13 Best Tools for Working Remotely
According to Upwork, an estimated 36.2 million Americans (about 22% of the workforce) will work remotely in 2026. Hybrid roles now make up the majority of flexible arrangements, with 24% of new job postings in Q4 2025 being hybrid and 11% fully remote.
Flexibility remains a top benefit, with 98% of remote workers saying they would recommend remote work. With the following top 13 tools for working remotely, you'll be able to achieve maximum productivity when working from home and put an end to procrastination.
1. Team Communication: Slack
Price: Freemium, Pro plan from $7.25 per user/month
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, iOS, Web
Everyone who's wondering how to work remotely with a team of people from different parts of the world needs to know about Slack. You can think of this remote working tool as an instant messenger on steroids or as a real-time alternative to email.
Slack conversations happen in dedicated channels, allowing you to separate projects and keep clutter at bay. In addition to sending text messages, users can send files and make voice and video calls. Routine actions can be automated for greater remote work productivity, and more than 2,600 third-party services can be seamlessly integrated with Slack.
- Rich customization options
- Intuitive user interface
- Countless third-party integrations
- The free plan offers a limited set of features
- May become overwhelming due to frequent notifications
2. Project Management: Nifty
Price: Free plan for individuals and small teams (2 projects, 100 MB storage). Starter plan at $49/month, Pro at $99/month, Business at $149/month, and Unlimited plan at $499/month for enterprises.
Platforms: Web, iOS, Android
If you’re looking for a powerful yet easy-to-use project management solution that brings your team, tasks, and timelines together in one place, Nifty is an excellent choice. It’s designed to simplify collaboration by combining project planning, team communication, and workflow automation — all within a single intuitive platform.
Nifty helps teams stay aligned and productive. The platform allows teams to manage projects from start to finish — set goals, assign tasks, track progress with visual roadmaps, and communicate through built-in chat. Its milestone-driven approach bridges the gap between planning and execution, ensuring everyone stays focused on outcomes rather than scattered updates.
- All-in-one tool for project management, chat, and documentation
- Visual roadmaps and milestones for clear goal tracking
- Easy time tracking and reporting features
- Integrations with Google Drive, Slack, Zoom, and more
- Intuitive interface for both managers and team members
- Limited customization for reporting in lower-tier plans
- Advanced features may require a short learning curve
3. Project management and team collaboration: ProofHub
Price: 14-days free trial, the Essential plan at a flat $45 per month, the Ultimate control plan at $89 per month
Platforms: Web, iOS, Android
If you are someone having a hard time with scattered information, disjointed communication, and prevalent disorganization, ProofHub is the right productivity solution for you. The all-in-one tool eliminates the virtual work chaos by centralizing all your files, tasks, and teams at one location.
The platform‘s comprehensiveness shines through its ability to streamline workflows. It houses all the advanced features required to plan and manage projects, stay on top of your operations, and most importantly, to create a synchronized environment. It creates a central source of truth for everyone despite teams spread across different time zones.
- Scalable flat-fee pricing, no per-user fee
- Intuitive and easy-to-navigate user interface
- Simplified task management with drag-and-drop functionality
- Real-time built-in chat, discussions, and announcements
- Increased transparency, visibility, and flexibility
- Seamless and quick update, document and file sharing
- Not suitable for solopreneurs and individuals
- Basic integrations
4. Customer Service Operations: Dialpad Contact Center AI
Price: Standard plan $15 per user/month, Pro plan $25 per user/month
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, iOS, Web
Dialpad Contact Center AI is a modern solution designed to revolutionize customer service operations. This unified communications platform offers various business-oriented features, such as real-time transcription, sentiment analysis, and AI-powered recommendations, helping teams provide high-quality service and make remote collaboration simple yet productive.
The platform integrates smoothly with existing CRM systems, making it a flexible and scalable choice for businesses of any size.
- Real-time transcription
- Sentiment analysis
- AI-powered recommendations
- Automated call summaries
- Steeper learning curve for new users
- Higher cost compared to other solutions
- Relies on a stable internet connection
5. Client Collaboration: Clinked
Price: Try it for free, with paid plans starting at $119/month
Platforms: Available on the web, iOS, and Android
Clinked is a robust client portal platform tailored for remote teams that need a safe space to share files, manage documents, and collaborate with clients—all in one convenient location. It’s particularly ideal for agencies, consultants, legal teams, and other professional services that handle sensitive information and work closely with external partners.
With Clinked, you get encrypted file storage, document approvals, task management, and messaging—all wrapped up in a branded client portal. This helps teams cut down on endless email exchanges while keeping everything organized and secure. Plus, with detailed permissions, audit trails, and compliance-ready security features, it’s a fantastic choice for businesses that require more control than what standard file-sharing tools offer.
