The full catalog
Apps for productivity
762 entries pulled from 62 stacks. Items are ordered by how many tracked people are on record about them, including discussion, use and recommendations.
Filter counts cover the full catalog. Type, goal and cost filters apply to items only.
Items
50 entries
Reset- App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.01On record from 5 of 62 tracked people: 5 do it
- App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.02
Readwise
Syncs your highlights and resurfaces them a few at a time
On record from 4 of 62 tracked people: 3 do it, 1 recommends it - App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.03
Website and app blocker
Software that makes distracting sites genuinely unavailable on a schedule
On record from 4 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it, 2 recommend it - AppFREE, no cost04
Notion
Flexible workspace used as a second brain, wiki and task system
On record from 3 of 62 tracked people: 3 do it - App$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.05
Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe's video editor, the default in most professional edit bays
On record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it - AppFREE, no cost06
Apple Notes
The note app that ships on every Mac, iPhone and iPad, synced through iCloud
On record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it - App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.07On record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it
- App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.08On record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it
- App$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.09
DEVONthink
DEVONtechnologies
Document and information manager for Mac and iOS with local, indexed databases
On record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it - App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.10On record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it
- AppFREE, no cost11
Google Docs
Browser word processor that syncs across devices
On record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it - App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.12
Grok
Chat assistant with live access to what people are posting on X
On record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it - App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.13
Perplexity
A search tool that answers in prose and cites the pages it read
On record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it - AppFREE, no cost14On record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it
- App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Alfred
Mac launcher with system-wide search, clipboard history and text snippets
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - AppFREE, no cost
Anki
Free, open-source flashcards that schedule reviews just before you would forget
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - AppFREE, no costOn record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it
- App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Audible
Audiobook service sold as monthly credits or a subscription library
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it
- App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Cursor
AI code editor built on VS Code that edits inside the file
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Day One
Journaling app for Apple platforms, Android and the web with encrypted sync
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
ElevenLabs
Voice tools: text read aloud, and speech turned into text
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Evernote
Long-running notes app built around clipping and searching everything
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it
- AppFREE, no cost
GitHub
Where code and its review history live
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it
- App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
iA Writer
Plain-text markdown editor with almost nothing on screen
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - AppFREE, no cost
Instapaper
Save articles now and read them later on a plain, offline page
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Kagi
Paid search engine with no ads, where you can rank or block domains yourself
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Keyboard Maestro
Stairways Software
macOS macro tool that fires multi-step actions from a hotkey or typed string
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - AppFREE, no costOn record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it
- App$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it
- App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it
- AppFREE, no costOn record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it
- AppFREE, no cost
Obsidian
Markdown note app that stores linked plain-text files in a folder you own
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 has discussed it - App$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.
OmniFocus
The Omni Group
Task manager for Apple devices built on projects, tags and saved perspectives
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - AppFREE, no cost
Overcast
iPhone podcast player with speed control and silence trimming
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Pocket Casts
Podcast player with speed control, silence trimming and a queue that syncs
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
ReadKit
RSS and read-later client for Mac, iPhone and iPad
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Readwise Reader
Read-later app holding articles, PDFs, newsletters and RSS in one queue
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - AppFREE, no costOn record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it
- App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it
- AppFREE, no costOn record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it
- App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
The Great Courses
Recorded lecture series on history, science and economics, on disc or by subscription
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it
- App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Timery
Time tracker for Toggl, built around saved timers, widgets and Shortcuts
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - AppFREE, no costOn record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it
- AppFREE, no cost
Trello
Board and card app for tracking tasks and projects
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Working Copy
Git client for iPhone and iPad, with an editor and a diff view
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - AppFREE, no cost
X (Twitter)
Short public posts, used by some people as a thinking tool
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it
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