The 4 Best All-in-One Productivity Tools for Freelancers

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Managing your time as a freelancer can become challenging once you’ve become established and obtained a good base of clients. Project deadlines are easy to miss if you don’t keep track of them, and you can also struggle to keep track of other important tasks—such as managing your books and paying your taxes on time.

But with the rise of project management software, now is a better time than ever to become a freelancer. You can use these tools to note invoice payments you need to send, keep simple lists of your client portfolio, and much more. In this article, you’ll discover four of the best all-in-one productivity solutions for freelancers.

1. Notion

You can use Notion for effortless note-taking, and that’s probably the main reason that you’ve heard of it before. But as a freelancer, you will find that the app is also a powerful all-in-one productivity suite. Let’s look at some of its main features.

Features

Notion lets you create pages and subpages with minimal effort. You can make a page by clicking on the + icon and customizing everything as you feel is necessary. To make subpages, simply type / within an existing document and select Page from the dropdown menu.

Another benefit of using Notion is that you can pick several templates to help you better organize your freelance management workflow. For example, you can try this SMART goals tracker to stay on the objectives that you set for yourself. On top of that, you can customize it and use the bars to measure your progress toward specific projects.

Some Notion templates are free, whereas others require a payment. If you need inspiration, check out these great Notion templates for freelancers. Other useful features that Notion has for freelance project management include:

• Creating multiple workspaces.
• Pinning important pages as favorites.

Pricing

Notion’s free plan is more than enough for most freelancers. You can create unlimited pages and integrate them with other apps that you might use to manage your clients, such as Slack.

If you need more blocks or file upload space, Notion Plus costs $10/mo (monthly subscription) and $96/yr (annual subscription). You can also get Notion AI as an add-on for page summarization and other useful tools, which costs $10/mo for Free and Plus users—and $8/mo for all plans above that.

Pros:

• Most of the features that you’ll need are free.
• Use a broad range of templates.
• User-friendly

Cons:

• Limited offline usage.

Download: Notion for macOS | Windows | iOS | Android (Free, in-app purchases available)

2. Brite

Planning your week with Brite is incredibly easy. The app is one of the newer options on our list, but you’ll find a good selection of tools to both note your tasks and track their progress.

Features

Brite lets you divide your tasks into Work and Private tasks. To enter these, all you need to do is hit Add and type the name of what you need to complete. You’ve got the option to add subtasks if needed, too. Once you complete these, simply tick each box.

You can also pick the priority level for your tasks in Brite. Moreover, you can determine the difficulty level for each thing you do. And if you need to set up repeat tasks for things that you do regularly, you have the option to do that as well.

In Brite, you’ll also find a calendar for which you can gain an overview of your schedule. The app has an Apple Notes and Google Keep-style note-taking feature, too, to help you keep your big ideas organized within the same space.

Pricing

Like Notion, most of Brite’s tools that freelancers will find useful are available for free. However, you can upgrade to a paid version for access to unlimited journaling and other features. Brite Premium costs $4.50/mo when you pay monthly and $39.48/yr when you pay annually instead.

Pros:

• Lots of useful features for freelance project management in one place.
• Easy-to-navigate user interface.
• Divide your tasks into different categories.

Cons:

• No desktop-designed app (though you can use the iOS version on your Mac), so you’ll need to use the web app instead.
• No Android app.

Download: Brite for iOS (Free, in-app purchases available)

3. Asana

In terms of user-friendliness, Asana is arguably the best all-in-one productivity solution for freelancers.

Features

Asana lets you create multiple projects; you might want to consider creating one for daily tasks, another for weekly ones, and a third for more long-term deadlines and assignments. You can make new projects by going to Projects > Create project.

Within each project, you can make new cards to keep track of your tasks more closely. In the Assignee section, you can delegate to either yourself or someone else. And if you need more clarity around the task, you can fill out the Description.

There are plenty of other creative ways to get the most out of Asana. When making cards, for example, you can set deadlines to ensure that you stay on top of everything. On your homepage, you’ll see an overview of your assigned tasks.

Pricing

The free version of Asana lets you create unlimited projects and tasks, and you also have an unlimited activity log. Even if you have team members helping you complete your work, Asana lets you collaborate with up to 15 users before you require a paid plan—so you probably won’t need to upgrade.

Asana Premium costs $13.49/mo if you pay monthly and $131.88/yr with an annual plan. Meanwhile, the Business plan costs $30.49/mo if you pay month-to-month—while annual subscriptions are priced at $299.88/yr.

Pros:

• A generous list of features with the free plan.
• Available across multiple devices.
• Comprehensive project creation tools.

Cons:

• Limited customization options in other areas of the app compared to Brite and Notion.

Download: Asana for iOS | Android | Desktop (Free, in-app purchases available)

4. monday.com

Many people associate monday.com with large businesses, but the app is also an excellent all-in-one productivity solution for freelancers.

Features

monday.com lets you create up to three boards with a free plan, and you can use these to organize both your client work and personal tasks. You might want to design separate boards to keep these categories separate. If you need to make a new board, you can hit the + icon and select New Board from the menu that appears.

For your tasks, you can add descriptions, GIFs, and attachments. You also have the option to customize your text colors and make checklists, plus more.

monday.com conveniently shows you what you need to do both this and next week, which will allow you to keep better track of your projects. Moreover, you can change the status of your project with either pre-made or customized labels.

Pricing

monday.com’s pricing for premium subscriptions depends on how many people you’re purchasing a plan for. Monthly per-seat subscription prices for monday.com are as follows:

Meanwhile, you’ll pay the following if you’d rather pay annually.

Pros:

• Comprehensive tools for freelancers.
• Lots of templates are available.
• Mobile and desktop optimization.

Cons:

• Most people will have a bigger learning curve compared to some of the other tools on our list.

Download: monday.com for macOS | Windows | iOS | Android (Free, in-app purchases available)

Enhance Your Freelance Productivity Workflow With These Solutions

Plenty of productivity apps exist for freelancers, but keeping everything in one place will help reduce decision fatigue. Each of these apps will make managing multiple aspects of being a freelancer more manageable. You can easily keep track of your ongoing client projects, while also ensuring that you don’t overload yourself with work.

While you can upgrade to paid solutions with the apps mentioned, most freelancers will find that the free versions are more than good enough. And since many of them let you create unlimited projects, you can also stick with your plan as you gain more clients.