36+ Productivity Tools
The tools here cover five parts of personal productivity: Daily Planning, keeping focus, managing tasks, blocking distractions, and taking notes. Reclaim.ai sits across the first three, with a free plan and paid seats from $12 a month. Forest blocks distractions through a gamified timer and has a free version alongside a $4.99 monthly plan. Detach blocks apps and sites using a physical card and costs $9.99 once. TeuxDeux keeps a plain daily task list at $3 a month billed yearly but has no free plan.
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All Productivity tools
Showing 1 to 12 of 37 tools
Detach
paidDetach is an iPhone app blocker that uses a physical NFC card to end focus sessions. Choose apps and websites to block, create custom modes and schedules, enable strict mode, and track time spent away from your phone. The card costs $9.99 once, with no subscription.
Microsoft OneDrive
freemiumMicrosoft OneDrive offers secure online cloud storage to store, access, and share files from any device. It integrates with Microsoft 365 apps and supports collaboration and file synchronization across platforms.
Dropbox
freemiumDropbox offers cloud storage to store, organize, and share files securely across devices. It supports collaboration with real-time syncing, file previews, PDF editing, and integrates with tools like Microsoft Teams and Zoom. It includes security features like encryption, version history, and admin controls.
tl;dv
freemiumTl;dv automatically records meetings, generates transcripts and summaries, and integrates with business tools to streamline note-taking and follow-ups. It supports multilingual transcription and provides AI-driven insights for sales coaching, product development, and customer success.
Google Docs
freemiumGoogle Docs enables users to create, edit, and collaborate on documents in real time across devices, with built‑in intelligence and seamless integration across Google Workspace.
Reclaim.ai
freemiumReclaim.ai is an AI calendar and scheduling assistant that helps individuals, teams, and organizations optimize their time by automatically scheduling focus time, habits, tasks, and meetings. It integrates deeply with Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar, auto-reschedules conflicts, and provides analytics to improve productivity and work-life balance. The platform supports team collaboration with features like smart meetings, scheduling links, buffer time, and people analytics, making it ideal for various professional roles including marketing, sales, HR, and engineering.
Krisp
freemiumKrisp provides real-time AI voice enhancements such as noise cancellation, accent conversion, voice translation, transcription, and AI meeting notes. It supports multilingual transcripts and integrates with popular communication and productivity apps. Suitable for individuals, teams, call centers, and developers.
Coda
freemiumCoda is a collaborative all‑in‑one workspace combining documents, databases, automations, interactive building blocks, AI, and integrations into a unified canvas.
Forest
freemiumForest is a productivity app that gamifies focus by allowing users to grow virtual trees as a visual incentive to stay on task and avoid phone distractions. It transforms work sessions into a nurturing experience where killing a virtual tree by leaving the app encourages better concentration. Loved for its engaging, game-like approach, Forest helps users build focus habits with visual stimulation and social features for motivation.
Evernote
paidEvernote is a comprehensive note-taking and productivity app designed to help individuals and teams capture ideas, organize information, and manage tasks all in one place. It offers powerful AI features like AI Assistant, Semantic Search, and AI Meeting Notes to enhance productivity by summarizing, transcribing, and enriching notes. With real-time collaboration, calendar integration, and multi-device sync, Evernote streamlines workflows for personal and professional projects.
Quip
paidQuip enables Salesforce customers to standardize and automate business processes by embedding real-time collaborative documents, spreadsheets, and chat inside Salesforce records, enhancing team communication and decision-making.
Todo.ly
freemiumTodo.ly is an online todo list and task manager that helps users organize tasks into projects and subprojects, assign due dates, and prioritize work using smart filters based on the Getting Things Done method. It features drag-and-drop task management and right-click menus for quick actions.
All 37 tools in this category, A to ZShowHide
3 decisions
How to choose Productivity tools
Two things separate these tools more than anything else. The first is what kind of blocking or planning the tool does. Reclaim.ai reschedules the calendar automatically. Forest makes ending a session a deliberate visual act. Detach makes it a physical one. The second is cost. TextBases is completely free. Twenty-three tools here have a free core plan. Eleven, including Detach, TeuxDeux, and Evernote, are paid only, though Detach's one-time price means no recurring charge.
