The rise of thecreator economypromises budding influencers and entrepreneurs-to-be more than the opportunity to create content. Instead, it extends the idea of earning a living or building a business.
Many creators have drafted the audience-to-business blueprint, laying out the steps for influencers to find financial independence. Take Emma Chamberlain, who parlayed her popular YouTube channel intoChamberlain Coffee. And Hila Klein, a YouTuber and podcaster, who runsTeddy Fresh, a streetwear brand with over 100 employees.
While creator-centered businesses might begin with a notepad, they’re built day-by-day with trusted tools. These include apps, online platforms, and sites that creators use to craft content, build an audience, engage with followers, sell online courses or digital downloads, build partnerships, and run the back-end of their business.
This article will dive into the tools powering creator-centered businesses and the key tools within each creator category—from video editors to payment processors.
What are creator tools?
Creator tools refer to apps, platforms, and other software used by online content creators to help them run their businesses. These range from the free version of basic tools to the premium version of software with advanced features.
Each type of creator will have a specific set of creator tools (also known as a “tech stack”) that they use regularly. For example, an independent writer might use Google Docs to pen their articles, Substack to share essays with an audience, Canva to add in graphics, Twitter to distribute their content, Discord to build a community, and Shopify to sell special edition supporter pins.
The tools creators use are worth paying attention to: creators are cultural curators, irreverent innovators, and early adopters—their tech picks are often an indicator of “what’s best” and “what’s next.”
Table of contents
- 160+ creator tools that make up the creator tech stack
- Creator tools by category
- Creator tools for YouTube
- Creator tools for gamers and streamers
- Creator tools for TikTok
- Creator tools for Instagram influencers
- Creator tools for podcasters and audio content creators
- Creator tools for writers and bloggers
- Creator tools for musicians, photographers, and artists
- Front page and link page tools
- Business backend tools
- Planning and project management tools
- Payments tools
- Finance and analytics tools
- Hiring and recruitment tools
- Community tools
- Fan monetization and subscriptions tools
- Commerce tools
- Advertising and affiliate tools
- Social scheduling and distribution tools
- Events tools
160+ creator tools that make up the creator tech stack
The creator boom is hard to ignore: its total size isestimated to be over $100 billion, and venture capital firms are越来越关注资金创造平台, while creator-focused companies sawmore than $1.3 billion raised in 2021. Influencers of every stripe can monetize their passions and build an audience in nearly any category—writing a food newsletter for baking enthusiasts, creating TikTok dance choreography for followers to mimic, or playing Fortnite with thousands of onlookers.
This wide range of creators means a category-specific section of the tech stack, with each influencer curating and culling a list of their essentials—a photographer might include photo editing tools, while a podcaster relies on audio editing apps.
However, as different as creators might be, many online creators converge on running small or large companies that require business tooling: a project management tool to plan out content and campaigns, an online platform to sell products, membership sites to monetize an audience, and back-end tools to look after financials, legal, and more.
This infographic captures each layer of a creator economy tech stack, as well as a range of apps and tools in each layer that online makers and webentrepreneursuse to build creator-centered businesses.
Creator tools by category
This layer includes different sections for different creators: YouTubers, gamers and streamers, TikTokers, Instagram influencers, podcasters and audio creators, writers and bloggers, and musicians, photographers, and artists.
However, many creators are increasingly triple, or even quadruple, threats: writing on Substack and Twitter, posting on YouTube, creating video content on TikTok and Snapchat, andhostinga podcast. The boxes in the creator category tools sections are dotted to denote the fluidity that often exists among creators who refuse to be boxed in.
Creator tools for YouTube
In many ways, YouTubers paved the way for today’s creators. Early to the era of social content creation, they proved it takes little more than a camera, authenticity, and a spot in your bedroom to build an audience of millions of followers. Launched in 2005, YouTube remains one of the most popular and monetizable creator platforms today, with web-first creators like David Dobrik and Patricia Bright, as well as mainstream converts like The Rock and Reese Witherspoon.
