15 of the Best Remote Work Software Options You Need in 2023 

As we step into 2023, the way we work has evolved, and so has the remote work software that supports our remote and hybrid work. 

Remote work is no longer just a temporary response to unforeseen circumstances; it has become a fundamental aspect of the modern work environment. With this monumental shift comes the demand for cutting-edge software solutions that empower teams to thrive in dispersed yet interconnected workspaces.

Join us to explore these innovative tools that will enhance productivity, streamline communication, and ensure that remote work remains efficient and thrives as a sustainable and fulfilling way of working. Of course, whether you’re working remotely or managing a remote team, you’ll need to make some adjustments. According to a survey, remote workers face challenges with communication, teammate interaction, and visibility.

In this rapidly evolving landscape, the right remote work software can be the linchpin of success for businesses and individuals. 

To get you started, we’ve rounded up the best remote work software solutions, ranging from simple focusing apps to remote workforce analytics software. These tools help you manage projects, track your finances, improve security, and more.

Use this guide to help you decide which remote tools you need in 2023.

1. Hubstaff – for time tracking, timesheets, and team management

Now that you’re working remotely, you need an app that can help you keep track of work hours and progress as if you were at the office. Hubstaff can help.

Built by a remote team for remote teams, Hubstaff is a time tracking and work management app built to help teams make the most out of their time, build trust, and create accountability.

The lightweight desktop apps for Mac, Windows, and Linux (there are web and mobile versions, too) track time with one click to start or stop the clock.

Hubstaff will automatically record the hours you and your team members work with accountability features that let you see apps and URLs used and more. You can turn on optional screenshots and idle time reminders when a team member forgets to stop the timer.

From the Hubstaff dashboard, you can see:

• How active your team is at work with keyboard and mouse activity rates
• Where work hours are spent per project and task
• Your team’s progress over time with random screenshot capturing once, twice, or three times per ten minutes (or turned off altogether)

You can customize or turn off these productivity features for each team member.

Hubstaff integrates with over 30 apps, from project management and accounting software to help desk and CRM solutions.

The Hubstaff Tasks add-on makes handling work efficiently and creating a smooth workflow remotely a breeze. It’s a project management software built with Agile principles in mind. Hubstaff Tasks’ central features are Kanban-style boards that are easy to understand and navigate, Stand-ups that keep everyone informed, and Sprints that can help your team focus their efforts.

With Hubstaff, you can track your hours, get progress reports on projects, and keep your expenses in check in one streamlined workflow. Hubstaff also offers Insights, an add-on that lets you access deeper performance metrics such as productivity trends, time-wasting apps, and utilization benchmarks.

Features

• Time tracking
• Automated timesheets
• Productivity monitoring
• Kanban-style workflow
• Project Timelines
• Automated Stand-ups
• Project profitability monitoring
• Payroll and invoice management
• Employee scheduling
• Detailed reports

User reviews

G2: 4.3/5 (431+ reviews)

Capterra: 4.6/5 (1,429+ reviews)

Pricing

Hubstaff offers a free plan that’s limited to a single user. Paid plans include:

• Starter ($7/user/month)
• Grow ($9/user/month)
• Team ($12/user/month)
• Enterprise: Custom pricing

2. Google Drive – for cloud storage and document collaboration

If you still keep work-related files on your local computer, you’re playing with fire. Google Drive is a remote work tool that can improve team communication and move all your files to the cloud to ensure they’re safe.

It’s a cloud-based storage solution that lets you keep your project files in one centralized location. Google Drive can keep your virtual teams on the same page. You can upload files, create directories, and share these with other people.

Google Drive has a robust set of office tools that lets you create and edit documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. You can track the edits made by collaborators in real-time, accept and reject suggestions, and tag people in comments and notes.

Features

• Cloud file storage and sharing
• Document processing
• Spreadsheets
• Remote collaboration 
• Presentations

User reviews

G2: 4.4/5 (17+ reviews)

Capterra: 4.8/5 (27,273+ reviews)

Pricing

Google gives you 15 GB of storage space in Google Drive for free. If you need more space, you can opt for one of the paid plans:

• 100 GB ($1.99/month)
• 1 TB ($9.99/month)
• 2 TB ($19.99/month)
• 10 TB ($99.99/month)
• 20 TB ($199.99/month)
• 30 TB ($299.99/month)

3. Slack – for real-time communication

Communicating with your colleagues is as simple as turning your chair around and speaking when you’re in an office. Slack is the central hub of communication for many companies working remotely.

