Do you struggle with balancing it all when working from home? Managing tasks, projects, and workflows was a challenge I struggled with during my first year working remotely. Luckily, now there’s a whole suite of digital workspace tools to help you stay organized, increase productivity, and manage work on one platform.
After almost four years of working remotely, I’ve tried my fair share of these tools. Here are some of my favorites, along with a few others I’ve researched that might be perfect for your setup. Let’s dive in!
Table of contents
For more productive articles, check out my Mastering Self-Management and Mastering SMART Goals articles.
1. Notion
Free Version: Yes
Monthly Price: $12
Notion is a highly customizable digital workspace tool that combines task, databases, knowledge management, and templates. It allows you to create wikis, project trackers, and personal dashboards tailored to your workflow.
I love the simplicity and user-friendliness of Notion. It allows for integrations like Slack and Google Drive keep all your resources connected. The Slack integration allows Notion activities to be sent directly to Slack channels and vice versa. You can create tasks or pages in Notion from Slack using commands. Also, you can directly embed Google Drive files and links within its pages to easily access your documents directly from your Notion workspace.
Best for:
- Teams, students, and individuals seeking flexibility in organizing both personal and professional tasks.
- Content creators who need to organize ideas, plan content calendars, and track project progress. There are templates specifically designed for content creators to improve productivity, allowing creators to manage their content efficiently.
Also, Notion is perfect for freelancers who need a flexible space to manage everything from client projects to personal notes. Collaboration, sharing documents, tracking projects, and getting feedback is so much easier without having to jump between apps. Notion is a productivity system that simplifies and adapts to your workflow.
2. ClickUp
Free Version: Yes
Monthly Price: $7
With its many capabilities, this all-in-one project management system simplifies and improves the efficiency of work organization. ClickUp can track goals, manage workloads, and customize displays (calendar, board, and list) to fit the workflow of your team. I love the time tracking and productivity features that help with identifying issues and recognizing successes.
Best for:
- Teams managing complex projects or multiple tasks.
- Startups that need a solution to track client deliverables, internal tasks, and ongoing projects.
ClickUp keeps everything organized for remote teams. It brings together project goals and daily tasks under one roof. This setup creates alignment and builds accountability across the team.
3. Trello
Free Version: Yes
Monthly Price: $10
I love how Trello focuses on visual simplicity as a digital workspace tool. Using boards in the Kanban style to provide you with a comprehensive overview of each step in your workflow. Moving tasks along is as easy as dragging and dropping cards, which keeps everything tidy and within reach. Plus, Trello’s automation tool, Butler, handles those repetitive tasks for you—so you can focus more on priorities.
Best for:
- Visual planners who prefer a card-based workflow.
- Small teams managing simple projects or individuals tracking their to-do lists.
- Perfect for managing event planning, editorial calendars, or personal projects.
I find Trello extremely user-friendly and will allow you to streamline your projects quickly, helping you accomplish more with less effort.
4. Airtable
Free Version: Yes
Monthly Price: $20
Similar to Notion, Airtable combines the familiar feel of spreadsheets with the robust power of databases. This tool is perfect for organizing projects that need more structure than a simple spreadsheet but less complexity than a full-scale database. With Airtable, you can customize views, automate repetitive tasks, and connect seamlessly with other apps, making your data management smooth and efficient.
Best for:
- Teams require a database-like organization with spreadsheet simplicity.
- Marketing teams managing campaigns, CRM data, or content production.
Airtable stands out for its flexibility and visual organization, making it easy to tailor layouts to suit any team’s needs. It combines the simplicity of a spreadsheet with the strength of a database, allowing users to organize everything from simple lists to complex datasets in a way that’s both accessible and visually engaging.
With powerful customization options, like customizable views and easy-to-set automation, Airtable adapts to an array of workflows. This versatility makes it ideal for managing everything from customer data to creative assets, giving teams the tools they need to keep projects organized and efficient.
5. Coda
Free Version: Yes
Monthly Price: $10
Coda is a powerful tool that brings together documents, spreadsheets, and databases into one interactive platform. Unlike traditional digital workspace tools, Coda combines all the elements of project management and document creation in a single, flexible space. It allows you to build interactive documents that can act as project trackers, databases, and more, making it easy to centralize everything your team needs to stay organized.
With built-in automation and integrations with Slack, Google Calendar, Jira, and other popular tools, Coda eliminates the need for constant app-switching and keeps everything connected.
