15 Best Productivity Apps in 2024

Productivity apps have evolved from mere to-do checklist apps to more well-rounded tools. For one, they can genuinely optimize your workflow by utilizing the best tools available. They can help you improve your approach to work by keeping your work (and thoughts) organized.

These apps make work faster and help you do your work more effectively and smoothly, resulting in a stress-free working experience.

In this blog, we’re covering 15 of the best productivity apps that will help you maximize your time and effort. Let’s take a closer look at how each app can transform the way you work.

But First, How Did We Select These Top Productivity Apps? 

To qualify as one of the best apps for productivity, we made a list of a few prerequisites that the app must have so you know what all you need to check when making your choice:

• Centralization: The app should handle all your productivity-related tasks collectively, such as tracking deadlines, maintaining content, sending event reminders, managing projects, etc.
• Category: We’ve rounded the apps based on five different categories, such as for:
• Creating to-do lists
• Managing calendars
• Driving project management
• Taking notes
• Tracking time

Some of the best productivity apps are completely free, highlighting their value.

The “best productivity app” for you will be the one that fits your specific work goals, approach to productivity, industry, and, of course, personal preferences.

15 Best Apps for Productivity in 2024 At a Glance

To make it easier, we’ve rounded up the 15 best free productivity apps in terms of pricing, category, and what they can best be used for. Many of these apps offer a free version, making them accessible to everyone:

Productivity app	Category	Best for	Pricing
1. Nifty	To-do list app	Keeping track of personal and professional to-do tasks	Free: $0 Starter: $7/user/month, billed yearly Pro: $10/user/month, billed yearly Business: $16/user/month, billed yearly
2. TickTick	Checklist app	Creating detailed checklists for tasks and goals	Free plan available Annual plan for $35.99
3. Any.do	To-do list app	Managing daily tasks with simple, intuitive lists	Personal: $0 Premium: $4.99/month,\ billed annually Family: $8.33/month for four members, billed annually Teams: $4.99/month per member, billed annually
4. Nifty	Event/task management app	Organizing events and tasks for seamless project execution	NA
5. Google Calendar	Calendar management app	Scheduling meetings and organizing your calendar with ease	Business Starter: $6/user per month Business Standard: $12/user per month Business Plus: $18/user per month
6. Calendly	Calendar management app	Automating meeting scheduling with clients or teams	Free: $0 Standard: $10/seat per month, billed annually Teams: $16/seat per month, billed annually Enterprise: Starts at $15k/year
7. Nifty	Project management app	Managing entire projects from start to finish, including timelines and tasks	NA
8. ClickUp	Project management app	Organizing and managing complex projects with multiple team members	Free plan available Unlimited: $7/user per month Business: $12/user per month
9. Asana	Team collaboration app	Streamlining team communication and task assignment for better collaboration	Personal: $0 Starter: $6.92/user per month, billed annually Advanced: $15.74/user per month, billed annually Enterprise: Custom price
10. Nifty	Note-taking app	Capturing ideas, meeting notes, and project insights in one place	NA
11. Notion	Productivity app	Creating an all-in-one workspace for notes, tasks, and projects	Free Plus: $10/user per month, billed annually Business: $15/user per month, billed annually Enterprise: Contact sales
12. Obsidian	Knowledge base app	Building a personal knowledge base with linked notes and ideas	Personal use: $0 Commercial use: $50/user/year Sync (Add-on): $4/user per month, billed annually Publish (Add-on): $8/user per month, billed annually Catalyst: $25USD+ (One-time payment)
13. Nifty	Time tracking app	Tracking time spent on tasks and projects to improve productivity	NA
14. Time Doctor	Employee monitoring tool	Monitoring employee activity and work hours for remote teams	Basic: $5.90/user per month, billed annually Standard: $11.70/user per month, billed annually Premium: $16.70/user per month, billed annually Enterprise: Contact sales
15. Clockify	Time management app	Tracking time across projects and tasks to optimize workflow	Free: $0 Basic (Administration): $3.99/seat per month, billed annually *Standard: $5.49/seat per month, billed annually Pro: $7.99/seat per month, billed annually Enterprise: $11.99/seat per month, billed annually Bundle (Productivity Suite): $12.99/seat per month, billed annually

Top 15 Best Productivity Apps in 2024 

Honestly speaking, there is no single productivity app that can cater to all your needs. So, we decided to break down productivity apps into different categories.

