Top 10 Free Productivity Apps to Use in 2026

Todoist nails minimalist task capture and sync—but the free plan caps projects at 5, no task dependencies. Best for: individuals and small teams doing linear to-do lists.

Todoist

Obsidian wins on privacy (notes stay local as Markdown) and knowledge linking, but first-time users report convoluted setup taking months to master. Best for: solo knowledge workers.

Obsidian

Trello's Kanban boards are intuitive with comprehensive free plans, but users hit walls on complex projects—no Gantt charts, no dependencies. Best for: small teams, straightforward workflows.

Trello

Linear built for engineering teams is blazingly fast—but it's overkill for non-technical teams. Best for: software teams, startups, places that use GitHub.

Linear

ClickUp has jaw-dropping feature density and 4.7/5 rating, but new users feel lost in options before creating a task. Best for: power users and agencies.

ClickUp

Google's holy trinity—Gmail, Drive, Docs—is free with 15GB storage. BUT it has less offline functionality, and Google sometimes removes features. Best for: individuals, classrooms, teams in Google ecosystem.

Google Workspace

Asana wins on intuitive interface and multiple views (list, board, timeline, portfolio), but the pricing wall is steep—timelines require Premium. Best for: mid-size teams with budgets.

Asana

Open source means you own your data forever—notes stay local, graph view is beautiful. BUT it's less polished, updates can break things. Best for: people paranoid about vendor lock-in.

Logseq

OneNote offers exceptional ink and media support with familiar Word-like interface and free tier, but navigation is clunky. Best for: stylus users and Microsoft Office ecosystem.

Microsoft OneNote