18 best Mac productivity apps to get more done in 2026

Introduction

You run several work contexts on one Mac. Deep work, calls, writing, design. Each needs its own set of apps and windows, and switching between them by hand eats the day. Copied text vanishes the second you copy the next thing.

This guide covers the best Mac productivity apps for 2026: 18 tools that cut that overhead, what each does best, and how they stack up. The list mixes free and paid picks across launchers, window and workspace tools, notes, tasks, and focus, and it favors keyboard-first apps. One disclosure up front: Spud is ours, and we list it honestly next to real competitors.

Key takeaways

• Spud wins for window and workspace management, because it restores every window to its exact position and reopens closed apps and browser tabs.
• Rectangle is the best free window snapper, open source and hard to beat at hotkey tiling.
• For launchers, pick Raycast for a modern extensions platform, or Alfred for a one-time purchase.
• For a notes system, pick Notion for docs plus databases, or Obsidian for local-first data ownership.
• For tasks, pick Things for Apple-only focus, or Todoist for cross-device lists.

How to choose: start with the part of your workflow that is failing now, rather than the trendiest app.

Comparison table

The best Mac productivity apps

These are the 18 apps worth installing, starting with the one built for the switching problem itself.

1. Spud

Spud is a macOS menu-bar app that saves and restores full window workspaces with one keystroke. Every window returns to its exact position, size, and stacking order (z-order), closed apps relaunch, and closed browser tabs reopen without duplicates. It is built for keyboard-first Mac users who juggle several work contexts.

Save a layout with ⌃⌥ S, jump to a named workspace with a number key, and the apps that belong to other contexts get hidden. Unplug an external display and the layout re-places itself proportionally on the laptop screen. Spud also has a searchable clipboard history, snippets (⌃ Space), a searchable screenshot history, and Talk (⌃ T), which reads copied text aloud.

Pricing: a free tier that lasts forever, Spud Pro at $4.99/month for unlimited use, and a 10-day trial with no card and no sign-up. Spud is a direct download from eatspud.com, signed and notarized, and not in the Mac App Store, which means no sandbox limits on window management. It needs Accessibility permission to read and move other apps' windows. If you want the full walkthrough, see how Spud saves and restores window layouts on macOS.

Honest note: Spud is newly launched, so no credible third-party review (G2, Capterra, Trustpilot, or a recognized publication) exists yet. We would rather say that plainly than invent one.

2. Rectangle

Rectangle is a free, open-source window manager that snaps and tiles windows with hotkeys or drag-to-snap areas. Best for no-cost window snapping.

• Keyboard shortcuts for halves, thirds, and quarters.
• Drag windows to edges and corners to snap; portrait layouts supported.
• Repeat a shortcut to cycle through window sizes.
• A near drop-in replacement for the discontinued Spectacle app.

Pricing: free and open source. Rectangle Pro is a one-time $9.99 (not a subscription), and one license covers up to 3 Macs with a 10-day trial.

Review: on Medium, a two-year user wrote that Rectangle "does keyboard-driven window snapping better than anything else at its price point (which is zero dollars)" (Roberta Micore, Medium). That source is a tech blog, not a G2-class platform, since free tools rarely carry business-software ratings.

3. Raycast

Raycast is a modern, keyboard-driven launcher with a deep extensions ecosystem. Best for keyboard-first workflows and developers.

• App launching, calculator, and quicklinks from one bar.
• Clipboard history and snippets.
• Built-in window management.
• Community extensions for tools like GitHub and Slack.

Pricing: the core launcher is free forever. Raycast Pro adds Raycast AI, Cloud Sync, and unlimited clipboard history for $8/month billed annually, with a 14-day Pro trial.

Review: a verified G2 reviewer flagged the honest trade-off. They noted "there is a steep learning curve, as to get full potential of the application there are many text and keyboard shortcuts to learn" (G2).

4. Alfred

Alfred is a veteran launcher that rewards customization with workflows and snippets. Best for users who want a one-time-purchase launcher with deep control.

• Fast app launching, web search, calculator, and system commands (all free).
• Powerpack unlocks clipboard history, snippets, and file navigation.
• Universal Actions and Workflows for custom automations.
• Syncs preferences and workflows across Macs via iCloud Drive or Dropbox.

Pricing: the core launcher is free. The Powerpack is a one-time upgrade with no subscription. The Single User license is £34 (one user, two Macs), and the Mega Supporter license is £59 with lifetime free updates.

Review: MacStories named Alfred its 2025 Readers' Choice Award winner, writing that "what sets Alfred apart is that it can be whatever its users want to make of it" (MacStories).

5. Bartender

Bartender is a menu-bar organizer that hides, reorders, and reveals icons on demand. Best for taming a crowded menu bar.

• Choose which items stay visible, stay hidden, or appear on a trigger.
• Reveal hidden items by click, hover, scroll, or swipe.
• Notch-aware, with a secondary "Bartender Bar" for overflow items.
• Presets, custom hotkeys, and menu-bar styling.