A. Best Productivity Apps for Organizing Your To-Do List

1. Nifty 

Nifty is an all-in-one productivity tool that stands out among to do apps by giving you a bird’s-eye view of your progress while also letting you dig into the nitty-gritty details when you need to.

Key features:

• To-Do Lists: Create tasks and self-assign them to manage workload. You can prioritize tasks based on schedules, responsibilities, due dates, priority levels, and tags.
• Setting Reminders: You can set up recurring reminders for tasks that need to be completed regularly and get notified via email or in-app notifications.
• Time Tracking: Nifty allows users to track the time spent on tasks directly within the platform. It also generates reports based on logged time and gives insights into productivity levels.
• Collaboration: Team members can leave comments on tasks and mention colleagues to notify them directly.

The best part is that you can leverage Nifty as an end-to-end project management app for low prices per month, so you get productivity at your convenience.

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2. TickTick

TickTick app adapts to your unique workflow and makes it easy to plan your day, track progress, and build productive habits.

Key features:

• Plan Your Day: The built-in “Plan Your Day” feature allows you to quickly organize overdue and today’s tasks.
• Task Linking: Jump between related tasks by creating links between them.
• Daily Notification: Get an overview of your completed and pending tasks each day at your chosen time.
• Smart Date Recognition: Control how date and time information appears in your task names.
• Habit Tracking: Monitor your habits with streaks and cumulative check-ins for daily goals.
• Task Summary Notes: Generate summaries of completed tasks and save them as notes.
• Calendar Events: Manage calendar events efficiently, integrating them with other productivity tools for better time and appointment management.

3. Any.do

Any.do is essentially a task-managing to-do app that helps you track tasks on the go.

Key features:

• Online to-do list feature: Access and update tasks from your phone, tablet, or computer.
• Reminders and priority settings: Set time, location, and recurring reminders to ensure tasks are completed on time.
• Calendar Integration: Sync with popular calendar apps like Google Calendar and Outlook for unified scheduling and task planning. This integration helps optimize your workflow and manage commitments effectively.
• My Day Daily Planner: A daily planner feature allows you to schedule and prioritize tasks for the day.
• Customize to-do lists: Organize tasks into different lists, be it for a daily to-do list or a task planner for long-term projects.

B. Best Productivity Apps for Managing Your Calendar

4. Nifty

Nifty’s Calendar feature is great for helping you see the big picture while also honing in on what really matters. Whether you want to check out your team’s overall workload or dive into your personal priorities, Nifty has a calendar view tailored for both.

Key features:

• Team Calendar View: The Team Calendar helps you view upcoming deadlines and understand your team’s workload.
• Simple Navigation: To see what’s on the agenda for today, use the Today button. You can also choose Month, Week, or Day views to get the details you need.
• Task Viewing: Click on a task to see more information. If a day has multiple deadlines, you’ll see a handy button showing how many additional tasks are due.
• My Calendar: Access My Calendar feature to focus on your individual tasks. You can even sync it with your Google Calendar.
• Efficient Calendar Events Management: Nifty allows users to manage calendar events efficiently, integrating them with other productivity tools for better time and appointment management.

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5. Google Calendar

Google Calendar is one of the best free productivity apps that helps you find common meeting times with coworkers, schedule across time zones, and set working hours boundaries.

Key features:

• Smart Scheduling: Quickly find meeting times that work for everyone, with the ability to overlay coworkers’ calendars on yours.
• Time Zone Flexibility: Add and display multiple time zones directly on your calendar to manage meetings across regions.
• Calendar Sharing: Share your calendar with teammates for better visibility and smoother scheduling.
• Privacy Controls: Keep personal events private by adjusting visibility settings for individual meetings.
• To-Do List Integration: For better task management, add tasks directly to your calendar from Gmail, Google Drive, and other Google Apps like Google Docs and Google Sheets.
• Meeting Breaks: Schedule shorter meetings or set them to end early for a breather between back-to-back calls.

