From powerful desktop publishing to easy-to-use video tools, there’s something for everyone in our no-cost software collection

Written by Carrie Marshall

We’reliving in a golden age of affordable apps: software that used to cost hundreds of pounds is now available for a fraction of that price, while subscriptions make it easy to spread the cost of even the priciest pro tool. But if you’re on a tight budget even those prices can be a problem. Hurrah, then, for the developers who give their apps away for free.

There are lots of reasons to consider using free apps. Some are philosophical – many of the apps here are Open Source, made by and for the community – and some practical: there’s no point spending lots on an app for a one-off task. And the best reason of all – it can save you a pile of cash. As we’ll discover, cheap definitely doesn’t mean nasty. Some of these apps are just as capable as expensive equivalents.

DigiDNA

Spotify

Barebones Software Inc

TunnelBear

Blender

Microsoft

Inkscape

Doist Inc

Citymapper Ltd

Readdle Inc

Amplify Music

Overcast Radio LLC

Flexibits Inc

FiftyThree Inc

iCandi Apps Ltd

Canva

Duolingo

Damien Vieira

Audacity

UK Radio Player Ltd

Autodesk Inc

Marcel Bresink Software Systeme

VideoLAN/Roman Khramov

Loi Nguyen Van

Read It Later Inc

Brent Simmons

Orcun Yörük

Google

MacPaw Inc

The Handbrake Team

Adobe

Slack Technologies Inc

BBC

Must-have freebies for your Mac

Boost your Mac’s toolset without spending a penny

Goodnews! It’s quite possible to fit out your Mac with apps for your entire workflow without spending a penny. There are note-takers and project managers, image illustrators and editors, desktop publishers and audio editors, 3D modellers and video converters and many more. Some of them are a little quirky or take a bit of getting used to, but many of them are just as professional as big-name, paid-for products: in some cases they’re made by the same people in the hope that you’ll want to upgrade to the paid product.

Silicon

FROM github.com/digiDNA

DigiDNA

If you’re thinking about an M1 Mac, Silicon can tell you whether your apps are ready for it. It scans your installed apps to identify whether they’re universal apps that support Apple Silicon natively, or if they’ll have to run in emulation.

SimpleNote

FROM simplenote.com

Automatic

Unlike Apple’s Notes, which is Apple-only, this excellent to-do and notes app syncs with Android, Windows and web browsers too. It supports Markdown formatting for fast text editing, enables you to share with others and enables you to add tags for easy classification, and it includes automatic backups and time travel so you can see what you noted a week or month ago. It’s simply brilliant.

Slack

FROM slack.com

Slack Technologies Inc

The go-to app for tech startups is a great example of how to do unified communications right, and for small teams it’s free. It offers chat, document sharing and collaboration, one-to-one video calls, third-party app integration and up to 10K searchable messages. It works on iOS and iPad too so you’re always in the loop, running things up the flagpole and thinking outside the box. If that’s your kind of work thing.