Resource library
The kit for going remote
Tools we'd actually recommend to someone leaving an office — filed by what they're for, what they cost, and when in the move they earn their place. Every price is checked against the vendor's own page, and the date we checked is on the card.
Where are you in the move?
Start here — it's a shorter list than sixteen categories.
The library
62 resources
Editors' picks
Start here if you only take one thing1Password
PickYour passwords, reachable without your home phone
Price · Individual $2.99/month paid annually; Families $4.49/month; Teams Starter Pack $24.95/month for 10 members; Business $8.99/user/month (read 2026-07-27)
Password and secrets manager syncing across devices, with secure sharing and travel-oriented features.
Why we recommend it
The specific failure this prevents: you land, your home SIM stops receiving SMS, and the 2FA code you need to log into work goes to a phone number you cannot reach. Get your codes into a manager that syncs before you leave, and check your recovery path does not depend on that number.
Best for · anyone whose 2FA is tied to a home SIM
Loom
PickRecord a video instead of holding the meeting
Price · Starter $0; Business $18/user/month; Business + AI $24/user/month; annual billing advertised as up to 17% cheaper (read 2026-07-27)
Records your screen and camera together and gives you a shareable link with an automatic transcript. The standard way to replace a status meeting when half the team is asleep.
Why we recommend it
The single highest-leverage habit change when you move timezones. A three-minute Loom lands while your colleagues sleep and removes the 'can we jump on a quick call' that would otherwise land at 11pm your time. The free tier is genuinely enough to build the habit before you pay.
Best for · anyone on a big timezone offset · explaining something with a screen in it
Proton VPN
PickVPN from a company whose business model isn't your data
Price · Proton Free EUR0.00/month; VPN Plus EUR2.99/month on the 2-year view (billed EUR71.76 for the first 24 months, then renews at EUR83.88/year, list EUR9.99); Proton Unlimited EUR7.99/month promo, list EUR12.99. Prices read on the default 2-year '70% off' view in EUR (read 2026-07-27)
Privacy-focused VPN with a genuinely usable free tier, run by the Proton group under Swiss jurisdiction.
Why we recommend it
The free tier is the reason we lead with this one — it is one of very few VPNs you can genuinely use for nothing, so there is no excuse for going without. Test it reaches your actual work systems from the destination before you fly; plenty of corporate networks block consumer VPN ranges.
Best for · accessing work systems from abroad · people on a budget
SafetyWing Nomad Insurance
PickTravel medical cover you can start while already abroad
Price · Essential $62.72 per 4 weeks for ages 18-39; Complete $177.50 per month for ages 18-39. Prices vary by age and cover region (read 2026-07-27)
Subscription travel-medical insurance aimed at long-term travellers and remote workers, billed in four-week or monthly blocks rather than per fixed trip.
Why we recommend it
The subscription structure is the point: normal travel policies want a fixed return date, which does not fit an open-ended stint. Read the policy document rather than the marketing page — travel medical insurance is not health insurance, and what counts as a pre-existing condition or an excluded activity is where these policies actually bite. Check it covers you working, not just travelling.
Best for · open-ended trips · people who left without cover
Speedtest by Ookla
PickSettle the wifi argument in ten seconds
Price · Free. No pricing, paywall or paid tier appears anywhere on the page (read 2026-07-27)
Measures download and upload speed, latency and jitter against a nearby server, in the browser or an app.
Why we recommend it
Run it before you unpack, and run it again at the hour you actually take calls — shared building wifi at 9pm bears no relation to 9pm. Latency and jitter matter more than raw download for video calls; a 200 Mbps line with 300ms jitter will still make you unintelligible.
Best for · vetting accommodation · checking a cafe before you commit to a day
Toggl Track
PickTime tracking that doesn't feel like surveillance
Price · Free $0; Starter $9/licence/month; Premium $14/licence/month for the first year on annual, then renews at $18 (read 2026-07-27)
Start/stop timers against projects and clients, with reports on where the hours actually went and what was billable.
Why we recommend it
When your working day stops being bounded by an office, the hours blur. Tracking them is less about billing than about proving to yourself you did a full day so you can stop. The free tier covers a solo worker completely.
Best for · freelancers billing hourly · people who lose track of the day abroad
Wise
PickHold and spend in the currency you're actually in
Price · Account registration free; sending money from 0.33%; Wise debit card GBP7 one-off; ATM withdrawals free up to GBP250/month then 2.69% above that; receiving a SWIFT GBP payment GBP2.16 (read 2026-07-27 on the UK pricing page)
A multi-currency account and international transfer service using the mid-market exchange rate with an explicit per-transfer fee, plus a debit card.
