35 Best work from home apps

Remote work is here to stay. 

Even though its sudden global takeover was caused by an unexpected pandemic, remote work has brought so many benefits to companies around the world. 

According to the State of Remote Work Report 2021 by Owl Labs, working from home has helped increase employee productivity and well-being:

• Namely, 90% of employees say they are as productive or more so when working from home. 
• Moreover, 84% of employees believe working from home would make them happier. 
• Last but not least, 55% of remote workers say they work more hours when working remotely. 

The remote work evolution has helped us learn how to make our work-from-home experience better and more enjoyable.

Both companies and individuals have realized that to do that, they have to ensure seamless workflow and effective communication across the distance by relying on the right apps. 

A Gartner Digital Worker Experience Survey revealed that almost 80% of workers were using collaboration tools for work in 2021 — which is a 44% increase since 2019. 

To help you choose the best work from home apps to support your work arrangement, we’ll:

• Explain each app in great detail, 
• Tell you why these apps are useful when working from home, 
• Highlight every app’s best feature, and 
• Tell you about every app’s pricing.

Let’s start! 

⏲️ Clockify — for tracking work time 

Clockify is a free time tracking app that lets remote teams or freelancers track their work hours quickly and easily. 

Clockify allows individuals and teams to track their time by: 

• Clocking in and out by using a time clock, 
• Entering their work hours in an online timesheet, and  
• Tracking time with an automatic time tracker. 

By visiting the app’s dashboard, you can always see what your teammates are currently working on. 

Moreover, Clockify allows freelancers to calculate billable hours and set their hourly rates. 

It even integrates with many third-party apps — good news for individuals or teams who want to ensure seamless workflow by connecting their tools.  

Clockify also allows you to generate detailed daily, weekly, and monthly reports — this way you’ll always know who worked on what, when, and for how long. 

Plus, Clockify is a great way to improve time management skills and avoid procrastination. 

Why use Clockify? 

If your goal is to keep track of your time and boost your productivity — Clockify will be your trusted ally. 

In most cases, remote teams have to provide proof of their work and perform within deadlines. Clockify helps them stay on track and keep records of the hours they work.

Using Clockify is also a great way to support work-from-home accountability. You don’t need to micromanage your employees to ensure they perform their work as expected. Tracking time allows you all to see how you spend your time and if there’s room for improvement.

Freelancers can also benefit from having all their work documented in Clockify. Timekeeping makes things so much easier when asking for payment as you can provide all the dates and numbers in a matter of seconds. 

Finally, Clockify provides you with 80+ integrations, including a team chat app that can facilitate communication with your teammates or third-party clients. 

Clockify’s best feature 

Remote work has its own challenges, and one of the biggest ones is security. 

Having in mind the security risks that might occur in remote and virtual work settings, Clockify provides you with a self-hosting option for maximum safety and privacy. 

With Clockify Server, all your data will be securely encrypted and you can manage access using SSO. If you need it, you can create an unlimited number of workspaces to keep your team data separated. 

🔷 Clockify is available for: Web, Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android, Firefox, Chrome

🔷 Suitable for: Remote, virtual, and hybrid teams of all sizes, freelancers

Pricing	Clockify
Free trial	Yes
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	$3.99 seat/month/billed annually

⌨️  Plaky — for keeping track of projects and tasks

Plaky is a free project management platform that helps increase productivity, optimize task management, and facilitate collaboration.

Some of the things you can do with Plaky include:

• Managing tasks and projects,
• Collaborating with your team or external clients, and
• Tracking your project progress.

Why use Plaky?

Managing a remote team can get a bit overwhelming. 

There are so many things to take care of — keeping track of the project and task progress, making sure everyone knows what to do, respecting deadlines, etc. 

What Plaky does for you is help you streamline your tasks and projects with a wide range of useful features, such as:

• Visually sorting all your tasks with a Kanban or table view,
• Customizing your workspace and managing permissions,
• Assigning people to their tasks to avoid misunderstandings, 
• Customizing each task by adding task description, status, urgency, date, type, tag, etc., and  
• Using filters to speed up and narrow down your search across projects and tasks. 

Moreover, Plaky offers various templates that can be customized across industries and teams.

Plaky’s best feature

Plaky allows you to create an unlimited number of projects and add unlimited users. And, if you’re a growing company, you will find this an invaluable feature. 

If you and your team exchange many files on a daily basis, you’ll be happy to hear that Plaky also allows you to add an unlimited number of files to your tasks. 

🔷 Plaky is available for: Web; IOS and Android coming soon 

🔷 Suitable for: Teams of all sizes, companies working in HR, software development, sales and CRM, marketing, etc. 

Pricing	Plaky
Free trial	/
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	/

📱 Pumble — for effective team communication and collaboration 

Pumble is a free team chat app that facilitates team communication and collaboration. 

From the point of view of working from home, Pumble is an outstanding tool that allows you to stay connected with employees, team members, and clients in real-time no matter where you are.

Why use Pumble? 

Ensuring effective communication is a must in remote and virtual settings. 

Pumble makes this possible even if your team is distributed across several countries or time zones. 

The app allows you to chat with your teammates, conduct one-on-one voice and video calls, and share your screen if necessary.  

Pumble’s best feature

Pumble’s strength lies in its ability to cut down on your use of email and ensure effective communication among team members. 

Firstly, you can chat with an unlimited number of users and retain unlimited chat history within a workspace, for free. This means that if your remote team starts expanding at any point, you won’t have to fear that your older important messages will be lost. 

Secondly, Pumble helps you keep your communication organized with private and public channels and a thread feature. 

Moreover, you can mention people to get their attention if it’s a matter of urgency, pin important messages to channels, save them for later, and much more

Finally, there’s a guest access feature, which lets you invite people outside of the company (clients, customers, etc.) into your workspace and give them limited access to your channels. 

