20 Best Free Productivity Apps for Mac in 2026, With Real Limits

The best free productivity apps for a Mac in 2026 are Apple Reminders and Notes (already installed), Microsoft To Do, Obsidian, Trello, Notion Calendar, Clockify, Rectangle and Amphetamine. They cost nothing and have no meaningful cap for one person. Todoist, Notion, Asana, Slack and Calendly are free too, but each free plan stops at a specific limit worth knowing before you commit.

A free plan is a deal with a catch, and the catch only shows up once your lists, notes or team are inside the app. That's when moving out hurts. So this list goes app by app with the limit that bites, linked to the maker's pricing page, plus who the free version is genuinely enough for and when to pay or switch instead.

Free Mac productivity apps compared

The table below lists all 20 apps, the job each one does and the free-plan limit you'll hit first. Amounts are US dollars, except Alfred, which sells in pounds.

What counts as free here

Every app here has a plan that's free with no end date, not a 14-day trial. Each limit links to the app's own pricing page or App Store listing in its section.

The question I ask of any free tier is simple: which limit will I hit in the third month, not the first week? Five projects feels roomy on day one. By spring it's the reason you're shopping for a new app.

Free apps already on your Mac

Apple Reminders and Apple Notes ship with macOS and cost nothing beyond the iCloud storage they use. For one person on Apple devices, they cover more than most people expect, and they sync to iPhone without a second account.

1. Apple Reminders

Apple Reminders handles lists, due dates, smart lists, sections and a columns view, according to Apple's Reminders guide for macOS 27. Shared lists let you assign a reminder to someone else on the list. When I share a household list with someone who already lives on an iPhone, Reminders wins by default: nobody has to install anything.

Free limit: none. Skip it if half your team uses Windows or Android, since Reminders has no app there.

2. Apple Notes

Apple Notes now does tags, Smart Folders, scanned documents, shared notes and folders, Quick Note, and audio recording with live transcripts you can search, per Apple's Notes guide. It's the quickest place on a Mac to put something down.

Free limit: your iCloud storage. Look elsewhere for plain files you own outright; that's what Obsidian is for.

Free to-do list apps for Mac

Microsoft To Do is one of the most generous free to-do apps on the Mac, with no paid tier at all. Todoist and TickTick have stronger features but cap their free plans by projects or lists.

3. Microsoft To Do

Microsoft To Do is free on the Mac App Store and needs macOS 13 or later, per its App Store listing. Its My Day view builds a daily list with suggested tasks, lists can be shared, and emails you flag in Outlook show up as tasks. For anyone whose employer lives in Microsoft 365, that last part alone earns it a place in the Dock.

Free limit: none. Look at Todoist instead for custom filters and labels.

4. Todoist

Todoist's free Beginner plan gives you 5 personal projects, 5 collaborators per project, 3 custom filters and one week of activity history, and it leaves out the calendar layout, per Todoist's pricing page. Pro costs $7 a month, or $60 a year.

Five projects is the real ceiling. I'd keep one for work, one for home and one for errands, and use labels instead of new projects for everything else. If that already feels tight, our Todoist alternatives page compares what you'd move to.

5. TickTick

TickTick's free plan allows 9 lists, 99 tasks per list and 5 habits, with a basic calendar view, according to TickTick's upgrade page. Premium is $49.99 a year and raises those to 299 lists and 999 tasks per list.

Free limit: 9 lists. Pick it over Todoist if you want a habit tracker and calendar in the same free app.

Free note-taking and docs apps

Obsidian is free with no limits for personal or work use; only syncing and publishing cost money. Notion and Google Docs are free for one person but cap history, upload size or storage.

6. Obsidian

Obsidian is "free without limits," and a commercial license is optional, per Obsidian's pricing page. Every note is a plain Markdown file stored on your own disk. Obsidian Sync is $4 a month billed yearly, or $5 monthly.

You don't have to pay for Sync. I keep the vault in an iCloud Drive folder when I only need it on Apple devices. I pay for Sync only once a phone outside the Apple world needs the same notes.

7. Notion

Notion's Free plan suits one person: unlimited blocks for solo use, 10 guests, 7 days of page history and 5 MB file uploads, per Notion's pricing page. Add a second member and the workspace hits a block limit. Plus costs $10 per member a month.

The 5 MB upload cap is the one I run into first, usually with a PDF contract. Link the file from Drive instead of uploading it.

8. Google Docs and Google Drive

Google Docs, Sheets and Slides are free with any Google Account, and the account includes up to 15 GB of storage shared across Gmail, Google Drive and Google Photos, per Google's storage help page. Docs runs in Safari or Chrome rather than as a Mac app, which matters less than you'd think: it's the free option everyone you work with can open.

Free limit: 15 GB, and Photos eats it fastest.

Free project management apps

Trello is the better free project tool for small groups, with 10 collaborators per Workspace. Asana's free plan covers two people, too few for most teams.

9. Trello

Trello Free includes up to 10 boards and 10 collaborators per Workspace, unlimited Power-Ups, 250 automation runs a month and a 10 MB cap per file, per Trello's pricing page. Standard is $5 per user a month billed yearly, or $6 monthly.

When I run a small launch with a few freelancers, one Trello board with To do, Doing and Done columns is usually enough. The 10-board cap only bites once every client gets their own board.

10. Asana

Asana's Personal plan is free forever for 2 users, with unlimited projects and list, board and calendar views, per Asana's pricing page. The next plan, Starter, is $10.99 per user a month billed yearly.

Free calendar and scheduling apps

Notion Calendar is a free Mac calendar that reads Google, Outlook and iCloud calendars in one view. Calendly's free plan gives you one booking link.

