author's avatar Content Marketing UPDATED Apr 9, 2024 PUBLISHED Aug 28, 2023 18 minutes read

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    Peter Caputa

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    There’s plenty of controversy around AI, but one thing is clear—we can’t escape it. So, we might as well learn how to use it to our advantage.

    Artificial intelligence and automation in marketing can be a double-edged sword, and it’s likely to highlight the difference between those who approach writing strategically and those who implement “quantity first” tactics to produce as much content as possible without paying attention to its quality.

    Simple copying and pasting AI-generated content won’t cut it, in fact, it might just do the opposite, thus preventing you from reaching your goal. By taking the time to refine your prompts with details, removing fluff, and carefully editing, you can ensure success.

    If you’re unsure where to start exploring AI writing tools, we’ve got you. We asked 200+ experienced marketing professionals to share what software they use and why.

    This article is a part of Databox’s broader research with Penguin Strategies on “How are Marketers Using Generative AI and Is it Really Saving Time?” We’re still open to contributions and would love to hear your insights. Take the survey now to access preliminary results and have a chance to be featured in our final report. We also invite you to join Penguin Strategies’ Benchmark Group for B2B Tech & SaaS Companies where you can instantly compare your marketing and sales metrics to similar-sized businesses.

    Let’s jump right in.

    The survey has shown that less than 2% of the respondents don’t use any Generative AI writing tools, indicating a widespread adoption of AI marketing solutions. Companies are mostly using it as an invaluable help not only in producing a myriad of content but also in idea generation.

    Here are the ten most popular tools:

    1. ChatGPT Free: Best Overall
    2. ChatGPT Plus: Fastest Text Generation
    3. Google Bard: Best for Formatting and Resources
    4. Jasper: Best for Innovative Angles
    5. Copy.ai: Best for Sales and Ad Copy
    6. Bing Chat: Best for Summaries and Comparisons
    7. HubSpot Content Assistant: Best for HubSpot Users
    8. NotionAI: Best for Knowledge Management
    9. Writer.com: Best for Enterprises
    10. Writesonic: Best for Integrations

    To help you pick the best AI writing tool for your team, we’ll break them down in detail.

    ChatGPT Free: Best Overall

    ChatGPT (Free version) is an AI-powered text generator that uses natural language processing to create narrative, dialogue, respond to questions, and more, all based on a prompt. From titles and emails to children’s stories and funny poems, ChatGPT can write virtually anything and is ranked as the number one AI tool in our survey—for a good reason.

    Generative AI writing tools

    ChatGPT is already widely used in marketing for creating and editing articles, proofreading, and researching. The tool is getting better and better at producing excellent first drafts for blog posts, which only need fact-checking and light editing after ChatGPT is done.

    Key Features

    • Human-like text generation for various purposes
    • Understanding and maintaining context over multiple turns of conversation
    • Able to follow instructions to provide more refined answers
    • Operating in multiple languages
    • Self-improvement abilities and learning over time

    Pricing

    ChatGPT has a free version that’s available for anyone to use upon registering and logging in.

    Best Use Cases

    • First drafts of blog posts

    “I use ChatGPT extensively to save time constructing blog posts,” shares Janice Wald of Mostly Blogging and explains how this tool has helped her create well-structured, optimized first drafts.

    “I have ChatGPT write my draft with subheads, optimize my post with keywords, come up with an engaging, unique title, and write an engaging, unique meta description. I prompt ChatGPT to make the post at least 1500 words, unique, and easy to understand.”

    • Briefs and outlines

    Several marketers confirm that AI writing tools are excellent for structuring your blog posts, ebooks, and emails.

    Sometimes, AI can even come up with concepts you wouldn’t have come up with on your own, according to Marketer’s Nate Nead.

    “Recently, I tried out ChatGPT to see what kind of outline it could generate for a post about the benefits of using AI in content creation. The AI came up with some fresh concepts that I would never have thought of myself,” shares Nead.

    • Topic and keyword research

    ChatGPT can also be a good alternative for many keyword research tools.