🔷 Pumble is available for: Web, Mac (M1), Windows, Linux, Android, iPhone, and iPad

🔷 Suitable for: Remote, hybrid, and in-office teams, companies of all sizes, and from various industries (healthcare, software development, education, etc.) 

Pricing	Pumble
Free trial	/
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	$1.99 user/month

👥 ProofHub — for project management and team collaboration

ProofHub is an all-in-one remote work facilitator with useful virtual project management and collaboration tools for teams.

Being a complete work management system, ProofHub allows its users to effectively manage work, deadlines, communication, people, and more in one place regardless of their location. 

Why Use ProofHub?

As ProofHub is a single collaborative platform, it unifies widely dispersed remote, hybrid, or in-office teams easily. 

The platform enables teams to increase transparency, streamline operations, and communicate instantly to guarantee project delivery on time and ensures accountability.

ProofHub’s simple learning curve, multilingual interface, flat pricing policy, and advanced features in a centralized location empower remote workers to minimize bottlenecks and deliver projects successfully.

ProofHub’s best feature

ProofHub streamlines remote collaboration for teams. The best feature of ProofHub is that all of your work tools can be found on one platform:

• Data for multiple projects can be easily managed using project management features such as Kanban Boards. Managers always have a bird’s-eye view of top priority tasks that affect deadlines. 
• The Table view in ProofHub lets you manage overwhelming data with ease and helps you keep important information front and center.
• ProofHub allows you to set task dependencies and keep track of how projects are progressing using Gantt charts.
• It provides you with an efficient time tracking system to keep track of your remote and in-house team’s productivity.
• The Proofing tool in ProofHub streamlines review and approval process for remote teams by allowing them to annotate changes on designs using markup tools and adding comments.
• The in-built chat application and Discussions sections makes it super easy for teams to connect and communicate seamlessly.
• ProofHub’s robust project reports allow you see the bigger picture and understand what is the overall progress of your project.

🔷 ProofHub is available for: Web, Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, and iOS

🔷 Suitable for: Remote, hybrid, and in-office teams, companies of all sizes and types

Pricing	ProofHub
Free trial	Yes
Free plan	No
Cheapest paid plan	$45 month (No per-user fee)

💻  Zoom — for virtual meetings and consultations

Zoom is an online video and audio conferencing app that lets you hold online meetings, trainings, and webinars. 

It’s suitable both for 1-on-1 and group calls. 

Zoom provides video conferencing solutions for various industries, including healthcare, education, government, and finance. 

Why use Zoom?

Working from home often requires regular virtual meetings, and for that, you need reliable video meeting software. 

Thanks to Zoom, participating in daily meetings and discussions will be quick and easy. 

With this app, you’ll be able to make quick calls to consult with colleagues and create user groups for online meetings. 

If you’re an independent consultant, you can organize meetings with your clients and customers, too.  

You can also set your presence status, as well as send audio, text, and image files to support your points as you speak, directly within the app.

Zoom’s best feature 

With Zoom, you’ll be able to conduct interactive video webinars for up to 100 active participants and up to 50,000 view-only attendees. 

In line with that, Zoom is both a great tool for remote teams and a great resource for teachers conducting online classes with larger groups.

🔷 Zoom is available for: Web, Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android, Chrome, Firefox

🔷 Suitable for: Remote, virtual, and hybrid teams, online teaching, professional individuals

Pricing	Zoom
Free trial	/
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	$13.99 /month/license

📅  Doodle — for easy scheduling and coordinating 

Doodle is an online calendar app meant to help you keep track of your deadlines, as well as organize your tasks, meetings, and other activities. 

The main idea behind Doodle is to make scheduling as easy as possible. 

Why use Doodle?

Calendars are a great tool for remote workers. Doodle can help you stay on top of your busy schedule and arrange your meetings easily. 

If you don’t want to put too much effort into scheduling but still want to make it on time for all your meetings, Doodle is the way to go. 

Doodle’s best feature

The best thing about Doodle is that it minimizes all the conundrum around scheduling meetings for more than two people and making sure they can all attend. 

In just a few clicks, Doodle lets you start a group poll to:

• Establish everyone’s availability for a meeting, 
• Invite attendees, and 
• Allow them to vote for their preferred meeting times and activities.

Thanks to its polling feature — which can also be anonymous — you’ll be able to identify the ideal time slots for virtual team meetings or online meetings with clients. 

To make sure the team responds to meeting requests on time, you’ll be able to set deadlines and auto-reminders that urge potential participants to send their RSVPs faster.

As a cherry on top, Doodle can integrate with your favorite video conferencing app (Zoom, Google Meet, or Webex) and automatically add video conference links to your events. 

🔷 Doodle is available for: Web, iOS, Android

🔷 Suitable for: Individuals, teams, and enterprises 

Pricing	Doodle
Free trial	Yes
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	$6.95 user/month

🌍 World Time Buddy — for working across time zones

World Time Buddy is a simple and quick tool that lets you compare different time zones at a glance. 

Just select the cities whose time zones you need to view and move the grid across the times to make comparisons.

Why use World Time Buddy?

If you and your team members are working across several time zones, World Time Buddy will help you better schedule and organize meetings so that everyone can attend.  

Synchronous communication and collaboration greatly depend on time, and World Time Buddy will allow you to always know what time it is anywhere in the world. 

World Time Buddy’s best feature

In addition to helping you schedule meetings and know everyone’s time, World Time Buddy helps you account for inevitable clock shifts due to daylight savings time. 

Many tend to overlook these changes when planning their workdays or meetings, but thanks to this tool, you’ll get a reminder of any clock shifts a day earlier. 

🔷 World Time Buddy is available for: Web, iOS, Android

🔷 Suitable for: Any team or individual working across several time zones

Pricing	World Time Buddy
Free trial	/
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	/

 📁 Google Drive — for file storage and synchronization

Google Drive is a multi-functional online tool that lets you:

• Store and share your files with others,
• Create documents from scratch in online word editors, spreadsheets, and presentation slides, and
• Collaborate with your teammates and clients on these documents. 

