For many people, Google’s Chrome browser isn’t just how they shop or read the news — it’s how they get work done. If you’re looking to get things accomplished faster or simpler, whether at business or school, here are some choice productivity extensions.

It’s impossible to be completely comprehensive in this list — “productivity” means different things within different tasks, after all — but the Chrome extensions below should apply to a wide range of people. In some cases you may need to sign up for a paid service to make the most of them, but all of these have a free option.

While Chrome has similar functions in the form of the Reading List, Pocket not only saves articles for later but lets you read them with custom fonts, highlighting, tag sorting, a streamlined viewing mode, and recommendations for further reading. More importantly Pocket is a true multi-platform service, so you can read articles anywhere you can access Pocket, not just in Chrome.

In fact, you can use the Pocket apps for Android and iOS to listen to pieces as if they were podcasts. The overall service free in most cases, but a Pocket Premium subscription gets you upgrades like more fonts, ad-free reading, and permanent access to your articles, even if the original pages vanish from the web.

TinEye is a free tool that lets you track down more information about images you run across, including alternate versions and resolutions. This helps verify the sources and authenticity of content, potentially enhancing your research while keeping you out of trouble. It can even identify when stock libraries have an image available for licensing in commercial projects.

Grammarly ads are seemingly omnipresent, but it’s a genuinely useful tool — even us professional writers often use it to doublecheck spelling, grammar, and punctuation. It can also suggest tone changes, and a beta citation generator supports APA, MLA, and Chicago styles.

While all of the above features are free, a Grammarly Premium subscription unlocks generative AI technology, as well as advanced recommendations for things like tone, clarity, and vocabulary. 

We’ll be blunt here — if you’re only concerned about saving personal web logins and credit cards, you can probably stick with Chrome’s free password and autofill tools. But paying for LastPass gets you a secure vault that works beyond Chrome, and better organization, including easy browsing of things like bank accounts, passports, and Wi-Fi passwords. Your employer might already be offering LastPass, in which case installing it for Chrome is just going to make work easier.

Note that while there is a free tier, it’s limited to one device type, which is a step back from what Chrome offers.

Google Image Search is useful and even essential, but it’s maddeningly broad if you’re trying to track down images in a specific resolution or aspect ratio. Advanced Image Search fixes this, and supports further filtering by things like color, file format, and usage rights. It even remembers the last search query you entered, so you don’t have to type the same text again when changing search parameters.