10 Best Productivity Apps & Productivity Software For 2024

monday.com is an easy-to-learn project management app that doubles as a productivity tool with key features that that help you manage tasks and the workflows that carry multiple tasks from start to finish. It's a great team productivity tool for getting a clear view of the work that needs to be done and the status of each task at a glance.

Why I Picked monday.com: monday.com is vaguely similar to a spreadsheet at its core, but a much nicer-looking project management tool that lets you quickly toggle between multiple views of work even for repetitive tasks(view as a list, on a map, on a Kanban board, in a spreadsheet, and other views). It also provides alerts, notifications, and the ability to attach files and communicate with colleagues.

monday.com Standout Features & Integrations

Features include a customizable task board for managing task status, assignee, due date, hours spent, etc. Users can upload and attach files to cards, make comments, mention teammates, set reminders, and more. You can measure your productivity through reporting dashboards that can collect data from multiple boards.

Integrations include Slack, Google Drive, Gmail, Google Calendar, Jira, GitHub, Trello, Dropbox, Typeform and many more, accessible via Zapier.

Slack is a collaboration and messaging platform that enables teams to communicate and work together in real-time. It offers a range of features, including channels, file sharing, integration with other software tools, and robust security.

Why I Picked Slack: If you’re doing a lot of task management and delegation within a team, Slack is a best-in-class tool for team collaboration. Slack provides a platform for you to communicate with team members-this includes private chats and group channels, file sharing, tagging and mentions, and loads of integrations with productivity apps to sync up your activities. You can use this tool to break out of endless email threads and enjoy a more transparent, easy-to-follow flow of communication and resources between you and your collaborators.

Slack Standout Features & Integrations

Features include collaboration, file sharing, powerful search, customization, robust security, and has a mobile app, and third-party integrations/plugins.

Integrations include Teamline, Workstreams, ClickUp, Asana, Sentry, SimplePoll, Trello, and dozens of development, management, communication, finance, media, marketing, design, wellness, and other apps. 

Zoho Projects is a cloud-based project management software that allows individuals and teams to collaborate, plan, and execute projects efficiently. The software enhances productivity by providing a centralized platform for task management, time tracking, document sharing, and team communication.

Why I picked Zoho Projects: It's a versatile software solution that different types of organizations and teams can use to manage their projects effectively. Its intuitive interface makes it easy to navigate and utilize, and it's user-friendly, with features that are easily accessible and organized logically. Their customizable user interface lets you choose the layout and features that best suit your needs.

You can create, manage, assign, and set task deadlines using Zoho Projects. You can also create task dependencies, ensuring that each job is completed in the correct order. It includes a calendar view allowing users to see their upcoming tasks and deadlines in one place.

Users can also track their time spent on each task, making it easier to manage their workload and allocate resources effectively. The time tracking feature can generate reports, providing valuable insights into team performance and project progress.

Zoho Projects Standout Features & Integrations

Features include collaboration tools that make it easy for team members to communicate and work together, a chat feature that supports real-time communication, and a comments section where team members can discuss specific tasks and projects. It also includes a document management system where team members can share and collaborate on documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.

Integrations are available with other Zoho apps, commonly used Google apps (Google Calendar, Drive, Spreadsheets, etc.), Microsoft apps (Calendar, Excel, Office 365, OneDrive, Teams, and SharePoint), and other third-party apps such as Basecamp, Jira, Slack, Zendesk, and Zapier.

SaneBox is a productivity tool that helps you manage your email inbox more efficiently. It's designed to save you time by filtering out unimportant emails and organizing the rest into folders so you can focus on what really matters. SaneBox works with most email providers and clients, making it a versatile option for anyone looking to improve their email management.

Why I picked SaneBox: I chose SaneBox as one of the best productivity apps because it tackles one of the most time-consuming tasks we all face daily —managing our email inboxes. With the constant influx of emails, it's easy to get overwhelmed and lose track of important messages. SaneBox helps you regain control of your inbox, allowing you to focus on the emails that truly matter and be more productive.

Sanebox Standout Features & Integrations

Features: There are several features that make SaneBox stand out from other email management tools. First, its smart filtering system automatically sorts your emails into different folders based on their importance. For example, it moves unimportant emails to a 'SaneLater' folder, so you can focus on your most important messages first. It also has a 'SaneNoReplies' folder that keeps track of emails you've sent that haven't received a response, making it easy to follow up on those messages.

Another great feature is the 'SaneBlackHole' folder, which allows you to quickly unsubscribe from unwanted newsletters and promotional emails. Simply drag the unwanted email into this folder, and SaneBox will automatically unsubscribe you from the sender's mailing list.

Integrations: SaneBox integrates with many popular email providers and clients, such as Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, and more. This means you can use SaneBox with your existing email setup without having to switch to a new platform. Additionally, SaneBox offers integrations with productivity tools like Evernote, Todoist, and Trello, allowing you to create tasks and save important emails directly from your inbox.

Trello is a Kanban board app that can be used to organize tasks visually. It’s user-friendly, with an intuitive drag-and-drop interface that makes it easy to learn. This popular tool can be used to help you visualize your deadlines, items in progress, and completed tasks, enabling you to make informed decisions about what to work on next according to the big picture.

Why I Picked Trello: Trello is a popular project management tool that helps teams organize tasks and collaborate on projects visually and intuitively. It uses a system of boards, lists, and cards to represent tasks and workflows, allowing team members to easily see what needs to be done, who is responsible for each task, and what the status of each task is. Trello can be customized to fit a wide range of project management needs, and it offers features such as due dates, checklists, attachments, and team member assignments. Its flexibility and ease of use make it a great tool for teams of all sizes and types, from small startups to large enterprises.

