Best 20 Productivity Apps for Mac in 2025: Boost Efficiency

Getting many tasks done while trying to stay on schedule requires not only good time management skills but also excellent tools. That’s why it’ll be great to know and use the best time tracking and invoicing software and productivity tools for Mac. Indeed, the best productivity apps below will help you concentrate and maximize your results.

Best Productivity Apps for Mac: Maximize Your Work Efficiency

Understanding the key features of the top productivity apps for Mac is essential. Generally, they empower you to make informed decisions about time management. If boosting productivity is your goal, these tools will help you manage tasks efficiently and stay on track.

Best Mac Productivity Apps

Tool	Category	Standout Feature	Pricing	Capterra
Everhour	Time tracking & management	Integration with popular PM tools	Free	4.7/5
Paymo	Project management	All-in-one project tracking and billing	Free	4.7/5
Magnet	Window management	Drag-and-snap window organization	One-time payment of $4.99	N/A (4.9 on Mac App Store)
Microsoft To Do	Task management	Seamless integration with Microsoft 365	Free	4.6/5
Bear	Note-taking	Markdown editing and tagging system	Free, Pro version at $2.99/month	4.5/5
GoodTask	Task management	Enhanced reminders with smart lists	$39.99	N/A (4.6 on Mac App Store)
1Password	Password management	Secure and user-friendly vaults	Starting at $7.99/month	4.7/5
AppCrypt	Privacy	App-specific password protection	$19.99 for one Mac	N/A (4.5 on Mac App Store)
Grammarly	Writing assistant	AI-driven grammar and style suggestions	Free, Premium starts at $12/month	4.7/5
Spark Mail	Email management	Collaborative email features	Free, Premium starts at $7.99/user/month	N/A (4.8 on Mac App Store)
PDFElement	PDF editor	Advanced editing and conversion tools	Starting at $79.99/year	4.4/5
Alfred	Productivity	Customizable workflows	Free, Powerpack starts at £34	4.7/5
Todoist	Task management	Task prioritization with natural language input	Free, Premium at $4/month	4.6/5
Zight	Screen recording	Quick sharing and annotation	Starting at $9.95/month	4.6/5
White Noise Lite	Relaxation	Wide range of ambient sounds	Free	N/A (4.2 on Mac App Store)
MindNode	Mind mapping	Easy-to-use visual brainstorming	Free	4.8/5
Ulysses	Writing	Distraction-free environment	Free, Premium at $5.99/month	4.7/5
Craft	Document management	Rich-text collaboration	Free, Pro starts at $4/month	5/5
Widgetsmith	Customization	Personalized widgets for iOS	Free, Premium at $1.99/month	N/A (4.6/5 on Mac App Store)
Keynote	Presentation	Stunning design templates	Free	4.7/5

How we evaluate the best Mac productivity tools

These apps offer real-time task tracking, enabling users to start, pause, and monitor progress with precision. Task categorization features improve organization, while collaboration tools enhance teamwork and communication. Integration with Mac tools provides a seamless digital workspace. User-friendly accessibility makes them easy to use across devices. Additionally, our evaluations remain unbiased, as we do not accept compensation for featuring apps.

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20 Productivity Apps to Boost Your Mac Experience

Time tracking & project management apps

1. Everhour – best for time tracking, project management, and budgeting

Firstly, if you’re looking for a tool to boost your performance, save time, and simplify payroll, Everhour is a standout choice. This powerful time management tool integrates with popular PM tools like Asana, Trello, Basecamp, Jira, GitHub, and ClickUp, operating smoothly within your Safari browser.

What sets Everhour apart is its ability to embed time tracking directly into these platforms’ interfaces. No need to switch between tabs anymore! Its browser extension offers task timers, manual time adjustments, and an indicator for active timers. Additionally, you can manage project budgets, set billing parameters, and handle both billable and non-billable tasks. To sum up, Everhour helps teams stay organized, optimizes their workflows, and streamlines client billing processes.

In case you are managing a team of 5 or more and looking to boost efficiency, Everhour is the perfect tool to keep your team on track. With seamless time tracking, you can easily estimate task durations, set clear budgets, and generate detailed reports inside Asana, Trello, Jira, or any other PM tool.