11. Notion Calendar

Notion Calendar is free, has a macOS app, and syncs with Google Calendar accounts, Outlook calendars and iCloud calendars, per Notion's Calendar page. Its pages list no paid tier. It's a cleaner view than Apple Calendar if you juggle a work and a personal account. For a wider comparison, see the best calendar apps for Mac.

12. Calendly

Calendly Free allows 1 event type and 1 connected calendar, per Calendly's pricing page. Standard is $10 per seat a month billed yearly and unlocks unlimited event types and 6 calendars.

One event type is fine if every call you book looks the same. I'd make it a 30-minute call and stop there. If you need a 15-minute intro and a 60-minute session, the scheduling apps guide covers free options with more room.

Free team chat: Slack

Slack's free plan keeps 90 days of messages and files searchable, allows up to 10 apps, and limits huddles to one-on-one calls, per Slack's pricing page. Pro is $8.75 per user a month, or $7.25 billed yearly.

13. Slack

The 90-day window is the part that hurts later. I once went looking for a supplier's quote from four months earlier, and it had dropped out of reach. Now anything that matters (a price, a decision, a password reset link) gets copied into a doc the day it arrives. If you're weighing Slack against what your company already pays for, Microsoft Teams vs. Slack runs the numbers.

Free time tracking apps for Mac

Clockify is free for unlimited tracking and projects, with a macOS app. Toggl Track is free for up to 3 users and has a native Mac app.

14. Clockify

Clockify's Free plan includes unlimited tracking and projects and a desktop app, but reports only cover a one-month range and export to PDF only, per Clockify's pricing page. The page describes Free as for up to 5 users, while its FAQ says you can invite up to 4 people, so plan on you plus four. Paid plans start at $3.99 per seat a month billed yearly.

15. Toggl Track

Toggl Track is free for up to 3 users, with manual and live timers, focus mode, Google and Outlook calendar integration and personal reports, per Toggl's pricing page. Toggl also makes a native Mac app.

Pick Toggl if you want timers tied to your calendar. Pick Clockify if you need more people on the free plan.

Free Mac utilities that save time every day

Rectangle, Maccy and Amphetamine are fully free Mac utilities, and Alfred's core launcher is free with paid extras. They each fix one small, constant annoyance.

16. Rectangle

Rectangle moves and resizes windows with keyboard shortcuts, and pressing a shortcut again cycles through sizes. It's free and open source and runs on macOS 14 and up, per rectangleapp.com. macOS has its own tiling now, with Fn-Control-Left Arrow for the left half, but Apple lists no shortcut for corners or quarters, per Apple's tiling guide. Wanting a shortcut for every position is why Rectangle is still one of the first things I install on a new Mac.

17. Alfred

Alfred's core app, which launches apps and searches files, is free, per alfredapp.com. Workflows need the Powerpack, which is £34 for a single license, per the Powerpack page, and so does clipboard history, per Alfred's clipboard help.

18. Maccy

Maccy is a free, open-source clipboard history app you open with Shift-Command-C, per its GitHub page. It needs macOS Sonoma 14 or later and installs with Homebrew or a direct download.

Before installing it, try the built-in version: Spotlight on newer macOS can search your clipboard history (press Command-Space, then Command-4), per Apple's guide. Maccy is worth adding if you want a dedicated shortcut and a longer list to scroll.

19. Amphetamine

Amphetamine keeps your Mac and its display awake, by hand or through triggers such as a connected display, a running app or battery level. It's free with no in-app purchases, per its Mac App Store listing. I turn it on before a long download or a screen share, so the Mac doesn't lock mid-presentation.

Free AI assistant: ChatGPT

20. ChatGPT

ChatGPT's Free plan offers unlimited text chats within abuse limits, with limited uploads, image creation, voice chats, deep research and memory, per OpenAI's pricing page. The paid tiers above it are Go and Plus. For drafting a reply, summarizing a long PDF or cleaning up meeting notes, the free plan covers a lot.

Treat anything you paste as leaving your Mac. Keep client contracts and personal data out of a free chat unless you've checked the data settings. Our guide to ChatGPT on Mac walks through setup.

When a free tier stops being enough

Upgrade or switch when the free limit starts changing how you work, not when it first appears. These are the limits that most often force the decision:

• Asana, 2 users: a third teammate means paying for Starter or moving to Trello.
• Slack, 90 days: you need older decisions searchable. Pay for Pro or keep records in a doc.
• Todoist, 5 projects: you keep deleting old projects to make room. Try Microsoft To Do, or pay $60 a year.
• Notion, second member: a shared workspace hits the block limit. Plus is $10 per member.
• Calendly, one event type: you want two meeting lengths. Pay for Standard, or try Google Calendar's appointment schedules.

Before upgrading anything, export a copy of your data. Free plans change without much notice, so recheck the pricing page once a year for any app you depend on.

A free Mac productivity setup that covers the basics

You don't need 20 apps. For one person, four or five free ones do the job, and the rest are for specific needs.

1. Install Rectangle and Amphetamine first. They're free forever and take a minute to set up.
2. Pick one task app: Apple Reminders if you're all-Apple, Microsoft To Do if you live in Outlook, Todoist if you need it everywhere.
3. Pick one notes app: Apple Notes for speed, Obsidian if you want your own files.
4. Add Notion Calendar if you have more than one calendar account.
5. Add Clockify or Toggl Track only if you bill by the hour.

When I last switched task apps, I ran the old and new ones side by side for a few weeks, and things slipped through the gap between them. One list in one app beats two half-used ones, even if the one you keep is paid.