Top AI Productivity Tools & Apps To Use

Are you finding it difficult to stay focused? Can’t seem to stay on top of all your appointments? Have you been finding yourself stuck for ideas or ways to clear your workload? I’ve been there…

Unorganized me would have me buried under a mountain of paperwork, the to-do list growing longer by the hour, and my inbox reaching its capacity limits. Finding time for a coffee was unheard of. That is until AI came along.

Thanks to machine learning and the magic of artificial intelligence, it’s now possible to hand off entire tasks to these powerful tools and, in some cases, let them do the work for you.

Awesome, right?

Now, I’m far more efficient in dealing with my workload, and since I no longer have to spend time dealing with mundane tasks, I can focus on growing my business rather than just trying to stay afloat.

If this situation resonates with you, it’s time to discover how AI can help you.

TL;DR: There are hundreds of different apps out there to help improve your productivity, so it’s impossible to narrow them down to a clear winner. However, I’ve sorted through them all to give you the ten best productivity tools and apps for 2024.

Before we get started, here’s a quick overview of each tool and their prices:

AI Tool	Plans cost from…	Try for free?	Best for
Jasper.ai	$39/mo	5-day free trial	Copywriting
Canva	Free	Free plan available	Graphic design
Otter.ai	Free	Free plan available	Text to speech
Grammarly	Free	Free plan available	Spelling and grammar
Calendly	Free	Free plan available	Appointment scheduling
Conversica	Pricing upon request	Free demo available	Automated conversation
Beautiful.ai	$12/mo	14-day free trial	Presentations
WriterZen	$27/mo	7-day free trial	SEO
Time Doctor	$70/year	14-day free trial	Time management
ProofHub	$45/mo	14-day free trial	Project management and collaboration
Genei.io	$9/mo	14-day free trial	Researching

Top AI Productivity Tools and Apps

Here are (in my humble opinion) the best AI productivity tools and apps available for 2024.

As you will discover, each performs a very specific task and are entirely different from each other. Therefore, this article has no overall winner as it is impossible to compare them directly.

Which one is best for you? Only you can decide that. Let’s go!

1. Jasper AI – Best for Copywriting

What Does Jasper.ai Do?

Jasper.ai is a content creation tool that automatically generates original and unique text to use for blog posts, articles, social media posts, and more.

The tool features over 50 different AI templates and comes with a Chrome extension so you can generate content wherever you are online. Jasper.ai supports 29 languages, comes with an editing tool, and helps you optimize the content for SEO as you write.

Recently, Jasper.ai also introduced an AI art generator to its suite of tools, so you can now produce unique images to precisely match your content.

Pros and Cons of Jasper.ai

Pros:

• The #1 industry-leading AI content writing software right now
• Access to 50+ AI templates available with all plans
• Helps you generate titles, inspiration, and keywords for all types of content
• Excellent for creating unique long-form blog content
• Natural, human-like writing in 29 languages
• Grammarly extension included for free (only for Boss Mode or Business plan)

Cons:

• A lot of the better features are only available for higher-priced plans 
• If you write a lot of content, it can get expensive plus the AI art generator is an additional cost
• It’s not the easiest tool to get to grips with (see my list of Jasper AI alternatives here)

Jasper.ai Price Plans

There are two key plans for Jasper.ai:

• Boss Mode plan: $39/mo with full features
• Business plan: Bespoke pricing

The main difference between the plans is the number of features you get. Additionally, the cost of your plan can dramatically increase if you want to write a lot of words per month.

Add-on features:

• AI art generator: $20/mo (in addition to your chosen plan cost)

Jasper.ai comes with a five-day free trial, however, there is no money-back guarantee.

Think Jasper.ai can help you get over your writer’s block and write amazing content? Try out the tool right now.

2. Canva – Best for graphic design, creating social media posts, marketing materials, and more

What Does Canva Do?

Canva is a user-friendly graphic design tool that allows users to create professional-looking designs without any design experience.

It offers a wide variety of templates, tools, and resources to help users create custom designs for various purposes, including social media posts, marketing materials, and more.

Pros and Cons of Canva

Pros:

• Easy to use, even for non-designers
• Wide variety of templates and design elements
• Affordable pricing options (including a forever-free plan)
• Integrations with popular social media platforms
• Ability to create basic websites

Cons:

• Limited options for advanced design features
• Some elements and templates require payment

Canva Plans

Canva offers a free version with basic features and a paid Pro version for $12.95 per month or $9.95 per month when paid annually. The Pro version offers advanced features and more design elements.

Unleash your inner designer with Canva – Try it now for free and see the difference it makes in your designs!

Check out my Canva Pro review here.

3. Otter.ai – Best for Speech to Text

What Does Otter.ai Do?