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2. Paymo – best for simple project management

Paymo has a reliable desktop widget that’s great if you want to keep track of the time you spend on your daily tasks. The widget has an idle time function. It automatically detects when you’ve been away from the keyboard and gives you the option to either discard or keep that time, all without disrupting your flow.

Plus, there’s a Pomodoro timer for those who work better in short sessions or creative bursts. The Pomodoro technique can be enabled by heading to the widget settings, where you may also customize your work session. Overall, Paymo tracker is a powerful tool with handy productivity features.

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Task management & note-taking apps

3. Magnet – best for workspace organization

It’s not common these days to have to perform multiple tasks simultaneously. This can be confusing and stressful at times. With so many windows and applications open at the same time, it’s easier to make mistakes.

Magnet came to Mac to solve all these problems! This app has the function of proportionally organizing the windows you need in the dimensions of the screen.

The spacing dimensions vary according to the lengths of the monitor. It could separate the screen into 3 sections with the smallest screens and up to 6 ultra-wide ones. Magnet also offers its users different keyboard shortcuts for various commands. In the menu bar, the default sets of shortcuts will appear along with the option to customize it to your liking.

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4. Microsoft To Do – best for task management

Microsoft To Do is a handy tool for those who perform lots of different activities daily. What this app offers is mainly that you can better distribute your time between tasks.

In essence, it’s a task manager. Here you can create a daily planner and different activity lists. The benefits that Microsoft To Do offers its users are:

• A suggested and scheduled task planner called “My Day.”
• Customizable lists.
• Notes.
• Alarms and reminders.
• Invoice planner.
• Calendars for labor issues.

Additionally, the app can share your information with other users of your choice, as well as they can also share their information with you.

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5. Bear – best for private markdown notes

Although simple, Bear is undoubtedly one of the best Mac productivity applications. Although organizing ideas is a fairly straightforward activity, it almost always gets complicated. Bear is a note-taking application designed to simplify and organize your ideas in texts, images, and even drawings.

One of the main things that stands out about this application is how beautiful and dynamic it is. In fact, it was the winner of the 2017 Apple Design Award.

Use Tags to easily pull up any note; customize notes with themes; organize notes quickly and share anywhere. Needless to say, the security of your information will not be a problem, since you protect your notes with encryption.

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6. GoodTask – best for task management with reminder integration

GoodTask is a user-friendly task management app that works with Apple’s Reminders and Calendar to help you stay organized. You can create tasks, set reminders, and plan events all in one place. The app also lets you group tasks with smart lists, making it easy to focus on what needs to be done.

GoodTask also makes it simple to update tasks with quick actions and supports recurring tasks to keep you on track. You can customize the app with different themes and widgets to match your style. It’s a great choice for managing daily to-do lists or planning bigger projects.

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Password manager apps

7. 1Password – best for password safety

1Password is another tool that definitely couldn’t be missing from this list of Mac productivity applications. This is a perfect option if you are forgetful or manage a lot of passwords.

This app aims to remind you of your passwords and safeguards them behind a password you will give yourself. Once you have registered your passwords, you can then easily access your user profiles on websites or other applications, all within the same app.

In fact, Business Insider considered 1Password to be one of the 100 best apps in the world. With 1Password, you can:

• Store information in different categories and find things faster.
• Create labels to organize information.
• Implement Spotlight to have data insight.
• Deploy and create vaults to further safeguard your data.

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8. AppCrypt – best for app and website locking

AppCrypt is an excellent tool for protecting sensitive information on your Mac by locking specific apps and websites. It’s particularly useful if you want to block distractions or safeguard personal data from unauthorized access.

Key features include:

• Locking individual apps with a password to prevent unauthorized use.
• Blocking distracting or inappropriate websites to maintain focus.
• A customizable schedule that allows you to set lock/unlock times for specific apps and websites.
• Finally, detailed activity logs to track access attempts and ensure security.

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Work enhancement and optimization apps

9. Grammarly – best for grammar and spell check

If you ever write reports, emails, articles — well, basically, anything — Grammarly is the perfect complement. It corrects grammatical errors and improves aspects of the text, ensuring your writing is flawless. You’ll get features such as:

• Smart grammar and spelling check.
• Varieties of synonyms for words.
• Self-correction.
• Tone detection, and more.

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10. Spark Mail – best for inbox organization

Usually, working with emails is very tedious (yes, boring, too). However, Spark Mail came to improve the experience of working with your emails tremendously.

