It can be difficult to know what types of programs or the top apps for productivity will work best for you as you start a freelance business. Usually, it takes a little trial and error, and you add tools as you discover you need them and then evolve in your solopreneur journey. It’s been more than two decades since I started freelancing. There are some new programs and software for freelancers I’ve discovered since I expanded my business, and there are some programs I’ve been using from the beginning.
I’ll share my favorite tools that help me stay organized and productive and some of the reasons I like them over other popular products on the market. In some cases, I’ll tell you about apps that I think sound interesting but I haven’t started using them because I see no compelling reason to switch from what currently works for me. Sometimes I use several apps in the same category, mainly because I have to be able to use the apps that clients are using.
I am the only person in my business, so I don’t have to pay employees (although I have in the past paid contractors), but I do have four major types of work. I edit, teach, write books, and write in a freelance capacity in several subjects. So, these solutions work for many kinds of remote work.
I am able to manage all aspects of my business with mostly digital tools, and most of them work with all of my work “hats.” Here, I address important categories in the best apps for productivity that help my freelance business
The Tops Apps for Productivity for Freelancers
Get to know the tools for freelancers and best tech for freelance writers to set your freelance business up for success.
Calendar Apps for Productivity
Did you forget a deadline? Time to add a calendar or to-do list program—or maybe both to your freelance business. Honestly, I have both plus a physical whiteboard for things I need to keep in front of my face at all times. Okay, okay, I also have a chalkboard for story ideas. What can I say? I’m Gen X and stuck between two worlds.
You’ve probably used calendars for personal appointments and some professional meetings by now. I don’t usually put deadlines on my calendar—that’s for my to-do list. As a freelancer with a family, my business life and my family life bleed into each other, and it’s often important that everybody in my household knows where I’ll be for business to prevent them scheduling things that conflict with when my clients need me.
Everybody in my family has, at some point, asked me to use Google, Outlook, or iCloud calendars, but I have not budged in my love for Cozi Family Organizer. Eventually, they all came around.
Why is this calendar one of my top apps for productivity? Cozi allows everyone in your group (or family) to sign into the app and make appointments (color-coded by person) that everyone can see. There are also lists (shopping and other customizable), so nobody has an excuse for not knowing what the household needs when they’re at the store!
I love the ability to make either repeatable events or a range that covers days (so I can block out conferences or vacations). There are pop-up reminders as well. While there might be calendar apps for freelancers that are more sophisticated now, I’ve had Cozi since my now-grown kids were little, and I will probably never give it up.
Cozi has a free version that isn’t nearly as comprehensive, but it’s a good way to see if this calendar will work for you. The subscription price for the premium version (Cozi Gold) is $29.99 per year.
I have recently heard about a similar organizer that has even more options. FamilyWall’s free version has much the same capabilities as Cozi, but its premium version syncs with other calendars and has a messenger function built into it. The premium version is $44.99 per year. Depending on what you need, though, it might be worth checking out if you need a productivity app that can sync with family.
Task Management Top Apps for Productivity for Freelancers
You could put your assignments, deadlines, and notes on your calendar, but when the calendar gets full, it’s hard to figure out what’s personal and what’s business. That’s why I initially looked into project management tools for freelancers to help me manage my business. Like many of the best productivity apps, what works for you is highly personal, so it’s good to find some with free plans or at least a trial period to see if it works for you.
I started with Week Plan, which I used for several years. It allows you to segment your tasks into customizable categories, and you can check off items as you do them. It also gives you space for long-term planning and the ability to split projects into smaller tasks.
These qualities are still what I look for in any project management product. At some point, though, it became a little unwieldy for me, although don’t remember why. Week Plan has a free trial period. It is normally $104/year, but they often have sales of 20% off. So, I still recommend checking it out.
Todoist is a list-making organization app for freelancers that I landed on a few years ago, and I’m still very happy with it. It offers all the same tools as Week Plan for a lower price, and it has a mobile app (which Week Plan doesn’t have). Todoist offers a free plan, as well as a Pro plan ($48/year) and a Business plan ($72/year).