While many video creators make their work appear effortless, the creator economy tech stack of a YouTuber includes a variety of tools: software like Final Cut Pro to edit videos, music platforms like Splice to breathe life into vlogs, and design tools like Canva to create aesthetic and clickable thumbnails.
The top creator tools for YouTubers
- Platform App:YouTube,YouTube Studio
- Editing:iMovie,Final Cut Pro,Adobe Premiere Rush
- Music:Splice,Soundstripe,Epidemic Sound
- Analytics:TubeBuddy,vidIQ,Social Blade
- Thumbnails:Canva,Pixlr,Photoshop
Creator tools for gamers and streamers
With the rise of esports and online gaming, it’s rare to hear this once oft-asked question: “Who would watch someone play video games?” In 2020,18.6 billion hours of contentwas consumed on Twitch. In 2021, the platform had anaverage of 2.84 million concurrent viewers. Millions of viewers tune in daily to see their favorite gamers stream online—fromlouiseyhannahplaying Resident Evil Village toalanzokaplaying Final Fantasy XIV.
Behind the humorous and lighthearted banter with the audience—across platforms like Twitch, YouTube Gaming, and Facebook Gaming—streamers use a host of tools to broadcast to their fans, as well as plug-ins and extensions to make gameplay more fun and interactive.
The top creator tools for gamers and streamers
- Streaming platform:Twitch,YouTube Gaming,Facebook Gaming
- Streaming software:OBS Studio,Streamlabs,XSplit Broadcaster,Twitch Studio,Nvidia ShadowPlay
- Plug-ins, extensions, optimizers, and bots:Crowd Control,Sound Alerts,Moobot,SullyGnome
Creator tools for TikTok
TikTok has taken the world by storm. In Q1 of 2020,TikTok became the most downloaded app in the world,超过现有像Facebook和Instagram.
The short-form video platform has become a media destination in its own right, pushing past its initial content reputation as a place to see lip-synched songs, silly dances, and pranks gone wrong. Instead, the platform is chock full of every flavor of creator. While TikTok’s interface boasts a selection of tools to add filters, music, and effects, some creators opt to add third-party editing tools to their tech stack, bringing their own unique touch to videos.
TikTok’s popularity has spawned imitation apps, including Snapchat Spotlight, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. For someTikTok creators, these tools are complementary and add an extra distribution channel from them to repost their original content.
The top creator tools for TikTokers
- Platform app:TikTok
- Alternative platform apps:Snapchat,Instagram Reels,YouTube Shorts
- Editing:InShot,Quik,CapCut
Creator tools for Instagram influencers
While “influencer” has become an all-purpose term applying to many categories of creators, Instagram influencers are in a category of their own:72% of creators cite Instagram as their primary content platform.
Instagram-whether你分享健身设备es or showcasing interior design savvy—aesthetics are the name of the game. Instagram creators have a comprehensive set of tools as part of their creator economy tech stack: photo filter and editing software to perfect their photos, apps to create inspiring stories, and scheduling tools to craft the ideal grid ahead of time.Jourdan Sloane, an Instagram influencer with over half a million followers,detailsusing apps like Facetune to edit her photos and Preview to arrange her feed up to two days ahead of time.
The top creator tools for Instagram influencers
- Filters and editing:Afterlight,Huji,VSCO,Facetune,PicsArt
- Stories:Unfold,Seen
- Scheduling:Later,Preview
Creator tools for podcasters and audio creators
Whether they’re consumed during city car commutes or chores around the house, podcasts have become a popular pastime. In 2020,104 million people in the US listened to a podcast over the course of a month. From popular shows like theHuberman Labto advice podcasts likeIf I Were You, there are podcasts across every category. With a quick search, it’s easy to find something to listen to, whether you’re in the mood for cultural commentary or true crime.