    “We use ChatGPT as a tool for identifying valuable keywords, topics, and outlines for our content development both on our website as well as for our clients,” explains David Adams of SirusDigital.

    “From our perspective, valuable keywords and topics are a strength for Generative AI based on their capability to identify arbitrage opportunities for either under-served content overall or missing content on our sites.”

    • Email marketing

    Oliver Goodwin at the Synthesys AI Studio uses ChatGPT to craft emails. An important part of the prompt are previous emails so that the AI model can generate text in the same style.

    “Our process is feeding ChatGPT with previous emails of ours and our competitors’ emails and then ask it to write something related based on the data we have fed it. After that, our editor takes the emails and puts on the final touches.”

    Oliver Goodwin

    Oliver Goodwin

    CEO at Synthesys AI Studio

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    Related: 23 Copywriting Tips for Improving the Effectiveness of Your Website

    ChatGPT Plus: Fastest Text Generation

    Also known as ChatGPT-4 model, ChatGPT Plus offers the same capabilities as the free version of the software and then some. This subscription-based tool promises improved processing speed and higher reliability than the free version.

    ChatGPT Plus
    Source: Unsplash

    Key Features

    • Faster response time
    • Improved availability (even when the demand is high)
    • Priority access to any new features
    • Higher accuracy and a better understanding of the context 
    • Elevated experience when developing a code

    Pricing

    $20 per month

    Best Use Cases

    • Social media posts

    As it’s quicker and more on-point than the free version, ChatGPT Plus can be used to create effective social media headlines and posts, whether for organic content or ads.

    Finimpact’s Sam Weisfeld uses the tool to brainstorm ideas for social media platforms and then write them out.

    “I recently used ChatGPT Plus to write a social post about a new product that my company is launching. I gave the tool a few keywords and a brief description of the product, and it generated a few different social posts that I could use. I then edited the posts to make sure they were accurate and on-brand. I found that AI was very helpful in this case,” Weisfeld comments and adds:

    “It helped me brainstorm a few different ideas for social posts, and it also helped me write the posts in a way that was clear, concise, and engaging. I would use AI again to create social posts in the future.”

    • SEO

    ChatGPT Plus can also save you time on keyword research and creating an SEO-friendly structure for your articles.

    Here’s how Autumn Blakeman uses this tool at Honcho.

    “Initially, I would provide a detailed list of bullets, target keywords, and competitors, but with the help of Bramework for ChatGPT Plus, the model can look up keyword targets while outlining the structure of content for pages, blog posts, etc., and recommend SEO improvements,” shares Blakeman.

    • Content Ideation

    With ChatGPT Plus, you may also be able to “dig out” new topics and ideas, especially in a market oversaturated with content.

    Ilija Sekulov of Mailbutler uses it to create fresh content and stand out in the email management niche.

    “I used ChatGPT Plus and Webpilot (plugin for ChatGPT). I was able to find topics that aren’t oversaturated in the world of email management, and it helped me draft an outline for my articles. Meanwhile, Webpilot lets me dig into what my competitors are doing for the same keywords, even allowing me to pull out the key sections from their work. After I’ve gathered all this information, I write the article myself. I then use ChatGPT Plus again to help me fine-tune and polish my writing,” explains Sekulov.

    Google Bard: Best for Formatting and Resources

    Google Bard is an AI service similar to ChatGPT, designed to answer questions, summarize text, translate between languages, create different forms of content, do math, and more. It responds to your prompts and is able to access information using Google Search.

    Google Bard saves you time because you don’t have to research different pages manually, write out entire blog posts, and read through huge chunks of text—this tool breaks the results into digestible pieces so you can complete tasks faster.

    Google Bard
    Source: New York Times

    Key Features

    • Image and video analysis
    • Answers in multiple languages
    • Audio responses available
    • Tone and style customization options
    • Formatting options like bold text and bullets

    Pricing

    You can use Google Bard for free.