Pricing: Bartender 6 is a one-time purchase of about $20, with a 4-week free trial and no card required. A Bartender Pro tier (about $15/year) adds the Top Shelf feature and future major upgrades, and a lifetime option exists.

Review: TheSweetBits concluded that "Bartender 6 remains an excellent choice if you just want to clean up your menu bar, automate icons with presets and triggers, and customize the look and feel" (TheSweetBits).

6. Things

Things is a calm, native Apple task manager focused on quick capture and a readable Today view. Best for solo, Apple-only personal task management.

• To-Dos, Projects, Areas, and headings for structure.
• Today and This Evening views for planning the day.
• Tags, checklists, time-based reminders, and Quick Find.
• Things Cloud sync across Apple devices.

Pricing: a one-time purchase per platform ($49.99 on Mac), with no subscription and a 15-day Mac trial. There is no permanent free version.

Review: Things holds a 4.4/5 rating across 29 reviews on G2. A reviewer praised that it "adheres to the GTD Methodology extremely well" and has "a clean, minimalist UI" (G2).

7. Todoist

Todoist is a cross-platform task manager that works across Mac, browser, phone, and Windows. Best for mixed-device and shared task lists.

• Natural-language quick add.
• Filters and labels.
• List, board, and calendar views.
• Shared projects and 80+ integrations (Slack, Google Calendar, Outlook).

Pricing: a free Beginner plan covers up to 5 active projects. Pro is $5/month billed annually (raised from $4 in December 2025), and Business is $8/user/month.

Review: Todoist holds a 4.5/5 rating across 800+ reviews on G2. A reviewer called the natural-language entry "incredibly useful and how I enter tasks most of the time" (G2).

8. Notion

Notion is a flexible workspace for notes, docs, and lightweight databases in one place. Best for combined planning and documentation.

• Block editor for docs and notes.
• Relational databases with multiple views.
• Built-in AI, templates, and teamspaces.
• Cross-platform sync.

Pricing: free for personal use (unlimited pages for individuals). Plus is $10/seat/month billed annually, Business is $20/seat/month, and Enterprise is custom.

Review: Notion holds a 4.6/5 rating across 13,769 reviews on G2. A reviewer wrote that "Notion makes it so easy to manage my project" (G2).

9. Obsidian

Obsidian is a local-first Markdown notes app with backlinks and a large plugin ecosystem. Best for study systems and personal knowledge management with full data ownership.

• Plain-file Markdown you own on disk.
• Bidirectional links and a graph view.
• A large plugin ecosystem and Canvas.
• Full offline use.

Pricing: free for personal use with all app features and no account required. The Sync add-on is about $4–5/month, and a commercial license is $50/user/year.

Review: a verified G2 reviewer wrote that "Obsidian is incredibly quick and adaptable" (G2). The same reviewer valued that "all of my notes are kept locally in plain text." G2 notes there are not yet enough Obsidian reviews for an aggregate score.

10. Bear

Bear is a clean, fast Apple-only notes app for writing and quick capture. Best for low-maintenance writing and notes.

• Inline Markdown editor.
• Nested tags.
• Encrypted notes and iCloud sync.
• Flexible export.

Pricing: a free tier covers the basics. Bear Pro is about $2.99/month or $29.99/year and adds sync, themes, and advanced export.

Review: Bear holds a 4.5/5 rating across 11 reviews on Capterra. A reviewer wrote, "If you want a simple, well-designed, easy to use notes app, I can't recommend Bear enough" (Capterra).

11. Fantastical

Fantastical is a calendar app with strong natural-language event entry. Best for scheduling-heavy days.

• Plain-English event creation.
• Day, week, month, and year views.
• Scheduling links (Openings, Proposals) and built-in tasks.
• Integrates with Google Calendar, Microsoft 365, Exchange, and iCloud.

Pricing: a free tier covers basic calendar views. Flexibits Premium is $6.99/month or $56.99/year with a 14-day trial, and Family Premium is $10.49/month or $89.99/year.

Review: after three weeks of testing, TheSweetBits called Fantastical "one of the most polished and powerful calendar apps on macOS" (TheSweetBits).

12. 1Password

1Password is a polished password manager that saves time on every login. Best for secure sign-ins and passkeys.

• Universal autofill across apps and browsers.
• Watchtower alerts for weak or breached logins.
• Passkey support and secure sharing.
• Developer tools for storing secrets and keys.

Pricing: there is no permanent free tier, but a 14-day trial is available. The Individual plan is about $3.99/month, and Families runs about $4.49–6.99/month for up to 5 users.

Review: 1Password holds a 4.6/5 rating across 1,554 reviews on G2. A five-year user wrote, "I can't imagine working without it" after testing rivals (G2).

13. Grammarly

Grammarly is a writing assistant that error-checks grammar and clarity across macOS apps and the browser. Best for cleaning up everyday writing.

• System-wide grammar and spelling checks.
• Tone and clarity suggestions.
• AI rephrasing.
• Plagiarism detection across desktop and browser.

Pricing: a free tier covers real-time grammar and spelling plus 100 AI prompts per month. Pro is $12/month billed annually with 2,000 AI prompts per month, and Enterprise is custom.