除了硬件工具如播客麦克风,silencers, and mixers to get the sound just right, podcast creators use a collection of tools to host, edit, record, and add sounds and effects to their show. Plus, the rise of audio social apps like Clubhouse and Spotify Greenroom has given podcasters another venue to create shows for their audience or embody a new breed of audio creator entirely.
The top creator tools for podcasters and audio content creators
- Hosting:Anchor,Libsyn,Buzzsprout,Transistor
- Editing:Descript,GarageBand,Audacity
- Recording:Adobe Audition,Zencastr
- Effects and sounds:Storyblocks
- Social audio:Clubhouse,Spotify
Creator tools for writers and bloggers
From serialized storytellers to newsletter writers to bloggers, many creators who have a way with words are making a living online.Seth Godinhas blogged every day for almost a decade, while Emily Weiss turned her beauty blog,Into The Gloss, into the billion-dollar beauty empire that is Glossier.
Today, there are an increasing number of ways to make money online as a writer, with a slew of blogging and newsletter platforms that help writers distribute their content to an audience or monetize their writing directly.
Behind the craft of writing you’ll find tools like Google Docs and Apple Notes for getting the words on the page, editing apps like Grammarly to get sentences just right, and social channels to build an audience for your ideas or distribute them after the fact.
The top creator tools for writers and bloggers
- Blogging:Medium,WordPress,Ghost,Mirror
- Newsletter:Substack,Mailchimp,ConvertKit,MailerLite,Buttondown,TinyLetter,Revue
- Drafting:Google Docs, Apple Notes,Scrivener
- Editing:Grammarly
- Social:Twitter,Pinterest
Creator tools for musicians, photographers, and artists
Not every creator is web-first. Traditional IRL creators—musicians, photographers, and artists—have their own tech stack of online tools to support their offline efforts.
Musicians use an array of mixing tools to record and produce music, and rely on platforms like iTunes, Spotify, and SoundCloud to share their work online. Photographers use online editing tools to make their snapshots shine. Visual artists use drafting software to bring their art alive and, more recently, can use web marketplaces to mint them as NFTs to sell to online art collectors.
The top creator tools for musicians, photographers, and artists
- Musician:Pro Tools,Logic Pro, iTunes,Spotify,SoundCloud
- Photographer:Adobe Lightroom,Halide
- Artist:Procreate,Sketchbook,Foundation,OpenSea,Zora
Creator spotlight: Kyla Scanlon
Kyla Scanlonis a multi-hyphenate creator. She writes aSubstack newsletter about the stock market, hosts theLet’s Appreciatepodcast, createsdaily TikToks on the market for 160,000 followers, and uploadsone to two YouTube videoseach month on topics like stablecoins and the metaverse.
Kyla uses a range of tools in her creator economy tech stack that can keep up with her creativity:
- Social media and content: TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube
- Video and audio editing: Capcut, iMovie, Descript
- Writing: Google Docs, Substack
- Front page: WordPress
- Link page: Stan
- Community and membership: Substack
- Design: Canva and remove.bg
- Planning and project management: Notion, Apple Notes
- Business backend: Google Sheets, Wave
“I pick tools that are intuitive but also allow for full creativity,” she says. “I like to push the edge with some of my editing style choices, and it’s great when the tools allow for creators to really lean into design choices.”
Front page and link page tools
While creators mostly have their fans visit their platform of choice—their YouTube channel, TikTok page, or Substack newsletter—many creators carve out a digital home bybuilding a website. Creators can use their personal websites to tell a longer story about themselves, house their projects, and point to their links around the web.
However, some creators have opted out of websites, using a link page instead—a lightweight single webpage with links to a creator’s social platforms, storefront, or latest campaign. In bios on Instagram or Twitter, which only allow one spot for a URL, a link page expands the number of sites a creator can point their audience toward.
The top front page and link page creator tools
Business back-end tools
Much of what we see from creators is what they show us—the content on their platforms, the online communities they cultivate, or the online pop-up shops to share limited edition merchandise. But behind every creator-centered business, whether they’re a solo business of one or a full-fledged team, is a host of back-end tools powering the front end.
