What do creators use to write and publish?

Notion is the most-adopted tool for this among creators we track, used by 11 creators (92% of its mentions organic). This ranking counts real, receipt-backed creator usage — no editorial opinion, no paid placement.

1. 1

   NotionNote-taking & PKM

   Connected workspace combining notes, documents, wikis and databases. Pages are built from blocks and can embed tables, boards and calendars; teams and solo creators use it for planning, documentation and content pipelines. Includes the Notion AI add-on.

   11 active creators · 25 mentions · 92% organic · Free plan; paid plans from ~$10/user/month

   “Carolina walks through her PARA system in Notion” — Tiago Fortesource ↗

   try Notion↗receipts →
2. 2

   ObsidianNote-taking & PKM

   Local-first Markdown note app built around bidirectional links and a graph view. Notes are plain files on disk, extended by thousands of community plugins. Optional paid services add end-to-end-encrypted sync and web publishing.

   4 active creators · 5 mentions · 100% organic · Free for personal use; Sync ~$5/month, Publish ~$10/site/month

   “Then I mapped it all inside Obsidian.” — Productive Dudesource ↗

   try Obsidian↗receipts →
3. 3

   beehiivEmail & Newsletters

   Newsletter platform built by former Morning Brew engineers: publishing, referral program, recommendations network, ad marketplace and paid subscriptions without revenue cut. Focused on growth tooling for media-style newsletters.

   2 active creators · 28 mentions · 93% organic · Free up to 2,500 subscribers; paid from ~$39/month

   try beehiiv↗receipts →
4. 4

   SuperhumanEmail & Newsletters

   Speed-focused email client for Gmail and Outlook: keyboard-first triage, split inboxes, snippets, follow-up reminders and AI drafting. Marketed at founders and executives; acquired by Grammarly in 2025.

   2 active creators · 5 mentions · 80% organic · From ~$25–30/month per user

   try Superhuman↗receipts →
5. 5

   SubstackEmail & Newsletters

   Newsletter and media platform where writers publish free or paid posts, podcasts, video and Notes. No upfront cost — the platform takes roughly 10% of paid subscriptions — with a recommendation network that drives subscriber growth.

   1 active creators · 1 mentions · 100% organic · Free to publish; Substack keeps ~10% of paid subscription revenue

   try Substack↗receipts →
6. 6

   GhostWebsite Builders & Publishing

   Open-source publishing platform for blogs, newsletters and paid memberships, run by a non-profit foundation. Native subscriptions with 0% platform fee; self-host for free or pay for the managed Ghost(Pro) hosting.

   1 active creators · 2 mentions · 0% organic · Open source (MIT), free self-hosted; Ghost(Pro) from ~$9/month

   try Ghost↗receipts →
7. 7

   WebflowWebsite Builders & Publishing

   Professional no-code website platform: a visual designer that outputs clean HTML/CSS, a structured CMS, ecommerce and hosting. Favored by freelancers and agencies building client sites and complex marketing systems.

   1 active creators · 1 mentions · 100% organic · Free staging plan; site plans from ~$14/month

   try Webflow↗receipts →
8. 8

   FramerWebsite Builders & Publishing

   Visual website builder that publishes production sites directly from a Figma-like canvas. Components, CMS collections, animations and localization without code; popular for portfolios, landing pages and marketing sites.

   1 active creators · 1 mentions · 0% organic · Free plan; sites from ~$10/site/month

   try Framer↗receipts →
9. 9

   MailchimpEmail & Newsletters

   Intuit's email marketing and automation platform: campaigns, customer journeys, segmentation, landing pages and ecommerce integrations. A long-standing default for small businesses, with pricing that scales by contact count.

   0 active creators · 0 mentions · – organic · Free up to 500 contacts; paid from ~$13/month

   try Mailchimp↗receipts →
10. 10

    KitEmail & Newsletters

    Email marketing platform for creators, formerly ConvertKit, rebranded to Kit in 2024. Visual automations, tagging, paid newsletters, a creator network for cross-promotion and built-in commerce for digital products.

    0 active creators · 0 mentions · – organic · Free up to 10,000 subscribers; paid from ~$25/month

    “I'm the Creative Director at a remote tech company called Kit” — Charli Mariesource ↗

    try Kit↗receipts →
11. 11

    Roam ResearchNote-taking & PKM

    Outliner-based networked note tool that popularized daily notes and bidirectional block references. Every bullet is an addressable block that can be embedded and linked across pages, aimed at researchers and writers building long-term knowledge graphs.

    0 active creators · 0 mentions · – organic · ~$15/month or ~$165/year; long-term 'Believer' plan available

    try Roam Research↗receipts →