    Best Use Cases

    • Understanding customer needs

    AI writing tools can help understand customer pain points, needs, and interests. By researching these using Google Bard, for example, you can save significant time and resources while generating great results.

    Noel Cabral of NoelCabral confirms it. “Since my website is primarily based on blogging ideas for the successes of online businesses and other themes, AI comes in handy here. Specifically, and more recently, Google Bard has helped with choosing among varied drafts. It helps gain an idea of what the customer seeks, and thus we can modify our content accordingly,” says Cabral.

    • Blog post drafts

    Brian David Crane of Spread Great Ideas LLC believes Google Bard is a great tool for creating content briefs and outlines, especially for pieces that require a lot of research.

    “I have used Generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Bard to create blog post outlines, PR pitch outlines, guest post outlines, and newsletter outlines. Generative AI helps me save on research time that I would have had to put on different research papers to access data and formulate findings.”

    • Social media posts

    Since AI is good at summarizing long pieces of content, it’s no wonder that marketers use it for creating shorter, engaging posts for different social media platforms.

    According to Farah Ahmed of Zilliondesigns, tools like Google Bard can be used to refine different elements of social media posts, such as headlines.

    “I have been able to create engaging and persuasive content that resonates with our target audience while freeing up more time for strategic planning and other marketing efforts,”

    “I have been able to create engaging and persuasive content that resonates with our target audience while freeing up more time for strategic planning and other marketing efforts,”

    Farah Ahmed

    Farah Ahmed

    Content Marketing Manager at Zilliondesigns

    Want to get highlighted in our next report? Become a contributor now

    Jasper: Best for Innovative Angles

    Jasper is a top-rated AI writing tool that generates original marketing copy, blog posts, product descriptions, and other types of content. It has sophisticated language processing capabilities and offers numerous templates for short-form and long-form content, which makes this tool suitable for companies of all sizes.

    Jasper

    Key Features

    • Both text and image generation
    • Multiple users and document sharing allowed
    • Integrations with other writing tools, such as Grammarly
    • Plagiarism detection

    Pricing

    Jasper offers several monthly pricing plans, ranging from $39 to $99, and special, tailored prices for custom plans. A seven-day free trial is available.

    Best Use Cases

    • Headlines and content angles

    Marketers often use Jasper to brainstorm angles and generate headline ideas for their articles.

    “As an example, I recently had the idea to write about localization for augmented reality apps. I simply input a few keywords into Jasper – “localization, augmented reality apps” – and within seconds had over 50 related headline ideas, including many intriguing angles I wouldn’t have considered on my own,” says Goran Luledzija of Localizely and provides examples:

    “[There were] things like: Why Localization is Key for Global AR Dominance, Crafting Immersive Localized AR Experiences, Avoiding Embarrassing AR Translation Fails. Having this huge volume of ideas at my fingertips has easily doubled or tripled the speed of my ideation process. I can quickly cherry-pick the most compelling headlines and angles to develop into full posts. It really takes the pressure off having to brainstorm everything from scratch.”

    • Social media writing

    Zentro Internet’s Andrew Dunn uses Jasper to generate “compelling captions for social media posts.”

    Dunn elaborates further on how his team does it: “An image-specific caption, ideas for content creation, and grammatical accuracy are some of the outputs of this advanced AI tool. By uploading an image for reference and giving the relevant information, we have been able to get highly engaging captions from Jasper. The process of writing and editing were taken on by this tool for us.”

    Copy.ai: Best for Sales and Ad Copy

    Copy.ai is another AI text generator that helps you create high-quality content in minutes. It’s suitable for marketers, as well as small business owners who need to do their own marketing. Copy.ai supports over 25 languages, can produce excellent sales copy and digital ads, and integrates with Grammarly, so you can generate polished articles fast.

    Copy.ai

    Key Features

    • Rich template library with over 20 templates
    • Detects patterns so it can improve over time
    • Offers a plagiarism checker
    • Has a Chrome extension

    Pricing

    Copy.ai has a forever-free plan with a 2,000-word limit. There are also Pro ($49 per month) and custom plans. You can use a week-long free trial.