TextBasesHow the tool keeps focus or blocks distractions
Forest grows a virtual tree during a focus session; leaving the app kills it. That visual consequence is the whole mechanism, and it costs nothing on the free version. Detach goes further: a physical NFC card must be tapped to end a session, so stopping early is a deliberate physical act rather than a one-tap decision. It costs $9.99 once. Other tools here, such as StayFocusd, FocusMe, Cold Turkey, and Freedom, block sites and apps without any hardware. Reclaim.ai takes a different approach: instead of blocking, it reserves focus time on the calendar automatically and reschedules it when meetings move.
How the tool handles daily planning and tasks
Reclaim.ai is the only tool here that plans the day automatically. It reads the calendar, fits tasks into open slots, and moves things when conflicts appear. The free Lite plan covers this; team seats start at $12 a month. TeuxDeux is the opposite in design: a plain list with a week view, automatic task rollover, and nothing else. It costs $3 a month billed yearly or $4 a month billed monthly, with no free plan. TrySchedule builds schedules with a drag-and-drop interface. It is free to start, though PDF export and AI scheduling require a paid plan. Paid options run from $4.9 a week to $49.9 as a one-time lifetime purchase.
How the tool captures and organises notes
Evernote is the most complete note tool here: it stores notes, sets reminders, assigns tasks, and connects to calendars, but every plan costs money, starting at $14.99 a month. Coda combines notes with tables and automations in one place and has a free workspace plan, though its paid tiers require a sales call for pricing. Google Docs handles collaborative writing and document editing for free, with paid Workspace plans at $12 per user a month for teams. Zoho Notebook and TextBases also cover note taking; TextBases is completely free. For teams that want notes tied to meetings, tl;dv records and summarises calls and has a free forever plan.
FocusMe
Cold Turkey
TrySchedule
Coda
Google Docs
tl;dv6 questions
Frequently asked questions
Which productivity tools are completely free?
TextBases is the only completely free tool here. Twenty-three others have a free core plan with some extras requiring payment. Forest's free version covers basic focus sessions. Reclaim.ai's Lite plan is free forever. TrySchedule's Starter plan is free with no signup required, though cloud storage is capped at 10 templates.
Which tools have no free plan at all?
Eleven tools here are paid only. Detach costs $9.99 as a one-time purchase with no monthly bill, making it the only tool here with that pricing structure. TeuxDeux starts at $3 a month billed yearly, with only a 7-day trial before payment is required. Evernote's free tier exists but limits device sync to one device; its first full plan starts at $14.99 a month.
What is the difference between Detach and Forest for blocking distractions?
Both stop access to distracting apps during a focus session, but the mechanism differs. Forest uses a visual consequence: a virtual tree dies if the session is abandoned. Detach uses a physical one: a hardware NFC card must be tapped to end the session. Forest has a free version; Detach costs $9.99 once. Forest works without any extra hardware; Detach requires the card to be present to end a session normally.
Which tool plans the day automatically?
Reclaim.ai is the only tool here that schedules work automatically. It fits tasks into open calendar slots, protects focus time, and reschedules when meetings conflict. The Lite plan is free. Paid seats start at $12 a month. It connects to Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar, but not other calendar services.
OutlookAre there productivity tools for keeping a simple to-do list?
TeuxDeux is built for exactly that: a plain daily list with a week view, automatic rollover of unfinished tasks, and recurring task support. It costs $3 a month billed yearly. TickTick and Habitica also cover task management here. For teams that want tasks tied to notes and reminders, Evernote adds those features but starts at $14.99 a month.
TickTick
HabiticaDo any productivity tools here help with file sharing or meeting notes?
Yes, though those are outside the main focus of this category. For file sharing, Dropbox has a free Basic plan with 2 GB of storage, and Microsoft OneDrive has a free plan with paid options from $6.99 a month. For meeting notes, tl;dv records and transcribes calls in over 30 languages and has a free forever plan. Krisp transcribes meetings and cancels background noise but its free access lasts only 7 days before a paid plan applies.
Dropbox
Microsoft OneDrive
Krisp