Why we recommend it
The reason this is near the top of our list: the cost of a normal bank card abroad is hidden in the exchange rate, so you never see what you paid. Wise shows the fee as a line item, which makes it comparable. Order the physical card weeks before you fly — it posts to your home address, and people routinely leave this too late.
Best for · getting paid in one currency and spending in another · freelancers with overseas clients
World Time Buddy
PickSee everyone's working hours on one strip
Price · Free; no paid tiers exist. Page offers a free sign-in to save your saved cities (read 2026-07-27)
A free web time-zone comparison grid and meeting scheduler. Line up several cities and drag across the hours to find a slot that isn't the middle of anyone's night.
Why we recommend it
We keep coming back to this over slicker paid tools because it does one thing correctly and costs nothing. Use it before you book, not after — a two-hour shift in destination can be the difference between a comfortable overlap and never seeing your team.
Best for · distributed teams · anyone picking a destination by overlap
Everything else
Anker Prime Charger (100W, 3 Ports, GaN)
One brick instead of three
Price · EUR99.99 list on Anker's Nordics store, with a time-limited coupon showing EUR48.00 at the time of checking. Price and store vary by region — anker.com redirects by location (read 2026-07-27)
A compact 3-port GaN wall charger delivering up to 100W, enough for a laptop and two other devices at once.
Why we recommend it
The practical win is weight and outlet count: hotel and rental desks often have one reachable socket, and a single 100W GaN brick means your laptop, phone and headphones all charge from it overnight. Check the plug standard for your destination separately — this is the charger, not the adapter.
Best for · anyone carrying more than one device
Anytime Mailbox
Virtual mailbox addresses worldwide
Price · Site states plans from $9.99/month, cheapest plans $4.99, and that some vanity addresses cost up to $50. Priced per location (read 2026-07-27)
A global network of virtual mailbox locations offering a real street address with online mail scanning and forwarding.
Why we recommend it
Useful when you need an address in a particular country rather than just any address. As with any virtual mailbox, check whether the organisations that matter to you — banks especially — will accept it, because many explicitly will not.
Best for · people outside the UK · anyone wanting an address in a specific city
Asana
Work management with timelines and portfolios
Price · Personal $0 free forever; Starter $10.99/user/month billed annually ($13.49 monthly); Advanced $24.99/user/month annually ($30.49 monthly); Enterprise on request (read 2026-07-27)
Task and project management with multiple views, workload tracking and reporting across portfolios of work.
Why we recommend it
A reasonable choice when the work spans more than engineering. As with any of these, the point for a remote worker is that deadlines and owners live somewhere other than in someone's head.
Best for · cross-functional teams · non-engineering work
Bitwarden
Open-source password manager with a real free tier
Price · Free tier available; Premium $1.65/month billed annually ($19.80/year); Families $3.99/month; Teams $4/user/month billed annually; Enterprise $6/user/month billed annually (read 2026-07-27)
Password manager with an open-source codebase, unlimited passwords on the free tier, and optional self-hosting.
Why we recommend it
The free tier stores unlimited passwords across unlimited devices, which is unusual and makes 'I could not afford a password manager' an untenable excuse. Pick this or 1Password and move on — which one matters far less than having one.
Best for · cost-conscious users · self-hosters
Brain.fm
Functional music engineered for focus
Price · $14.99/month or $99.99/year (read 2026-07-27)
Streams music built around task modes for focus, relaxation and sleep rather than a normal playlist.
Why we recommend it
The genuine remote-work use is masking an unpredictable cafe rather than any claim about brainwaves — pair it with decent headphones and an unfamiliar noisy room becomes workable. Try the trial honestly before paying; it does not suit everyone.
Best for · working in noisy cafes · people who find lyrics distracting
Cal.com
Open-source booking links you can self-host
Price · Free forever tier; Teams $12/user/month on yearly billing; Organizations $28/user/month; Enterprise custom (read 2026-07-27)
Scheduling and booking pages that sync to your calendar, available as a hosted service or self-hosted since the code is open source.
Why we recommend it
The reason to pick this over Calendly is that you can run it yourself, which matters if your clients are in a jurisdiction fussy about where booking data lives. Set your availability in local time and let it do the timezone maths so clients stop booking your 2am.
Best for · freelancers taking client calls · people who want their data self-hosted
Calendly
Send a link, stop the email ping-pong
Price · Free tier; Standard $10/seat/month yearly; Teams $16/seat/month yearly; Enterprise from $15,000/year (read 2026-07-27)
Scheduling links that show your real availability from your connected calendar and book straight into it, converting timezones for the person booking.