    Best Use Cases

    • Outbound sales copy

    With Copy.ai, you can easily create personalized sales copy, which is great for outbound marketing efforts, such as cold outreach emails.

    • Content creation at scale

    Copy.ai ideal for big teams or e-commerce businesses that need to generate large volumes of product descriptions or repurpose content at scale.

    Related: 25 Sales Performance Metrics to Track for Maximizing Sales Potential

    Bing Chat: Best for Summaries and Comparisons

    Bing Chat is an AI-powered tool for writing content, summarizing complex information, getting answers, and even completing simple tasks in your browser, such as playing a movie. You can easily access it in a side chat so you don’t have to switch between tabs. The tool is regularly updated with new features, and Microsoft even claims it’s more powerful than ChatGPT.

    Bing Chat
    Source: Microsoft

    Key Features

    • Easy product comparisons
    • Soon available on mobile
    • Summaries of long PDF and Word documents are coming soon
    • Simple task completions

    Pricing

    If you use Microsoft 365 E3, E5, Business Standard, and Business Premium, you will be able to use Bing Chat for free. As a standalone app, this tool will cost $5 per user.

    Best Use Cases

    • Short content pieces

    When you need a brief paragraph for your website or social media, Bing Chat can come in handy.

    Hamza Hanif of Postman SMTP explains why:

    “When I have to post an internal blog of my site, and I need a small paragraph, I typically use ChatGPT or Bing chat. It helps in giving you multiple perspectives for the content that you want to target.”

    • Content research

    Although Bing Chat may sometimes provide incomplete or inaccurate answers, so you must do fact-checking before publishing a post, the tool does cite its sources.

    Nahla Ibrahim of Kotobee explains that her team avoids “using AI for writing articles and landing pages, as it often provides inaccurate information and repetitive sentences,” but when they need to rely on AI, their vote goes to Microsoft’s AI tool.

    “Occasionally, we also use Google’s Bard and Microsoft’s Bing Chat for their proficiency in adding references.”

    HubSpot Content Assistant: Best for HubSpot Users

    One of the most popular CRMs, HubSpot, also tapped into AI with its Content Assistant and ChatSpot tools. This AI Assistant relies on OpenAI’s GPT model and allows you to create marketing emails, copy for social media, generate blog post ideas, create great CTAs, and more. 

    HubSpot Content Assistant
    Source: HubSpot

    Key Features

    • Natively integrates with HubSpot products
    • Generates new text based on existing one
    • Generates new text based on prompts
    • Can be enabled for all users

    Pricing

    HubSpot Content Assistant is free for HubSpot users, with specific features being available in premium HubSpot plans.

    Best Use Case

    • Streamline content creation

    Maybe even more than other marketers, HubSpot users can benefit from using the CRM’s content assistant to speed up and streamline content creation, while ensuring great quality of the content being produced—and sometimes even improving it.

    “Generative AI has significantly boosted our content creation productivity,” admits Natasha Rai of Explainerd. “AI tools like Jasper, Neuroflash, ChatGPT, and HubSpot Content Assistant have provided valuable suggestions, enhancing the quality of our blog posts. It has expedited idea generation and improved content depth.”

    Breadnbeyon’s Andre Oentoro shares that his team uses HubSpot Content Assistant and other AI tools to “transform content creation” in combination with human expertise:

    “Generative AI helps produce engaging scripts, personalized videos, and optimized blog posts. While AI streamlines the process, human writers add creativity and ensure brand alignment. Client interaction remains vital for meeting specific needs. This combination allows us to deliver high-quality content that captivates audiences and drives business growth,” explains Oentoro.

    NotionAI: Best for Knowledge Management

    NotionAI is an AI writing assistant that allows you to work faster by automating simple tasks and generating new content in a few clicks. It’s not meant just for content creation, as it can also help streamline different admin tasks you may be managing through Notion, including reading docs or taking notes. You can use it to improve existing content, extract insights from a page, or write a completely new text.