6. Calendly 

Calendly, one of the leading calendar apps, helps organize and schedule one-on-one interviews as well as team meetings with ease.

Key features:

• Integrated video conferencing: Connect your Zoom, Google Meet, or other video conferencing tools, and Calendly automatically adds the link.
• Customizable event types: Create different templates for your meetings, like one-on-ones, group meetings, or rotating calls for your team.
• Calendar syncing: The app connects with your favorite tools, such as Outlook or Google Calendar, to keep everything in sync and avoid double booking.
• Easy sharing: Send your scheduling link in emails, add it to your website, or even pop it into your LinkedIn messages.

C. Best Productivity Apps for Project Management

7. Nifty 

Boosting productivity in project management apps is a constant ask—one that Nifty delivers with key features such as roadmaps, tasks, document sharing, and chat capabilities.

Key features:

• Workflows & Milestones: Visualize your project timeline and automate progress updates as tasks get completed
• Collaboration Tools: Nifty enhances communication owing to its built-in chat and discussion features that can be accessed directly from your tasks and projects!
• Customizable Dashboards: Leverage personalized dashboards with key project metrics and updates
• Real-Time Feedback and Approval Processes: Streamline review cycles with Nifty’s file proofing and feedback features
• Project Templates: Save time with project templates that outline workflows for recurring projects

👉 Got projects? Manage them with Nifty for free.

8. ClickUp

ClickUp empowers teams to centralize tasks, documents, and goals in one place.

Key features:

• Custom Task Views: To manage tasks according to your team’s preferences, choose from list, board, Gantt, or calendar views.
• Goals: Set targets, organize them into folders, assign them to team members, and track progress easily.
• Docs and Mind Maps: Use ClickUp Docs and Mind Maps to visualize your project’s progress and get the team on board.
• Integrations: Connect with over 1,000 apps, including Slack, Google Drive, and Zoom, to enhance workflow and data sharing.
• Team Collaboration: Share comments, documents, and feedback in real-time to foster a collaborative team environment.
• Optical Character Recognition: ClickUp supports optical character recognition for document management, making it easier to digitize and edit scanned documents.

ClickUp is effective but also expensive; switch to Nifty
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9. Asana 

Asana, one of the leading project management apps, helps you link your daily tasks to your business goals while automating workflows in the process.

Key features:

• Project Timeline View: Utilize the Gantt-style timeline feature to visualize project timelines and plan tasks.
• Project Boards: Use Kanban-style boards to manage tasks visually. Move tasks through different stages of completion strategically.
• Subtasks and Dependencies: Break larger tasks into smaller subtasks and establish dependencies.
• Workload Management: Monitor team workloads to avoid burnout and ensure a more balanced way of distributing tasks.
• Custom Fields: Add custom fields to tasks and track specific information as needed.

D. Best Note Taking Apps for Productivity

10. Nifty 

Nifty is one of the best productivity apps that empowers you to set up a note-taking framework and store meeting notes, project details, and team updates in one shared location, similar to other note taking apps like Microsoft OneNote and Joplin.

Key features:

• Agenda Management: With Nifty, you can keep your meetings structured and review agenda items in advance. Nifty Orbit AI also helps you capture concise summaries of each topic discussed.
• Decision Tracking: Record important outcomes and decisions made during meetings. Nifty’s note-taking feature helps you capture and reference agreed-upon points easily.
• Brainstorming: Maintain a dedicated section for new ideas and questions that arise during meetings with Nifty whiteboard.

11. Notion

Notion combines the power of note-taking apps, project management, and database functionality into one app. While it has a steep learning curve, it offers an unparalleled note-taking experience.