Taking notes manually is a thing of the past. Otter is a real-time transcription tool that takes notes and generates an automated summary. Otter works hard in the background when you have a meeting to transform your spoken words into written text.

The tool integrates with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet and stores all its notes in one secure, central location.

Otter’s AI is smart and, over time, will learn speaker identification and custom vocabulary enabling it to work faster and more accurately. The end result is an advanced summary that perfectly encapsulates what was said in the meeting.

Pros and Cons of Otter.ai

Pros

• Otter has a generous free plan, so you can try it without having to commit
• You can use the tool on both desktop browser and mobile devices
• Features an editing tool with collaboration capabilities
• Can transcribe recorded files as well as live events
• Sync the tool with your calendars and scheduled meetings

Cons

• It sometimes lacks accuracy particularly for complex audio files
• The tool is only available in UK or US English

Otter.ai Price Plans

There are four plans available for Otter.ai with a generous discount applied for paying annually:

• Basic plan: Free, up to 300 minutes per month
• Pro plan: From $8.33/mo, up to 1,200 minutes per month
• Business plan: From $20/mo, up to 6,000 minutes per month
• Enterprise: Bespoke pricing, up to 6,000 minutes per month

Thanks to the free plan you can thoroughly try out Otter.ai at your leisure. Want to give it a go? Sign up here.

4. Grammarly – Best for Grammar Checking and Spelling

What Does Grammarly Do?

Grammarly goes much further than your average spellchecking tool and has a range of AI-based tools and features to make your writing shine. 

Along with correcting your spelling and grammar, the AI also provides suggestions for better sentence construction and cleans up complicated jargon and unnecessary filler words. 

You can also set the tone and style for your writing. So, if you want to sound professional, casual, informative, etc., the tool will adjust its settings accordingly. This is handy if you’re writing for a client who likes a particular style.

While you can use the desktop app and copy/paste your writing into the tool, there is also a handy browser extension that corrects as you write (in fact, I’m using it to write this very article!).

Pros and Cons of Grammarly

Pros:

• The tool is ultra easy to use and clearly shows you by underlining in red or blue where improvements can be made.
• It’s inexpensive, and the free plan is surprisingly generous and unlimited
• The styles and tone settings help you write a desired way.
• The browser extension is extremely useful and saves you loads of time as you can correct as you write.

Cons:

• The tool doesn’t like slang and struggles to understand language nuances, so it will sometimes try to change your text to something dry and devoid of personality.
• While the browser extension is fabulous, it can be glitchy and do some odd things on occasion.
• The tool is currently only available in English.
• It’s not perfect and occasionally makes mistakes, so you need to be vigilant when using the tool.

Grammarly Price Plans

You have three options for using Grammarly:

• Free plan: With limited features
• Premium plan: From $12/mo
• Business plan: From $15/mo

For the free plan, you simply need to create an account or sign up with your Google or Apple account. Paid plans carry a discount for paying annually.

Interested in trying Grammarly out? Start here.

5. Calendly – Best for Appointments and Scheduling

What Does Calendly Do?

Calendly is currently the world’s most popular automated scheduling tool. It’s easy and convenient to use and takes the stress out of sending loads of back-and-forth emails trying to confirm a meeting date.

Once you have set up your availability parameters, you can send out your calendar link or embed it on a website or sales funnel. Then, invitees will only be shown your availability so they can book the ideal time and date for themselves without inconveniencing you.

The tool uses automated workflows to send out reminders and follow-ups, and it has the ability to collect payments if you’re charging for appointments. Plus, you can organize meetings for groups, and the tool will automatically detect times and dates when everyone is available.

Pros and Cons of Calendly

Pros:

• The tool has a pretty decent free-for-life plan
• Calendly has a good user experience and is easy to master
• The tool is optimized for use on all types of devices
• It has native integration capabilities for tonnes of other software tools
• The tool lets you set up a wide range of event types including recurring and group appointments

Cons:

• The customization options are limited on the cheaper plans as is premium customer support
• To keep the UI clear, a lot of the menus are hidden, and if you don’t know where to look they can be hard to find
• You pay per user so if you have a largish team, it can quickly get expensive

Calendly Price Plans

Calendly has a range of plans available to suit the size and scale of your business. The tool charges per seat or user, so the more people that need admin access to the tool, the more it will cost.

• Basic plan: Free
• Essentials plan: From $8/mo per seat
• Professional plan: From $12/mo per seat
• Teams plan: From $16/mo per seat
• Enterprise plan: Bespoke pricing

The basic free plan, although limited in features, has no time limit and can be used for life. All paid plans have a discount if you pay annually. Fancy giving Calendly a go? Sign up here.