The Business plan offers a shared team workspace, which could be helpful if you’re a freelancer who works with a team or uses a virtual assistant to help your business. I love the reminders you can set, and the Todoist team is always creating new functions and offering tips on how to use the program to its fullest capacity.
Some other popular tools in this category are Trello (there’s a free version plus plans up to $17.50/user/month) and Asana (free version plus plans up to $24.99/user/month), but both of those programs are very team-oriented, which I feel introduces a very different element to the product that makes it unnecessarily complex when only one person is using it. You’ll find a lot of overlap between task management tools and project management tools for freelancers.
Financial Apps for Freelancers
When you get that first client who doesn’t have their own onboarding system, they’ll probably ask you to send an invoice and a way to pay you. And you could create an invoice in your word-processing program, but then how do you remember whether they paid? Enter payment and bookkeeping programs to help with freelance organization and help improve your freelance money mindset.
Invoicing Apps for Freelance Business Owners
I’m a little conflicted about the best invoicing tools for freelancer right now—so much so that my search for a better one prompted the idea for this article. I used InvoiceNinja for a very long time, and their free program has all you really need, including being able to accept credit card payments and integrate other payment programs.
The only reason I recently switched from this program is that they changed everything drastically in an update. It’s an open-source program, which means you can customize it, but it just took more knowledge than I could understand. To be fair, they tried very hard to help me. The team sent me customized videos of what to do and were very patient. In the end, though, I just didn’t want to work that hard to do my invoices, and I looked for another program. It took weeks to find one that worked as well as InvoiceNinja had worked for me before the change. But if you’re more technically savvy, I still highly recommend InvoiceNinja.
I discovered Kosmo after weeks of searching for a top invoicing app for freelancers. It’s relatively new, as it was founded in 2021, and it was designed specifically for freelancers. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of Invoice Ninja, but it’s simple to use, has the ability to create projects, proposals, contracts, and invoices, and it tracks payments. You can also set up credit card and ACH payments through it. Kosmo is free for the first two clients/projects, after which you must upgrade to Pro pricing, which is $9/month or $90/year.
Other freelancers like freelance invoicing software platforms like Wave App, Bonsai, Honeybook, or Square invoicing services as part of their top apps for productivity to run their freelance businesses efficiently.
Bookkeeping Productivity Apps for Freelancers
Quicken has been my bookkeeping tool for freelancers for several decades now, and I occasionally think I should switch it up, but I find comfort in having all my previous data. I might have to chalk this one up to age too, but I haven’t had any real problems in all these years of using it, and they do continually update the product in ways that make it even easier to use. It allows me to identify all the tax items for my business, add new credit card accounts, and update all my bank and credit accounts by connecting Quicken to them. It downloads all my transactions and reconciles them in seconds.
Quicken has two options, both of which are subscription pricing. There is no free option, but they do have a 30-day trial period. You can go with Quicken Classic for up to $7.99/month or Quicken Simplifi for $3.99/month. They often run sales that take a dollar or two off the price, so see if you can catch a sale or find a coupon code. Both support identifying categories of items, which is really all you need to keep track of your income and expenses for your freelance business.
Either will also handle multiple checking and savings accounts if you separate your business accounts from your personal accounts (I have 9 accounts altogether). If you want more reports and budgeting tools, Quicken Classic is for you. But if your needs are pretty simple, start with Quicken Simplifi (for which there is a mobile app).
I considered switching to Gnucash because it can import files from Quicken and it’s free. However, it’s an open-source program, which is not a bad thing, but that’s what led to so much frustration with Invoice Ninja, so I’m not really interested in trying to navigate a program that might frustrate me. But if you’re starting out fresh and feeling adventurous, I say give it a try to see if it’s one of the best productivity apps for freelancers.
Tax Form Solutions for Freelancers
If you’re using an accountant to do your taxes, then they can probably help with any tax forms you may need to produce for other people, but if you do it yourself with tax software, I have to call out efile1099NOW. Many of the programs that allow you to produce tax forms are focused on large numbers and are pretty expensive if you only need one or two. The most I’ve ever had to produce (for people I’ve paid more than $600 in one year) has been two. It was frustrating until I found this solution.