Slack is a remote team management tool that solves some communication difficulties that come with remote working. It lets you have real-time conversations with anyone on your team, create channels for different purposes, and create threads within messages to organize your chats.

The app also supports file sharing. You can directly send files to your team as an alternative to email.

Slack integrates with several popular solutions, including Hubstaff.

Features

• Channels
• Direct messaging
• Audio and video calls
• Message search
• File sharing

User reviews

G2: 4.1/5 (31,985+ reviews)

Capterra: 4.7/5 (23,115+ reviews)

Pricing

Slack offers a free plan that’s limited in features and suitable for small teams. Paid plans include:

• Pro ($8.75/user/month)
• Business+ ($15/user/month)
• Enterprise (custom pricing)

4. Todoist – for tracking to-dos

Todoist keeps all your to-dos in one place so you can plan your day better and ensure you don’t forget anything important.

When something unexpected comes up, add a reminder and get back to what you were initially working on before you were interrupted. Using the Quick Add feature, you can create to-dos and reminders in seconds.

Todoist lets you create sub-tasks and shows you your daily or weekly productivity trends. It also integrates with virtual assistants like Google Home and Alexa, so you can add tasks to your list as they come up.

Features

• Task management
• Task dependencies
• Recurring tasks
• Kanban boards

User reviews

G2: 4.4/5 (766+ reviews)

Capterra: 4.6/5 (2,294+ reviews)

Pricing

• Beginner ($0/month)
• Pro ($5/month)
• Business ($8/user/month)

5. PukkaTeam – for creating a healthy virtual work environment

PukkaTeam is designed to get remote teams closer together. It lets you see your co-workers’ faces throughout the day by taking photos of them automatically.

With PukkaTeam, you know which team members are currently at their desks and available to talk and who is away.

The app integrates with Skype and supports one-click video calls. Status updates let team members know what you’re working on at any given time.

You don’t need to download anything to use PukkaTeam; it works straight from your browser.

Features

• Availability notifications
• Custom statuses
• Video calls

User reviews

G2: 3.5/5 (1+ reviews)

Capterra: No reviews currently available

Pricing

PukkaTeam offers a free 60-day trial you can use to test out the software. Paid plans include:

• Group Package ($7/user/month)
• Party Package ($9/user/month)
• Crowd Package ($12/user/month)

6. Dropbox Sign – for managing e-signatures

Dropbox Sign (formerly HelloSign) is an eSignature solution that allows you to design flexible signing workflows. You can request signatures from up to 20 people and get a copy of the signed document sent to the inbox of everyone involved.

The platform supports custom branding, so you can ensure every document and contract aligns with your brand’s look. You can also use templates to get started on a document quickly.

You can set up Dropbox Sign to notify you when someone reviews or signs a document. There’s also the option to let people sign documents in person using a mobile device.

Features

• Document templates
• Custom branding
• Status notifications
• Audit trails

User reviews

G2: 4.7/5 (2,098+ reviews)

Capterra: 4.7/5 (1,412+ reviews)

Pricing

Dropbox Sign is free for up to three signature requests per month. Paid plans include:

• Essentials (individuals) ($20/month)
• Dropbox + Sign Essentials (individuals) ($22/month)
• Standard (small team) ($30/user/month)
• Enterprise (custom pricing)

7. 1Password – for securing your passwords

1Password is a password management app that can store all your passwords in a secure online password vault. This eliminates the need for you to remember dozens of different passwords or risk having someone find out your passwords by writing them down.

With 1Password, you only need to remember a single master password; the app will do the rest. It can fill website forms automatically based on saved login data, saving you time.

1Password syncs your data between all your devices, giving you access to your passwords on every device you use.

It also has a feature called Watchtower, which monitors the web for security breaches and alerts you when your login data on a particular website might be compromised.