Why we recommend it
The timezone conversion is the whole value when you move. Set hard availability limits before you travel — otherwise the tool will cheerfully sell your evenings to whoever books first.
Best for · client-facing work · anyone tired of proposing times
Claude
AI assistant for writing, code and research
Price · Free $0; Pro $17/month on annual ($200 up front) or $20 billed monthly; Max from $100/month; Team from $20/seat/month billed annually (read 2026-07-27)
A general-purpose AI assistant for drafting, summarising, coding and searching the web, available on web, desktop and mobile.
Why we recommend it
The genuine remote use is as a stand-in reviewer: when you have nobody to read a difficult email over your shoulder, having something argue with a draft is worth real money. Do not use it to answer visa or tax questions — get those from a qualified human.
Best for · solo workers with nobody to sanity-check a draft
Clockify
Free time tracking, unlimited users
Price · Free $0 for up to 5 users; Basic $3.99/seat/month billed annually ($4.99 monthly); Standard $5.49/seat/month annually; Pro $7.99/seat/month annually (read 2026-07-27)
Time tracking and timesheets with project monitoring and billing reports, with an unusually generous free tier.
Why we recommend it
The cheapest credible option if Toggl's pricing puts you off — the free tier covers a small team rather than one person. Functionally plainer, which some people prefer.
Best for · cost-conscious freelancers · small teams
Coworker.com
Directory of coworking spaces worldwide
Price · Free for people searching for a space — no fee is stated anywhere for remote workers browsing or requesting quotes. The listed plans (Basic $25/year onboarding, Visibility Plus $100/year, Featured $253/year) are listing plans sold to space operators, not to you (read 2026-07-27)
A searchable global directory and marketplace of coworking spaces with reviews, stated as covering 25,000+ spaces across 172 countries.
Why we recommend it
Use it for coverage rather than trust — it is the widest directory we found, but listings are a paid product for operators, so read the reviews sceptically and verify the wifi claim yourself once you arrive. Free to search, which is the main thing.
Best for · scouting a city before you arrive
Croissant
Monthly hours across a network of spaces
Price · Explorer $49/month (10 hours); Creator $149/month (40 hours); Luminary $299/month (120 hours); all include rollover hours and access to a stated 700+ spaces (read 2026-07-27)
A subscription giving a monthly allowance of hours usable across a network of coworking spaces, with unused hours rolling over.
Why we recommend it
Worth a caution as well as a recommendation: the company has repositioned around B2B, and the individual plans now sit behind a small link off a corporate homepage. The product works and the hours roll over, but we would not prepay a year given how quietly the consumer offering is being carried.
Best for · people who need a desk a few days a week
Crunch
Software plus an actual accountant
Price · Crunch Plus from GBP10+VAT/month; a limited-company Premier quote returned from GBP185+VAT/month. Main plans are priced through an on-page quote tool, so your figure will differ (read 2026-07-27)
UK online accountancy combining bookkeeping software with access to human accountants, for sole traders and limited companies.
Why we recommend it
We list this specifically because working abroad raises questions software cannot answer — residency, permanent establishment, which country wants the tax. Paying for access to a qualified accountant before you go is much cheaper than unpicking it afterwards. Nothing in this library is tax advice; this is how you get some.
Best for · people who want a human to ask · UK limited company directors
Deel
Getting paid compliantly across borders
Price · Find Talent $14/worker/month; Hire Contractors $49/contractor/month, or $325/month for contractor of record; US PEO $125/employee/month; EOR $599/employee/month (read 2026-07-27)
Global payroll, contractor management and employer-of-record services for people and companies working across countries.
Why we recommend it
Mostly relevant as something to raise with your employer rather than buy yourself: the usual blocker to working from another country is that your company has no legal way to employ you there, and an employer-of-record is the standard answer. Knowing the option exists turns a flat no into a costed conversation.
Best for · contractors with foreign clients · employers whose staff want to move
Deskpass
Book a desk by the day, no membership
Price · Desks from $15/day; meeting rooms from $5/hour; offices from $50/day. Page states no hidden fees, no long-term commitment and no membership required (read 2026-07-27)
On-demand booking of desks, meeting rooms and private offices across a network of coworking spaces, with no membership commitment.
Why we recommend it
We checked specifically whether this had abandoned individuals for enterprise, as several rivals have — it has not; the pay-as-you-go product is still front and centre alongside a separate teams offering. The by-the-hour meeting room is the underrated bit when you need one professional-looking call.
Best for · short stays · people who need a room for one call
Discord
Voice, video and text servers — free for the basics
Price · Core product free; Nitro Basic $2.99/month, Nitro $9.99/month (read 2026-07-27)
Persistent voice, video and text channels organised into servers. The core product is free; Nitro is a cosmetic and upload-limit upgrade.
