The Best Productivity Apps for 2024


A composite image of a hand holding a mobile phone in black and white with graphs and charts floating around it

(Credit: Kaspars Grinvalds/Shutterstock.com)

We don’t think you should try to be more productive for the sake of doing more or making someone else more money. We see personal productivity as something improves your life. The point of productivity apps is to make something you do smoother, easier, and more efficient. That way, you worry about it less and have more time and energy for everything else you love.

Some of the best productivity apps take repetitive tasks you would have otherwise done manually, like copying and pasting info from one app to another or transcribing audio, and do them for you automatically. Others improve your quality of life by helping you get organized so you can spend less mental energy trying to remember where you wrote down important details or what you’re supposed to do next. They take that weight off your shoulders. And who couldn’t benefit from a lighter load?

You can use the best productivity apps listed below in professional and personal spheres, by yourself, or in many cases, for team collaboration. We hope some of these apps make your life a little better.


 

Assistive Apps

ABBYY FineReader Logo

ABBYY FineReader turns pictures of words into typed text you can edit. It’s not an impulse buy, but it is the best app you can get for optical character recognition (OCR) extraction for hefty jobs. If you have to scan entire books, long legal files, or old documents whose text might be blurry, it’s well worth the money.

MSRP $169.99

DocuSign logo

If you’ve had to sign anything in the last decade, chances are you’ve run into DocuSign. It’s an online system for managing contracts and other documents that require electronic signatures. DocuSign’s mobile apps make it easy to review a file and sign it using your phone’s touchscreen and your finger. Even if you don’t need DocuSign in your work life, the app may very well come in handy at home the next time you need to drop a signature on anything from a permission slip to a lease agreement. If you only need to sign forms, this app is free. For sending documents and collecting signatures, you need a paid subscription plan.

MSRP $10.00

google gemini logo

AI is still in its infancy, but if you’re going to use an AI chatbot, it should be Google Gemini (formerly called Google Bard), which is the best and most well-rounded one we’ve tested. Gemini writes with more straightforward and simplistic language than ChatGPT, making it a more conversational AI, which feels consistent with its overall focus on productivity. It makes an effort to cite its sources, though it lacks consistency here. Gemini is a better AI chatbot tool for research, shopping, and travel planning than ChatGPT, as it has access to timely information from the web. Moreover, if you don’t like the answer you get, you can press Google It to get more traditional search results. While AI chatbots aren’t for everyone or every kind of work, Gemini can make you more productive if you can use a hand researching, writing, and summarizing text.

MSRP Free

Grammarly's Logo

Unlike basic spell checkers, Grammarly is a complete writing assistant app. You configure it to give you advice about whatever type of writing you’re doing. For example, you would configure it one way if you’re writing a dissertation, which requires a highly formal style, and another way for a blog post, where shorter sentences and informal language fit better. This app for writers suggests not only style changes but also corrections to grammar and spelling. It’s wonderful for anyone who needs help writing.

MSRP Free

Automation Apps

IFTTT

IFTTT (rhymes with gift) stands for “if this, then that.” It’s a website and mobile app you use to create custom automations between online services and devices. It’s similar to Apple Shortcuts (see below), but it’s been around longer and works with way more apps than just what’s on your iPhone. For example, you could create this sequence: “If someone tags a photo of me on Facebook, then save a copy of that photo to Dropbox.” Making these little commands is fairly simple, but if you’d rather let someone else do the work, you can explore automations that other users have shared with the community and click to make them your own.

MSRP Free

Otter.ai logo

Otter.ai, also called simply Otter, is one of the best transcription apps on the market, and one we recommend highly if you need a free option for AI automated transcriptions. You get a good amount for free, including 300 live transcription minutes per month and three prerecorded audio or video files for transcription per lifetime (each transcription session is limited to 30 minutes). If you like Otter and want more bandwidth, you can subscribe to a paid plan, starting at $16.99 per month or $120 per year. Pro includes 1,200 minutes per month for live transcriptions. All transcriptions can be for audio files up to 90 minutes. And you get to upload and transcribe 10 prerecorded files per month.

MSRP Free

Shortcuts Image

Your iPhone or iPad becomes a productivity helper with Apple’s Shortcuts (free on Apple mobile devices). This app lets you create automations, in other words, a series of events that happen automatically when triggered. For example, you can make one that says, “When I stop my phone’s Wake-Up alarm [that’s the trigger], automatically play a morning news podcast.” Another example is “When I arrive at such-and-such a location based on GPS, automatically silence notifications.” Even if you know nothing about programming, you can create some time-saving shortcuts with this app.