Why use Google Drive?

Collaborative work in a remote setting may seem challenging, but Google Drive can make it easier. 

Google Drive can help you:

• Create project proposals, write and edit blog posts, or create business documentation in Google Docs.
• Compile and manipulate statistical data for your business in Google Sheets. 
• Create various charts and graphs. 
• Make presentations for clients and teammates in Google Slides.
• Collaborate on all the documents stored on your Google Drive in real-time.
• Have all your changes and edits synced and saved automatically.
• Easily add video, audio, and text files, and then share access to them with your teammates.

Google Drive’s best feature

Unlike many similar tools, Google Drive works amazingly as a mobile app. 

When using Google Drive for Android, you’ll be able to snap photos of documents you want to save — such as receipts, contracts, or statements — directly from the application, and then have them stored in the Drive as PDFs.

🔷 Google Drive is available for: Web, Windows, Linux, Android, iOS

🔷 Suitable for: Anyone in need of a comprehensive storage and file sharing solution 

Pricing	Google Drive
Free trial	Yes
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	$12 user/month

✔️ nTask — for task management and project management

nTask is an incredible project and team management tool that allows you to manage your remote teams and the work that they do regarding the project development process in a single interface. 

The application is perfect for small businesses, but if you want to scale the application to house an enterprise, the company will happily do it for you. 

Why use nTask?

Since the pandemic started, the world has been in a state of turmoil about going to work and doing things the “old” way, which is why nTask is perfect for companies that want to manage their remote teams and not have them physically do all of the things related to their job. 

Thanks to nTask, you can easily perform task management, project management, risk management, issue tracking, meeting management, time tracking and timesheet management, among many else, for your team and the project that they are working on. 

nTask’s best feature

nTask simplifies task management and project management for companies of all shapes and sizes. Here are some of the best features that the application has to offer to its clients around the world: 

• Team management to keep everything in check regarding the project development team.
• Risk management helps managers to mitigate different issues and risks related to the project.
• Task management and project management to keep managing every task and process related to the project development process.
• Meeting management to organize and manage all of the meetings related to the project.
• Gantt charts and Kanban boarding to get a different view of the entire project workflow.

🔷 nTask is available for: Mac, Web, Linux, Windows, iOS and Android

🔷 Suitable for: Hybrid, Remote and even in-office teams regardless of their size

Pricing	nTask
Free trial	Yes
Free plan	No
Cheapest paid plan	$3/user/month

Chanty — for organized team communication 

Chanty is a team chat app that helps teams of all sizes communicate and collaborate effectively.

The best part about the app is its user-friendly nature, which allows you to kiss goodbye to the learning curve. Chanty’s popularity grew as the development of remote work started to attract businesses around the world.

The app has ever since worked with multiple businesses and helped them reach the maximum potential of their productivity levels.

Why use Chanty? 

In a remote and hybrid work environment, efficient communication plays a great role in reaching the company’s goals. Chanty helps you do the same without any pain. 

You can communicate with your team members through the app’s chat feature, have one-on-one or group audio or video calls, give presentations by sharing screens, manage and convey tasks, and more with its extensive features and services.

One of the most significant advantages of using Chanty is its low cost. Teams of all sizes, whether a startup or a big firm, can easily make use of it within a given budget.

Chanty’s best feature

Chanty has an extensive list of features for teams to take advantage of.

The best one is that you can stay organized with Teambook at your fingertips. That is, whatever happens in Chanty stays in… Teambook. It’s a single hub for neatly organized tasks, conversations, pinned messages, and all the other content you share.

By sharing multiple pieces of content in a single app, you can also make yourself at home with Chanty extras. Because your experience matters, Chanty helps you share YouTube, Coub, GIFs, and other social media content that lets you save time switching apps and view your favorite media content in Chanty. 

Chanty also helps you create new tasks from scratch or turn any message into a task to enjoy smarter collaboration with your deadline-driven team. Assign and filter tasks by status, dates, and people. Start task discussions with one click to make sure everyone is on the same page.

Last but definitely not least, optimize your workflow by switching to the Kanban board view in Chanty. This lets you enjoy a flexible, visual, and simple way to execute scrum methodology and manage all your tasks in one place.

Chanty is available for: Web, Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, iPhone, and iPad

Suitable for: remote, hybrid, and in-office teams; companies of all sizes; and various industries. 

Pricing	Chanty
Free trial	/
Free plan	Up to 10 members
Paid plans	$3 user/month, paid annually$4 user/month, paid monthly

HubSpot – for automating your emailing

HubSpot’s drag-and-drop email builder is a game-changer for marketers and business owners. With its user-friendly interface and intuitive design, creating professional and visually appealing emails has never been easier. 

Gone are the days of spending hours coding and designing emails from scratch. Now, with just a few simple clicks, anyone can create stunning emails that are sure to capture the attention of their audience. 

Why use HubSpot?

With its user-friendly interface and powerful features, this tool allows marketers to create stunning and personalized email campaigns effortlessly. One of the key reasons to use HubSpot’s email builder tool is its drag-and-drop functionality, which makes designing emails a breeze. 

Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced marketer, this tool offers a seamless experience for creating visually appealing emails that engage your audience. Additionally, HubSpot’s email builder tool provides a wide range of customizable templates, allowing you to enhance your brand’s image and maintain consistency across all your email communications. 

With its advanced personalization options, you can tailor your emails to each recipient, increasing the chances of conversion. Furthermore, the tool offers valuable analytics and reporting features, allowing you to measure the success of your email campaigns and make data-driven decisions. In conclusion, HubSpot’s email builder tool is an indispensable asset for any marketer looking to maximize the impact of their email marketing efforts.

HubSpot’s best feature

HubSpot’s email builder is packed with an impressive list of best features that will revolutionize your email marketing strategy, such as: 

• Drag and drop editor and functionality without any HTML coding,
• Wide range of customizable templates,
• Customizable CTA options for converting viewers and customers, and
• Built-in analytics for email performance.

