The 50 Free Apps We're Most Thankful For

It's the time of year where we all give thanks, and among many other things, we here at Lifehacker are thankful for all the free apps out there that improve our lives (and the developers that make them!). Here are 50 of our favorites.

Every year we ask you which free apps you're most thankful for, and every year you offer a ton of suggestions both classic and new. Here, we've taken your votes (and added a few of our own) and ranked our 50 apps using those votes as a (rough) guide. So without further ado, here are 50 free apps for your downloading feast. (Be sure to check out the original thread, too—there are a ton of apps in there we didn't mention!)

The 50 Free Apps We're Most Thankful For

1. Feedly

Category: News Readers
See also: The Best Extensions and User Scripts to Power Up Feedly, The Best New Features Feedly Has Added for Google Reader Switchers, Five Best Google Reader Alternatives, and more Feedly coverage Alternatives: The Old Reader, Tiny Tiny RSS

2. Google Maps and Waze

Category: Maps
See also: The Best Extensions to Make Google Maps Even More Awesome, The Best Ways to Use Google's New(ish) My Maps Tool, How to Set Up the Ultimate Personal Google Maps, Make your GPS App Give You Better Directions, Wean Yourself Off Your GPS Dependency, Waze Helps You Find the Nearest Gas Stationand Avoid Road Closures, and more maps coverage

3. Dropbox

Category: Cloud Storage
See also: The Cheapskate's Guide to Getting Free Dropbox Space, How to Get 8GB+ Extra Dropbox Space for Free with Google AdWords, Seven Downloads and Extensions to Make Dropbox Even More Awesome, Top 10 Clever Uses for Dropbox, How to Supercharge Your Dropbox with Wappwolf, The Start-to-Finish Guide to Securing Your Cloud Storage, and more Dropbox coverage

4. Google Chrome

Category: Web Browsers
See also: The Always Up-to-Date Power User's Guide to Chrome, The Best Packaged Apps for Chrome, The Best Chrome Apps You're (Probably) Not Using, The Secret Powers of Chrome's Address Bar, Speed Up Chrome for Android with this Settings Tweak, Lifehacker Pack for Chrome, and more Chrome coverage

5. Firefox

Category: Web Browsers
See also: The Always Up-to-Date Power User's Guide to Firefox, The Best About:Config Tweaks for Making Firefox Better, Lifehacker Pack for Firefox, Speed Up Firefox By Enabling Its New HTTP Cache, and more Firefox coverage

5. Gmail

Category: Email
See also: How to Master Gmail with These Tips, Shortcuts, and Add-Ons, Top 10 Clever Tricks Built Right Into Gmail, Fix Gmail's Newest Annoyances with These Userstyles and Userscripts, Everything You Need to Know About Gmail's New, Super-Confusing Layout, How to Use Inbox by Gmail for More Productive Email, and more Gmail coverage

6. Evernote

Category: Notes
See also: I've Been Using Evernote All Wrong. Here's Why It's Actually Amazing, What's All the Fuss About Evernote? Should I Be Using It?, The Best Evernote Apps for Organizing Even More of Your Life, The Handiest Evernote Notes to Keep Filed Away, Note Taking Styles Compared: Evernote vs Plain Text vs Pen and Paper, and more Evernote coverage
Alternatives: OneNote vs Evernote, Springpad vs Evernote, Simplenote

7. Pocket

Category: Reading
See also: The Best Way to Save All the Useful Articles You Come Across Online, How to Use Pocket Like a Pro to Save Everything from the Web, and more Pocket Coverage
Alternatives: Instapaper and Readability

8. Plex

Category: Media Centers
See also: How to Stream Your Media Anywhere with Plex, Plex vs XBMC, RasPlex Puts Plex on the Raspberry Pi, Create a Home Server with Plex, and more Plex coverage

9. Google Keep

Category: Notes
See also: Not Just Another Notes App: Why You Should Use Google Keep, Google Keep Adds Reminders So You'll Never Forget to Act on Your Notes, and more Google Keep coverage

10. Pushbullet

Category: Notifications
See also: How to Use Pushbullet to Get Notified of Anything on Any Device, Send Text Messages from Your Computer with Pushbullet, and more Pushbullet coverage