6. Conversica – Best for Automated Conversations

What Does Conversica Do?

Conversica has developed its Revenue Digital Assistants™ to create powerful, human-like, text-based conversations. In other words, Conversica is an extremely clever chatbot.

The Digital Assistants are designed for specific purposes, so whether you aim to maximize sales opportunities, catch leads while they’re hot, qualify prospects, or provide superior customer service, Conversica can help you achieve it.

Live chat facilities on websites are a great way to reach out to leads and existing customers, but they take a lot of manpower and time to operate fully. With Conversica, you can let the AI take over so users can have a human-like conversation 24/7, 365 days a year.

The end result is better customer satisfaction and better lead conversion.

Pros and Cons of Conversica

Pros: 

• Free up valuable time by letting Conversica’s AI handle text-based conversations
• Provides a human-like experience for the user
• The tool is available in English, Spanish, German, Portuguese, French, and Japanese
• There are three versions of the tool specifically geared towards sales, marketing, and customer service in a number of industries
• The tool is effective for increasing ROI, conversion rates, and pipeline growth

Cons:

• Pricing is not transparent, so it’s hard to understand how much the product costs without approaching the Conversica team
• Online information suggests that the cost of this tool is high and therefore probably not suitable for small businesses

Conversica Price Plans

Conversica does not have set price plans and instead provides pricing upon request following a demo. However, according to TrustRadius, prices start from $1,499 per month, and a free trial is available.

Want to understand how the power of Conversica can make your business thrive? Request a free demo here.

7. Beautiful.ai – Best for Presentations

What Does Beautiful.ai Do?

For decades Microsoft Powerpoint has been the de facto tool to use when creating presentations. And it was good…for a while. 

Now Powerpoint is redundant, thanks to Beautiful.ai. This super tool creates stunning-looking presentations in seconds. All you do is pick a smart template, add your content, and the tool will adapt and format it automatically. If you have brand colors and images, the tool will include these too.

Beautiful can also add impressive animations, and if you can’t quite bear to part with PowerPoint, Beautiful.ai actually integrates with it.

Pros and Cons of Beautiful.ai

Pros: 

• Uncomplicated pricing and low cost
• Exceptionally easy to use and has a great user experience
• Integrates with Slack, Dropbox, PowerPoint, and Monday.com
• Loads of smart templates, stock images, and videos available
• Customize themes to your brand colors
• Upload audio for voiceover and narration

Cons: 

• Does not properly support copy/paste capabilities from other applications
• Audio quality could do with some improvement

Beautiful.ai Price Plans

Beautiful.ai has three different pricing tiers available:

• Pro plan: From $12/mo for individuals
• Team plan: From $40/mo for teams
• Enterprise: Bespoke pricing

A discount is applied for paying annually plus you can take advantage of a 14-day free trial.

Want more stunning presentations in your life? Try Beautiful.ai for free.

8. WriterZen – Best for SEO

What Does WriterZen Do?

WriterZen is a powerful SEO tool and content creator all in one. The AI will help you find interesting and in-demand topics to write about and then provide the SEO keywords to go with them.

The tool also provides a content writing tool with an AI-powered assistant (for an additional cost), plus a plagiarism checker that ensures your writing is 100% unique.

Pros and Cons of WriterZen

Pros:

• The platform is suitable for beginners and very easy to use
• The tool helps you gain that elusive first-page spot on SERP 
• You get SEO tips and keywords to use while you write
• Allows you to discover the topic headings that people are searching for
• Ensures your content is unique thanks to the plagiarism checker
• Saves time and effort writing content as you let the AI do it for you

Cons:

• The content creator isn’t perfect, and you still need to spend time proofreading and adjusting it, so it makes sense
• To use the AI content creation tool you need to pay extra and it’s not cheap. It costs  from $99/mo in addition to the cost of your chosen plan

WriterZen Price Plans

WriterZen has four different pricing options:

• Basic plan: From $27/mo
• Standard plan: From $20.50/mo
• Advanced plan: From $69/mo
• Enterprise: Bespoke pricing

Plus, there are two add-on products:

• AI Assistant: From $99/mo
• Member seats (for collaboration): From $23/mo

WriterZen offers a 30% discount if you pay annually plus you can try before you buy with a seven-day free trial. No credit card is required to sign up, and you can cancel anytime.

Like the idea of having SEO done for you? Get started with WriterZen today.

9. Time Doctor – Best for Time Management

What Does Time Doctor Do?

Time Doctor is an app that uses AI to track and record where time is being spent on devices and computers. It has the ability to provide analytics to show where individuals are utilizing their time efficiently and where improvements can be made.

The tool can also help provide a flexible schedule for employees and maintain a better work-life balance while avoiding burnout. And when full concentration is required, the app has distraction alerts that notify you if you’ve strayed off track.