🛡️ ProtonVPN — for secure internet browsing 

ProtonVPN is a free and secure VPN solution that helps you surf the internet without jeopardizing your privacy. 

Why use ProtonVPN?

When working from home, it’s advisable to use VPN if you:  

• Often visit websites that aren’t encrypted,
• Sometimes “borrow” your neighbors’ Wi-Fi access,
• Want to get around location-specific restrictions (e.g. for websites blocked in your country), or
• Want to access a remote device and need extra security. 

ProtonVPN’s best feature 

Maintaining security and privacy is highly important when working in remote and hybrid settings. It’s also essential for freelancers and independent contractors. 

Thanks to ProtonVPN’s anonymous VPN service, you’ll be sure that your browsing history is private. The platform doesn’t log user activity or share your data with third parties. 

🔷 ProtonVPN is available for: Windows, macOS, Linux, Chromebook, Android, Android TV, and iOS/iPad

🔷 Suitable for: Hybrid, remote, and distributed companies of all sizes; freelancers, and independent consultants  

Pricing	ProtonVPN
Free trial	/
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	$4 user/month

🔑 LastPass — for protecting your passwords

LastPass is a free password manager and vault app that helps people working from home protect and secure their passwords. 

The platform is a great password-keeping solution both for companies and individual professionals working from home. 

Why use LastPass?

Once you register for a free LastPass account, the app will automatically pick up every new account, username, and password. 

You’ll be able to add a different password for each website or app without worrying you’ll forget them the next time you need them.

You’ll never have to worry about remembering your passwords — except for your Last Pass Master password. 

LastPass’s best feature 

The best thing about LastPass is its Autofill option — once you save a username and password, you’ll be able to fill them in with just one click. 

The second best thing about LastPass is its Dark Web Monitoring feature, which helps you find out if your personal information has been exposed online. 

🔷 LastPass is available for: Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and IOS; Extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Opera  

🔷 Suitable for: Hybrid, remote, and distributed companies of all sizes; freelancers, and independent consultants 

Pricing	LastPass
Free trial	Yes
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	$2.90 user/month

📧 Microsoft Outlook — for managing emails

Microsoft Outlook is a comprehensive tool that provides you with email and calendar solutions all in one place. 

The app allows you to stay on top of your most important messages and events. 

Why use Microsoft Outlook?

Working from home often means you’re practically bombarded with emails. But, to keep your sanity, you have to keep your emails in order. 

Thanks to Outlook, you’ll be able to easily access your:

• Emails,
• Calendar, 
• Tasks, and 
• Contacts. 

If you want to be your most productive and connected self while working from home or from anywhere else — Microsoft Outlook can help you with that. 

Microsoft Outlook’s best feature

The best thing about Outlook is that you can easily integrate it with other apps from the Microsoft ecosystem. 

This means that if you use Outlook, you’ll be able to use it to collaborate with people in PowerPoint, Excel, One Drive, and Word, too. 

You’ll also be able to connect it with other third-party platforms, such as Trello or Dropbox. 

Even though email isn’t the first or the best choice for remote communication, it’s still necessary. 

Thus, Outlook is a practical and effective email solution for Microsoft-based remote companies.

🔷 Microsoft Outlook is available for: Web, Mac, Windows, Android, iPhone, and iPad

🔷 Suitable for: Any professional in need of an effective email provider 

Pricing	Microsoft Outlook
Free trial	Yes
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	$9.99 user/month

📍 Todoist — for staying on top of your to-do list

Todoist is a task management application that lets you:

• Define all your tasks in a simple list, 
• Add due dates for each task, 
• Track your task progress, and 
• Checkmark tasks when complete.

Why use Todoist?

If you work from home or you are lucky enough to own a digital nomad visa and switch up your work locations every now and then — Todoist can do a lot for you. 

You can add tasks and a description for each. You can also convert the emails you receive from your clients or customers into tasks and comments. 

Thanks to Todoist’s browser extension, you can even turn interesting articles and websites you stumble upon on the web into tasks.

Todoist’s best features

Todoist allows you to define automatic, recurring deadlines for each type of task. 

This way, the app will automatically set your task deadlines based on the time it took you to finish earlier tasks of the same type.

Moreover, there’s a comprehensive template library you can choose from for your next project or task — whether you work in marketing, design, sales, education, or another industry. 

🔷 Todoist is available for: Web, iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Microsoft Edge, Outlook, Gmail, Apple Watch, Wear OS

🔷 Suitable for: Professional and personal needs 

Pricing	Todoist
Free trial	Yes
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	$4 user/month

📝 Evernote — for keeping all your notes in one place 

Evernote is a popular cloud-based note-taking app that helps remote employees keep notes on their important tasks, meetings, and activities. 

The app offers solutions for personal and professional use.  

Why use Evernote?

Working from home can be packed with many different activities and tasks. 

Thanks to Evernote, remote employees can have their important info at hand and access it from any device — be it on their laptops, desktops, or smartphones. 

The app is pretty straightforward to use. It has a customizable homepage that gives you a quick view of:

• Your most recent notes,
• Your tasks, 
• Your pinned notes, and 
• Your calendar.  

Evernote’s best feature 

The best thing about Evernote is that it provides you with a few handy features to help you stay productive:

• A document scanning feature that allows you to keep your important documents with you whenever and wherever you need them.
• A great web clipping feature that allows you to save articles, web pages, or screen captures directly to Evernote.
• A template library that allows you to choose from customizable and reusable templates when making notes. 

🔷 Evernote is available for: Web, Windows, Mac, Android, iPhone, and iPad

🔷 Suitable for: Individuals, professionals, and teams 

Pricing	Evernote
Free trial	Yes
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	$6.99 user/month

💻 ClickUp — for boosting productivity across the entire team

ClickUp is a powerful productivity platform designed to manage everything from daily to-dos to your most complex tasks, even your business’s entire workflow. Teams working from home rely on ClickUp for its highly visual, feature-rich experience to monitor project updates, align the team, and bring all of their work together in one place.