That includes the tools they use for planning and project management, the payments platform they rely on to make money, the finance and analytics tool for business insights, and hiring and recruitment platforms to expand their web ventures.
Planning and project management tools
When it comes to building an audience, consistency is key. YouTubers often have a regular weekly upload schedule, like “every Tuesday and Thursday.” Podcasters might sketch out an entire season of content months in advance. Instagram influencers might opt for one to two new photos each day, one reel a week, and a regular dose of stories. This steady stream ofsocial media contentoften requires some planning.
Frequently, the behind the scenes of being a creator involves project management tools to plan out campaigns in advance, or a digital to-do list to stay on top of daily tasks. Beatrice fromThe Bliss Bean, a YouTube channel centered around college life, productivity, and mindful habits,uses Trello to plan out her content calendaracross Instagram, YouTube, and her newsletter.
The top planning and project management tools for creators
Payments tools
创造者经营企业需要一个处理器来交流cept payments from customers—whether that’s paying for an online course or snagging a midnight drop from an influencer’s merch release. From Shopify Payments to Stripe, payment platforms help creators collect money to further reinvest in themselves and their businesses.
The top payments tools for creators
Finance and analytics tools
With cash comes cash flow management, accounting, and financial planning. Creators building business can opt for tried and true software like QuickBooks and Wave to manage accounting and send invoices to clients like brands and partners.
Plus, there’s a host of new tools gearned directly at creators, like Stir––a financial platform for collaboration and money management, and Karat––a credit card for creator businesses.
The top finance and analytics tools for creators
Hiring and recruitment tools
While many creators start as solo businesses owners, with enough success and scale, a podcaster can form a podcast network and a YouTuber can build a media empire. With size comes the need for support in the form of permanent hires and freelancers to help on the side.
Having a fan base to draw from, creators often go direct: sharing job opportunities in their Instagram Stories, tweeting out freelance gigs to an audience, and seeking out help at the bottom of a blog post. However, some creators instead opt for job boards and freelance hiring platforms to secure the help they need—whether that’s mixing the audio for a podcast or snapping professional photographs for a blog post.
The top hiring and recruitment tools for creators
Community tools
Creators recognize the value of keeping their fans close. While influencers can build a legion of supporters who subscribe to their YouTube channel or follow them on Twitter, cultivating closer relationships in an exclusive community is increasingly common. For instance, hosts ofThe H3 PodcastEthan Klien and Hila Klien have a dedicated Reddit community as well as a paid subscriber community in Discord.
These closed-off communities can be a paid perk for a creator’s most dedicated fans and help influencers engage more closely with their audience.
The top community tools for creators
Fan monetization and subscriptions tools
Often the audiences that a creator builds on social media platforms—Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, and more—enjoy their content for free. They like, comment, and share, but rarely pay an influencer directly. But with the rise of the creator economy has come more ways for creators to monetize their audiences and earn directly from their followers. Aside from the influx of tipping features in creator category tools, like tipping on Twitter or Clubhouse, there are tools dedicated to helping fans monetize off-platform.
From Patreon to Cameo, an increasing number of platforms are helping creators provide exclusive perks to fans for a recurring membership fee or one-off payment. Additionally, content creators can trade off their area of expertise—whether that’s interior design or gardening—to offer courses that fans can access for a fee on platforms like Podia or Gumroad. Creators keeping it simple can request tips from their audience through platforms like Cash App and Buy Me a Coffee.
The top fan monetization and subscriptions tools for creators
- Content monetization and memberships:Patreon,Memberful,Mighty Networks,OnlyFans,Fanhouse,Cameo
- Courses:Podia,Skillshare,Gumroad,Udemy,Teachable,Maven,MasterClass
- Tips:Venmo,Cash App,Buy Me A Coffee,Ko-fi
Commerce tools
Many creators and influencers alike partner with brands on collaborations that bring products to their fans—think Liza Koshy’s collaboration with Beats or Mr.Kate’s partnership with Target. Alternatively, some creators are accepting direct payments from platforms like TikTok and YouTube through newly mintedcreator funds. These collaborations use the star power of an influencer to boost an existing brand or platform.