You can even set the tool to take screenshots and screen recordings at regular intervals so you can directly pinpoint where individuals are spending their time and help better manage it. It’s also a handy way to provide proof of work to clients.

Overall, it’s a great tool for improving time management and identifying areas that hamper productivity.

Pros and Cons of Time Doctor

Pros: 

• The app has many features and tools available for the price
• Can integrate with hundreds of other apps
• Optimized for use on all devices
• The app works at all times, even when the user is offline
• Advanced employee monitoring allows you to spot areas that need improvement to maximize productivity

Cons: 

• Price is per user so the cost can soon add up if you have many employees
• The app is geared towards businesses with employees rather than individuals looking to improve their productivity 

Time Doctor Price Plans

Time Doctor has three pricing tiers to choose from. The price is per user:

• Basic plan: $70/year or $7/mo
• Standard plan: $100/year or $10/mo
• Premium plan: $200/year or $20/mo

Paying annually for any plan gives you a discount equivalent to two month’s free and before you commit to Time Doctor, you can enjoy a 14-day free trial.

Want to increase productivity and get your time management under control? Give Time Doctor a whirl for free.

10. ProofHub – Best for Project Management and Collaboration

What Does ProofHub Do?

ProofHub is a comprehensive platform that allows you and your team to collaborate, organize, and deliver projects in a timely manner. By designing automated workflows, team members know exactly what they should work on and when.

Discussion areas eradicate the need for lengthy email trails and reduce the issue of burying important information that people can easily miss. And tasks can be prioritized and organized into groups, so you know exactly where you are at with each stage of the project.

You can also set up automatic reminders for tasks and have automated hour tracking to ensure you never lose track of billable time for clients.

Overall, this is one of the most comprehensive project management platforms available and is a great time saver, too, as many features can be automated. The fact that it’s a flat monthly fee with unlimited users is a bonus.

Pros and Cons of ProofHub

Pros: 

• Both price plans include unlimited users
• Available in a wide variety of languages that auto-translates for individual team members
• Simple to understand with a clean user interface
• All project management tools available on a single platform
• Automatic billable hours tracking
• Improves on-time project delivery and client satisfaction
• Much better alternative than Trello

Cons:

• Doesn’t always load quickly so can be an issue for remote workers with poor network connections
• Could do with more advanced budgeting tools

ProofHub Price Plans

ProofHub has two simple price plans available. The cost for both plans includes unlimited users.

• Essential plan: From $45/mo
• Ultimate Control plan: From $89/mo

Both plans have a discount if you choose to pay annually, plus you can try for free with a 14-day trial.

To understand how ProofHub can make your life easier, get started for free.

11. Genei.io – Best for Researching

What Does Genei.io Do?

Genei.io uses AI to make online research quick and efficient. The tool intelligently extracts information from web pages and presents it in a summarized or annotated form.

The tool essentially removes the requirement for you to spend hours trawling through web content, trying to find relevant information for your project. So whether you’re writing academic papers or blog articles, Genei.io is a great app to have at your disposal.

All you do is add your requirements to the search tool, and Genei.io will get to work. Better still, the app automatically organizes and tags documents into your relevant projects, saving you the hassle of keeping track of all the information.

It’s not expensive either, so this is a brilliant tool for both businesses and freelancers alike.

Pros and Cons of Genei.io

Pros: 

• Genei.io is low cost, particularly for academics
• Saves tonnes of time trawling through dozens of web pages to find relevant information
• Can quickly organize and make sense of large amounts of data
• Super easy to use with a great user interface

Cons: 

• Currently only supports the English language
• Sometimes the wait time for the AI to produce overviews can be somewhat lengthy

Genei.io Price Plans

Genio.io’s prices are only displayed in UK GBP (although you don’t have to be in the UK to purchase it). However, here are the prices in USD, but please bear in mind this value can be affected by exchange rate fluctuations:

• Basic plan: From £7.99/mo or about $9/mo
• Pro plan: From £24.99/mo or about $30/mo

A discount is applied for paying annually, and academics receive a 40% discount. Try for free with a 14-day trial.

If you’re tired of research taking so long and want to free up time. Find out how Genei.io can help.

Questions & Answers

Wrap Up

Usually, when I write this type of article, I pick a winner from all the software tools I review. However, in this case, it’s impossible. Each tool performs a completely different task from the next.

What I will say is that, in my opinion, the tools on this list are best at what they do. Each is highly sophisticated and can make your workday infinitely easier and more pleasant.

As AI becomes more powerful, these tools become even more efficient. And, if you harness AI productivity software to your advantage, you’ll be free to work on scaling your business to new heights.