Mainly it is worth mentioning that the features of this tool are simple, yet deep and interactive. One of the key features is Smart Inbox that allows you to focus on the most important emails and skip the noise. On the other hand, with Shared Inboxes, you will be able to handle your inbox together with multiple people. You can create and write collaborative emails with other users in real-time!

What else is there? You can now schedule, snooze, group, label, organize your emails, invite teammates to discuss specific threads, and more!

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11. PDFElement – best for PDF file editing

PDFelement is a professional PDF file editing tool that will make things easier for you. PDFs are by default read-only documents. Sometimes we have to take the trouble and convert these into another format to work with. PDFelement is perfect for solving this problem since you can work directly with the original document.

The app allows you to change the size, color, and type of fonts in the document and makes it possible to cut, paste, delete, or move lines and paragraphs.

Furthermore, there are options available to highlight and underline any information. It converts the document to another format without generating alterations that affect the context of the theme.

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12. Alfred – best for keyboard shortcuts customization

Alfred is one of the best productivity apps for Mac since it helps you streamline your work via keyboard shortcuts. With this tool, you will start, close, and search for different apps and windows at lightning speed.

Presently, the most impressive thing about this tool is that it presents diverse features that will let you save time performing a range of tasks. Some of these are:

• Application Launcher: helps you move faster between the different windows and applications on your Mac.
• Search your Mac: this enables you to quickly access files, music, and applications.
• Search the web: you can open your favorite websites through shortcuts.
• System Commands: allows you to control your Mac with speed and efficiency. Restart, shut down, eject a drive, and more via keyboard commands.

Once you have installed this tool on your Mac, the first thing you will be asked to do is to set up your own commands. Streamline your work, add speed and efficiency, and never look back!

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13. Todoist – best for developing new habits

Todoist is another application that helps you plan your daily activities and also stick to your commitments. The main goal is to create better habits in your life, so you become much more productive daily.

Organize or enter tasks quickly and also choose if you want the app to remind you about them. With Boards, you will get a better organization of projects and prioritize the most urgent tasks. One of the best features is Productivity. Use it to keep track of your daily progress. There are also numerous Todoist templates to facilitate your work in it.

Even though there are a lot of Todoist alternatives out there, inside Todoist, you can collaborate with other users on personal or business projects. This feature makes it one of the most essential and complete Mac productivity apps.

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Screen recording apps 

14. Zight (formerly CloudApp) – best for screen capturing and recording

Zight facilitates capturing and sharing annotated screenshots and screen recordings. This tremendously improves visual communication in digital work settings. When being in meetings, interviews, or virtual classes, it is very common for multimedia files to be difficult to share.

It has features that prevent these difficulties from occurring. It is a tool that stores files in the cloud to be easily sharable through a link. Also, it works to record and capture the screen easily. Once you stop the recording, you can upload it to the Zight online server to use or share later.

The interface of this application is extremely easy to use. Once installed, access to it will be in your menu bar.

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Apps for creativity and stress relief

15. White Noise Lite – best for minimizing distractions

White Noise Lite is a great application designed to help reduce stress levels. Its main function is to relax users and cut noise around them – both literally and metaphorically.

You can use this tool in different scenarios. For instance, the annoying sounds of instruments, traffic, ambulances will no longer be a problem for you. White Noise Lite takes care of covering them, so you don’t hear them and don’t get distracted.

Are you one of those who finds it difficult to sleep? Do you have a baby at home who wakes up easily when taking naps? With this app, you can control these inconveniences, so it goes beyond being an exclusive tool for work.

White Noise Lite’s catalog of tunes ranges from beach waves, wind blowing, and 40 others. In addition, you will also be able to combine different sounds simultaneously to make the experience even more relaxing.

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16. MindNode – best for brainstorming and capturing your thoughts

Another app for creative fuel, MindNode is a productivity app for Mac designed for thinkers. If you are a person who comes up with thousands of ideas every day, this application is for you! It’s an excellent tool to capture thoughts that you want to come back to later.

In this app, you can store all your thoughts differently, e.g. through images, notes, words, or links. In addition, you can organize everything hierarchically through mind maps or diagrams.

MindNode customizes each mind map with stickers and custom designs. You can also export to text files and many visual formats.