Why use ClickUp?

Collaboration is at the core of every ClickUp feature, allowing everyone in your Workspace to comment, edit, and work on tasks without overlap. Keep your remote team in the loop with ClickUp’s in-app Chat feature, multiple assignees to any task, automated updates, easy sharing via URL, and so much more.

ClickUp is more than a place to plan and manage your projects, it’s where you act on them. Mention any team member in a comment to turn your thoughts into an action item and keep all of your conversations together with threaded comments that eliminate back-and-forth emailing. Even add comments to any ClickUp Doc to optimize your feedback process.

With hundreds of flexible tools, a user-friendly interface, over 1,000 integrations, and hundreds of customizable templates, ClickUp makes work management a breeze—no matter where or when your team is logging on.

ClickUp’s best feature

ClickUp’s digital Whiteboards feature is the only collaborative whiteboard that enables teams to turn ideas directly into actionable tasks and projects.

Real-time collaboration in ClickUp’s Whiteboards makes it easy for remote teams to brainstorm ideas and map out projects while seeing everyone’s edits right as they happen. Add content like drawings, text, shapes, notes, images, and media files with rich editing features, and easily embed tasks into Whiteboards to provide relevant context to your brainstorm sessions.

🔷 ClickUp is available for: Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, mobile app, Android

🔷 Suitable for: Remote, virtual, hybrid, and in-person teams of any size or industry.

Pricing	ClickUp
Free trial	/
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	$5 per user, per month

✍🏼 SignNow — for singing your documents electronically

SignNow is a cost-effective e-signature service that helps people working away from the office electronically sign important documents.  

Why use SignNow?

You can use SignNow to:

• Sign documents and send documents for signing, 
• Create agreements, 
• Negotiate contracts, 
• Accept payments, and 
• Automate business processes.

In remote-first or remote-friendly companies, making employees come to the office just to sign a piece of paper is time-wasting. 

Thanks to SignNow, you’ll be able to:

• Provide a secure and reliable e-signature solution to your people, 
• Create document templates, and 
• Get access to a HIPAA-compliant digital signature solution. 

SignNow’s best feature 

Two things stand out with SignNow:

• Its ability to comply with the requirements of multiple industries — from government and healthcare to high tech, construction, and real estate. 
• Its diverse product offer —  besides the e-signature feature, you can also access contract management and negotiation, PDF editing, and online surveys, to name just a few. 

🔷 SignNow is available for: Web, Windows, Linux, Android, iPhone, and iPad

🔷 Suitable for: Anyone working remotely, either a team or an individual 

Pricing	SignNow
Free trial	Yes
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	$20 user/month

⚖️ Simplish — for achieving true work-life balance 

Simplish is a to-do list app designed to help you:

• Organize your tasks, 
• Capture notes and observations, 
• Schedule events and tasks in a built-in calendar, and 
• Collaborate with coworkers on shared tasks.

Why use Simplish?

Organizing your tasks and activities in multiple, separate workspaces can help you contextualize your daily tasks and strike an appropriate work/life balance while working from home.

The color palette of the app is selected to help boost your mood, and you’ll also have positive daily affirmations to help keep you in high spirits during work time.

Moreover, with Simplish you’ll be able to organize both the tasks and activities you have to perform alone and the ones you have to perform with your team. And, you can do that in whatever number of workspaces you need in order to carry out your workflows.

You’ll also be able to share to-dos with team members, as well as chat with them while you work on joint tasks, directly from the app.

Simplish’s best feature

The Daily Planner feature offers a shortlist of your tasks for the day, in order to help you focus on your priorities on a daily basis.

🔷 Simplish is available for: iOS, and Android

🔷 Suitable for: Freelancers, independent consultants, solopreneurs, etc.

Pricing	Simplish
Free trial	Yes
Free plan	/
Cheapest paid plan	$2.99 user/month

🖍️ Miro — for interactive brainstorming sessions 

Miro is a handy and easy-to-use online collaborative whiteboard platform. 

It allows remote-first and hybrid companies to collaborate on design projects and tasks as if they were in the same room. 

Why use Miro?

Some remote companies rely a lot on brainstorming sessions and developing ideas in a visual setting. If your company is like that you’ll benefit a lot from using Miro. 

Miro offers great solutions for various teams:

• UX and design,
• Product management,
• Engineering,
• Sales, and 
• Marketing. 

Miro’s best feature 

What’s great about Miro is that it has an extensive resource library that can help you master the platform quickly and easily. 

You can work your way through Miro with the help of:

• Miro Academy — Live sessions and online courses. 
• Miro Webinars — Fun and informative virtual events. 
• Miro Guides — Tips and tricks for better collaboration and co-creation. 

You also get access to Miro’s Template Library, which is packed full of premade templates aimed at helping your remote team collaborate more quickly and efficiently.

🔷 Miro is available for: Web, Windows, Mac, Android, iPhone, and iPad

🔷 Suitable for: Remote and hybrid teams 

Pricing	Miro
Free trial	/
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	$10 user/month

🪄 Canva — for collaborating on designs from afar 

Canva is a free platform that allows remote-first and hybrid organizations to work together on designs and create other visual elements from afar. 

Why use Canva?

If your company doesn’t require a professional graphic designer to take care of your visual materials, Canva can be a great solution for your simple graphic design needs. 

The platform is intuitive and extremely easy to use. 

Canva’s best feature 

Thanks to its template-packed library, Canva helps anyone working from home create unique designs, including

• Presentations, 
• Video materials, and 
• Various social media content. 

Always having a selection of templates to choose from and not having to create designs from scratch can be a life-saver. That’s what you’ll get with Canva. 