    NotionAI
    Source: Notion

    Key Features

    • AskAI for automating time-consuming tasks like extracting meeting notes
    • Advanced AI blocks for creating custom content
    • Write in multiple languages

    Pricing

    NotionAI costs $8-10 per month per user, depending on the plan you’re using.

    Best Use Case

    • Internal knowledge management

    NotionAI is an excellent tool for building a knowledge management system for any team. You can use templates for different briefs, generate new pages fast, and keep all information in one, centralized database.

    Content built in NotionAI is easy to share with your team. You can also leverage the content transformation capabilities it offers to easily repurpose different pages for onboarding and training.

    Other than generating and improving content in NotionAI, you can build a content calendar and schedule your posts and emails with all the required information, avoiding the endless back-and-forth conversations over Slack.

    Writer.com: Best for Enterprises

    Writer.com is a full-stack AI platform that’s built for business: this large language model (LLM) is able to process large amounts of text data and produce top-quality output aligned with your company’s data, use cases, and content formats. It can be configured to match your brand’s style guide, all while keeping your data secure.

    Writer.com
    Source: Writer.com

    Key Features

    • Can be connected with your business wiki and similar databases
    • Enterprise API available
    • High levels of data security and compliance
    • Customizable templates available
    • Desktop app and Chrome extension

    Pricing

    Based on your needs and the size of your team, the prices range from $18 per month for small teams of up to five people, to custom pricing for enterprises.

    Best Use Cases

    • Speed up content creation process

    Writer.com can help marketing teams create, publish, and distribute new content faster and easier. It can play a crucial role in ideation, building rough drafts, and editing, especially since you can automate brand and style edits, making sure every piece of content is aligned with your guidelines.

    This tool can also facilitate content repurposing, helping you turn blog posts into case studies, for example.

    Writesonic: Best for Integrating with Other Tools

    Writesonic allows you to create optimized content for your business, whether it’s a blog post, a tweet, or an ad. It’s suitable for a wide range of niches and team sizes, from individual writers working with clients, to entrepreneurs to marketing teams. The tool supports over 25 languages and offers an image generator called Photosonic, too, and Google search-powered chatbot with all the latest information.

    Writesonic
    Source: Writesonic

    Key Features

    • Supports voice commands
    • Chrome extension available
    • Offers advanced editing tools
    • Integrates with Shopify, WordPress, Wix, and more

    Pricing

    After a free trial, you can opt for the Unlimited plan for $16 per seat per month, Business plan for $12.67 for 200,000 words per month, or custom pricing for bigger teams.

    Best Use Cases

    • Streamlined workflow with integrations

    Writersonic offers a wide range of integrations for multiple purposes. For example, if you already use WordPress or Wix, you can integrate this tool to speed up the content publication process. To ensure your content is optimized for search engines, you can connect Writersonic with Surfer SEO. With Zapier, you can also automate various processes for Writesonic and tools like Buffer, Google Docs, Google Sheets, and others.

    Create with AI, Track with Databox

    Ready to use AI to improve your writing and the overall content creation process? You should also consider using Databox as your go-to business intelligence tool and one source of truth for your business performance.

    With 100+ one-click integrations and multiple features for building beautiful dashboards, automated reports, and custom metrics, Databox creates a highly personalized experience that fits your company’s needs in terms of measuring and analyzing performance.

    Dive deep into data and uncover insights that will help you optimize the use of resources and fast-track your company’s success.

    Join Penguin Strategies Benchmark Group for B2B Tech & SaaS Companies to look at the big picture and see how companies similar to yours are performing.

    Want to be a part of our research? Complete our survey today and contribute with your unique insights.

    Author's avatar
    Article by
    Stefana Zaric

    Stefana Zarić is a freelance writer & content marketer. Other than writing for SaaS and fintech clients, she educates future writers who want to build a career in marketing. When not working, Stefana loves to read books, play with her kid, travel, and dance.

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