Benable — create shareable lists of things you recommend!

E.g., products you love, local businesses, travel recs - you can add anything to a Benable list!

Discover

The 2026 Content Creator's Software Stack

20 items

Dew Jornsen

Curating this list literally saved me the hassle of remembering all the subscriptions I pay for (and the free ones I abuse). 🎬 Whether you're cutting a vlog, designing a carousel, or writing scripts, this is the exact software stack you need. Hands ...

Sections

Video Editing & Animation

Graphic Design & Visuals

AI, Writing & Ideation

Utilities, Audio & Scheduling

Video Editing & Animation

The tools that actually make short-form and long-form video possible without losing your mind.

Hands down the only app you need for short-form content. 68% of TikTok creators use it for a reason—the auto-captions and trend templates save me hours every week.

CapCut Pro: Boost Video Editing Efficiency

For long-form YouTube videos, I would pick this a million times over Premiere. It's completely free, industry-standard, and the color grading is unmatched.

DaVinci Resolve – Editing Software

This literally changed how I edit talking-head videos. You edit the text transcript like a Word doc, and it automatically cuts the video. An absolute lifesaver.

Descript

If you make long-form videos and need Shorts/Reels fast, this AI tool chops your long video into viral clips instantly. Saved me the hassle of doing it manually.

OpusClip: #1 AI video clipping tool to create viral shorts

A non-negotiable for serious motion graphics. There is a learning curve, but if you want that buttery-smooth, high-end animation look, this is it. It's not free tho 🌚

Motion graphics software | Adobe After Effects

Graphic Design & Visuals

Where the actual branding happens.

I will never stop recommending this. Even as a graphic designer, sometimes you just need to churn out a carousel post in 10 minutes, and the Pro templates are undefeated.

Canva Pro | Your all-in-one design solution

The best Canva alternative if you want superior AI image generation (it uses Firefly). I totally reco this if you are already paying for an Adobe subscription.

Adobe Express

A lot of people think this is just for app design, but it’s my secret weapon for building out social media templates and brand kits. And the free tier is incredibly generous.

Figma: Free Design Tool for Websites, Product Design & More

If you hate paying Adobe's monthly subscription fee but need Photoshop-level power, buy this once and you own it forever. It's insanely good.

Affinity Photo 2

The quickest way to cut out elements and save them as PNGs on your phone for thumbnails or stories. Fast, clean, and gets the job done.

Magic Eraser

AI, Writing & Ideation

The tools you need for scripting, hooks, and brainstorming when the creative fatigue hits.

The general-purpose workhorse. I use it daily to turn my messy brain-dumps into structured YouTube scripts and catchy Instagram hooks.

ChatGPT Plan | Plus

If you are writing anything long-form (newsletters, blogs), Claude is way better at matching your actual voice than ChatGPT. Highly recommend it for writers.

Claude

This is my cheat code for finding niche-specific content ideas based on actual analytics, rather than just guessing what people want to see.

MySocial AI Content Studio

My entire brain lives here. It’s where I track all my content calendars, video scripts, and brand strategies across all my different channels.

Notion

The gold standard for generating AI concept art and mood boards. It's essential when I'm brainstorming the visual aesthetic for new projects.

Leonardo.Ai - Generative AI Platform for Images, Art & Video

Utilities, Audio & Scheduling

The behind-the-scenes apps that make the final product look and sound professional.

This is completely free and pure magic. It takes crappy phone audio and makes it sound like you recorded it in a $10,000 studio.

Adobe Podcast (AI Audio Enhancer)

The cleanest, simplest tool I’ve found for scheduling posts across multiple platforms. It keeps me sane when managing different accounts.

Buffer

The holy grail of completely free, high-quality stock footage and photos. I use these daily to fill gaps in my videos.

Pexels

Stop getting copyright strikes. For $10 a month, this gives you the best royalty-free music library that actually sounds like real music, not elevator tunes.

Epidemic Sound

If Instagram is your main platform, this scheduler is built specifically for it. The visual grid planner is perfect for making sure your feed looks aesthetic.

Social Media Scheduler by Later | Plan, schedule, and manage your content