Having the right tools to create content on YouTube is almost as important as having good ideas for your content. But when you’re starting out, you don’t have a lot of budget to invest in them. Worry not, here are 12 essential and free tools if you’re an aspiring YouTuber.
1. Pixlr
Pixlr is a tool that allows you to automatically remove the background from your images. It’s very useful for creating thumbnails for your channel really fast, among other things.
2. Remove BG
Remove BG is another free YouTube tool for removing the background from images. This one is more complete than Pixlr in its free version, as it allows you to adjust the final result and even set an alternative background.
3. Photopea
If you’re looking for a much more advanced free solution for editing your thumbnails, Photopea is just what you’re looking for. It’s basically a copy of Photoshop that can be accessed online and for free.
The downside is that you’ll need prior knowledge to use it well, but once you master it, it becomes essential.
4. Canva
If you don’t have the skills to use Photopea or you simply don’t feel like learning how to use it, don’t worry! You have an easy and widely used option called Canva.
This free tool allows you to create designs from many templates and completely free of charge. Canva has all the visual tools you need to create thumbnails and even scenes for your videos.
5. OBS
OBS is a great free tool for both recording videos and streaming. Although it may be a bit confusing at first, you quickly get the hang of it.
OBS allows you to set different scenes for different cases, although if you’re recording, we recommend doing it without masks and in the cleanest possible way so that you can edit everything later.
6. Zencastr
Zencastr is a great free tool for recording videos for YouTube. It allows you to both record on your own and interview different people, separating the audio and video of each one by tracks and storing them in the cloud. It’s definitely a must if you’re recording interviews.
7. ThumbsUp
This freemium tool allows you to view your thumbnail in different formats and with different titles. Thumbsup is useful to know how it will look on YouTube and to check whether a title is too long for your video, for example. Specially recommended for SEO purposes.
8. Stream Elements
Stream Elements is a YouTube tool to automate elements of your channel. For example, you can update your banner or thumbnail based on the number of followers you have, or thank everyone who subscribes. This is really cool if you’re running contests or have a clear goal in mind.
9. Notion
Notion is a great free tool for organizing all the content you create, especially if you work in a team with an editor or community manager. It also comes with different templates to tidy up your content as you choose.
A free template that we recommend using is Justin Martin’s, with different tools for YouTube creators. To use it, just click on “Duplicate” and the entire template will be copied to your personal space. You’ll need an account on Notion first, though.
10. TubeBuddy
This YouTube tool is very helpful for viewing statistics on your channel, guiding you on the best times to publish, helping you with giveaways, or making backups. The free version is somewhat limited, but still useful.
11. Answer the public
Feeling uninspired? Would you like to create content that people really need to watch? Answer the public is an awesome freemium tool that allows you to know what questions people ask about specific topics.
This is a free SEO tool for YouTube videos. That means you just write a topic and the tool gives you all the ideas and questions related to the topic that people search for in cool diagrams that will help you generate fresh ideas for your next videos.
12. Keyword Tool
Another freemium tool that will allow you to be inspired by people’s needs is Keyword Tool. You can use it to search for topics that are interesting for the public and create content about it.
The advantage is that you don’t have to guess whether your content will be interesting for people, you already know it will! The only thing you have to focus on is delivering value around that question or topic on your video.
Do you know any other free tools that are essential for YouTube? Join our Discord and pop a message!
