Proddy Winners Announced: The Best 34 Products of 2018!
These are Proddys winners: the best products of the year and the companies that make them. These excellent teams have developed products that shine across 34 categories, from AI and VR to Health and Fintech. Winners will be able to collect their awards in person during ProductCon San Francisco in May 2019.
How did your product do? Check out the full list of winners below!
1st: Grammarly
Even if you were writing grammar before it was born, Grammarly is a must these days. No one knows more about preventing mistakes in your emails, pitches, and docs than Grammarly. This digital writing assistant is an AI-based system that combines machine learning with a variety of natural language processing approaches. And we are here for it!
2nd: Google Home
3rd: Alexa
1st: Cloudflare
Because a faster and more private internet is not a dream anymore. The world’s first no-markup registrar is here! Cloudfare has been helping to encrypt the internet over the last five years or so and provides content delivery network services, DDoS mitigation, internet security, and distributed domain name server services.
2nd: UserTesting
3rd: Appcues
1st: Bankex Digital Deal
A bank-less society is becoming a closer reality every day thanks to companies like Bankex, a blockchain platform with multifunctional smart contracts building Proof-of-Asset Protocol. They recently launched Bankex Digital Deal, a platform where you can make risk-free prepayments so you can buy goods and services from strangers.
2nd: Ethereum
3rd: Coinbase
1st: GoToMeeting
Because we ALL love to connect with our team members, clients, customers and users across the globe. GoToMeeting is a web-hosted service that allows you to hold video conferences with other people at any time. Their high-quality audio and video are more than enough to keep your team connected.
2nd: Slack
3rd: Slido
1st: Medium
Medium has a built-in distribution channel reaching 86M+ unique monthly visitors. It touts itself as the place where “everyone has a story to share and the best ones are delivered right to you.” There’s a lot for you to love about Medium. So what are you waiting for?
2nd: Airbnb
3rd: Product Hunt
1st: Slack
Yep, chat systems have been around since the dawn of the Internet. But in the modern world, these apps are essential in the workplace. Our top player is Slack, for sure, because we’ve all slacked emojis :smiley_cat: and important messages to #channels and we’ve had an effortless and smooth communication experience so far!
2nd: Asana
3rd: Project Include
1st: Pendo
Looking to dive deep into your SaaS data? Pendo is a business analytics service company. It tracks user interactions with web and mobile applications and provides tools for targeted communication with them. A powerful event user analytics tool for your company in 2019.
2nd: Mixpanel
3rd: Amplitude
1st: Proto.io
All in all, a prototype is what basically determines app development and, to a large extent, the overall outcome. With Proto.io you can create fully-interactive high-fidelity prototypes that look and work exactly as your app should.
2nd: Sketch
3rd: Zeplin
1st: Cloudfare
Because a faster and more private internet is not a dream anymore. The world’s first no-markup registrar is here! Cloudfare has been helping to encrypt the internet over the last five years or so and provides content delivery network services, DDoS mitigation, internet security, and distributed domain name server services. Let’s praise this product!
2nd: Chartboost
3rd: Github
1st: Amazon
They started selling books and are now the number 1 e-commerce giant out there. We’ve all visited Amazon.com for a last-minute gift and even to buy food. Amazon is a multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence. Thank you, Jeff, for meeting our one-day deliveries in 2018!
2nd: Stitch Fix
3rd: Alibaba
1st: Earnest
Looking to refinance your student loans with a low-interest rate? Or just a better way to borrow? Earnest is making credit more accessible to financially responsible people by offering low-cost lending and refinancing. The best interest rates you’ve never seen before!
2nd: Joist
3rd: PayPal
1st: Copia
Fantastic, much-needed move towards a reduction of food waste with Copia. While about 815 million individuals are living in hunger, 40 percent of food in the United States goes to waste. Crazy, right? Copia™ makes healthy food more accessible to people in the community by helping businesses redistribute high-quality excess food to feed people in need. What else can we ask for?
1st: Tesla
We are experiencing a massive shift in transportation and energy. Elon Musk and Tesla are taking steps to positively change the world and they are just getting started! The company specializes in electric car manufacturing. You are just one ‘submit’ click away to get your Tesla delivered at your front door in just 3 days. Aha!
2nd: iPhone
3rd: iPad
1st: Rippling
Rippling is not just an HR system done right, it’s a mashup of many different things. — Hire someone? One click and you have their laptop, cloud accounts, payroll, benefits, taxes, PTO, all set up on day one in one system. Let your employees hit the ground running.
2nd: Zartis
3rd: Gusto
1st: Ada
We all google our symptoms anyway, right? So why not do it with a secure app used by millions? Now Ada is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) app that helps point patients in the direction of a diagnosis. Ada’s medical library is written and researched by doctors, scientists and medical scholars. Keep in mind that, for the next five years, the mobile health market is expected to grow annually more than 40 percent.
2nd: Headspace
3rd: Fitbit
1st: Kickstarter
Kickstarter has been bringing creative projects to life since 2009. The company maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity and merchandising. If you don’t know where to put your money, then head to kickstarter.com and fund a cat café or a custom street signs project.
2nd: Etsy
3rd: Google Play
1st: Airbnb
Airbnb is one of the most successful “lean” platforms in the world, and it has forever revolutionized the way we travel. Their mobile app is a fantastic example of accessibility and user-centered design. Can you even remember how you used to book hotels in the past?