- Secure file sharing with detailed access controls and audit trials
- Custom, branded client portals designed to deliver a premium client experience
- Integrated document approvals and audit trails
- Built for collaboration with clients in mind
- More advanced than basic file-sharing tools
- Best for teams that regularly work with external clients
6. Workforce Analytics for Remote Teams: Time Doctor
Price: 14-day free trial available; Basic Plan at $6.70/user/month, Standard Plan at $11.70/user/month, Premium Plan at $16.70/user/month
Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android (limited features), iOS (limited features), Web
Time Doctor is a productivity powerhouse if you're managing remote, hybrid, or distributed teams. This tool combines time tracking, activity monitoring, and workforce analytics to provide managers with actionable insights and help businesses boost efficiency.
Time Doctor precisely monitors active and idle time, ensuring accountability across tasks and projects. Real-time monitoring features, like screenshots and activity levels, give managers greater transparency, while its seamless integrations with tools such as Asana, Trello, and Slack ensure it fits easily into any workflow.
The platform also helps categorize time usage across apps and projects, identify trends in team performance, and flag potential inefficiencies. For businesses managing email-heavy teams, it even tracks communication activity, ensuring every minute is optimized.
- Comprehensive workforce analytics with customizable reports.
- Easy-to-use interface suitable for teams of any size.
- Integrations with over 50 popular workplace tools.
- Detailed activity logs to ensure compliance.
- Real-time monitoring may feel invasive to some employees.
- Limited mobile functionality compared to desktop versions.
7. Online Meetings: Zoom
Price: Freemium, Pro plan from $13.33/user/month (annual billing)
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux, Web, Android, iOS
Zoom is a modern video conferencing and webinar solution with outstanding user reviews and enterprise-grade scalability. A single Zoom video conference session can include up to 1,000 video participants and 49 videos on a single screen.
Zoom uses strong end-to-end encryption to make it impossible for third parties to snoop from a distance. Meetings can be scheduled and started from Outlook, Gmail, or iCal, and they can be recorded locally or to the cloud, with searchable transcripts.
- Relatively affordable compared with other similar products
- Great stream quality
- Plenty of features to play with
- Managing more than a few participants can be a hassle
- You need to download the app
8. Project Management: Trello
Price: Freemium, Pro plans from $5 per user/month
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux, Web, Android, iOS
Trello is the first remote management software solution we recommend to those who are just starting to work from home and are looking for a simple way to stay organized. It's essentially a digital Kanban board that presents all tasks at a glance and makes it easy to add comments, attachments, due dates, and more.
Tasks can be quickly assigned to different team members, and you can even automate your workflow using Butler, Trello's built-in automation. Smaller teams that can live without priority customer support and advanced features can use Trello for free.
- Easy-to-use Kanban app
- Third-party integrations
- Customizable and flexible
- Limited reporting capabilities
9. Cloud Storage: Google Drive
Price: Freemium, from $1.99 per user/month
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Web, Android, iOS, Chrome OS
Regardless of what your job is, it's only a matter of time before you'll need to share files with your coworkers. Google Drive lets you store up to 15 GB of files in the cloud, allowing you to easily and securely share them with others or collaborate on them with other Google Drive users.
You can also use Google Drive to synchronize files between your devices. To do that, you need to install the Google Drive desktop client and store files in the folder it creates.
- You probably already have a Google account
- Plenty of free storage space for regular use
- Reliable desktop-to-desktop synchronization
- Privacy concerns
- Storage limitations
10. Time Tracking: Toggl
Price: Freemium, from $9/user/month (annual) or $10 monthly
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, Web, Android, iOS, Google Chrome
When working from home, it can be easy to lose concentration and spend more time watching funny videos online than working on that boring PowerPoint presentation your boss asked you to finish by the end of the week. With time tracking software like Toggl, you can track exactly how much time you spend on every application or website. You can then use the gathered data to generate detailed reports that make it easy to see how you can take your remote work productivity to the next level.
Toggl is one of the essential tools for remote teams since it allows team members to see who is over capacity and who might be able to lend a hand. The free version can be used by up to five users, and it integrates with over 100 third-party apps and services.
- Precise tracking of time spent on tasks and applications.
- Great for team workload management.
- Integrates with over 100 third-party apps and services.
- Some advanced features are restricted to the paid version.
11. Screen Recording: Loom
Price: Freemium, from $15/user/month
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Web, iOS, Google Chrome
When doing remote work from home, you can’t simply tell your colleague to come over and look at your monitor. What you can do, however, is use Loom to record your entire screen and share the recording via a link. You can even include footage from your webcam to let your colleague see your face while you’re explaining, making Loom an excellent alternative to typing an email or meeting live.
To install Loom, you don’t need administrator privileges because this useful remote working tool is available as an extension for the Google Chrome web browser. The free version lets you save up to 25 videos, each up to 5 minutes, max 720p.
- Conveniently available as a Chrome extension.
- Automatically attaches videos to Gmail for easy sharing.
- Free version limits recordings to 5 minutes each.
