5 Mac apps that supercharge my productivity

As a longtime Mac power user, I’ve come to rely on a handful of essential apps that supercharge my workflow. These Mac productivity apps not only streamline my daily tasks but also simplify complex jobs, making my work faster and more efficient.

Check out my favorite Mac apps that I can’t recommend enough as a power user.

5 Mac productivity apps I can’t live without as a power user

According to a famous quote, “A computer is only as smart as the person using it.” Likewise, a computer is only as powerful as the software it runs.

Granted, macOS comes equipped with essential apps and features right out of the box, including the Safari web browser, the Mail app for email and the system-wide search tool known as Spotlight. But as a power user, I rely on several third-party apps to speed up daily tasks, including things as simple as taking a screenshot.

I simply could not get my job done without the five productivity apps for Mac listed below.

Table of contents: 5 Mac productivity apps

• Alfred, the ultimate Mac search tool
• CleanShot X, a powerful tool for Mac screenshots
• iStat Menus, for in-depth insights into your Mac’s system status
• Mimestream, a better Mac email client
• BetterSnapTool, for managing your Mac’s windows
• More Mac productivity tools for power users

Alfred, the ultimate Mac search tool

Alfred is the Spotlight replacement to use. It ranks first on my list of best Mac productivity apps — and it’s typically the first app I install on a new Mac. Think of Alfred as a Spotlight search on steroids. It can speed up your workflow in numerous ways, letting you search and trigger actions with just a few keypresses.

I mapped Alfred to the Command + Space keyboard shortcut, fully replacing Spotlight on my Mac. Besides using it to quick-launch apps, I use Alfred for Google or Amazon searches. For these, I only need to bring up Alfred and type “Google” (or “Amazon”), followed by the search query. This will open a new browser tab displaying the search result in Google (or Amazon).

In addition, I use Alfred to manage system settings like sleep, shutdown and emptying the trash, as well as to access my 1Password vault quickly. Some of Alfred’s other features I rely on daily include its clipboard manager and the ability to run Terminal commands, perform quick calculations and look up synonyms.

Once you get used to using this Mac productivity tool, there’s no going back. Alfred will change the way you use your Mac.

Alfred is free to use, but unlocking its advanced features requires purchasing the Powerpack (Pricing starts at a little over $42.)

Download: Alfred

CleanShot X, a powerful tool for Mac screenshots

macOS comes with a great built-in screenshot tool that’s good enough to serve the majority of Mac users. But, as a power user, CleanShot X is my go-to screenshot app on my Mac.

The app stands out for its easy-to-use interface and extensive features. You can bring up the overlay for screen captures using a keyboard shortcut. It includes useful options like setting the aspect ratio, taking a scrolling screenshot and setting a timer before taking a screenshot.

CleanShot X provides quick access to the last-taken screenshot through a Quick Access overlay. It offers a range of convenient options to enhance your workflow after capturing a screenshot, such as annotating the image, cropping it, uploading it to the cloud, or simply discarding it.

You also gain access to powerful editing tools, such as adding a background to your screenshot or blurring sensitive information.

Better Mac screen recordings

As if these extensive options weren’t enough, CleanShot X also offers several tools and features to make screen recording easier. These include highlighting mouse clicks and keystrokes and showing your webcam video in recordings. Plus, CleanShot X can automatically hide notifications during screen recordings.

CleanShot X also comes with built-in support for optical character recognition, enabling you to copy text from an image or PDF easily.

With more than 50 features, CleanShot X is a must-have screenshot app for every Mac power user. (No wonder it made Cult of Mac’s list of must-have productivity apps for Mac.)

It costs $29, which gains you lifetime access to the app and a year of updates. After that, you must renew your license for $19. Although the price might seem high for a screenshot app, CleanShot X more than justifies it with its rich feature set and user-friendly interface.

Download: CleanShot X

iStat Menus, for in-depth insights into your Mac’s system status

iStat Menus lets you monitor your Mac’s system resource usage from the menu bar. I set up iStat Menus to display my computer’s CPU, memory and network usage alongside the system temperature. Does this improve my workflow or enhance my productivity? Not really. But as a true nerd, I’ve always loved to keep an eye on my PC’s workload. iStat Menus makes this a breeze — and that makes it one of my favorite Mac productivity apps.

On my MacBook Pro, iStats Menu shows an alert when the battery goes too low or when the temperature for any component crosses the 95 degrees Celsius threshold for 30 seconds. You can create your own rules, too, like showing a banner or alert when your Mac is under 100% load for more than a minute.

Many apps offer similar functionality, but I prefer iStat Menus because of its sleek interface and customization options. You can try it for free for 14 days. If you like it, a license costs $12.

Download: iStat Menus

Mimestream, a better Mac email client

There are email clients, and then there’s Mimestream. I have used almost all popular Mac mail clients, including Apple Mail, Spark and Airmail. However, I keep coming back to Mimestream for its simplicity and speed. It’s crucial to my day-to-day communication and definitely one of my favorite Mac Productivity apps.

First and foremost, Mimestream is a Gmail client app for Mac. It does not support other email providers, which might be a bummer for many. However, all my inboxes are on Google, and Mimestream serves my purposes well.

Neil Jhaveri, a former Apple veteran who spent more than 7 years leading the Mail and Notes team, created Mimestream. No wonder the email client stands out with its clean interface and simplicity.

It supports all essential Gmail features, including inbox categories, labels, vacation responses and aliases. One standout feature is its Gmail-backed search, which makes it incredibly easy to sift through large inboxes and quickly find the email you need.

Faster email searches

The slow search experience became my biggest pain point with other email clients. Mimestream solves that with its deep Gmail integration. This also means the app supports push email syncing, so you get a notification as soon as an email lands in your inbox. Similarly, you won’t need to wait for syncing to finish if you try quitting the app immediately after archiving or deleting several emails.

Other Mimestream features include a unified view for efficiently managing multiple inboxes, template support, Apple Intelligence integration and Focus Filters.

Mimestream is everything the stock Apple Mail app on macOS should be.

Mimestream is currently only available for macOS, but Jhaveri and his team are working on an iPhone release for this year. The app follows a subscription model and costs $50 per year. (You can try Mimestream for 14 days before opting for the subscription.)

Download: Mimestream

BetterSnapTool

The window-management capabilities of macOS have always been basic at best. While macOS Sequoia introduces some notable improvements, it still falls far short of what the competition offers. I prefer BestSnapTool to other window-management tools for Mac.

BestSnapTool adds Windows 11-like window management capabilities and a plethora of customization options. For example, I set keyboard shortcuts to tile apps to the left and right sides of my MacBook’s screen.

If that’s not enough, you can tweak the right-click and double-click button behavior for the close, minimize and maximize window buttons. (I almost always use an external mouse with my MacBook Pro. But if you are a heavy trackpad user, you should check out BetterTouchTool instead. Made by BetterSnapTool’s developers, this powerful software lets you create custom gestures, keyboard shortcuts and more.)

BetterSnapTool is also one of the most affordable Mac productivity apps you’ll find. You can get it for $1.99.

Download: BetterSnapTool

Get the most out of your Mac with these powerful apps

If you just bought a new Mac or want to speed up your workflow, I can’t recommend the above Mac productivity apps enough. They will speed up your workflow or address major pain points of macOS, making the experience of using your Mac much more enjoyable.

Looking for even more great Mac apps? Check out 16 of our favorite Mac apps for all kinds of work and play. Also, make sure to check out our Awesome Apps series of posts to discover even more great Mac apps.