Why we recommend it
Listed for the community side rather than the work side — most local nomad and coworking scenes organise on Discord, and dropping into one is the fastest way to stop working alone in a new city. Always-on voice channels also recreate a bit of the office hum if you miss it.
Best for · nomad and coworking communities · informal team voice
Dropbox
File sync you can rely on over a bad line
Price · Basic free with 2 GB; Plus EUR9.99/month with 2 TB for one person. We could not read the team tiers reliably so have not quoted them. EUR pricing served to our location (read 2026-07-27)
Cloud storage that syncs and shares files across devices, with selective sync so you are not pulling everything over hotel wifi.
Why we recommend it
Listed for one reason: if your laptop is stolen abroad, the difference between an expensive week and a ruined trip is whether your work was somewhere else. Turn on selective sync before you travel so it isn't fighting you for bandwidth.
Best for · people carrying one laptop and no backup
Endel
Adaptive soundscapes that shift as you work
Price · No price shown on endel.io itself; the checkout funnel listed EUR59.99/year (about EUR5/month), EUR12.99/month, and EUR279.99 lifetime. Funnel prices are frequently discount-gated, so confirm at checkout (read 2026-07-27)
Generates personalised soundscapes that change in real time, with modes for focus, relaxation and sleep.
Why we recommend it
We rate the sleep modes above the focus ones — the first week in a new timezone is where this earns its keep. Be aware pricing only appears once you are in the checkout flow, which we think is a mark against it.
Best for · adjusting to a new timezone · light sleepers
Excalidraw
Sketch a diagram in ten seconds, free
Price · excalidraw.com is free forever and needs no account. Excalidraw Plus: Free tier, and Plus at $6/user/month with about 14% off on annual billing (read 2026-07-27)
An open-source hand-drawn-style virtual whiteboard usable with no account at all, plus an optional paid cloud workspace.
Why we recommend it
Our most-used tool on this list for async explanation: sketch the thing, screenshot it into the thread, done — no account, no invite, no licence for the person reading it. That last part is why it beats heavier whiteboards for one-off diagrams.
Best for · explaining an idea without a meeting · quick architecture sketches
Figma
Interface design that lives in the browser
Price · Starter free; Professional full seat $16/month, dev seat $12/month, collab seat $3/month; Organization full seat $55/month billed annually; Enterprise full seat $90/month billed annually (read 2026-07-27)
Collaborative interface design and prototyping, running in the browser so there is nothing to install or license per machine.
Why we recommend it
Runs in a browser, which matters more than it sounds when you are working from a borrowed machine or a locked-down cafe network. The cheap collab seat is the useful detail for remote teams — people who only need to comment don't need a full seat.
Best for · designers · product teams reviewing work async
FreeAgent
UK accounting built around self-assessment
Price · Sole Traders GBP19/month (intro GBP9.50); Partnerships/LLPs GBP27/month (intro GBP13.50); Limited Companies GBP33/month (intro GBP16.50); Landlords GBP10/month (intro GBP5). Free with certain business bank accounts (read 2026-07-27)
UK small-business accounting and bookkeeping software covering invoicing, expenses, MTD and self-assessment filing.
Why we recommend it
The detail worth knowing is that several UK business bank accounts include it free — check whether yours does before paying. Keeping books current from abroad is far easier than reconstructing a year of foreign-currency receipts when you get home.
Best for · UK sole traders · UK limited company directors
Freedom
Blocks the distracting sites across every device at once
Price · Free plan; $3.33/month billed yearly; $8.99/month monthly; $99.50 one-off lifetime (listed as 50% off $199) (read 2026-07-27)
Schedules blocking sessions that apply simultaneously to your laptop, phone and tablet so you cannot simply switch device.
Why we recommend it
The cross-device part is the bit that actually works; single-device blockers just move the problem into your hand. Worth it if your focus problem is genuinely compulsive rather than environmental.
Best for · people who reach for the phone when work gets hard
GitHub
Where the code and the review live
Price · Free $0/month; Team $4/user/month; Enterprise from $21/user/month (read 2026-07-27)
Git hosting with pull requests, code review, issues and CI/CD via Actions.
Why we recommend it
Listed for a remote-specific reason: pull request review is the best-designed async workflow in common use, and treating it as your default review channel removes most of the meetings a timezone gap would otherwise break.
Best for · developers · any team versioning anything
Google One
Cheap bulk storage across Drive, Gmail and Photos
Price · 15 GB free; Basic 100 GB EUR1.99/month; Google AI Plus 2 TB EUR9.99/month; Google AI Pro 5 TB EUR21.99/month. EUR pricing served to our location (read 2026-07-27)
Expands the storage shared by your Google account across Drive, Gmail and Photos, bundled on higher tiers with AI features.
