20 Free Productivity Tools for Entrepreneurs [2023 Edition]

Being productive is a superpower in 2023. It's so easy to get distracted or get lost in the endless emails, especially if you are an Entrepreneur.

That's why we collected 20 productivity tools with amazing free plans for Startup Founders. We've divided productivity tools into five categories:

• Project management
• Focus & Time management
• Note-taking
• Communication & Collaboration
• Automation & Integration

Let's start with tools for managing projects.

Project management

1. ClickUp

ClickUp is an all-in-one suite to manage people, projects, and everything in between. There're features like tasks, subtasks, reminders, task priorities, time tracking, custom views, goals, dependencies, and custom statuses.

With ClickUp, you will stop switching between multiple tools. This tool is a perfect choice for managing everything on one platform.

Top features

• 15+ dashboard views
• templates for any process
• time estimates and time tracking
• real-time reporting

Pricing

Free Forever Plan is the best option for personal use. This is an excellent pick for solopreneurs and indie hackers.

Paid pricing is a good choice for teams of 3 and more. Plans start from only $5 per user/month.

2. FigJam

FigJam is an online whiteboard to ideate and brainstorm. It has a lot of templates for diagrams, sprint designs, mood boards, meeting templates, and more.

It can help you (your team) stay organized, brainstorm creative solutions, and focus on important tasks.

Top features

• reactions and votes
• audio comments (paid version)
• templates for all processes
• icebreakers and games

Pricing

There are a significant number of features available with the free FigJam version. If you want to go beyond 3 FigJam files and get extra features, choose paid pricing option (from $12 per user/month).

3. TeamGantt

TeamGantt is effortless project planning and collaboration tool. Intuitive, beautiful Gantt charts combined with task-level communication and file sharing.

Top features

• drag & drop right in the Gantt chart
• workloads & team availability tracking
• built-in team collaboration
• planned timeline vs. actual timeline in 1 graph

Pricing

Free plan is great for personal use or small projects. It includes one manager (plus two collaborators), one project, and 60 tasks.

Paid plans start from $19 per user/month.

4. Trello

Trello is the ultimate project management tool. Start a board in seconds, automate tedious tasks, and collaborate anywhere, even on mobile.

Top features

• tasks automation
• templates from industry leaders
• different board view options
• integration with all popular services

Pricing

Free plan is great for individuals or small teams. It includes up to 10 boards per workspace.

Paid plans start from $5 per user/month.

Focus & Time management

5. Calendly

Calendly works with your calendar to automate appointment scheduling. It is your hub for scheduling meetings professionally and efficiently, eliminating the hassle of back-and-forth emails so you can get back to work.

Top features

• fully optimized for all devices
• can be embedded with websites
• calendar integration
• group events (paid plan)

Pricing

Free plan is great for individuals. It includes one event type and all basic features and integration possibilities.

Paid plans start from $5 per user/month. They include extra features like collective one-offs, group events, automated workflows, and customization possibilities.

6. SelfControl

SelfControl is a free and open-source application for macOS that lets you block your access to distracting websites, mail servers, or anything else on the Internet.

Top features

• no excuses, if the site is blocked → no access till the timer ends

Pricing

100% Free!

7. Pomofocus

Pomofocus is a customizable Pomodoro timer that works on desktop & mobile browsers. This app aims to help you focus on any task you are working on, such as studying, writing, or coding.

Don't know about the Pomodoro technique? Here's a 5-minute video!

Top features

• minimalistic and straight-to-the-point design (desktop & mobile)
• short & long break options
• ability to list tasks
• audio notification ****at the end of a timer period

Pricing

100% Free!

8. Toggl track

Toggl track is, well, tracking software. Track your or employee's time, create reports, and calculate profitability.

Top features

• one-click Timer
• 100+ integrations
• tracks time on web apps, desktop, and mobile apps
• intuitive design

Pricing

Free plan is perfect for solopreneurs and freelancers. All essential features included - unlimited projects, clients, and tags; unlimited time tracking; automated time tracking triggers.

Paid plans start from $9 per user/month and include billable rates, projected time estimates, project templates, and more.

Note-taking

9. Notion

Notion is a project management and note-taking tool. It's designed to help individuals or team members coordinate deadlines, objectives, and assignments for efficiency and productivity.

Top features

• a quick search around all workspaces
• easy and convenient page references
• different access options
• strong community

Pricing

Free plan is a good match for personal usage. No pages & blocks limitation, five guests included

Paid team plans start from $8 per user/month and are perfect for companies. Collaborative workspace, sharing permissions, and admin tools included.

10. Evernote

Evernote is a notepad app to take notes, share, organize, and store straight on your device. Keep your notes, tasks, and schedule all in one place.

Top features

• notes sync automatically to all your devices
• add text, images, audio, scans, PDFs, and documents
• flexible search capabilities
• connect your Google Calendar

Pricing

Free plan is great for personal usage. Sync up to 2 devices, upload up to 60 MB monthly, and get 25 MB max. note size for free.