🔷 Canva is available for: Web, Windows, Mac, Android, and iPhone 

🔷 Suitable for: Individuals and remote teams 

Pricing	Canva
Free trial	Yes
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	$12.99 user/month

⛔ Freedom — for staying away from time-wasting websites

Freedom is an app that helps you boost your productivity by blocking distracting websites and apps. 

Why use Freedom?

Working from home can easily affect your productivity, especially if you’re easily distracted by alluring content on the Internet. 

Thanks to Freedom, you’ll be able to block:

• Specific websites,
• Specific apps, and 
• The entire Internet. 

Freedom’s best feature 

To truly help you stay productive and keep your mind off distractions, Freedom offers you a Locked mode feature. 

This feature will prevent you from ending your Freedom session by unblocking your distractors and make you commit to your goals. 

You can also create unique Blocklists for specific situations or parts of the day when you need to be extra focused and productive. 

🔷 Freedom is available for: Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, Chromebook, Linux

🔷 Suitable for: Developers, coaches, teachers, entrepreneurs, editors, researchers, journalists, writers, and more

Pricing	Freedom
Free trial	Yes
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	$8.99 user/month

✂️ Snagit — for screen capturing

Snagit is a screenshot tool meant to help you capture video display and audio output easily and quickly. 

Thanks to Snagit, you can share what you’ve captured with your teammates to facilitate communication or improve training sessions. 

Moreover, teachers can use Snagit to fine-tune their teaching activities and lectures with quality visual elements.

Why use Snagit?

Say you want to consult with your colleague about a certain element of your design project.

You have two options: 

• You can use Snagit to screenshot the design and share it with your colleague, or 
• You can record your screen and share a quick video, to get your point across even faster.

Apart from being great for business teams, Snagit may prove useful for online classrooms. 

Teachers can use it to create visual tutorials and learning materials through form templates.

Snagit’s best feature

With Snagit, you can create videos and GIFs from images. You can do this by capturing a series of screenshots, drawing over them, and adding a voice-over.

🔷 Snagit is available for: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android

🔷 Suitable for: Personal and professional use, but also for teachers and professors

Pricing	Snagit
Free trial	Yes
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	$68 user/month

🖥️ FixMe.IT — for remote desktop control

 

Technically, FixMe.IT is an IT support tool that helps support teams fix app issues users have from afar. 

In addition to that, it can serve as a remote desktop control tool for people working from home.

Why use FixMe.IT?

This tool is great for when you leave some important documents on your office computer and want a secure, remote way to obtain them via your home laptop. 

Thanks to this software, you can even access unattended remote computers.

It’s also a great solution if you need to help your teammates from afar — you can:

• Access their devices remotely and help them with whatever issue they might be having. 
• Share your screen when collaborating with a colleague.
• Easily switch between various remote desktops you’ve accessed.

FixMe.IT’s best feature

Thanks to FixMe.IT, you’ll be able to obtain files from and send them out to remote devices. 

FixMe.IT also allows you to engage in live chat with the person whose device you’re accessing, too. 

🔷 FixMe.IT is available for: Web, iOS, and Android

🔷 Suitable for: Hybrid and remote teams and individuals working with clients remotely

Pricing	FixMe.IT
Free trial	Yes
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	$30 user/month

🔤 Grammarly — for writing impeccable emails and messages 

Grammarly is a popular and widely-used online writing assistant designed to help business professionals write grammatically correct and stylistically optimized content.

Grammarly is designed to help: 

• Students,
• Content writers,
• Digital marketers,
• Bloggers, and 
• Business writers. 

Why use Grammarly? 

Impeccable writing is a must for all business professionals. 

Grammarly is especially useful for remote and hybrid employees who rely on written communication more than in-office workers.

Once installed, Grammarly will make sure to warn you about potential mistakes in:

• Grammar, 
• Spelling, 
• Punctuation, 
• Choice of words, 
• Repetition, 
• Level of formality, 
• Style, and 
• Tone. 

Establishing and maintaining professional communication in business is important, especially today when a big part of it is done in writing. 

Grammarly’s best feature 

Grammarly offers you a business communication style guide that can help your employees always stay aligned with your company’s brand voice. 

That’s why Grammarly Business is a good investment for companies that often collaborate with third-party clients and customers. 

You can define written communication guidelines and explain them in detail to help your remote employees maintain consistency in their writing. 

Moreover, the tone detector helps you understand how your message or content would sound to your audience and helps you make it sound more appropriate. 

🔷 Grammarly is available for: Windows, Mac, Chrome, Android, IOS 

🔷 Suitable for: Any business professional who communicates with employees, customers, and clients often

Pricing	Grammarly
Free trial	/
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	$12 user/annually

iA Writer — for a distraction-free experience when writing

iA Writer is a word editor that offers a simple and distraction-free writing environment for the times when you want to focus solely on your writing.

Why use iA Writer?

Many remote and work-from-home workers are writers — content writers, copywriters, fiction writers, or any other type of writer. 

For a writer, making sure to have a distraction-free environment for creating quality content or copy is a must. 

iA Writer is packed with benefits for writers (and others who want to try it):

• Straightforward and clean layout, 
• A Focus Mode that blurs out everything except the sentence or paragraph you are working on. 
• A Syntax Highlight feature that can help you eliminate superfluous adjectives, and identify weak verbs and repetitions, and
• A Style Check feature that helps you get rid of unnecessary words and phrases. 

Overall, the app is great at helping you focus on your work and avoid the usual distractions, such as ads, news, etc.

iA Writer’s best features 

The great thing about iA Writer is that you can use it across several platforms. 

But, if you’re using iA Writer for Windows, you’ll get to enjoy additional features, such as:

• Automatic table alignment, 
• Chapter folding, and 
• Document outlining.

🔷 iA Writer is available for: Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS

🔷 Suitable for: Writers who work from home 

Pricing	iA Writer
Free trial	Yes
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	$4.99 user/month

👩‍💼 15Five — for measuring employee engagement

15Five is a performance management software that helps employers and managers collect regular employee feedback in order to build and maintain a high-performing work culture — even in remote work settings. 

