Productivity is not just about working hard more efficiently, but also knowing which tools can help you accomplish your goals within a reasonable time span. Word processing, spreadsheet applications, audio and graphics tools are some of the most significant online productivity tools that enable you to be effective. These tools are especially helpful when you want to schedule your daily tasks, brainstorm collaborative ideas with other team members or create business reports to present to your managers. There are many other free productivity tools available online that are all worth giving a try. Several companies are constantly improving their online content management systems thus making them better for both users and website developers. But what exactly does this mean for business owners? Here are the top 10 free online productivity tools for 2015-16!
Free Productivity Software
1. Trello
One of the biggest free project management tools. Manage everything from your life, travel plans to business/client related stuff by arranging them by different categories in Trello.
2. Slack
The godfather of team collaboration. Use Slack to communicate ideas in a unique chat room filled with your team members. A perfect tool for growing startups.
3. Screencastify
Create video content which demonstrates processes using this free tool.
4. Momentum
Make every new browser open up a dashboard with your to-do list and a motivational quote perfectly coupled with an image. A perfect tool for eliminating distractions.
5. Zapier
Make your apps do more work by seamlessly integrating them with each other for max output.
6. Airtable
Airtable is the marriage between spreadsheets and database. Use the field of airtable to attach important files, drop super long text notes, create checkboxes and more.
7. Split Tabs
If you work on multiple tabs and collect data on one to write about it on other, this one is God sent for you. Use it to arrange different tabs into layouts on separate windows.
8. Evernote
A great note taking app.
9. Pocket
Save articles on the go and read them later with Pocket.
10. Todoist
Don’t worry about forgetting things again with this simple to-do list app.
11. RescueTime
Understanding how you spend your time tracking your time usage on different websites. Get weekly email reports and set corrective goals based on that.
12. Taskful
Keep track of your tasks and meet your deadlines with this smart to-do list app.
13. Google Keep
Write a note and get reminded about it at the right time or place. Also, compartmentalize the notes with different labels and colors.
14. Strides
Track the progress of your habits and tasks with this interesting productivity tool.
Also consider these productivity apps
We’ve listed just some of the key productivity apps we think you’ll be interested in, but there are plenty more out there. Here’s we’ll list a few others which stand out for different reasons.
Slack is a major communications platform for team collaboration, and a number of existing productivity or project management tools can easily integrate with it directly. This doesn’t mean to say it should be overlooked as a useful tool in its own right, and is very much a trailblazer in terms of looks, design, and functionality that it’s style has been frequently copied.Advertisement
Discord may seem more like a chat app for gamers, but it’s a surprisingly powerful tool that allows messaging, voice calls, and video conferencing. And it’s free. There are both mobile and desktop versions available, and while it may not look the most professional tool, it does allow for easy, simple, and cost effective video-conferencing with people globally, without having to invest in expensive hardware of subscription services.
Zoho Cliq is a team communications platform for collaboration and business productivity, and even includes video conferencing as a feature in its free version. As expected, Zoho Cliq integrates with other Zoho products, but also with Mailchimp, Zendesk, Trello, and Dropbox. The paid-for unlimited version comes with a few extra features, and is available for around $3 per month.
Xenforo is a forum software platform, and might not be the first choice as a productivity suite. However, it can be superb as a communications tool in its own right, and comes with a wide range of customization options. It’s not an app as much as mobile-friendly software you have to install on your own server, probably as a private space within your own business website. That means it takes a little tech know-how to set up, but once you do, you have full control of your data instead of another company owning it all.
Monday.com is a recent player into the productivity suite space, offering team communications and collaboration for project work. The interface is clean and simply, yet there are a lot of features under the hood which make it sleek and easy to work with. Integrations include Slack, Dropbox, Google Drive, and Excel. Pricing starts at $25 per month for 5 users, rising according to either the number of features or the number of users required.
The best free productivity apps
1. RescueTime
Tracks your activity in the background without being a distraction
TODAY’S BEST DEALSVISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Discreet and unobtrusive+Cross-platform
REASONS TO AVOID
-Limited historic data in free appAdvertisement
RescueTime not only tracks the time you spend doing different things on your computer or mobile – such as visiting particular websites or using specific apps – it does so automatically. Running in the background as it does, RescueTime quietly logs your activity without serving as a distraction.
It’s possible to set yourself targets and alerts, and the idea is that these goals will help you to develop better working habits. It enables you to see just how you spend your day on your digital devices so you can better understand where the time has gone. There free version of the app enables you to look back at three months of data for analysis, but paid-for packages (which start at $6 per month) have no limits and includes a number of extra features.
For most people, the free version will be more than enough, and the fact that it is available for macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android and ChromeOS means that it is possible to track work across multiple devices and platforms.
2. Beeminder
Track almost anything and make better use of your time
TODAY’S BEST DEALSVISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Connects with many other apps+Flexible and adaptable
REASONS TO AVOID
-‘Fines’ not for everyone
Beeminder is quite a unique tool that can be used to track and monitor everything from running or trips to the gym, to logging how often you write, or managing a to-do list. Available as an app, or usable online, Beeminder is endlessly flexible – you define your goal (whatever that may be) and you are tasked with logging your progress. There is a degree of gamification to things here; you’re aiming to stick to the ‘yellow brick road’, which means that, at least on average, you are hitting your targets.Advertisement
Anything that can be plotted on a graph can be tracked – number of words written, number of hours worked, number of contracts signed – and sticking within the golden zone can be hugely incentivizing. If you’re willing to commit fully, you can add your credit card details to your account so you can be fined for failing to stay on track. Beeminder is not for everyone one, but it is so unique, it is well worth giving it a try to see if it works for you.
Conclusions
Have you ever wondered what are the best online productivity tools? Are they really free? This is a question I asked myself after figuring out that I lose a lot of time on distractions. To solve this problem, I went looking for websites where I could find all the info I needed to become more productive. After spending hundreds of hours combing through endless amounts of information, I decided it was time to create my own list of tools that anyone can use to gain back their precious time, and then focus on other tasks that are more important.