Key features:

• Rich Media Support: Your notes can easily incorporate images, videos, links, and code snippets.
• Templates: Notion offers a wide variety of pre-made templates for different purposes, such as meeting notes, project planning, and personal journals.
• Customizable Layouts: You can create layouts by dragging and dropping elements.
• Databases and Tables: Notion allows you to create databases and tables and turn notes into actionable tasks.
• Collaboration Tools: You can share your notes with team members, leave comments, and collaborate in real time.
• Cross-Platform Availability: Whether you’re on a desktop, tablet, or smartphone, Notion syncs your notes across all devices.

12. Obsidian

Unknown to many, Obsidian doubles up as a powerful note-taking app, standing out among other note taking apps by giving you full control over your data.

Key features:

• Bidirectional Linking: Easily create links between notes to establish connections and relationships between ideas.
• Importer plugin: This open-source tool allows you to convert your notes from various formats into Markdown files. Whether you’re migrating from Apple Notes, Notion, Evernote, Google Keep, Microsoft OneNote, or even Roam Research, the Importer makes it easy to transition your data into a universally accessible format.
• Graph View: Visualize your notes and their connections in a graph format.
• Offline Access: You can access your notes without an internet connection, ensuring that your work is always available when you need it.

E. Best Productivity Apps for Tracking Time

13. Nifty

Nifty comes with a built-in Time Tracker, one of the best tools to easily monitor how much time team members dedicate to tasks and subtasks. The idea is to give you valuable insights into your workflow.

Key features:

• Start and Stop Timer: You can easily track time by clicking the Start Timer button in the task view or directly from the List view.
• Edit Logged Time: You can edit the time logged for tasks by inputting time in hours, minutes, and seconds.
• Manual Time Entry: Backdate your time logs with the “Add Manual Time” feature and accurately capture all your work, even if you forgot to track it in real-time!
• Reporting Options: Nifty provides various ways to report on tracked time, whether at the project, user, or workspace level.
• Workspace Time Reports: Get a comprehensive overview of time tracking across all projects, with the ability to adjust the project scope and date range for more targeted insights.

14. Time Doctor

Time Doctor is one of the best tools to effectively monitor team activity levels, track progress toward goals, and gain peace of mind knowing you have a handle on your workforce.

Key features:

• Streamlined Work Schedules: Easily create and manage employee work schedules, comparing planned hours to actual hours worked.
• Automated Reporting: Generate accurate, automated reports that highlight productivity trends. Also, get powerful visual insights into the team’s performance.
• Work-Life Balance Metrics: Monitor workloads to prevent burnout and turnover.
• Web & App Usage Tracking: Identify distracting apps and sites to improve team focus.
• Silent Tracking: Track time automatically in the background with zero distractions.

15. Clockify

Clockify is one of the best tools for time tracking, enabling you to map your time across projects. Its useful timesheet allows you to track the team’s productivity, attendance, and billable hours.

Key features:

• Manual and Automatic Tracking: Track time manually by entering hours or automatically using a timer.
• Pomodoro Timer: Leverage an integrated Pomodoro timer for focused work sessions.
• Task Assignment: Assign specific tasks to team members within projects.
• Hourly Rates: Define hourly rates for team members and facilitate accurate billing.

F. Best Productivity Apps for Focus and Concentration

Staying focused and concentrated is crucial for productivity. Here are some of the best productivity apps that can help you achieve that:

G. Best Productivity Apps for Automation and Integration

Automation and integration are key to streamlining your workflow and increasing productivity. Here are some of the best productivity apps that can help you automate and integrate your tasks:

Nifty: Tried One of the Best Productivity Apps Yet?

Those were our best productivity apps, which help you create customizable workflows and get your work done faster and more efficiently.

If you’re looking for a project management tool that seamlessly integrates powerful productivity features, Nifty is the perfect choice for you. This app combines the benefits of emails, messaging, task management, time tracking, and more—all in one platform.

Google Workspace offers a comprehensive suite of productivity tools, making it a top choice for many users.

But that’s not all. Nifty analyzes all relevant data and delivers insightful reports on what’s working and what isn’t. If boosting team performance is on your agenda, Nifty is one of the best apps for productivity! Sign up now.