Paid plans start from $7.99 per user/month. They include customization, team functions, custom templates, more storage, and many more.

11. Obsidian

Obsidian is a powerful knowledge management software. With a local folder of plain text markdown files and note publishing ability, Obsidian provides knowledge building blocks.

Top features

• all notes are connected
• graph view of your notes
• create backlinks
• always available

Pricing

Free plan is an excellent choice for personal usage. No account or signup required, community support included.

Paid plans start from $25 per user/month and include early access to insider builds and commercial usage.

12. Loom

Loom is a screen recording tool. Record your screen and camera with one click and share that content instantly with a link.

Top features

• instantly share the video anywhere
• start record in 1 click
• instant video editing
• drawing tool & mouse emphasis

Pricing

Free plan is a good choice for personal usage. You'll be able to create 25 videos with a time limitation of up to 5 min/video. If you invite friends, you can get unlimited free credits.

Paid plan is $8 per user/month. It has unlimited videos and no length limitations. Perfect solution for those who need it professionally.

Communication & Collaboration

13. Grammarly

Grammarly is a cloud-based typing assistant that reviews spelling, grammar, punctuation, clarity, engagement, and delivery mistakes.

It uses artificial intelligence to identify and search for an appropriate replacement for the error it locates. Briefly, you won't have misspellings with this app.

Top features

• checks grammar and spelling
• gives suggestions to improve your writing style
• works with different apps (desktop & browser versions)
• built-in solution that corrects you as you go

Pricing

Free plan will help you with all common mistakes: grammar, spelling, punctuation, and conciseness. That's enough for a simple check.

Premium plan starts from $12/month and helps with clarity, vocabulary, and tone improvements.

14. Spark

Spark is the best personal email client. No jokes. It reduces the noise by only notifying you about emails from people you know.

Top features

• add all your email boxes
• intelligent email prioritization
• follow up reminders
• postponing emails

Pricing

Free plan is an ideal option for personal usage and small teams. You get 5 GB storage, two active collaborators, and five email templates per team.

Paid plan is $6.4 per user/month. For this price, you get 10 GB of storage per team member, unlimited collaborators and email templates, and more premium features.

15. Discord

Discord is a community platform. Users can communicate with voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media, and files in private chats or community groups (servers).

Top features

• special built-in discord Integrations
• customized reactions
• flexible server design
• free bots to improve engagement

Pricing

Discord is 100% Free. All functions are included!

However, there's a paid option for $9.99 per month - Discord Nitro. It allows you to upgrade your emoji and enjoy bigger file uploads.

16. Slack

Slack is a messaging software explicitly designed for teams and communities. At the heart of Slack are channels: organized spaces for everyone and everything you need for work.

Top features

• 2200+ integrations with all common tools
• good data protection for close teams
• different accessibility levels
• routine actions automation

Pricing

Free plan is suitable for small teams and communities. With this plan, you can access 10,000 of your team's most recent messages and ten integrations.

Paid plans start from $6.7 per user/month and include a full story, call capabilities, and unlimited integrations.

Automation & Integration

17. Zapier

Zapier allows you to integrate web applications and automate workflows across 5,000+ apps. With automation, you can move faster by optimizing your routine tasks.

Top features

• if/then logic for automation
• filters to choose conditions for trigger
• multi-step automation (paid)
• formatting step to transform data into the format you need (paid)

Pricing

Free plan is perfect for personal usage. With this plan, you can have 100 tasks /mo, five automation, and 1-trigger automation.

Paid plans start from $19.99. You have more task balance, automation, filters, and team options with paid plans.

18. IFTTT

IFTTT helps to connect and automate apps and devices. It's the leading no-code platform on mobile.

Top features

• simple no-code interface
• the easiest solution to automatically share your content across platforms
• customization opportunities
• fast support

Pricing

Free plan is an excellent option for solopreneurs and freelancers. You get five free automation options, unlimited runs, and no-code integrations.

Paid plans start from $3 per month and include more automation, multi-action automation, and prioritized customer support.

19. Magical

With no integrations and a simple keystroke, Magical lets anyone automate tasks by moving data between tabs. Populate messages, sheets & forms without the time-consuming copy-paste.

Top features

• one-click automation
• reduced copy-and-paste between tabs
• integrations with all common apps
• easy-to-start solution: no APIs, integrations, or credentials

Pricing

100% Free Chrome extension!

20. Bardeen

Bardeen saves you time by automating repetitive tasks with a shortcut. It combines a powerful workflow builder, AI-based recommendations, and contextual automation.

Top features

• run automation without leaving your browser window
• built-in AI help
• catalog with hundreds of automation for the most common workflows
• triggers run your workflows automatically

Pricing

100% Free!

Conclusion

Finding the right productivity tool can be a challenge for Entrepreneurs.

If you are anything like me, you hate spending time on it. Especially when you can build and promote your startup.