The Best Productivity Apps We’ve Tested for 2026

If you’ve had to sign anything in the last decade, chances are you know about DocuSign, an online system for managing contracts and other documents that require electronic signatures. DocuSign makes it easy to review a file and sign it, whether you’re on a computer or a phone. Even if you don’t need DocuSign in your work life, the app can come in handy for anything from signing a lease to a permission slip. If you just need to sign forms, the app is free. For collecting signatures and sending documents, you need to pay for a subscription plan.

Unlike basic spell checkers, Grammarly is a complete writing assistant. You configure it to give you advice about whatever type of writing you’re doing, and the app suggests not only corrections to grammar and spelling but also style changes. For example, you could set it up for working on a dissertation in a highly formal style or a blog post with shorter sentences and informal language. Either way, it’s a wonderful and versatile tool.

Your iPad or iPhone can become a productivity powerhouse with Apple’s free Shortcuts app. It lets you create automations, or actions that fire automatically when a trigger action occurs. For example, you can make one that says, “When I stop my phone’s Wake-Up alarm, automatically play a morning news podcast.” Even if you know nothing about programming, it’s simple to create some time-saving shortcuts.

Microsoft Teams is an incredibly robust, corporate-ready meeting platform that can accommodate up to 300 people on a video call. If you’re looking for a reliable way to communicate with your team, Microsoft Teams has an intuitive design, straightforward features, and top-notch support, too. Copilot-powered chatbot features and meeting summaries round out the experience. Subscription plans start at just $4 per user per month, keeping Microsoft Teams affordable.

Slack is one of the most popular group messaging apps for organizations. You can make a Slack account for free, but paid accounts come with more features and support. You can message channels, individuals, or private groups on Slack, as well as conduct audio and video calls. This app has a reputation for fostering community among professionals, too. Slack lets you connect with colleagues in whatever way works best for you—asynchronously, in real-time, in public, in private—which is something email could never do.

Not only is Webex by Cisco just an excellent video conferencing service in its own right, but it also has a variety of unique features. For example, the Native Vidcast tool allows for asynchronous video recordings, while Webex by Cisco can also recognize hand gestures to turn them into emoji reactions. A powerful AI assistant rounds out its offerings. You can use Webex by Cisco for free, which allows for conferences of up to 100 people that last for 40 minutes, while paid plans start at $12 per month.

Asana is a versatile work management app for tracking ideas, tasks, and everything else. You can use it as a to-do list for you or your family or as a tool for managing complex projects. Asana has multiple ways of showing you your tasks or ideas, such as Kanban boards, lists, and timelines. You can use it solo or share the lists you create with other people to assign them tasks, have them add new tasks, and receive comments.

Teamwork is a top-notch productivity app for small to midsize organizations that need to get going with project management quickly. It’s also easy to use. Everyone working on projects gets a login, while the project manager or team leads organize high-level aspects, such as dates and milestones. Team members then use the app to see what tasks they are responsible for and provide updates on their progress, making the collaboration process transparent.

In the world of to-do list apps, Todoist is the service to beat. With an intuitive interface, a long list of features, lots of ways to collaborate, and robust cross-platform support, there’s very little you can’t track with Todoist. It even works offline. On top of all that, Todoist lets you access most of its functionality for free, and premium plans start at just $5 per person per month. It’s an affordable solution if you are interested in automatic backups, custom task reminders, extra storage, and more.

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 works on every major platform and gives you the core tools you need for capturing, finding, organizing, and saving notes. It doesn’t have every feature under the sun, however. With Joplin, you can either use your own storage or pay for Joplin to manage it with Joplin Cloud.

If you’re a professional or run a business, you probably rely on forms of some kind. Jotform is an all-in-one platform that helps you do everything from creating sophisticated forms to building AI-powered customer service agents. Jotform’s capabilities are robust. It offers the ability to construct forms from scratch, countless templates, and a helpful AI tool you can use to create forms for you. Best of all, you can use it at no cost.

Do you need to make diagrams that look polished and professional? The moderately affordable Lucidchart allows you to create diagrams for business, education, or even personal use. It even lets multiple people edit a diagram at the same time and features an impressive template gallery full of ideas for charts and diagrams you didn’t even know you needed. Lucidchart’s intuitive interface makes it easy to build whatever diagram you imagine.

A Microsoft 365 subscription unlocks a ton of exceptional apps and features. First and foremost are Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Word, all of which are best-in-class. Then there’s Microsoft OneNote, the only note-taking app that rivals Evernote in features. Finally, you get 1TB of OneDrive space for your online storage needs. You also get a suite of Copilot features across Microsoft 365 apps.

Microsoft’s OneNote is one of the best note-taking apps around, and its free version includes all of its core features, making spending money on it truly optional. With every capability you could need, from cross-platform syncing to OCR to voice notes and more, it’s the first app you should consider if you want to take notes. For those who want even more functionality, a $19.99-per-year Microsoft 365 subscription gives you 100GB of storage in OneNote.

Miro is a collaborative diagramming, mind map, presentation, and whiteboard app. Create a slideshow or draw an idea, either by yourself or with others editing simultaneously. Miro has built-in audio and video calling (as well as screen-sharing tools), so you can discuss and show off your work as you do it. In addition, you can pull in media from other apps to display, whether it’s Asana cards or Vimeo videos. Though it sounds like a hodgepodge of ideas, Miro is extraordinarily easy to use.

Otter.ai is one of the best transcription apps on the market. We highly recommend it if you need a free option for automated meeting 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 can be up to 30 minutes). If you like Otter and want more bandwidth, you can subscribe to a paid Pro plan ($16.99 per month). Pro includes 1,200 minutes per month for live transcriptions, and you get to upload 10 prerecorded files per month for transcription.