Zapier

If you want to make some of your work happen automatically, Zapier is a good app to try. This online tool lets you create automations between apps and services, much the same way IFTTT does, but with more of a focus on business apps. Here’s an example of an automation you can create in Zapier: “Every time a customer purchases an item from my website, create a task for the fulfillment team in Asana, add the customer’s email address to my Mailchimp mailing list, and send the customer a confirmation message.” When you automate rote tasks such as these, you can focus your attention on other, more important work.

Per Month, Starts at $29.99

Collaboration Apps

Airtable

Airtable is an online app built on the bones of a relational database. You use it either by yourself or with a group to manage information. If that sounds frustratingly vague, it’s because Airtable is so flexible that you can use it for nearly anything. Let’s say you’re on a committee organizing an auction. You could use Airtable to list the items for auction, write down details about them, assign tasks to committee members to get the items ready to show, and even plan the auction event itself. Airtable comes with templates that give you more ideas for how to use it, from organizing a job search to making a product catalog for a business.

Per User, Starts at $12.00

Asana logo

Apps for collaboration and communication are transforming how teams get work done. Asana was among the first to make a real splash. It’s essentially a pumped-up, collaborative list app for tracking tasks, ideas, and anything else. You can use it as your to-do list, as your family’s to-do list, and as a tool for managing projects. Asana has multiple ways of showing you your tasks or ideas: in a list, on a kanban board, or on a timeline. You can use it solo or share the lists you create with other people to assign them tasks, have them add new tasks, and ask for their comments.

MSRP Free

The Basecamp logo; a black line drawing of a hill-like shape with the word Basecamp below it in sans serif font, black on white

Basecamp was an early player in the cloud-based collaborative software space. It’s an online app—or really more like a virtual hub where you and your colleagues huddle around work. Upload files and discuss changes that need to be made. Jot down tasks that must get done and assign them to the right people. Collect notes from meetings that everyone can review in one location.

Per User, Starts at $15.00

Miro Image

Miro is an online and collaborative whiteboard, though it’s also a diagramming app and part presentation app—you could throw mind mapping and video conferencing in there, too. Everything about it is collaborative. You can use it to draw an idea or create a slideshow, either by yourself or with others editing simultaneously. Miro has built-in video and audio calling, plus screen sharing, so you can actually discuss how you’re working while you’re working, or you can give a talk showing your creations. You can pull in media from other apps to display, whether it’s Vimeo videos or Asana cards. What makes Miro extraordinary is how easy it is to pick up and use, even though it sounds like a hodgepodge of ideas. It’s tremendously useful.

Per User, Per Month, Starts at $10.00

The Teamwork logo

Teamwork is a top-scoring productivity app for small to medium-sized organizations that need to get up and running with project management fast. It’s easy to use and takes minutes to create an account. Not all project management services are either of those things, much less both. Everyone who’s working on the project gets a login. The project manager or team leads organize high-level aspects of the project, such as defining the start date, end date, and milestones. Team members then use the app to see what tasks are assigned to them, give updates on the progress of their tasks, and otherwise make the process of collaborating on a large project more transparent.

Per User, Per Month, Starts at $8.99

Trello logo

If you’ve never used Trello or any other kanban app, picture a board divided into columns. You name the columns To-Do, Doing, and Done. (In practice, you can name them whatever you like, but these names help illustrate the concept.) Now, you get a stack of sticky notes, and you write a to-do on each note. You can also add a description of that task, an assignee, and a due date. You place the sticky notes onto the board in the To-Do column. As you and your teammates decide which tasks to work on, you move their sticky notes to appropriate columns. It’s a simple system that opens itself up to ad-hoc uses and inventive interpretations. Trello’s charm comes from its simple interface and fun stickers, all of which add a touch of lightness to even the heaviest work.

Starts at Free

Wrike logo, a white background with a green checkmark and the word Wrike in black

When you need a system for managing projects and other kinds of work yesterday, turn to Wrike. This online collaboration app helps organizations and all the people in them keep track of work: who’s doing what, when, and what kind of progress they’re making. At an even higher level, team leaders and managers can see how all those tasks are contributing to the bottom line. Wrike also has special account types for helping certain kinds of teams deal with work that’s specific to their industries, including marketing and business services teams. You can integrate Wrike with many other apps and services.