Review: Grammarly holds a 4.7/5 rating across 13,375 reviews on G2 (G2).

14. CleanShot X

CleanShot X is a screenshot and screen-recording tool with annotation and sharing. Best for fast, annotated screen captures.

• Region and scrolling capture.
• Annotation tools and OCR.
• GIF and video recording.
• Pin-to-screen and cloud sharing.

Pricing: a one-time purchase of $29 (one year of updates and 1GB cloud storage included; renewals $19/year). A Cloud Pro subscription is $8/month billed annually for unlimited cloud, with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Review: a verified G2 reviewer wrote that CleanShot X "provides a better solution than the native app for screen capture and recording" (G2).

15. Amphetamine

Amphetamine is a free utility that keeps a Mac awake on your terms. Best for preventing sleep during long tasks or downloads.

• Keep-awake sessions from a simple on/off switch.
• Automatic triggers by app, connected device, or external display.
• Keeps a download from letting the Mac sleep.
• Works with the lid closed.

Pricing: free, distributed on the Mac App Store.

Review: a verified Mac App Store reviewer wrote that "this is a free app that is made very well" (Mac App Store). Community sources put its rating around 4.8/5 from 1,400+ ratings, so treat that star figure as approximate.

16. Freedom

Freedom is a focus app that blocks distracting sites and apps across your devices. Best for enforcing deep-work time.

• Block individual domains or the whole internet.
• Scheduled and recurring blocks.
• Locked Mode you can't easily undo.
• Focus sounds and cross-device session sync.

Pricing: a free trial covers 7 sessions. Premium is $8.99/month or $39.99/year, and a lifetime plan is also offered.

Review: Freedom holds a 4.8/5 rating across 6 reviews on G2. A reviewer wrote, "It simply blocks websites and apps that are distracting to me, across all devices and platforms" (G2).

17. Clockify

Clockify is a time tracker with reports and a built-in Pomodoro timer. Best for tracking where work hours go.

• One-click timer and manual entry.
• Project and tag tracking.
• Pomodoro timer and auto tracker.
• Detailed reports and Google Calendar integration.

Pricing: a free plan gives unlimited tracking, users, and projects. Paid tiers run from $3.99/user/month (Basic) up to $7.99/user/month (Pro).

Review: Clockify holds a 4.5/5 rating across 190 reviews on G2 (G2). A Capterra reviewer noted that even the free level offers "Unlimited tracking, users, projects and reports" (Capterra).

18. Yoink

Yoink is a temporary shelf that makes drag-and-drop across apps easier. Best for moving files and content between windows.

• An edge-of-screen shelf that appears when you start dragging.
• Holds files and app content.
• Built-in clipboard history.
• Wide file-type support and heavy customization.

Pricing: a one-time purchase of $8.99, with a 28-day free trial, via the Mac App Store or direct download.

Review: a verified Mac App Store reviewer wrote that "Yoink really has become one of my essential apps" (Mac App Store).

Buying guide

Pick by the bottleneck, not by the category with the most apps. If a single job is slowing you down, a focused tool wins. Rectangle handles free window snapping, Bartender cleans up the menu bar, Amphetamine keeps the Mac awake, and Yoink parks files you are dragging between apps. Each does one thing and gets out of the way.

For notes and tasks, match the tool to your devices. Things and Bear stay inside the Apple world and feel calm. Todoist, Notion, and Fantastical follow you onto Windows and the web.

A multi-tool like Spud makes sense once the friction is the switching itself. Say you rebuild the same set of windows several times a day, or lose copied text and closed tabs on every context change. One app that saves and restores the whole layout beats stitching together four utilities. Start with the pain that costs you the most minutes.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best free productivity app for Mac?

It depends on the job. Rectangle is the strongest free window snapper, and Raycast is a free keyboard launcher. Obsidian is free for personal knowledge management, and Todoist has a usable free task tier. The trade-off is that free tiers often cap advanced features, such as Raycast AI or Todoist's project limit, behind a paid plan.

What is the best Mac app for window management?

There are two answers. For free snapping and tiling, Rectangle is hard to beat. For saving and restoring whole layouts, use Spud. It restores each window to its exact position, size, and stacking order, relaunches closed apps, and reopens closed browser tabs without duplicates. If your problem is rebuilding the same desktop over and over, Spud is the better fit.

Do these apps work on Apple silicon and current macOS?

Yes, in general. The apps here support Apple silicon, and most support Intel too. Requirements vary, so check each app's site for the exact macOS version. Spud requires macOS 26 Tahoe or later and runs on both Apple silicon and Intel.

How do I install Spud, and is it in the Mac App Store?

Spud is a direct download from eatspud.com, signed and notarized by Blastoise, LLC. It is not in the Mac App Store. The direct download is a plus for a window manager, since it avoids the App Store sandbox limits that restrict moving other apps' windows.

Conclusion

The best pick is the one that fixes the part of your day that is failing now. Losing whole afternoons to re-arranging windows and hunting for copied text is its own bottleneck. If that is you, and your hands already live on the keyboard, start with Spud. Let it save and restore your work contexts for you.

Try Spud free →