11. Skype

Category: VoIP
See also: Get Better Quality Video Chat, Disable Skype's Ads, The Five Best Webcams, Phone-ify Your Computer for Considerably Improved At-Home Calls and Texts, and more Skype coverage Alternatives: Five Best Mobile VoIP Apps

12. Spotify

Category: Music Streaming
See also: The Best Spotify Tips and Tricks You're Probably Not Using, Why Spotify Apps Are Actually Pretty Useful, How to Automatically Mute Ads on Spotify, How to Stop Spotify from Posting Every Song You Listen to on Facebook, Spotify Offers 50% Discount Off Premium Subscriptions to Students, and more Spotify coverage

13. Google Drive

Category: Cloud Storage/Office Suites
See also: 8 Extensions That Make Google Drive More Powerful than Dropbox, How to Stream Your Media Anywhere with Dropbox and Google Drive, How to Make Google Drive Work Like a Desktop Suite, Access Most Google Drive Commands with One Keyboard Shortcut, Four Skills That Will Turn You Into a Spreadsheet Ninja, and more Google Drive coverage

14. Google Calendar

Category: Calendars
See also: The Coolest Things You Can Add to Google Calendar, Manage Your Money with Google Calendar, How to Use Google Calendar as a Project Management Tool, 8 Great Experimental Features to Enable in Google Calendar's Labs, and more Google Calendar coverage

15. Google Play Music

Category: Music Streaming
See also: How to Make Google Music Your Secondary Media Player (and Why You Should), Google Turns YouTube into a Streaming Music Player with Music Key, Google Music All Access: Should It Be Your New Streaming Service?, Cloud Music Comparison: What's the Best Service for Streaming Your Library Everywhere?, Music Plus Makes Google Music Awesome, and more Google Play Music coverage

16. Google Now

Category: Personal Assistant
See also: Everything You Didn't Know You Could Do with Google's Voice Commands, Top 10 Awesome Features of Google Now, How to Train Google Now to Give You Better Suggestions, Learn Over 60 Google Now Commands with This Infographic, Speed Up Google Now with This Simple Tweak, and more Google Now coverage

17. Swiftkey

Category: Keyboards
See also: How to Improve Your Predictive Keyboard, SwiftKey Adds Custom Keyboards You Can Resize and Move, Improve Your Typing with SwiftKey's Heat Map, and more SwiftKey coverage Alternatives: Five Best Android Keyboards and iOS Keyboards

18. Wunderlist

Category: To-Do Lists
See also: Wunderlist Is a Simple, Elegant, and Free To-Do App that Synchronizes Across Your Machines, Back to Basics: How to Simplify Your To-Do List and Make It Useful Again, How to Fix the Recent Syncing Issues in Wunderlist, and more Wunderlist coverage

19. Pandora

Category: Music Streaming
See also: How to Discover New Music in the Post-MP3 Age, Five Best Internet Radio Services, and more Pandora coverage

20. Google Hangouts

Category: Messaging/Video Chat
See also: Five Google Hangouts You Can Join to Learn Something New (or Have Fun), 15 Free Google Helpouts to Get Expert Tips for Your Everyday Problems, Google Hangouts Adds SMS Support, Location Sharing, and GIFs, and more Hangouts coverage

21. LastPass

Category: Password Managers
See also: The Intermediate Guide to Mastering Passwords with LastPass, Is LastPass Truly Secure, How to Build a (Nearly) Hack-Proof Password System with LastPass and a Thumb DriveHow to Automatically Fill in Repetitive Web Forms (and Avoid Tons of Tedious Typing), LastPass Updates with a New Design, Shared Passwords, and More, and more LastPass coverage

22. XBMC

Category: Media Centers
See also: Create a Kickass, Seamless, Play-Anything Media Center: The Complete Guide, How I Built the Media Center of My Dreams for Under $500, Turn a Raspberry Pi Into an XBMC-Based Media Center, How to Make XBMC Easier to Use (Especially for Non-Geeks), XBMC vs Plex, Top 10 Ways to Power Up Your Home Theater PC, and more XBMC coverage