Why we recommend it
The 100 GB tier is the cheapest way we know to make sure a lost phone doesn't take the trip's photos with it. Set phone backup to wifi-only unless you enjoy surprise roaming bills.
Best for · photo backup on the road · people already in the Google ecosystem
Google Workspace
Mail, calendar, docs and Meet as one suite
Price · Starter EUR6.80/user/month; Standard EUR13.60/user/month; Plus EUR21.10/user/month; Enterprise on request. Page notes ~16% saving on a 1-year commitment. EUR pricing served to our location (read 2026-07-27)
Business Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs and Google Meet under a custom domain.
Why we recommend it
Named here mostly for Calendar: setting your working hours and timezone properly in Google Calendar is the cheapest thing you can do to stop colleagues booking over your night. Google Meet comes as part of it, so it often removes a separate video bill.
Best for · small businesses · freelancers wanting a domain email
Grammarly
Catches the writing errors you stop seeing
Price · Free EUR0/month; Pro EUR12 with a 7-day free trial. The Pro card did not state a billing period next to the figure, so confirm the period at checkout. EUR pricing served to our location (read 2026-07-27)
Checks grammar, spelling and tone as you type across apps and the browser, with AI drafting features on paid tiers.
Why we recommend it
When most of your communication becomes written, small tone mistakes travel further than they would in person. Most useful if you work in a language that isn't your first. We could not confirm the billing period on the Pro price — check before subscribing.
Best for · writing in a second language · async-heavy roles
Harvest
Tracked hours that turn straight into invoices
Price · Free $0 forever (1 seat, 2 projects); Teams from $9/seat/month or $108/seat/year; Enterprise from $14/seat/month or $168/seat/year (read 2026-07-27)
Time tracking with invoicing built in, so logged hours become a client bill without re-keying.
Why we recommend it
Pick this over a pure tracker if you bill clients — the invoicing removes an entire monthly admin job, which matters more when you are doing it from a different timezone to your clients. The free tier is tight at two projects.
Best for · freelancers who invoice from their hours
Headspace
Guided meditation, sleep and focus
Price · Annual EUR57.99/yr shown discounted to EUR34.79/yr (about EUR2.90/month) under a limited-time 40%-off first-year offer; monthly EUR12.99 with 7 days free. EUR pricing served to our location (read 2026-07-27)
Structured guided meditation courses plus sleep and focus audio.
Why we recommend it
The structured courses suit people who have never meditated and want telling what to do, which is most of us. Note the headline annual price is a first-year promotion — it renews higher, so diarise the renewal date.
Best for · first-time meditators · people struggling to switch off abroad
Holafly
Unlimited-data travel eSIM by destination
Price · Priced per destination and duration. Spain plans sampled: 3 days $11.90, 5 days $17.50, 7 days $23.90, 10 days $32.90, 15 days $44.50, 30 days $64.50 USD. Other countries differ — check your destination (read 2026-07-27)
Travel eSIMs sold as fixed-duration unlimited-data plans for a specific country or region, installed before you fly.
Why we recommend it
The unlimited framing is what makes this worth the premium over per-GB rivals if you expect to tether a laptop through it during a wifi outage. Install and activate it while you still have working wifi at home — doing it at an airport on a dying battery is how people end up paying roaming rates anyway.
Best for · heavy data users · people who tether their laptop
Insight Timer
An enormous free meditation library
Price · Core library free; Member Plus described on the page as US$60 a year, unlocking Insight Courses and premium features (read 2026-07-27)
A very large library of free guided meditations, talks and sleep audio, with an optional paid tier for courses.
Why we recommend it
The free tier here is vastly larger than most apps' paid tiers, so it is the sensible first thing to try before subscribing to anything. Loneliness and disrupted sleep are the two most common things that end a remote stint early, and this costs nothing to keep on your phone.
Best for · people who won't pay for meditation · insomnia in new timezones
iVisa
A paid layer over government visa forms
Price · Per-application pricing is quoted per destination. The only fixed published price is the iVisa+ subscription: $79.99/year, or $119.99/year for Family, both billed annually (read 2026-07-27)
A commercial service that helps you complete and submit travel document and visa applications, charging a service fee on top of the official government fee.
Why we recommend it
Listed with a caveat rather than an endorsement. This is a convenience layer, not an authority — every country runs its own official portal, usually cheaper, and the official government source is always the one to trust on what you actually need. Use this if you want the paperwork handled, but confirm the requirement itself with the embassy or the official government site.