Trello Standout Features & Integrations

Features include boards, to-do lists, task management, workflow management, priority labels, due dates, file sharing, communication, a mobile app, and third-party integrations/add-ons.

Integrations include 200+ apps and tools your team depends on, like Slack, Google Drive, Salesforce, Dropbox directly into your Trello boards. (Note: Some connections require an additional subscription fee.)

Todoist is similar to Wunderlist, providing a simple interface for creating, sharing, and prioritizing tasks. You can collaborate by sharing out your lists and assigning tasks to others, and you can use labels and priority tags to bring organization to your task lists.

Why I Picked Todoist: Todoist has a smart rescheduling feature that suggests an optimal time to schedule tasks that need to be pushed out to a future date based upon past behavior and what you’ve already got on your plate.

Todoist Standout Features & Integrations

Features include task scheduling/tracking, project management, calendar management, email integration, third-party plugins, time management, campaign management, and notifications.

Integrations include Google Drive, Google Maps, Dropbox, Apple Maps, Calendar Sync, and Slack, as well as more options through Zapier (which may incur additional costs). 

Asana is another popular Kanban-style task management tool that helps you visually organize and prioritize your work. Use this tool to set priorities, deadlines, tasks, and assignees, and to easily visualize and adjust the flow of your work.

Why I Picked Asana: This is one of the most popular and widely used productivity apps along with Trello, and with a sleek, clutter-free design and a robust suite of integrations, this is a productivity tool that you can use and adapt to a wide range of work and personal projects over time.

Asana Standout Features & Integrations

Features task and project management, collaboration tools, calendar views, customizable dashboards, integrations with other tools, templates for different workflows, a mobile app, reporting tools, and automation capabilities.

Integrations include Microsoft Teams, Adobe Creative Cloud, JIRA Cloud, Salesforce, Tableau, Slack, Clockwise, MS Office 365, Google Calendar, Gmail, Power BI, Outlook, ServiceNow, JotForm, Google Drive, Looker, Vimeo, DropBox, Trello, GitLab, and a growing list of other apps. Plus, a plan with Zapier or Tray.io can let you access other apps to connect with Asana. 

Hubstaff is a lightweight, native time tracking software that includes screenshots, time tracking, and project management tools. It’s been designed well with a simple interface and design that makes it really easy for your team to enter their time and for you to track their progress.

Why I Picked Hubstaff: When you’re working with a distributed team it can be hard to verify exactly what people are doing and how they’re spending their time so Hubstaff has some pretty handy snooping tools to give you insight into what your team is doing in the time they’re logging to your project with screenshots and activity levels. Now you can also see which applications your team members are using and what URLs they are browsing while they’re tracking time.

Budget management is helpful and straightforward—using Hubstaff, you can easily set time limits and budgets for your team to bill against with a maximum number of hours you want a member to be able to work in a week and the app will automatically prevent them from exceeding the limit.

Hubstaff Standout Features & Integrations

Features include task management, time tracking, collaboration, Gantt charts, resource management, budget tracking, reporting & analytics, mobile app, invoicing, screen capture & activity tracking, GPS tracking, and third-party integrations.

Integrations include Wistia, Databox, Seventh Sense, Zerys, PandaDoc, Aircall, Eventbrite, and dozens of other apps.

Collabio Spaces is a team productivity tool for iOS (mobile app) and MacOS. It is an easy way to organize and edit Microsoft word documents, spreadsheets, scanned documents, and PDFs off-line. Use your phone, tablet, or laptop to collaborate and co-author documents locally (without internet) or online with remote P2P communication tools that are currently testing in beta. You can edit documents with all possible rich text and paragraph formatting features and can even incorporate audio comments.

Why I Picked Collabio: You can create a document from scratch or upload documents that you already have on your device. With Collabio's spreadsheet tools, you can calculate, sort, and filter data using an incredible intuitive and easy-to-use interface. Similarly, you can view and highlight PDFs, add comments, and even include handwritten annotations.

Collabio also has a scan feature for text recognition. You can scan, take photos, run text recognition, and edit ready-to-use texts and images. Additionally, you can add e-signatures to your documents, which advertising agencies will appreciate for new client paperwork, contracts, and even internal employee onboarding documentation. All documents can be organized into folders—called 'spaces'— than can be labeled according to purpose, department, or file type.

Collabio Standout Features & Integrations

Features include a comprehensive office suite, document editing, collaboration, iOS/MacOS compatibility, text documents & spreadsheets, file import/export, and a mobile app.

Integrations are not avaialbe but you can import/export DOCX, ODT, XLSX and ODS file formats plus view documents with well-known file types such as XLS, CSV, PPT, PPTX, JPG, GIF, and TIFF.

Does your productivity break down when you have trouble staying on track in the middle of the tasks you’ve set out to accomplish? Focus Booster is one of the productivity apps aimed at improving your work habits by minimizing distractions and maintaining a focus on the tasks at hand. 

Why I Picked Focus Booster: Focus Booster is based on the Pomodoro technique, which is a method that uses time-boxing to complete tasks. This isn’t your humdrum checklist app: for people who want to understand how they work best, Focus Booster delivers a suite of useful tools for setting up your workday, tracking your hours, and analyzing both your time and your interruptions.

Focus Booster Standout Features & Integrations

Features include a pomodoro timer, to-do list, time tracking, goal management, dashboard reports, client management, billable hours, session replay, notifications & reminders, and labels/tags.

Integrations include Trello, Wunderlist, Asana, Basecamp, Todoist, Any.do, Omnifocus, Outlook, and Google Keep.