23. VLC

Category: Media Players
See also: The Best Hidden Features of VLC, Master Your Digital Media with VLC, Set a Video as Your Wallpaper with VLC, How to Fix Movies that Are Really Quiet, then REALLY LOUD, and more VLC coverage
Alternatives: PotPlayer

24. Mint.com

Category: Personal Finance
See also: How to Create (and Stick to) a Realistic Budget with Mint, Is Mint Ready for Your Money?, Four Ways Mint Can Make Your Tax Season Easier, and more Mint coverage

25. IFTTT

Category: Automation
See also: How to Supercharge Your Favorite Services with IFTTT, How to Post to Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ at the Same Time with IFTTT, All the New Stuff in IFTTT for iOS and Android, and What You Can Do with Them, Make Your iOS Notifications Smarter, The Best Uses for IFTTT's Location and Feed Channels, and more IFTTT coverage

26. Authy

Category: Security
See also: Here's Everywhere You Should Enable Two-Factor Authentication Right Now, Authy is a PIN-Protected Manager For Your Two-Factor Authentications, Authy Brings Two-Factor Authentication to Your PC, No Need for a Phone, The Best Two-Factor Authentication App for Android and iPhone, and more Authy coverage

27. Google Voice

Category: Communication
See also: The Most Helpful Ways to Use Google Voice that You're Not Using, Top 10 Clever Google Voice Tricks, How to Improve Your Google Voice Experience on the iPhone, Get the Most Out of Google Voice on Your Non-Smartphone, How to Port Your Number to Google Voice Without Paying an Arm and a Leg, and more Google Voice coverage

28. TeamViewer

Category: Remote Access
See also: Use Your Home Computer from Anywhere: A Comprehensive Guide to Remote Controlling Your PC, How to Get the Best Experience from TeamViewer, How Do I Troubleshoot My Parents' PC Remotely? and more TeamViewer coverage

29. Avast! Free Antivirus

Category: Antivirus
See also: The Best Antivirus App for Windows, How to Disable Avast's Annoying Sounds and Popups, The Difference Between Antivirus and Anti-Malware, Why You Should Use Antivirus Even If You Browse Carefully, and more Avast coveage Alternatives: Five Best Antivirus Programs

30. Any.DO

Category: To-Do Lists
See also: Five Best To-Do List Managers, The Coolest "Extra" Features in Any.DO, and more Any.DO coverage

31. Ubuntu (and other Linux Distros)

Category: Operating System
See also: Getting Started with Linux: The Complete Guide, How to Find the Perfect Linux Distribution for You, Five Best Linux Distributions, Build a Killer Customized Arch Linux Installation (and Learn All About Linux in the Process), Ubuntu vs. Mint: Which Linux Distro Is Better for Beginners?, Turn an Old Computer into a Networked Backup, Streaming, or Torrenting Machine with Ubuntu, and more Linux coverage

32. MusicBee

Category: Music Players
See also: The Best Music Player for Windows, Five Best Desktop Music Players, Top 10 Underhyped Windows Apps, Music Player Showdown: Which Desktop Player Is Best for Syncing to Android?, and more MusicBee coverage

33. uTorrent

Category: BitTorrent Client
See also: How to Completely Anonymize Your BitTorrent Traffic with a Proxy, How to Disable Ads in uTorrent, How to Monitor Your BitTorrent Downloads from Any Computer or Mobile Device, How Do I Torrent Safely Now That Demonoid Is Down?, How to Add Automatic Virus Scanning, Video Conversion, and Remote Downloading to uTorrent for Free, and more uTorrent coverage
Alternative: Transmission

34. CCleaner

Category: Utilities
See also: The Maintenance You Need to Do on a Windows PC, Run CCleaner on a Schedule to Keep Your PC Crap-Free, CCleaner Enhancer Makes CCleaner Even Better, Now Cleans 270 New Apps, and more CCleaner coverage

35. HandBrake

Category: Video Conversion
See also: How to Rip a DVD to Your Computer, The Hassle-Free Guide to Ripping Your Blu-Ray Collection, Calculate the Perfect HandBrake Video Encoding Settings for Your Device, and more Handbrake coverage