12. Password Management: Bitwarden
Price: Freemium, from $19.80/year for individual use, $4/user/month for teams
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux, Web, Android, iOS, Microsoft Edge, Vivaldi Browser, Chrome, Safari, Opera, Brave, Firefox
Bitwarden is arguably one of the most useful remote working software tools because you can use it to safely store your passwords and other sensitive data, which can be indispensable when logging in to various online services and company systems. Unlike most other password managers, Bitwarden is open-source and audited by an independent third party.
Being a cross-platform application, Bitwarden runs on mobile devices, desktop computers, and even inside your web browser. The free version doesn’t come with any major limitations, but users can upgrade to Bitwarden Premium to unlock 1 GB of encrypted file storage, two-step authentication with a hardware token, and several other useful perks.
- Open-source and independently audited
- Secure storage for passwords and sensitive data
- Premium users have only a 1GB cap on encrypted storage
13. Customer Service Operations: Nextiva
Price: From $20 to $60 per user/month, depending on features and tier.
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Android, iOS, Web
Nextiva Business Communication Suite is an all-in-one cloud communication platform built to support remote teams with customer service and internal collaboration. It combines VoIP calling, video conferencing, team chat, and SMS into a single, streamlined interface—helping distributed teams stay connected without juggling multiple tools.
The platform also includes built-in CRM functionality, real-time analytics, and workflow automation features. These additions make Nextiva a strong choice for customer-facing teams looking to improve responsiveness and stay organized across departments and locations.
While its full value shines at scale, smaller teams can benefit from the reliable call quality, detailed reporting, and unified communication environment that reduces silos—especially when working remotely. From most Nextiva reviews, users highlight its strong pricing, clear call quality, and simple, intuitive interface.
- Unified communications: voice, video, chat, and SMS in one place
- Built-in CRM integration tools
- Real-time analytics and reporting
- High-quality, reliable calling infrastructure
- Pricing tiers may be confusing or restrictive for small teams
- Interface feels outdated compared to newer competitors.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Remote Work
Back in 2023, the Workstyle Revolution report revealed that 12.7% of full-time U.S. employees work remotely, while 28.2% follow a hybrid model. By 2026, these figures have continued to rise.
Remote work is most common in Technology and Marketing (15% of new roles fully remote), followed by Finance (13%) and Healthcare (11%). By Q3 2025, 25% of U.S. companies allowed fully remote work, while 38% adopted a structured hybrid model.
Remote workers can be up to 13% more productive than office-based peers, according to Stanford research. At the same time, 81% check email outside of work hours, and burnout remains a common challenge due to blurred work-life boundaries according to Apollo Technical.
The negative impacts on work-life balance can be particularly challenging for disorganized individuals who struggle to structure their day effectively.
Advantages
Flexibility. You can plan your day around your own schedule, which could mean getting up early or running errands during the day.
Cost savings. Not having to drive to work means you can save money on gas, public transportation, and work clothes.
Improved work-life balance. Instead of commuting or sitting in the office, you can spend more time with family and friends.
Disadvantages
Dependency on technology. You need hardware and software that you can count on to work, and there's no IT department down the hall to fix things when they break.
Limited contact with coworkers. Social isolation is a common challenge. Video calls and chats are helpful, but they don't fully replace talking to someone face-to-face.
Procrastination. It's easy to lose focus without the office structure. You need self-control and the right tools.
Conclusion
By equipping yourself with the right remote working tools, you can be just as productive—if not even more—as in your company office while enjoying the numerous benefits of working from home.
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Best Tools to Work Remotely - FAQs
What does remote working mean?
Remote working means that employees can work from various locations, not limited to the office. Often working from home, remote workers benefit from avoiding commute hassles and gaining more time with family, utilizing technology to stay connected and productive.
How to be productive working from home?
Being productive while working from home requires a dedicated workspace, clear scheduling, and minimizing distractions. Use tools like Clean Email for an organized inbox, take regular breaks, and establish a consistent routine to further enhance efficiency and well-being.
Why is it better to work from home?
People who work from home can avoid long commute times, and the financial strain they can cause. They also enjoy far greater flexibility than their office-bound colleagues, both in terms of their work hours and the location from which they work.
Are people more productive working from home?
Research shows that working from home often leads to increased productivity compared to office work. However, it's not suitable for everyone, as some individuals may miss the social interaction with coworkers.
What are the disadvantages of remote working?
Some of the most frequently mentioned disadvantages of remote working include isolation, decreased work/life balance, lack of motivation, personal distractions, and lack of adequate technology at home.
How can I improve my remote working?
To improve remote working, set a schedule, minimize distractions and equip yourself with the right remote working tools, such as the ones listed in this article.
How do I manage my team remotely?
With the right remote working software tools, managing a team of remote workers is easy. Tools like Slack can be used to enhance team communication, while Trello and other similar project management software can be used to assign tasks and track progress.
