Best Productivity Apps For Mac In 2024

The best Macs are serious productivity devices on their own at baseline, especially with the updates we got in macOS Sonoma and what will be coming our way in macOS Sequoia. While the default Mac apps are good enough, you can elevate your Mac setup with useful productivity tools. Some productivity apps are specific to certain verticals, like GarageBand for musicians and CameraBag Pro for photographers. However, many productivity apps for Mac can be useful for all types of workers, from business executives to freelancers and students. Here, we highlight 10 of the best productivity-enhancing apps you’ll find.

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First 10 things to do with a new Mac

Bought a new Mac recently? Check off these things first and familiarize yourself with Apple’s desktop OS.

1 Alfred 5

An app for finding things more quickly

Alfred 5 is designed to offer greater efficiency when searching for documents, files, and other content on your Mac and across the web. It accomplishes this through hotkeys, keywords, text expansion, and other features. You can add custom actions and controls via keyboard shortcuts. Over time, Alfred learns how you use your Mac and prioritizes results accordingly so you can get to what you need quickly. There’s a Clipboard History and Snippets feature, so you don’t have to punch in the same URL over and over: just use the clipboard to find what you need, and copy and paste it quickly.

The latest version of the app has a new Workflow Editor that offers keyboard shortcuts, new mouse interactions, a customizable and searchable palette, and VoiceOver accessibility. The overarching benefit of all the features in Alfred 5 is being able to get things done more quickly and efficiently. An Alfred 5 single license costs around $43 (£34) as a one-time payment.

Alfred

2 1Password

Securely store and call up all your passwords

There are only so many passwords the human brain can remember, especially when proper security protocols involve using unique and secure ones for each service you use. Mac computers with Touch ID and Keychain make it simple to store passwords for easy retrieval and one-touch logins. But being able to manage all your passwords in one secure place is a benefit as a backup. With 1Password, you can manage passwords for everything from website logins to credit card accounts, secure notes, and more. It’s like a notepad back-up of written passwords but in secure, digital form.

Arguably the most useful feature in 1Password, however, is Watchtower, which monitors services for password breaches or other security issues and presents the data to you on a convenient dashboard. You can also export your data as a CSV file. A new beta version includes updated descriptions for that along with a few additional upgrades. The pricing starts at $3 per month.

1Password

3 Fantastical

A calendar app on steroids

This calendar management app provides a single, unified place to keep on top of appointments, reminders, and to-do lists. But what sets it apart is the ability to use natural language to create events and tasks. Type in “Zoom call with XDA on Thursday at 1 p.m.” and the appointment will automatically be added to your calendar. Or you could add something like “remind me to take the roast out of the freezer on Monday morning” and that will be plotted into your calendar as well. It offers visually appealing views of your calendar by day, week, month, even quarter and year. Access mini windows, tasks, adjust time zones, and more. The best part: it’s free to use, though you can upgrade to the Flexibits tier to gain access to your Fantastical calendars on iPhone, Apple Watch, and iPad as well, schedule events based on availability, add video conference call details, and more.

Fantastical

4 Arc browser

A unique take on web browsing

There is no shortage of web browsers on Mac. Although Safari has improved a lot in recent years, most Mac users simply switch to a Chromium browser to unlock all extensions and a better overall experience. Among them, the newest entrant in the space, Arc browser, is worth taking a closer look at.

Arc offers a unique UI with a sidebar, a robust theming engine to change the entire look of the app and websites, different profiles to manage tabs, and more. Features is where Arc differentiates itself from other browsers on the market. Arc Max has a bunch of useful AI tools to elevate your browsing setup, Arc Integrations works with popular web services to show the latest updates right on the sidebar, Arc Easel is an infinite whiteboard to brainstorm ideas along with your research, and finally, we have Arc Boost to change the entire look of your favorite websites.

If you are of two minds about Arc and Chrome, read our dedicated comparison guide to learn more.

Arc Browser

5 Cleanshot X

A robust screenshot tool

The default Mac screenshot tool hasn’t received any major feature additions in the last few years, and it remains basic at best. While there are a bunch of screenshot tools on Mac, Cleanshot X easily stands out for obvious reasons.