Best for:
- Teams looking for a document-centric approach to project management.
- Product managers needing to centralize documents, tasks, and timelines.
Coda stands out as a document-centric powerhouse, ideal for teams that depend on detailed documentation but also need the structure of a database. Rather than juggling multiple tools, Coda brings everything into one place, allowing you to create documents, track tasks, and manage data in a dynamic, interactive format.
Its high level of customization makes it easy to build workflows tailored specifically to your team’s needs. Whether you’re managing timelines, organizing data, or tracking tasks, Coda adapts to your style, creating a workspace that grows and evolves with your projects.
6. Evernote Teams
Free Version: No
Monthly Price: $14.99
Evernote Teams goes beyond simple note-taking, transforming how teams capture, share, and organize information. This tool lets you store and access notes, tasks, and multimedia files across devices, keeping everyone on the same page, no matter where they’re working. Its unique features—like web clipping, document scanning, and rich media storage—make it easy to gather and organize information from various sources. With Evernote Teams, you can capture web articles, scan important documents, and save photos and videos directly within your notes.
Best for:
- Teams that require robust note-taking and research capabilities.
- Organizations that need a tool for meeting notes, brainstorming sessions, and research documentation.
- Great for research-heavy industries and writers who need to collect and organize information.
Evernote Teams stands out for its robust, collaborative note-taking features that go beyond simple idea capture. Designed to bring teams together, it enables sharing of notes, organizing of meeting details, and documentation of brainstorming sessions, all while maintaining powerful research and sharing capabilities to keep ideas flowing and organized. With centralized storage for all types of content, from scanned documents to web clippings and videos, Evernote Teams makes it easy to keep everything connected and instantly accessible, perfect for teams needing quick access to diverse types of information in one place.
7. Monday.com
Free Version: Yes
Monthly Price: $9
Monday.com is a flexible and visual project management tool that transforms how teams plan, track, and complete work. Its customizable boards, dashboards, and workflow automation make it easy to organize projects to fit any team’s unique style. With tools like timeline management, task dependencies, and color-coded labels, Monday.com gives you a clear, organized view of every project, helping teams stay on track and prioritize effectively.
Best for:
- Teams that work across multiple departments, making collaboration simple and effective.
- Companies managing projects in marketing, HR, or software development.
- Remote teams can coordinate across departments and clients with ease, thanks to its visual organization features.
Monday.com stands out for its highly visual and customizable layout, making it easy for teams to adapt to a variety of projects and industries. Whether it’s marketing, HR, or software development, Monday.com allows teams to create workflows that align perfectly with their specific needs. Additionally, this digital workspace tool offers powerful automation features that handle repetitive tasks, freeing up valuable time for teams to focus on high-impact work. This automation not only streamlines processes across departments but also improves efficiency and reduces the chance of errors, making it a powerful tool for boosting productivity.
8. Wrike
Free Version: Yes
Monthly Price: $10
Wrike is built for teams handling complex workflows. With advanced features like Gantt charts, time tracking, and task dependencies, Wrike keeps every part of a project connected and organized. It integrates seamlessly with over 400 apps, including Salesforce and Microsoft Teams, helping teams work without interruption and keeping all tools in one place.
Best for:
- Medium to large teams handling intricate project workflows.
- Marketing, operations, and product development teams.
- Agencies managing multiple client projects can benefit from Wrike’s robust task-tracking and resource-allocation tools.
Wrike stands out as a tool built for complexity, specifically designed for medium to large teams that require more than basic task management. With features like Gantt charts and task dependencies, Wrike enables teams to map out every phase of a project, ensuring all details are covered and deadlines stay on track. Additionally, Wrike’s robust integrations with hundreds of apps allow teams to sync their work seamlessly across platforms, making it easy to track progress and communicate effectively, regardless of the tools they use.
9. MeisterTask
Free Version: Yes
Monthly Price: $13
MeisterTask is a visually engaging, user-friendly work management tool that makes task organization simple and effective. Its intuitive Kanban boards allow teams to visualize progress at a glance, while automation features take care of repetitive tasks, keeping workflows smooth and efficient. Task tracking is enhanced with checklists, so teams can easily break down assignments and mark each step as it’s completed. MeisterTask integrates seamlessly with popular tools like Slack, G Suite, and Microsoft Teams, enabling smooth communication and collaboration within familiar platforms.
Best for:
- Teams that need a visually appealing, easy-to-use task management tool.