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17. Ulysses – best for focused writing experience

Writers of any kind have got to try Ulysses! With the design so simple and easy on the eye, users can truly focus on what they write.

One of the best parts of Ulysses is that when writing, you don’t have to worry about saving the document. The app saves your work as you write, allowing you to immerse yourself exclusively in what you are doing. It also has a built-in proofreader and editing assistant to detect possible errors or inconsistencies in the text.

Thanks to the export feature, you can create eBooks, export in all common text formats, or publish directly to WordPress, Medium, or Ghost.

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18. Craft – best for collaborative note-taking and document creation

Craft is a versatile app for organizing ideas, writing notes, and creating documents. Its clean interface and powerful features make it easy to format content, embed media, and link notes for better organization. Craft focuses on creating visually appealing documents while maintaining simplicity.

Not to mention, the app is ideal for collaboration, allowing users to share notes and documents with teammates and edit them in real-time. Integration with tools like Calendar and Files ensures your work stays connected and accessible. All in all, Craft offers a seamless way to capture and share your thoughts.

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19. Widgetsmith – best for personalized widgets

Widgetsmith is a simple yet powerful app that lets you create custom widgets for your Mac. You can design widgets for various purposes, such as calendars, weather updates, reminders, or even photos. The app offers a wide range of styles and customization options, allowing you to tailor the widgets to fit your needs and preferences.

With its intuitive interface, Widgetsmith makes it easy to set up and manage widgets that suit your workflow. You can adjust fonts, colors, and layouts to create a personalized desktop experience. If you’re looking to stay organized or add a unique touch to your Mac, Widgetsmith makes your screen both functional and visually appealing.

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20. Keynote – best for creating professional presentations

Lastly, Keynote is Apple’s dedicated app for designing and delivering visually stunning presentations. It provides a wide range of templates, animations, and tools to craft slides that stand out. Whether for business meetings or creative showcases, Keynote helps users bring ideas to life with style.

All in all, the app supports real-time collaboration, allowing users to edit presentations across devices. Its integration with other Apple apps and iCloud also ensures easy access and sharing. Generally, Keynote simplifies the process of creating impactful presentations.

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Reddit Recommends: Top Mac Productivity Apps

The r/macapps subreddit is a goldmine of recommendations for boosting productivity and optimizing your Mac experience. In fact, here’s a curated list of the most popular suggestions from Redditors:

• Itsycal: A lightweight, menu-bar calendar app with keyboard shortcuts for quick access.
• PopClip: Enables quick access to useful actions like copying, pasting, and even searching with a simple mouse selection.
• AnyBox: A bookmarking app for various things, for example, links, videos, photos, and more. Ideal for keeping your digital life in order.
• GoodLinks: A sleek, native alternative to Pocket or Instapaper, with features like highlighting for content curation.
• Obsidian: A robust note-taking app with powerful organization and extension options, ideal for building a second brain.
• Raycast: A versatile app launcher with advanced features for streamlining workflows.
• DropZone and DropOver: File management tools for easier drag-and-drop organization. Furthermore, some users suggest integrating both for maximum functionality.
• Hazel: Automates file organization to keep your desktop tidy and your folders structured.
• Day One: A premium journaling app to capture daily thoughts and memories.
• BetterTouchTool: Customizes your Mac’s gestures and shortcuts for optimized navigation and productivity.

Insights from Reddit discussions

• Community favorite: Many users highlighted Itsycal and Alfred as essential for everyday productivity.
• Unique use cases: Apps like Bear and GoodLinks stood out for creative professionals managing notes and reading lists.
• Automation tools: Apps like Hazel and BetterTouchTool received praise for simplifying repetitive tasks.
• Debates: Some users shared concerns about apps like Bartender under new ownership, while alternatives like DropOver were suggested for those seeking feature-packed replacements.

All things considered, if you’re looking for more ideas, dive into the threads or test some of these tools to enhance your Mac experience.

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Mac Productivity Apps: In Closing

In conclusion, Everhour stands out as the premier choice among the myriad of productivity applications on the market. Its seamless integration with leading PM tools, intuitive interface, and responsive customer support position it as a promising solution for small businesses and teams alike. Moreover, with its specialized time tracking, project management, budgeting, and reporting, Everhour offers a holistic approach to optimizing workflows and boosting productivity. So, why wait? Try Everhour today and see how it can transform your time management and project coordination!