They can process all kinds of employee and non-employee forms, but 1099 is the only experience I’ve had. For one-person businesses, the account is free, and it’s only a few dollars to send the form to the contractor/employee, file the appropriate form with the government, and keep the records for your own tax files—either electronically or on paper. I can’t recommend them enough. Learn more about business write-offs and more in the best taxes for freelance writers tips.
Collaboration Apps for Freelancers
These tools for freelance business owners help you work with clients and other freelancers.
Filesharing/cloud storage apps for freelancers
For my own file storage and sharing, I am a firm believer in Dropbox. The Basic plan is free and gives you 2 GB of space. I have never run out of space at this level, and I put a lot in there. If you’re a freelance writer, pictures and text don’t take up a lot of space. And I tend to only put things in there that I might need to access from other places or share with other people.
Anything else I put on my regular hard drive. There are other plans for larger amounts of space, or if you need really fancy functions like watermarking or end-to-end encryption. But my guess is that your free account will last you a long time.
Filesharing can also be done with other programs, but the only times I use these apps are when the client sends documents through them. Of course, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t explore them for any of their other management tools.
Box also offers storage up to 10 GB for free and e-signing of up to 5 documents per month. The Personal Pro plan gives you 100 GB of storage and up to 15 e-signs per month.
Zoho doesn’t offer storage, but its Work Drive is easy to use, and if a client sends you a file through this service, you don’t have to initiate an account to use it. You can also send files to clients this way.
WeTransfer is very similar to Zoho in that you don’t need an account if your client is using this service, and they don’t seem to offer storage, but strangely enough, they allow you to create mood boards. So, if that’s something that interests you, check it out! It’s a good service to use if you have large files to send to a client—just let them know you sent them files via WeTransfer so they can be on the lookout for that email.
Some of your freelance clients will use Microsoft storage hubs or Google Drive to share files. No matter which filesharing software for freelancers you decide to use, make sure it’s consistent for each client.
Organization Apps for Freelancers
What about keeping track of submissions, applications, or anything else you might have to organize to make sure nothing falls through the cracks? Do you write some fiction on the side and want to dip your toes in those waters? Yep, there are apps for that.
Notion is an interesting space to explore. It is deeply customizable. Many templates are built into the program, and other helpful people have created templates that they make available (often for free), so you don’t have to start with a blank page.
You can start with an already-created template for just about any kind of organization you can think of. I have a marketing template on my Notion site so far. There are paid plans, but the free plan gives you unlimited pages as long as you’re the only one in the space (although you still get to invite 10 guests to see your customized space!). I’m not using this app to its fullest extent, but I hope to get more adventurous with it soon. Other freelancers, like fellow writer Diana Kelly Levey, agree that Notion is one of the best productivity apps for freelancers. (She uses it to track freelance article pitches, email marketing outreach, and as a freelance project management tool.)
Plaky is also a task and project management app for freelancers that works well with teams, but I use it to organize the artist residencies I have applied to. It’s also very customizable, but it didn’t intimidate me too much because it has a great drag-and-drop kind of setup. The free plan limits the size of your board, but you can have unlimited boards. The Pro plans start at $3.99/month/user, but I can’t imagine many freelancers would need more than the free plan.
The Submission Grinder is a free program that helps you look for markets where you can submit your fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. It keeps track of where you’ve submitted each piece already and lets you narrow down the type of market that best fits each of your manuscripts. So, dust off those stories and poems and see who you might want to send them to!
I always love to find free tools, but in creating this list, I realized that most of the tools for freelancers I’ve had the longest and are the most useful are ones I pay for—even if the product does have a free option. I still prefer tools that have at least a free option or a trial period so I can see if I like it before I decide to pay for it.
Honestly, a useful tool is priceless, but as freelancers (and especially new freelancers), every penny must be thoughtfully allocated. I hope my list will help you make some of those decisions. Don’t feel as though you have to change your current system, but if you are thinking about a change or reading this makes you realize that your system can be better, then I hope you will have found some helpful ideas here.