Per User, Per Month, Starts at $9.80

Zoho Projects logo

Small businesses may find project management apps cost-prohibitive unless they opt for Zoho Projects. This online app keeps pace with the world of project management extremely well, keeping its look fresh and adding features that all teams need to work collaboratively—all for a starting price lower than any other project management app we’ve seen. It even offers a truly free level of service, so you can try it out fully and without any time restrictions. Zoho Projects is a top productivity platform with ample add-on tools and services for growing with your team or business. When everyone on a team can see the status of tasks and a project, everyone knows where to put their focus to stay productive.

Per User, Per Month, Starts at $5.00

GanttPro logo: The word GanttPro in white letters on a green background

If you’ve never done project management before and you find yourself needing to, GanttPro is the best app you can get. It makes it easy to learn how to manage projects using Gantt charts and other standard tools. It’s competitively priced and has been adding features and improving steadily since its 2015 debut. If you’re part of a relatively small team looking for a low-cost project management app you can get up and running in hours rather than days or weeks, GanttPro should be on your shortlist.

Per User, Per Month, Starts at $9.99

Communication Apps

Canary Mail Image

Like many productivity apps these days, Canary Mail is all about artificial intelligence (AI). It promises to compose emails for you, including replies to incoming messages. It lives up to this promise via a partnership with OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. Canary also offers encrypted email, read receipts, great keyboard shortcuts, and the ability to snooze emails. The occasional bug keeps it from being perfect, but it’s still one of the best email clients and assistants on the market.

MSRP Free

Hey by Basecamp Image

Every few years, someone tries to reinvent email or at least make it dramatically better. In 2020, a product called Hey launched in hopes of revolutionizing the inbox. Hey is a full-fledged email service, meaning when you sign up, you get a brand-new email address. You also get an “Imbox” rather than an inbox, the “Im” standing for important and immediate, and you get to decide who belongs there and who doesn’t. You can rename subject lines, merge messages, add labels to organize your emails, and more. If you’re in the market for a more productive email account, Hey is worth exploring.

MSRP $99.00

Slack logo 2019

Slack is one of the best-known group messaging apps for organizations. You can make a Slack account for free, but paid accounts come with more features and support. Slack is where group conversations happen. You can message individuals, private groups, or channels where people have opted in to follow a conversation. You can also have audio and video calls on Slack. In the workplace, this app has earned a reputation for fostering community, too. The reason we see Slack as a productivity app is that it lets you connect with colleagues in whatever way works best for both of you—in real time, asynchronously, in public where other people can chime in—which is something email could never do.

Per User, Per Month, Starts at $8.75

Spark Image

Spark from Readdle is one of our favorite email client apps. Unlike many competitors, Spark offers a refreshing experience because it’s built entirely around email—not notes or to-do lists. Spark gives you great keyboard shortcuts, excellent features for organizing messages, and a lovely interface. This email app is easy to recommend to anyone looking for a more focused email client.

MSRP Free

Zoom Meeting Logo

Even before the global coronavirus pandemic, video conferencing app Zoom was a sweetheart of the tech industry, particularly among remote teams. Having a video calling app that’s reliable and easy to use makes communicating easier and better. Zoom has features that keep video calls fun, too, like virtual backgrounds and the same kind of facial filters found in Snapchat and Instagram. The free version of Zoom is more than adequate for many uses. If you’re looking for a free alternative for personal calls, however, you might try some less famous apps, such as Blizz or Jitsi.

Per User, Per Month, Starts at $15.99

Focus Apps

Caveday Image

In all my years of writing reviews and helping people get things done, my preconceptions about a service have never been so wrong as they were with Caveday. If you’ve heard about Caveday, you might have gotten the wrong impression, as I did, that it’s a Zoom call that people pay to be on so they can co-work all day long under one another’s watchful eye. That’s not only a gross mischaracterization but also ignores the magic and energy that can result when people work in a shared space. Caveday is a community of people who help you practice the art of focusing on whatever you want to achieve. To use Caveday, you join the site, decide whether you want a membership or will pay as you go, and sign up for a session. In the session, you actually partake in some focus time with a group, who remind you when it’s time for breaks. It’s a wonderful tool for anyone who needs a little motivation and structure while working toward their goals.