Best for · people who find official portals impenetrable
Linear
Fast issue tracking for software teams
Price · Free $0; Basic $10/user/month billed yearly; Business $16/user/month billed yearly; Enterprise custom, annual only (read 2026-07-27)
Issue tracking and project planning aimed at software teams, with a keyboard-driven interface and opinionated cycle planning.
Why we recommend it
Worth naming specifically because its written-first workflow survives a timezone gap better than a standup does. If your work is tracked here properly, nobody needs you awake to know what you are doing.
Best for · engineering teams · people who work from a keyboard
Loop Earplugs (Switch 2)
Turn the volume of the room down, not off
Price · Loop Switch 2 regular price EUR54.95 (read 2026-07-27)
Reusable filtered earplugs with switchable attenuation modes, so you can dial the room down without full isolation.
Why we recommend it
We prefer these to noise-cancelling headphones for two situations travel throws at you constantly: sleeping in a room on a loud street, and working somewhere you still need to hear if someone speaks to you. They also weigh nothing and do not need charging.
Best for · noisy coworking · light sleepers · long flights
Miro
Shared whiteboard for workshops and diagrams
Price · Free $0; Starter $8/member/month billed yearly; Business $20/member/month billed yearly; Enterprise custom from 30 members (read 2026-07-27)
An infinite collaborative canvas for diagramming, workshops and planning, usable live or asynchronously.
Why we recommend it
The realistic replacement for the whiteboard you no longer stand at. Its underrated remote use is async: leave the board and a Loom explaining it, and let people add sticky notes in their own morning.
Best for · teams that used to design on a wall
Monzo
UK current account that behaves abroad
Price · Free base account; Extra GBP3/month; Perks GBP7/month; Max from GBP17/month (read 2026-07-27)
A UK app-based current account with instant spending notifications, plus paid tiers that bundle travel insurance and higher limits.
Why we recommend it
Worth checking whether the travel insurance bundled into a paid tier duplicates cover you are about to buy separately — people often pay for both. Verify what the bundled policy actually covers for a long stay before relying on it; these are usually holiday policies with trip-length limits.
Best for · UK residents · people who want travel insurance bundled
Mullvad VPN
Flat five euros, no account, no email
Price · EUR5/month flat. Single price, no tiers, no discounts for longer commitments (read 2026-07-27)
A no-logs VPN with a single flat price and anonymous account numbers rather than email sign-up.
Why we recommend it
We rate the pricing honesty as highly as the product: one price, no countdown timers, no two-year lock-in to get the headline rate. If you have been burned by a VPN that renewed at four times what you signed up for, this is the antidote.
Best for · people who dislike subscription games · privacy-conscious users
Nomad eSIM
Pay-per-GB data eSIMs in 200+ destinations
Price · Per-destination per-GB pricing. Public homepage examples: Italy from EUR0.61/GB, Turkey from EUR0.54/GB. Full plan pricing sits behind sign-in. Note getnomad.app now redirects here (read 2026-07-27)
Prepaid data eSIM plans priced per gigabyte across a large list of countries and regions.
Why we recommend it
Cheaper than unlimited plans if you are mostly on wifi and just need maps and messaging between spots. Be aware the detailed prices are behind a sign-in wall, so compare before you commit.
Best for · light data users · long stays where unlimited is overkill
Nomad List
City data for picking where to go
Price · Lite membership $19.99 one-off; Lifetime membership $19 one-off. Both billed once; the site really does list the lifetime tier as cheaper than Lite (read 2026-07-27)
A database and community covering cost of living, internet speed, safety and visa notes for cities popular with remote workers.
Why we recommend it
Treat the numbers as a starting point rather than fact — much of it is self-reported and can be years stale, and the internet speeds in particular rarely match what you will get in a specific flat. Good for building a shortlist, not for making the final call. Run your own speed test when you arrive.
Best for · shortlisting cities · comparing cost of living
Notion
Docs, wikis and databases in one place
Price · Free EUR0/member/month; Plus EUR9.50/member/month; Business EUR19.50/member/month; Enterprise custom. EUR pricing served to our location (read 2026-07-27)
A flexible workspace combining documents, wikis and lightweight databases, commonly used as a team's written source of truth.
Why we recommend it
Working remotely across timezones only functions if decisions are written down somewhere findable. Notion is one credible option for that; the tool matters far less than the habit. Note notion.so now redirects to notion.com.
Best for · teams that need one written source of truth
Obsidian
Notes that stay as plain files on your own disk
Price · The app itself is free. Optional add-ons: Sync $4/user/month billed annually ($5 monthly); Publish $8/site/month annually; Catalyst $25 one-off; Commercial licence $50/user/year (read 2026-07-27)
A markdown note-taking app that stores everything as ordinary files in a local folder, with optional paid sync and publishing add-ons.