Why use 15Five? 

With this tool, employers will get a chance to understand how satisfied their employees are with their work. 

15Five works in the following way:

• Each week, employees are expected to complete a 15-minute survey containing a series of insightful questions about productivity and morale within the team. 
• Then, employers and managers read and comment on employee responses. 
• Finally, employers and managers analyze the metrics gathered by the app to find ways to trigger continuous improvements in future work and performance.

15Five promises a powerful question bank, so both the employers and the employees will get a chance to address diverse sets of potential work issues and concerns.

15Five’s best feature

With 15Five, you can rest assured that your remote team is well aware of the company’s Objectives and Key Results (OKRs). 

You’ll be able to establish a goal-setting-and-tracking system for each company department. 

When you do this, the team members responsible for the said OKRs will be able to work on their respective Objectives and Key Results and then grade and report their progress.

🔷 15Five is available for: Web, iOS, Android

🔷 Suitable for: Remote and distributed teams of all sizes

Pricing	15Five
Free trial	Yes
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	$4 user/month/billed annually

🤓 Forest — for focused work

Forest is a popular productivity app that supports people who are determined to beat their phone addiction and manage their time in an innovative and pleasant way. 

Forest works in the following way:

• Whenever you want to stay focused, you “plant a tree” in the app.
• Your tree grows while you focus on your work.
• If you leave the app halfway (to, say, check your Instagram feed), your tree dies.  

If you manage to stay focused throughout the day, you can turn your hard work into a lush forest. 

Why use Forest?

This application really sets out to motivate you to stop browsing your social media feeds and start working with full focus, as it allows you to:

• Compete with colleagues on who can keep their phones down the longest,
• Plant trees with colleagues, to signify shared work,
• Unlock as many as 30 new tree species (+ white noise sounds), and 
• Push forward to unlock achievements and rewards. 

Forest’s best feature

A great thing about Forest is that you can do a Personality test to help you determine your focus type and find your personal flower type. 

You can even sponsor the planting of a real tree somewhere in the world with the help of the Trees for the Future organization. 

This way, you stay productive while helping the environment — how amazing is that?  

🔷 Forest is available for: iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Chrome, and Firefox

🔷 Suitable for: Remote teamwork and freelancers

Pricing	Forest
Free trial	/
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	$1.99 user/month

👩‍💻👨‍💻 Focusmate — for building accountability

Focusmate is a virtual coworking space that provides you with an online accountability partner to help you build accountability. 

Once you start using the app, all you have to do is:

• Select the time slots when you want to work and be productive in a simple calendar view,
• Start the 50-minute live work session by greeting your accountability partner and explaining your goal for that session, 
• Hear out your partner’s goal for the session and start working, 
• Work quietly on your goal until the end of the session.

Why use Focusmate?

Working home alone can be a test for your attention span — you may be tempted to take prolonged breaks from work or procrastinate endlessly on social media.

But, working with an online accountability partner, who is probably struggling with the same temptations as you are, can inspire you to be 200–300% more productive with your work — according to the Focusmate research.

You can even make an arrangement with one of your office colleagues to sign up for the app together and be each other’s accountability partners.

Focusmate’s best feature

Even though Focusmate promotes working quietly in tandem on your respective tasks, your microphone stays on throughout your session. 

This means that you can chat with your accountability partner from time to time, just like in a regular office.

🔷 Focusmate is available for: Web

🔷 Suitable for: Remote, hybrid, and distributed teams, freelancers, and independent consultants 

Pricing	Focusmate
Free trial	/
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	$5 per month

🎶 Focus@Will — for boosting productivity through music

Focus@Will is a neuroscience-based service that offers playlists of instrumental music designed to help boost your productivity. 

The idea behind Focus@Will is to block distracting sounds and help you focus on your work better.

Why use Focus@Will?

The website promises to help you ease into a focused state in 20 minutes and then stay focused for 200 minutes.

You’ll get a great selection of instrumental music that mixes different styles and sounds, with categories such as Electro Bach, Baroque piano, Cinematic instrumentals, and Focus Spa.

Focus@Will’s best feature

If you’re not sure what playlists to pick, you can do a Focus test that will help Focus@Will identify what music channel is best for your brain type. 

Their selection process is based on 10 years of neuroscience research.  

🔷 Focus@Will is available for: Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and Sonos devices

🔷 Suitable for: Individuals and teams of all sizes 

Pricing	Focus@Will
Free trial	Yes
Free plan	/
Cheapest paid plan	$7.49 user/month

🔕 Krisp — for muting background noise during calls

Krisp is an AI-powered software solution that helps teams and individuals conduct effective online meetings by removing background noises and minimizing distractions.  

Why use Krisp?

When working from home, you can easily be interrupted by your children, pets, or other noisy distractions. Maybe you live on a noisy street or have querulous neighbors. 

Whatever the case, Krisp will help you mute any type of background noise so that you’re better able to hear and be heard by your caller. 

It’s a great solution for any type of remote team, but also call centers, streamers, podcasters, and online teachers.

Krisp’s best feature

If you’re using other tools to facilitate your work from home, you’ll be happy to hear that Krisp integrates with more than 600 apps.

 It can also be used with any type of headphones, speakers, and microphones, so you don’t have to worry about compatibility issues. 

🔷 Krisp is available for: Windows, macOS, iOS, Chrom

🔷 Suitable for: Teams and enterprises 

Pricing	Krisp
Free trial	/
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	$5 user/month/billed annually

🏢  The Sound of Colleagues — for simulating office life 

The Sound of Colleagues is a unique web-based service that lets you simulate work from the office by giving you a wide range of office-like sounds to choose from. 

The app was made in response to the strict work-from-home policy in Sweden during the pandemic. 

Why use the Sound of Colleagues?