2nd: Venmo
3rd: Amazon
1st: Pokemon GO
The legendary brand of “pocket monsters” took the mobile game scene by storm. Pokemon GO relied on ingenious augmented reality tricks and a keen army of Pokémon Trainers, eager to explore their neighborhoods and parks to catch’em all!
2nd: Fortnite
3rd: Candy Crush
1st: Spotify
The Swedish tune-provider Spotify has become a ubiquitous figure in the music industry. Its success has inspired other freemium business models across other industries, and more artists than ever are taking part in the platform. We’re not skipping their next record!
2nd: SoundCloud
3rd: Apple Music
1st: Brex
New products often find it tough to break into mature markets. The Brex people engineered a very simple solution to provide startups with corporate cards: instant online applications, without personal liabilities and tailored rewards; all powered by the Visa network and fraud protection.
2nd: Breather
3rd: Forward
1st: Medium
When Twitter co-founder Evan Williams created Medium, he was anticipating the long-form revolution in the news. It turned out that, in addition to micro-blogging, the Internet was also perfect for the consumption of sizable and well-thought writing. Since then, thousands of budding writers have kick-started their careers in fiction, reporting or business by using the platform’s slick and simple interface.
2nd: CNN
3rd: New York Times
1st: Bumble
Bumble, marketed as the “feminist dating app”; is much more than that. For starters, it also allows meeting people to build friendships, or enlarge your business network. It has appealed very differently to all groups of people, which is the key to its success this year in the competitive dating app world.
2nd: Tinder
3rd: Hinge
1st: Amazon Alexa
What or who is Alexa? Is it your personal butler? Your secretary? News app? Weather app? Who knows! For sure, this list of features will keep growing with time, especially as more and more devices become connected through the Internet of Things. Let’s all celebrate this year’s top product: Amazon Alexa.
2nd: Airbnb
3rd: Spotify
1st: Zillow
In the busy world of real state, it is really difficult to stand out. Zillow has managed such feat by becoming even larger and better, making it easier for renters to pay their landlords through the platform. Some cool tools released this year include a service to share a renter’s history (credit check, eviction history) with landlords.
2nd: WeWork
3rd: Craigslist
1st: Greenhouse
One of the benefits of tech is expanding opportunities for everyone in the world of work. But sometimes you need an extra hand to manage all that complexity. Greenhouse offers to recruit SaaS with endless API integrations, which can be licensed by any company to streamline their hiring processes across departments. Now that’s efficiency!
2nd: ZipRecruiter
3rd: LinkedIn
1st: Zoom
We are working remote more than ever. And phone hardware is just so tricky sometimes. Zoom, based on cloud computing, allows no-frills conferencing services. By making security and reliability the two guiding principles in the company, the team at Zoom have been able to claim an increasing share of the video conferencing market.
2nd: Airtable
3rd: Box
1st: Zendesk
Ah! Customers. Who can live without them, right? But sometimes, it can be so difficult dealing with their actual demands. Zendesk has been making this business easy since 2007. This largely customer support services platform is now moving into the wider customer-relationship manager services arena, where it is already challenging established competitors!
2nd: IFTTT
3rd: Mailchimp
1st: Meetup
Ever since its acquisition by WeWork, Meetup has made it easier than ever to book spaces for events. Even before that, this great platform has been making event creation simple since 2002! After so many years in the business, imagine the number of friendships, careers and even relationships that it has launched. No wonder it’s so celebrated!
2nd: Instagram
3rd: LinkedIn
1st: Uber
Getting from A to B is now so simple, whichever way you want to go. Actually, Uber is one of the few companies that can claim full-spectrum mobility. Ride-sharing, cabs, bicycles were only the beginning: after food deliveries, the company’s next steps are in the air. We mean it literally! UberAir/Elevate should be running in the 2020s and provide short flights through VTOLs.
2nd: Lyft
3rd: Bird
1st: Hipmunk
Hipmunk was co-founded by Reddit’s Steve Huffman after backpacking in Costa Rica back in 2010. That must have been a nice trip because after years of sustained growth corporate travel giant Concur has just acquired the traveling squirrel site. Just like Concur, people just love the travel platform’s ever-expanding search engine, especially because of its simple and direct interface.
2nd: Airbnb
3rd: TripAdvisor
1st: HotelTonight
Even the simplest concepts fail to launch because of bad design. HotelTonight has managed to disrupt the last-minute travel deal scene by developing a booking process that is completed in just 3 steps. Its website and app are elegantly integrated with location services and just about the filters you need to find the perfect room wherever you are.
2nd: Airbnb
3rd: Apple
1st: Netflix
One of the biggest examples of a transition from the analogical to the digital, Netflix pivoted from its position as a VOD platform to become one of the world’s media giants. It is one of the few tech companies that can claim its own vernacular expression, and through its international expansion now boasts one of the most complete cinema and TV libraries in the world.
2nd: Youtube
3rd: Prime Video
1st: Oculus
Most of us remember the cheap attempts at recreating virtual reality from twenty years ago. Which is why it caught us all by surprise when this Menlo Park company, founded in 2012, began releasing some of its products. Through its partnerships with other hardware giants, Oculus is slowly becoming the most solid player in the VR sphere.
2nd: Magic Leap
3rd (tied): Pico & SolidHaus
1st: WordPress
Competition is getting close, but still, no one can challenge this platform’s simplicity and connectivity with other services. WordPress is still the backbone for countless developers and companies out there. Employed by a third of the top websites in the world, its constant improvements will make it an even safer bet in the future.