Why we recommend it
The reason it belongs on a remote-work list is that it works with no connection at all — on a plane, on a bad hotel line, in a dead spot. Your notes are plain markdown files you own, so nothing is stranded if you stop paying. Note the app is free; the prices above are optional add-ons.
Best for · working offline · people who want their notes to outlive the app
Otter.ai
Transcribes the meeting you had to miss
Price · Basic free; Pro $8.33/user/month billed annually or $16.99 monthly; Business $19.99/user/month annually (read 2026-07-27)
Records and transcribes meetings into searchable notes and summaries.
Why we recommend it
This is the practical answer to the meeting that happens at 4am your time: let it run, read the transcript over breakfast. Tell the other attendees it is recording — in several countries that isn't just courtesy.
Best for · anyone whose team meets in their night
Raycast
Run everything from one keystroke
Price · Free forever; Pro $10/month or $8/month billed annually; Teams Pro $15/user/month or $12/month annually; Advanced AI add-on +$8/month (read 2026-07-27)
A macOS launcher and command palette for searching, running app actions, extensions, snippets and AI prompts without leaving the keyboard.
Why we recommend it
A marginal-gains tool rather than a necessity, but the clipboard history and snippets pay for themselves when you are re-typing the same address and reference numbers into visa and booking forms. Free tier covers most of it.
Best for · Mac users · people who live in the keyboard
Regus day offices (IWG)
A professional room for the day, almost anywhere
Price · Priced per location, not globally. Sampled New York day offices: from $55 per person per day. Generic pages publish no rates at all and require booking online for a quote — always check your specific city (read 2026-07-27)
Day offices, coworking day passes and multi-day access plans across the global IWG/Regus network of business centres.
Why we recommend it
Dull, corporate, and the right answer when you need a quiet room with a door for an important call and cannot risk a cafe. Coverage in smaller cities is its real advantage over trendier networks. Prices swing enormously by location, so never assume a rate you saw elsewhere.
Best for · client meetings abroad · small cities with no coworking scene
RescueTime
Find out where the day actually went
Price · Solo Focus $7/month billed annually ($84/year) or $9 monthly; Solo+ Timesheets + Focus $12/month annually ($144/year); Team Focus $10/user/month annually ($120/year) (read 2026-07-27)
Runs in the background categorising the apps and sites you use, then reports how your time was really spent and can block distractions during focus sessions.
Why we recommend it
Useful precisely once you have been somewhere a few weeks and the novelty has worn off — it will tell you honestly whether you are working four hours or nine. Be aware it is always-on monitoring of your own machine; some people find that uncomfortable.
Best for · people who suspect the day is leaking
Roost Laptop Stand (V3)
Eye-level screen that weighs almost nothing
Price · $69.26 for the V3 during a 20%-off banner at time of checking; other variants listed at $79.96 and $99.95. Note roostlaptopstand.com does not resolve — therooststand.com is the live official store (read 2026-07-27)
An ultralight folding stand that raises a laptop screen to eye level and packs down to roughly the size of a pen case.
Why we recommend it
The thing nobody budgets for is that a month of working hunched over a laptop on a kitchen table does real damage. A stand plus any separate keyboard fixes it, and this one is light enough that you will actually carry it rather than leaving it behind after week one.
Best for · long stays · anyone whose neck already complains
Slack
Channel-based team chat
Price · Free tier EUR0 forever; Pro EUR6.75/user/month billed annually or EUR8.25 monthly; Business+ EUR15/user/month annually; Enterprise+ on request. EUR pricing was served to our location — your currency may differ (read 2026-07-27)
Team messaging organised into channels, with threads, huddles for quick voice calls, and a large app-integration ecosystem.
Why we recommend it
Included because it is where most remote teams already live, not because it helps you work across timezones — it actively fights you there. If you use it abroad, set your timezone in your profile and schedule messages rather than firing them at 3am local.
Best for · teams already standardised on it
Starlink Roam
Satellite internet where there is no line to rent
Price · Hardware from $199 in select areas; service Roam 100GB from $55/month, Roam 300GB $80/month, Roam Unlimited $175/month. The Unlimited tier includes international use in 160+ countries (read 2026-07-27)
Portable satellite internet service with hardware you carry, aimed at travel and locations without fixed broadband.
Why we recommend it
Overkill for a city trip and priced accordingly, but it is the only honest answer if your destination genuinely has no reliable line and your income depends on being online. Check the terms for your specific countries before assuming international roaming is included.