When remote work became the main work arrangement during the pandemic, to say that people were unprepared would be an understatement. 

Going from fully in-office to fully remote must have been a challenge for many, especially as some countries imposed very strict work policies. 

Thanks to the Sound of Colleagues, getting used to working from home is easier. The platform is extremely easy to use and will give those who are used to working in an office setting exactly what they need — the sounds and noises of bustling office life. 

If you want to use the platform, just open it in your browser and pick the sounds you want to listen to while working. 

The Sound of Colleagues’ best feature 

The platform’s beauty lies in its straightforwardness and simplicity. 

There are 9 unique sounds you can include in your office-life mix. 

Maybe you loved the sound of the coffee machine or your colleague’s typing — whatever it is, you can hear it while working from home too. 

🔷 The Sound of Colleague is available for: Web

🔷 Suitable for: Former office employees who now work from home (and miss the office)

Pricing	The Sound of Colleagues
Free trial	/
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	/

🏃 Seven — for quick home workouts

Seven is a great mobile app that helps you stay active while working from home by offering you 7-minute workout challenges. 

Taking care of your health is a precondition to being productive in the long run, and that’s what Seven is all about.

Why use Seven?

Working from home will require you to take regular breaks. Some breaks will be devoted to food, others to coffee, and at least one should be reserved for having a quick workout. 

With Seven, you’ll be able to choose among 200 tailor-made workouts and exercises to help you vary your training. 

When you work out regularly, you unlock new achievements and more options become available to you. 

Seven’s best feature

If you’re not a fan of exercising or quickly get bored with the same types of exercise, Seven is a great tool for you. 

Seven allows you to choose from several fun personal trainers, such as Drill Sergeant and Cheerleader. They will keep you motivated throughout your workouts and fill some of your breaks with enjoyable and quick physical activities. 

And, if some of your remote teammates also use Seven, you can team up and work out together. 

🔷  Seven is available for: iOS, and Android

🔷  Suitable for: Individual or team workouts in remote and hybrid environments 

Pricing	Seven
Free trial	Yes
Free plan	/
Cheapest paid plan	$4.99 user/month

☯️ Aloe Bud — for all-in-one self-care 

Aloe Bud is an IOS app that can serve as your self-care companion. It will ensure that you: 

• Eat on time, 
• Stay hydrated, and 
• Spend enough time on proper self-care. 

Why use Aloe Bud?

When you immerse yourself into work, you often forget to take a break — which isn’t good for your health or the quality of your work. 

So, with Aloe Bud, all you have to do is create a schedule and let the app notify you about: 

• Grabbing snacks, 
• Drinking water or tea, 
• Having lunch, 
• Taking a 5-minute meditation break, or 
• Indulging in anything you need to recharge your batteries.

Aloe Bud’s best feature

If you’re really eager to take care of yourself, Aloe Bud can support you with a micro-journal feature that includes reflection prompts. 

Thanks to this feature, you can write bite-sized entries that show how successful you are in keeping to your self-care schedule on a daily basis.

🔷  Aloe Bud is available for: iOS

🔷  Suitable for: Personal use on a daily basis 

Pricing	Aloe Bud
Free trial	/
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	$1.99 user/month

🧘 Pocket Yoga and Pocket Yoga Teacher — for yoga breaks during work time

Pocket Yoga and Pocket Yoga Teacher, as their name suggests, are companion yoga apps you can carry around in your pocket. 

They recreate the experience of practicing in an actual yoga studio. 

Soothing music will play as a gentle voice guides you through your yoga poses and explains how you are supposed to breathe.

Why use Pocket Yoga? 

Working from home can sometimes be stressful and hectic, especially if you have to take care of your kids or other family members. 

This is why practicing short yoga sessions is an excellent way to relieve stress and relax during work breaks. 

Thanks to these two apps, you’ll be able to dive into a ready-made yoga routine in a matter of minutes.

Pocket Yoga’s best feature

Pocket Yoga lets you choose: 

• Your practice, 
• The duration of the practice, 
• The level of difficulty, and 
• The “environment” you want to practice in. 

Also, as you make progress, you’ll get a chance to unlock new, interesting “environments”.

Pocket Yoga Teacher lets you create your own routine by choosing the poses you want to practice and choosing the order you want to practice them in.

🔷 Pocket Yoga and Pocket Yoga Teacher are available for: macOS, iOS (both apps), and Android (just Pocket Yoga)

🔷 Suitable for: Personal use on a daily basis 

Pricing	Pocket Yoga
Free trial	Yes
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	$2.99 user/month

🎨 Zen: coloring book for adults — for tending to your creativity 

Zen: coloring book for adults is a digital coloring book that lets you create colorful pieces of art while listening to relaxing music. 

Why use Zen: coloring book for adults?

Once you choose the design you want to color, the app allows you to use:

• Blends, 
• Gradients, 
• Textures, 
• Custom colors, and
• Different coloring methods, including brushes and pencils. 

Once you’re done, you can save or print your art, or even share it on social media.

Although Zen isn’t directly aimed at helping you be more productive and get better at your job, it’s a great example of an app you can use to unwind and unlock your creativity after a hard day’s work. 

Zen: coloring book for adults’ best feature

With this digital coloring book, you won’t have to run to the store and buy art supplies when you feel like doing something creative. 

And, if your work-from-home schedule is entirely packed, you’ll want a quick activity to leave all the stress behind and slow down, even if only for a few minutes. 

🔷 Zen: coloring book for adults is available for: macOS, iOS, and Windows

🔷 Suitable for: Creative minds with busy work schedules 

Pricing	Zen: coloring book for adults
Free trial	Yes
Free plan	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	$2.99 user/month

✉️ What apps do you usually use when working from home? Have you tried any of the apps we’ve listed here? What helps you stay productive and effective when working remotely? If there’s an app that we haven’t mentioned here but you think could help other remote workers, let us know at blogfeedback@clockify.me. We might include your answer in this or future posts.