Cleanshot X is highly customizable and lets you assign any shortcut for taking screenshots. You can even record the screen in different resolutions, trim video, and make other tweaks. One of Cleanshot X’s biggest USPs is the default editor. You can add annotations, mask confidential details, add beautiful backgrounds, add text, numbers, and more. It’s a must-have tool for online educators and anyone taking a high number of screenshots on their Mac. Cleanshot X is priced at $29 as a one-time payment.

Cleanshot X

6 Bartender 5

Don’t get too excited now – liquids and electronics don’t play well together. Bartender is serving up something perhaps even better: a no-brainer productivity tool for MacBook users with a notch. Due to a notch in the middle, macOS can’t keep all the menu bar icons visible at the top. If you have too many apps and services running in the background, they may not appear in the menu bar. Here’s where Bartender comes into play.

Bartender gives you total control over your Mac menu bar. You can create different groups at the top and organize your menu bar items accordingly. It also supports a feature-rich editor to change menu bar style, thickness, color, shadow, and more. Bartender also supports presets to auto-set the right menu bar items for your current workflow. It costs $16 as a one-time payment.

7 Craft

Craft documents in style

Craft is a productivity powerhouse that can replace several apps on your Mac. Even though there are capable note-taking and word processor apps on Mac, nothing comes close to Craft in terms of esthetics and execution. You can create a workspace, add folders, and start adding pages.

Craft uses a modern block editor, offers beautiful backgrounds to elevate your pages, and has a range of editing tools to complete your draft like a pro. It also supports reminders, tables, multi-tabs, and the ability to publish your page on the web. Craft has nailed real-time collaboration, too. You can invite your team members and use reactions and comments to keep your page up-to-date.

Craft also has a neat AI assistant to help you with long documents, a whiteboard to map out plans on a canvas, and presentation mode. The pricing starts at $8 per month. If you wonder what the difference is between Craft and OneNote, check our comparison guide to learn more.

Craft

8 Paste

An ultimate clipboard manager

Paste is the best clipboard manager on Mac. It offers a unique way to keep, search, and organize everything you copy on your Mac. And since Paste is available for iPhone and iPad, you can access your copied items on other devices, too.

The best part of Paste is its powerful search menu. You can simply search for an app (from which you have copied text) and find the text in no time. You can also create different folders, such as Links, Notes, Emails, and more, to keep your clipboard items neatly organized. Whether you are a designer, developer, or work in marketing, you can’t go wrong with Paste. It costs $30 per year.

Paste

9 Timing

Track your Mac usage in style

macOS already comes with a Screen Time function, but it leaves a lot to be desired. Here’s where third-party solutions come into play, and Timing remains our top pick for its neat set of features.

Timing supports tracking across all your favorite apps, including Notion, Obsidian, Final Cut Pro, Microsoft 365 apps, web browsers, and more. Timing tracks time spent on phone calls, meetings, calendar events, and more. Like Screen Time, it works across all devices and shows your iPhone and iPad usage, too.

You can also manage your team’s time, use calendar integration, and improve overall productivity. It’s a must-have tool for freelancers who work on hourly projects. The pricing starts at $9 per month.

Timing

10 Chronicle

Keep your bills in check

Chronicle is your ultimate bill manager on Mac. You can manage all your bills, subscriptions, and other recurring payments like a pro. Apart from reminders, it supports detailed reports, graphs, forecasts, annual spending, and more. You can track your spending via a neat calendar integration and plan your finances accordingly. The app is available on iPhone and iPad, too. Chronicle Pro pricing starts at $12 per year.

Chronicle

Make your workdays more efficient

Naturally, you don’t want to load your Mac computer or MacBook up with too many third-party apps. But when you find ones that really help streamline your workday and increase productivity, they are worth the space they take up on the hard drive. If you have a powerful new MacBook like the MacBook Pro (M3 Max, 2023), you can truly harness the benefits of many of these and other popular productivity apps.

Start with Arc browser and give a few of the other apps on this list a try. You may find after using a calendar app like Fantastical, for example, or a communications docking app like Station, that you can’t believe how you ever lived without it. These 10 apps are just the tip of the iceberg, though. There are plenty of other useful productivity apps for different workflows.