Best for · rural stays · vanlife · people who cannot risk an outage
Strava
Keeps you moving when the routine disappears
Price · Free tier available; subscription EUR10.99/month or EUR69.99/year; Strava + Runna plan EUR149.99/year. Prices are country-specific and this page served EU rates (read 2026-07-27)
Activity tracking for running, cycling and other exercise, with a social feed, routes and segments.
Why we recommend it
The route-discovery side is the genuinely useful part in an unfamiliar city — you can see where locals actually run rather than guessing from a map. When the gym routine and the commute both vanish, having something that notices you have not moved in four days is worth more than it sounds.
Best for · runners and cyclists · exploring a new city on foot
Tailscale
Reach your own machines from anywhere
Price · Personal $0 free forever; Standard $8/user/month; Premium $18/user/month; Enterprise custom (read 2026-07-27)
A WireGuard-based mesh network that privately connects your own devices and servers, without exposing anything to the public internet.
Why we recommend it
This is the answer to 'the files are on the desktop at home'. Different job from a privacy VPN — it does not hide your traffic, it joins your own devices — and the free personal tier covers a solo setup entirely.
Best for · developers · anyone who left a machine at home
Trello
Simple kanban boards
Price · Free $0 for up to 10 collaborators per workspace; Standard $5/user/month billed annually ($6 monthly); Premium $10/user/month annually ($12.50 monthly); Enterprise $17.50/user/month annually (read 2026-07-27)
Card-and-column task boards, deliberately simple, with checklists, due dates and automation.
Why we recommend it
We list it mainly as a personal planning board for the move itself — visa steps, kit, bookings — where a heavier tool is overkill. The free tier is more than enough for that.
Best for · solo trip planning · small non-technical teams
Twist
Threaded team comms built for async
Price · Free EUR0/user/month; Unlimited EUR6/user/month (read 2026-07-27)
Team communication from the makers of Todoist, structured around threads rather than a live-scrolling firehose, with deliberately low notification pressure.
Why we recommend it
The honest alternative if your team is genuinely distributed and Slack has become a tax. It is a hard sell internally, so raise it before you leave rather than as a complaint from abroad.
Best for · teams spread over more than six hours of offset
UK Postbox
A UK address that scans your post to you
Price · PO Box Dorset GBP0.00/month; PO Box London GBP6.00/month; Poole Dorset GBP12.00; London North GBP18.00; London Central GBP21.00; London South GBP24.00; Glasgow GBP27.00; London Westminster GBP42.00 per month (read 2026-07-27)
A UK virtual address service that receives your mail, scans it to an online account, and forwards or shreds it on request.
Why we recommend it
The thing that catches people out is not parcels, it is official post — bank cards, tax letters, jury summonses — arriving at an address nobody is checking. There is a genuinely free tier here, so there is little excuse for missing a letter. Note some institutions will not accept a virtual address as your registered address; check before you switch.
Best for · UK residents letting out or leaving a home · people expecting bank or HMRC post
Vercel
Push to deploy, from any connection
Price · Hobby free forever; Pro $20/user/month; Enterprise custom (read 2026-07-27)
Hosting and deployment for front-end and full-stack web apps, with preview deployments per branch.
Why we recommend it
The remote-relevant feature is preview deployments: a reviewer in another timezone gets a working URL instead of instructions to run your branch locally, which is the difference between feedback overnight and feedback next week.
Best for · web developers · shipping from a laptop on bad wifi
Warp
Terminal with an AI agent built in
Price · Free $0/month; Build $20/month (1,500 credits); Max $200/month; Business $50/user/month; Enterprise custom. Annual billing 10% off ($18/$180/$45) (read 2026-07-27)
A modern terminal for developers with AI agent features, block-based output and shareable sessions.
Why we recommend it
Genuinely useful when you are the only engineer awake and something breaks at 2am local — having something to reason with beats staring at a stack trace alone. Watch the credit-based pricing; it is easy to burn through the Build tier faster than you expect.
Best for · developers working alone
Xero
Cloud accounting with strong bank feeds
Price · UK plans, first 6 months then standard: Ignite GBP3.20/month then GBP16; Grow GBP7.40 then GBP37; Comprehensive GBP10 then GBP50; Ultimate GBP13 then GBP65. All excluding VAT (read 2026-07-27)
Cloud accounting software for small businesses covering bank feeds, invoicing, VAT and MTD submissions.
Why we recommend it
Note the introductory pricing — the first six months are heavily discounted and the real cost is three to five times higher, so budget for the standard rate. Choose it if your accountant already works in it; fighting your accountant's tooling from another timezone is a bad trade.
Best for · businesses with an accountant · multi-currency invoicing