Starts at $20.00

Pocket logo

It’s easy to get distracted when you work online and see articles you want to read. Pocket solves this problem. It’s a bookmarking app that saves copies of articles and other online content to an account where you can read them later. Some ereaders let you connect to your Pocket account and will load the material for you to read on them.

MSRP Free

RescueTime

RescueTime does for your productivity what calorie-counting does for weight loss. It brings attention and insight to your actual habits because you can’t change your habits unless you know what they are. This app runs quietly on your computer, recording how much time you spend on different websites and apps. It then generates reports to show when you’ve been productive versus when you’ve been distracted. You can customize the settings to make sure it understands what counts as productive to you.

MSRP Free

SaneBox Image

Here’s a lifesaver for people who struggle with email. It’s called SaneBox, and it’s the best service you’ll find for radically improving your existing email. For a couple of bucks per month, SaneBox goes into your email on the backend and starts sorting messages for you. Anything that’s probably not important, based on your email history and other factors, goes into a folder that isn’t your inbox. SaneBox won’t throw away any emails without your permission, but it will sweep aside anything that would normally bog you down. Over time, you also teach this app by giving it feedback, and it gets better at its job. There are other features, too, but it’s SaneBox’s core functionality that will make your email life better and more productive.

Per Year, Starts at $24.00

Stayfocusd Image

Stayfocusd (free) is a browser extension that keeps you productive by blocking distracting websites while you’re trying to work. You can block sites for either set times and dates (like 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday) or after you’ve reached a limit (for example, no more than 30 minutes of your favorite news website per day). It’s simple, free, and can help keep your productivity up. Sure, you could get around it by simply using a different browser, but the point is not to defeat your worst impulses. It’s to give you a tool that helps you manage your own self-discipline.

MSRP Free

Strict Workflow logo

Strict Workflow (for Chrome)

Any Pomodoro fans out there? In the 1990s, a new method for working called the Pomodoro Technique had people everywhere buying kitchen timers shaped like tomatoes (hence the name) to time 25 minutes of work followed by a short break. With modern technology, it’s easier to just install a free browser plug-in instead. Strict Workflow (free) is the best one that’s loosely based on the Pomodoro Technique. It can also block distracting websites while you’re in a work phase. If you like to experiment with new methods of working more productively, snag this app for help.

MSRP Free

Office/Work Apps

Google Workspace Image

Google Workspace, formerly called G Suite, is Google’s office suite. It’s all the apps you might already know if you have a Google account, including Google Docs, Google Calendar, and all the other Google apps like Sheets, Slides, and Meet, plus Google Drive to store and organize files. Google Workspace is free for anyone with a Google account, though business accounts require a paid subscription. What makes Google Workspace productive? For one, the apps are readily available and fairly easy to use. Some apps, like Google Calendar, are simply staples of online productivity. Google Calendar in particular stores so much important information about your schedule and can send you appropriate reminders for what you need to do and where you need to be. Another reason Google Workspace is one of the best suites of productivity apps is when you’re working, Google automatically saves and syncs all your changes as you go. Third, collaborating in the apps is incredibly easy, so it can boost team productivity, too.

Per User, Per Month, Starts at $6.00

Harvest

If you run a company and you have client-driven work, you need time-tracking software. Harvest is one of the best you’ll find, whether you work solo or with others. You use it for tracking billable hours, and when you record time while you’re working, you catalog it to the right project or client. Harvest is easy to use and not too expensive. Another top pick for this same use case is Toggl Track, listed below.

MSRP $12.00

Joplin logo

If you like the idea of Evernote but are looking for a simple and free alternative, Joplin is it. This open-source note-taking app is cross-platform and gives you the core tools you need for capturing, organizing, saving, and finding notes. It doesn’t have every feature under the sun, however. What’s missing are collaboration options, OCR on images and PDFs, sketching and handwriting, email forwarding, and mobile scanning, among other features. With Joplin, you can either bring your own storage or pay for Joplin to manage it with Joplin Cloud.

MSRP Free

Lucidchart Image

Do you need to make diagrams that don’t look like a fourth grader designed them? Hands down, one of the best tools to use is Lucidchart. With this moderately priced app, you can create diagrams for business, educational use, or even personal use. One of its main strengths is letting multiple people edit a diagram at the same time. Lucidchart has an impressive template gallery full of ideas for charts and diagrams you didn’t even know you needed. How about an emergency exit plan, for example, or an org chart? Anyone can make professional-looking diagrams with Lucidchart.

