Top 30 Apps Highly Recommended for Freelancers, as Suggested by Remote Work Specialists
In today's digital world, freelancers are constantly seeking tools to streamline their work, manage time effectively, and enhance productivity. Here's a roundup of some of the best apps specifically designed to cater to the needs of freelancers, covering communication, organization, time management, bidding help, invoicing, accounting, and more.
Communication and Organization
Cflow, a powerful task and workflow automation tool, offers multiple views (Kanban, list, matrix), automated notifications, custom workflows, task delegation, and real-time collaboration. It's an ideal choice for efficient project execution and progress tracking.
RescueTime, a time tracking app, automatically records how you spend your time on devices and provides insights and reports to help you be more productive.
Todoist, another task management app, allows for creating projects with tasks and subtasks, setting due dates, getting notifications and reminders, and organizing everything with labels and filters.
Postbox, an email management tool, offers features like a focus pane with the most important emails, favourite contacts, automatic email tagging, and the ability to send prewritten answers.
Slack, a communication app, provides a centralized hub for projects, messaging, and file sharing, enhancing quick decision-making and providing a virtual workspace for instant feedback.
Time Management
Reclaim.ai, an AI-driven scheduling app, syncs all calendars, automatically finds the best times for tasks and meetings, schedules breaks, and adjusts priorities dynamically to prevent overbooking and optimize productivity.
Focus Booster, a time tracking app based on the Pomodoro technique, encourages working in focused intervals to overcome distractions and better enjoy breaks.
Bidding Help
GigRadar (Upwork Toolkit) is specifically built for freelancers on Upwork. It uses AI to discover jobs 24/7, automate proposal writing with higher reply rates, manage client relationships with CRM features, provide analytics on performance, and optimize profile discovery via SEO tools.
Invoicing and Accounting
Harvest, best known for integrated time tracking and invoicing, automatically converts tracked billable hours into invoices sent directly to clients. It also facilitates expense tracking, generates detailed profitability reports per client/project, and helps forecast project budgets.
QuickBooks is an excellent choice for freelancers seeking robust invoicing solutions. It simplifies the invoicing process, allowing freelancers to create professional and customizable invoices quickly.
Wave is a beautifully designed accounting app that allows sending invoices, receipts, and estimates, and accepting credit card payments. It provides a dashboard for managing freelance finances in a single place.
Mint, a tool for managing finances as a freelancer, puts all financial accounts in a single dashboard, tracking bills, monitoring fees, and helping analyze financial situation over time.
Overall Freelance Management
Worksuite acts like a CRM for freelancers, managing inputs from task management to onboarding, with strong support for bulk payments, tax paperwork automation, customizable workflows, and 24/7 customer support. It helps freelancers or businesses treat their external workers professionally and efficiently.
Other Valuable Tools
Trello, an initiative app, lets freelancers create customized workflows, manage projects, set deadlines, and collaborate seamlessly with clients and team members.
Bidsketch is a tool for preparing client proposals with several professional templates to help not miss crucial details. Clients can seal the deal instantly with an electronic signature.
MindMeister is a mind-mapping tool to help unleash creativity and manage tasks.
Shoeboxed is a tool for scanning and organizing receipts quickly. It generates expense reports and helps with tax preparation.
Hunter.io is an app used to find specific email addresses and verify email addresses to ensure messages reach the intended recipient.
Qwilr is an app that sends a beautiful, interactive experience that displays a proposal as a website. It helps stand out from the dozens of traditional proposals potential clients will receive.
LastPass is a password manager that saves time by remembering passwords. It's secure and protects information with a strong master password.
Freedom is an app for removing distractions and improving productivity by blocking websites and apps that remove focus. It works on all devices to ensure no sneaky distractions.
ChatGPT is an AI tool that assists freelancers in time-consuming tasks, such as drafting emails, generating creative content, or even brainstorming ideas.
These tools cover critical freelancer needs from scheduling, task organization, proposal automation, to financial management, enabling significant time savings and improved productivity. Embrace these digital aids to streamline your freelance journey!