Features

• Automatic form-filling
• Advanced encryption
• Data breach alerts

User reviews

G2: 4.7/5 (1,300+ reviews)

Capterra: 4.7/5 (1,993+ reviews)

Pricing

1Password offers a free 14-day trial. Paid plans include:

• Individual ($2.99/month)
• Families ($4.99/month)
• Business ($7.99/user/month)
• Teams starter pack, up to 10 members ($19.95/month)
• Enterprise (custom pricing)

8. Xero – for financial tracking and reporting

Xero allows you to track and pay bills with a single click. You can use it to claim expenses, approve and reimburse claims, and monitor spending.

There’s also the option of connecting the app to your bank account and letting it import transactions automatically. You can then manually categorize and reconcile bank transactions or set up rules to have Xero do it automatically.

The app supports invoice creation and online payments. You can also use it to create various reports to analyze your business’ financial performance.

Features

• Bank reconciliation
• Expense claims
• Online payments
• Payroll management

User reviews

G2: 4.3/5 (593+ reviews)

Capterra: 4.4/5 (2,797+ reviews)

Pricing

Xero offers a free 30-day trial. Paid plans include:

• Early ($15/month)
• Growing ($42/month)
• Established ($78/month)

9. Officevibe – for employee satisfaction surveys

Whether it’s to ask about updates or how employees feel about their jobs, ensuring everyone in your team is satisfied is essential to excellent team performance. However, when working remotely, you miss some warning signs that your employees are unhappy.

Officevibe allows you to check up on your team members automatically.

Officevibe is an employee engagement tool that gathers information about your team by sending out short surveys for members to complete. These surveys help you understand your team members and allow you to get better insights into how they’re doing.

Your team can answer and give feedback anonymously so they can be completely honest with what they say.

Features

• Pulse surveys
• Survey reports
• 1-on-1 meetings
• Anonymous feedback

User reviews

G2: 4.3/5 (707+ reviews)

Capterra: 4.6/5 (51+ reviews)

Pricing

Officevibe offers a free plan with limited features. 

• Essential ($5/user/month)
• Pro ($8/user/month)

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10. Userlane – for software training

Userlane can help you create software walkthroughs without writing a single line of code. Userlane helps show team members or customers how to use a particular software tool.

With Userlane, you can design interactive step-by-step guides that help lead team members and users through any process. It lets you record click paths automatically and add supporting materials like links and images to your guides.

Creating unique, individualized experiences can also be done by segmenting pages or audiences. You can send direct messages to users to share important information or ask for feedback.

Userlane also offers detailed analytics you can use to gain a better understanding of user engagement.

Features

• Interactive step-by-step guides
• Audience and page segmentation
• Direct in-app messaging
• User analytics

User reviews

G2: 4.7/5 (78+ reviews) 

Capterra: 4.5/5 (47+ reviews)  

Pricing

Userlane offers custom pricing, which is determined on a case-by-case basis.

11. Coffitivity – for background noise

Coffitivity is a web app that aims to help recreate coffee shop sounds for people working from home. The company behind the app cites studies on their website that show that ambient noise can help people be more creative and sometimes even improve concentration.

If you or your team want to create a feeling of being at a cafe surrounded by people, this app could be an excellent option for you.

Coffitivity currently offers six different ambient sounds you can choose from when using the free app version.

Features

• Various ambient sounds
• Offline mode

User reviews

G2: No reviews available

Capterra: No reviews available

Pricing

The basic version of Coffitivity is free. There’s also a Premium plan that includes more sounds. It costs $9/year.

12. Forest – for reducing distractions

It can be very tempting to browse your social media feed when working. The Forest app tries to help you reduce distractions by rewarding you for not using your smartphone.

The idea is simple: you set a timer for how long you want to work undistracted, and the app counts down the time for you. But here’s the kicker: while the app is running, you’ll see an animation of a tree.

That tree will keep growing if you don’t unlock your smartphone. The tree dies if you unlock it before the timer counts down to zero.

While you might not care about a virtual tree, you should know that Forest awards users with virtual coins they can spend to have the company behind the app donate real money to organizations that plant trees worldwide.

So, apart from helping you be more productive, Forest also allows you to contribute to saving the environment.