Starts at Free

Microsoft Office 365 logo

Whether you pay for a Microsoft 365 account or use the free web apps, this office suite has two noteworthy apps and features that can make your life easier. First is Microsoft OneNote, the only note-taking app that rivals Evernote in features. Like any other note-taking app, you use it to capture ideas, notes, and information of all kinds. Part of what sets it apart is that OneNote is completely free. Second is Microsoft Word, which in late 2020 received one stunning and unique feature: Transcribe. This feature lets you record an audio conversation while it’s happening or upload a recording of people talking and have the voices transcribed automatically. You need a paid account to get this feature, and it’s only in the web app at this time.

If you use Microsoft apps for work, there’s a good chance you rely on Microsoft Teams for team collaboration and team productivity, too.

Per Year, Starts at $69.99

Obsidian logo: a purple rock-like shape next to the word "obsidian"

Obsidian is a note-taking app best suited for power users, and it’s the most flexible note-taking app out there. In software, flexibility usually means a tool can bend to your desires, but it also means you might have to spend significant time customizing it. If you need a note-taking system to work exactly the way you want and don’t mind taking the time to get it there, Obsidian is the application you should check out first. It’s free for personal use.

MSRP Free

Prezi Image

Not everyone takes to slide decks like a duck to water. If your ideas never seem to come across in a standard slideshow, stop shoehorning yourself into the wrong format and try Prezi instead. Prezi is a presentation app that gives you a huge digital whiteboard to lay out your ideas. Once you have your thoughts down, you move a virtual camera around the board to show different parts in the order you want, recording it as you go. And voilà, you have a presentation. Prezi works for both in-person and virtual presentations. The app also comes with plenty of templates as well as the ability to collaborate with others. You can try a limited version of Prezi for free.

MSRP Free

Toggl Track Image

Similar to Harvest, Toggl Track (formerly just Toggl) keeps track of how much time you spend getting certain work done. We like Toggl Track, in particular for freelancers and other solo entrepreneurs, though it certainly supports team time tracking, too. Even if you don’t need to track your time for billing purposes, Toggl Track can help you get better at estimating how long work tasks will take. If you record time spent on any task, you have a better indication in the future of how long it will take, and that means you can better plan the rest of your time, too. What a way to make the most of your day.

Per User, Per Month, Starts at $10.00

To-Do List Apps

OmniFocus logo

Having a good to-do list is invaluable. If you use a specific method to manage your tasks, you need an app that matches it. Omnifocus is a to-do list app for Apple devices, one that’s designed for people who follow the Getting Things Done (GTD) method. There are different pricing options depending on whether you want to use this app across all your Apple devices and the web or just one or two devices. If you’re a GTD convert, OmniFocus will help you stick with it. Version 4 of this app is reportedly coming in 2023.

Per Month, Starts at $9.99

Things 3 logo

Can a superbly designed interface for task management make up for a lack of key features? With the to-do list app Things, it’s a legit possibility. Things, which is in version 3, is a gorgeous app for writing down and tracking your to-do list. It’s really only useful, however, if you work solo and use Apple devices, as it doesn’t have collaboration features, and it’s only available for macOS ($49.99), iPad ($19.99), and iPhone ($9.99). On the upside, there are no subscription fees to pay for this lovely productivity app.

MSRP $9.99

Todoist Image

Of all the to-do list apps on the market, Todoist is consistently rated at the top. It’s one of the most advanced to-do apps you’ll find. You can use it solo or with others. You can keep your lists simple or add copious amounts of detail, like subtasks, priority ratings, tags, comments, and more. Productivity features such as natural language support—meaning you can type “tod” and the app understands you mean “today” is the due date for this task—make it so you can jump into the app quickly, do what you need, and get back to business.

Per Month, Starts at Free

Toodledo

Another app for managing tasks, Toodledo, has a long list of features, including those for collaboration. That means you can share task lists with other people. In addition to helping you manage tasks, Toodledo also wants to help you adopt new habits, jot down lists, and organize your thoughts. It’s a powerful to-do list app, although it requires a lot of customization and learning to get it to work the way you want. If you’re willing to put in some work at the start to get a payout on the backend, Toodledo is worth considering.

MSRP $36.00



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