But in some cases, creators want to carve out a path of their own—using their image, likeness, and audience to build a brand and offering that are truly theirs. In this case, they opt for creating a brand, selling items directly to their audience,scaling their business, and using acommerce platform—like Shopify—to do it. One TikTok creator, Sonja Detrinidad, hasbuilt a TikTok audience around plant care while selling plants on Shopify.
The top commerce tools for creators
Monetize your audience and build a business on Shopify
Advertising and affiliate tools
Creators aiming to reach outside of their existing audience can opt for advertising, attracting attention and engagement—for themselves or their businesses—through Google ads and social media ads on Facebook and Instagram.
Creators can also earn money through a different kind of advertising: affiliate programs. Influencers get their name for the power they hold—the ability to influence trends, inform opinions, and drive purchasing decisions. Affiliate programs allow creators to take a cut of the purchases they drive.
YouTubers can get a commission from the purchase recommendations they make in a fall haul fashion video, while a productivity blogger can take a cut off a book they recommend. Commission programs like LTK and ShareASale help creators monetize their influence and see a piece of the sales they drive.
The top advertising and affiliate tools for creators
- Advertising:Google Ads,Facebook adsandInstagram ads
- Affiliate:Amazon Associates,LTK,ShareASale
Social scheduling and distribution tools
Most creators, whether they’re social-first stars or podcasters, rely on social media in some way, shape, or form to build up their audience and promote their work. Rather than staying tied to a laptop or phone, creators can use tools that make keeping up with social media easier.
Tools like Buffer and Loomly can help creatorsdeal with stressand burnout, letting them schedule posts in advance and keep up a regular cadence, all while still taking time to disconnect and work on other aspects of their creator-based business. These scheduling tools let creators schedule pins and plan out Instagram posts, while helping them automate and unplug.
The top social scheduling and distribution tools for creators
Events tools
Occasionally, creators opt for events—from live podcast recordings with an audience to meet and greets. COVID-19 and lockdown mandates have brought on a move to digital events. At the start of the pandemic, we saw musicians playing music on Instagram Live.
As the move to remote continues, creators are using online platforms for digital events—like Hopin and AirMeet—to connect with their audiences. For events of both types—IRL and URL—creators often use ticketing platforms to let fans reserve their spots and pay for events.
The top events tools for creators
- Digital:Hopin,Zoom,Crowdcast,Run the World,Airmeet
- Ticketing:SeatGeek,Ticketmaster,Eventbrite
More creators means more tools to help them create
The creator tech stack outlines the many corners of a creator-centered business—the tools and platforms that help a creator create content, monetize their audience, and run the back end of their business. A glimpse at a creator’s tech stack is a look behind the scenes of how a modern company is run.
With the creator economy here to stay, tools built for creators will continue to crop up as more people join the internet gold rush and build creator-centered businesses.
Feature illustration by Woody Harrington
Infographics by Brenda Wisniowski
Photos by Pexels
Creator tools FAQ
What is a creator tool?
A creator tool is an app or platform used by online content creators to help them run their businesses. This could refer to anything from a free plan on a simple tool to design Instagram Stories to software with advanced features that help them run their online store. Content creators use tools to offer paid subscriptions to exclusive content, host virtual events, selldigital productslike online courses, or create professional video content.
What are creator tools on Instagram?
Instagram影响者使用专门工具create and share photo and video content, help with community management, and allow fans to shop directly from the social media platform. One example is Creator Studio, a tool designed for Instagram and Facebook.
What are examples of free creator tools?
Many introductory creator tools are either completely free or offer a free plan for you to try. This helps new creators avoid the upfront cost of tools when getting started. As they grow, many creators move on from the basic plan to a pro version or paid plan to access more advanced features.