36. VirtualBox

Category: Virtualization
See also: The Power User's Guide to Better Virtual Machines in VirtualBox, The Beginner's Guide to Creating Virtual Machines with VirtualBox, Should I Run a Second Operating System in a Virtual Machine or Dual Boot?, How to Run Mac OS X Inside Windows Using VirtualBox, and more VirtualBox coverage

37. CyanogenMod

Category: Android ROMs
See also: Everything You Need to Know About Rooting your Android Phone, How to Flash a ROM to Your Android Phone, Are ROMs Really Necessary on a Nexus?, Android ROMs vs Xposed, CyanogenMod Unveils New User Accounts for Remote Find and Wipe, and more CyanogenMod coverage Alternatives: Five Best Android ROMs

38. F.lux

Category: Utilities
See also: Flux Changes Your Screen Brightness by Time of Day, Make Your Computer and More Friendly to Use at Night, Prevent Eyestrain at Your Computer, and more Flux coverage

39. GIMP

Category: Image Editing
See also: Top 10 Photoshop Tricks You Can Use Without Buying Photoshop, How to Make GIMP Work More Like Photoshop, Build Your Own Adobe Creative Suite with Free and Cheap Software, Is GIMP better than Photoshop?, and more GIMP coverage
Alternatives: Five Best Photoshop Alternatives

40. LibreOffice

Category: Office Suite
See also: Battle of the Office Suites: Microsoft Office and LibreOffice Compared, LibreOffice 4.0 Adds Better Collaboration and Text Comments, Plus a Ton More, Four Skills That Will Turn You Into a Spreadsheet Ninja, and more LibreOffice coverage

41. Thunderbird

Category: Email
See also: The Best Plugins to Supercharge Thunderbird, What Desktop Email Clients Still Do Better than Webmail, How to Sync Your Desktop Email Client (Outlook or Thunderbird) Across Multiple Computers, Thunderbird to Slow Down Development, Focus on "Security and Stability" Only, and more Thunderbird coverage

42. Picasa

Category: Photo Manager
See also: How to Upload and Share Photos on Flickr, Picasa, or Facebook, Picasa 3.5 Organizes Your Photos with Facial Recognition, Picasa Now Offering Virtually Unlimited Photo Storage, Brings Google+ Tagging, and more Picasa coverage

43. Twitter

Category: Social Networking
See also: Top 10 Uses for Twitter (That Aren't Self-Indulgent), How to Fix Twitter's Biggest Annoyances, How to Mute Retweets from Any User on Twitter, Navigate the New Twitter Like a Pro with Keyboard Shortcuts, Why's Everybody So Pissed About Twitter, and Should I Care?, How to Deal with Your Biggest Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ Annoyances, and more Twitter coverage

44. AutoHotkey

Category: Utilities
See also: Turn Any Action into a Keyboard Shortcut, The Best Time-Saving AutoHotkey Tricks You Should Be Using, Show Us Your Best AutoHotkey Script, and more AutoHotkey coverage

45. Launchy

Category: Utilities
See also: Why You Should Be Using an App Launcher (and How to make It Do More Than Launch Apps), The Best Application Launcher for Windows, and more Launchy coverage

46. Quicksilver

Category: Utilities
See also: Hack Attack: A beginner's guide to Quicksilver, Top 10 Quicksilver Plug-ins, Turn Any Action Into a Keyboard Shortcut on Your Mac, and more Quicksilver coverage
Alternatives: Alfred

47. Mailbox

Category: Email
See also: Malbox Is the Best Gmail Client We've Seen for iOS, Get 1GB of Free Dropbox Space with Mailbox, and more Mailbox coverage

48. Titanium Backup

Category: Utilities
See also: How to Set Up a Fully Automated App and Settings Backup on Android, How to Upgrade to a New Android Phone and Take Everything with You, and How to Speed Up Your Old or Sluggish Android Device

49. Notepad++

Category: Text Editors
See also: How to Get More Plus Out of Notepad++, The Best Programming Text Editor for Windows, Make Notepad++ an Even Better Editing App with Powerful Plug-Ins, and more Notepad++ coverage Alternatives: Five Best Text Editors

50. 7-Zip

Category: File Compression
See also: What's the Best Way to Compress a Bunch of Files? and From Saucy Pics to Passwords: How to Share Sensitive Information Over the Internet