Features

• App whitelist
• Phone usage and screen time tracking
• Task categorization

User reviews

G2: No reviews available

Capterra: No reviews available

Pricing

The basic version of Forest is free. The Pro version costs $1.99

13. Krisp – for noise reduction and meeting notes

Krisp is a tool that mutes background noise during calls and offers a meeting assistant. The app uses AI technology to filter out any sound that isn’t your voice during a call.

You can use Krisp to prevent your dog’s barking or your neighbor’s noisy renovation project from interfering with your virtual meetings. You will also receive automatic meeting transcription that works with voice apps and does not need extensions or plugins.

Krisp lets you mute your background noise and the noise coming from your teammates. You can toggle these on and off with one click.

You don’t need any special hardware to use the app. Once you’ve installed Krisp, you can use it with any headphones or microphone.

Features

• AI-powered noise cancellation
• Echo removal

User reviews

G2: 4.8/5 (542+ reviews)

Capterra: 4.8/5 (6+ reviews)

Pricing

Krisp offers a limited free plan. Paid plans include: 

• Pro ($16/seat/month)
• Enterprise (custom pricing)

14. Loom – for recording video walkthroughs

Imagine having to do a presentation to three people who live and work in three different time zones. Scheduling a presentation like this can take time and effort.

Instead, you can create a video walkthrough using an app like Loom and send it to anyone who needs to see it.

With Loom, you can create video recordings that your teammates can access anytime. Whether it’s a short update on a project, a tutorial, or an introduction video for new hires, Loom makes creating and sharing all of these easy.

It allows you to record your computer screen and make markups with an overlay of your face. Loom is a much better way to share information with your team than trying to explain via email or scrambling to find a suitable meeting time for everyone. Plus, it’s more engaging and convenient.

Loom has desktop apps, a Chrome extension, and an iOS app, meaning you can use it to make videos anytime and anywhere.

Features

• Screen and webcam recording
• Video drawing tool
• Calls-to-action
• Custom branding
• Reports

User reviews

G2: 4.7/5 (1,755+ reviews)

Capterra: 4.7/5 (393+ reviews)

Pricing

Loom has a free plan that limits you to recording videos of up to five minutes in length. Paid plans include:

• Business ($12.50/user/month)
• Enterprise (custom pricing)

15. Manatal – for recruiters working remotely

Recruitment for remote work is cumbersome without reliable software tools. Sometimes, tools have limitations that block you from interacting with team members and stakeholders, resulting in a poor experience for all parties.

Manatal was built with the vision of democratizing recruitment software. Aiming to transform the way companies recruit on a global scale, Manatal is a cloud-based Applicant Tracking System designed to be intuitive and easy to use.

Powered by AI, Manatal’s goal is to help you streamline the recruitment process from wherever you are, all within a few clicks.

Features

• Automatic resume parsing and candidate enrichment
• Collaboration and shareable feedback
• Comprehensive reports and analytics
• Real-time chat and notes
• Email and calendar integrations for schedule management

User reviews

G2: 4.8/ 5 (1140 reviews)

Capterra: 4.7/ 5 (132 reviews)

Pricing

Manatal offers three pricing plans to suit your needs and budget:

• Professional Plan ($15/user/month)
• Enterprise Plan ($35/user/month) 
• Custom Plan

All plans include a 14-day free trial to test the software before committing.

Next steps

Have any of the tools listed piqued your interest? Here’s what you need to do next:

• Identify challenging activities: Consider which remote activities are currently tricky or time-consuming. Is it project management, communication, or something else? Choose software to make these activities easier.
• Start free trials: Most tools on our list offer a free trial to test them out. Use these trials to see if a particular tool is the right fit for you.
• Implement valuable tools into your workflow: Once you see which tools work for you, implement them into your workflow and make it easier for yourself or your team to work remotely.

Interested in more content on remote work? Check out these posts:

How to Work from Home with Kids – Working from home and caring for your kids simultaneously is no easy feat. Read this guide to learn how to work remotely while your kids are home.

10 Practical Ways to Overcome Remoteliness in 2022 – Are you feeling lonely while working from home? Check out our ten tips on how to overcome remoteliness.The State of Remote Project Management – Want to get more done while your team works from home? You’re not alone. Review this report for valuable insights.

Frequently asked questions

This post was originally published in July 2014. It was updated in November 2023.

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