- Freelancers managing multiple clients or creative projects.
- Ideal for agile teams that use sprints and need visual project timelines.
MeisterTask stands out for its user-friendly and visually appealing design, making it easy and enjoyable for teams to stay organized without a steep learning curve. This digital workspace’s clean, intuitive layout offers a streamlined approach to task management, perfect for those who want simplicity without sacrificing essential features. MeisterTask also caters well to agile teams, supporting sprints and visual project timelines that help keep projects on track and allow teams to adapt quickly as priorities shift.
10. KanbanFlow
Free Version: Yes
Monthly Price: $5
KanbanFlow combines the visual simplicity of Kanban boards with integrated time tracking and support for the Pomodoro technique. This combination helps users not only organize tasks visually but also manage their time and boost productivity. With KanbanFlow, you can set up tasks, track your progress, and use the Pomodoro timer to stay focused during work sessions, making it easy to break work into manageable chunks.
Best for:
- Individuals or small teams who enjoy Kanban boards and time management techniques.
- Freelancers who need to balance multiple projects and deadlines.
- Great for people who use the Pomodoro method to stay focused during work sessions.
KanbanFlow goes beyond a simple task board by helping users actively manage their time alongside their to-do lists. With its integration of time tracking within the visual layout of Kanban boards, users can easily see where time is spent and work more efficiently. Additionally, KanbanFlow stands out by seamlessly incorporating the Pomodoro technique, making it one of the few tools that helps users stay focused with regular, structured breaks. This combination of time management and focus support makes KanbanFlow ideal for those who want to improve productivity while maintaining concentration.
11. Smartsheet
Free Version: Yes
Monthly Price: $12
Smartsheet combines the familiar feel of spreadsheets with advanced project management features. With Smartsheet, teams can organize work through a spreadsheet-like interface while enjoying robust tools like Gantt charts, workflow automation, and detailed resource management. Smartsheet’s integration with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace also ensures smooth collaboration and allows teams to keep all essential tools in one place.
Best for:
- Teams who prefer working in spreadsheets but need project management capabilities.
- Enterprises requiring advanced collaboration and reporting tools.
- Ideal for construction projects, logistics, and operations where tracking detailed tasks is essential.
Smartsheet stands out by offering a unique setup for those who love the simplicity of spreadsheets but need an enhanced structure for managing complex projects. It allows users to track progress and manage tasks within a familiar grid format, providing the ease of spreadsheets with added project management capabilities. Designed with enterprises in mind, this digital workspace includes advanced collaboration and reporting tools to support teams across various departments. Its automation features streamline repetitive tasks, freeing up time for teams to focus on high-priority work, making it an ideal tool for handling detailed, multi-layered projects efficiently.
12. Ninox
Free Version: 30-day Free Trial
Monthly Price: $11
Ninox is a flexible work tool that lets teams build custom databases suited to their exact needs, with options for forms, reports, and automation. Unlike one-size-fits-all tools, Ninox allows you to create a tailored workspace that matches your specific workflow. With ready-to-use templates for CRM, project management, and invoicing, Ninox makes it easy to set up a system that tracks what matters most to your team.
Best for:
- Teams needing custom databases for specialized workflows.
- Industries like real estate or inventory management with specific data tracking requirements.
- Perfect for businesses that need to manage specialized processes or develop internal apps.
Ninox stands out by offering fully customizable database creation, giving teams the power to design databases from the ground up to meet specific workflow needs. This flexibility is especially valuable for industries like real estate and inventory management, where off-the-shelf tools often don’t align with unique data tracking requirements. With options for custom fields and tailored forms, Ninox adapts seamlessly to individual team needs. Additionally, Ninox includes built-in automation and reporting, allowing users to streamline repetitive tasks and access valuable insights quickly, making it an efficient choice for managing specialized processes.
Solutions for a Productive Workflow
Using a digital workspace empowers teams and individuals to stay organized, productive, and connected, especially in remote or flexible work environments. By consolidating tools and streamlining workflows, digital workspaces allow you to focus on what matters most, reducing time spent switching between platforms and manual task tracking.
Each tool brings unique strengths, from task management and automation to collaboration and data tracking, offering customized solutions for nearly any industry or project type. Investing time in choosing the right digital workspace tool can enhance team collaboration, simplify complex workflows, and even inspire creativity by giving your team a shared, organized platform to build on. Digital workspaces are transforming how we all work, enabling greater efficiency and unlocking new levels of productivity.