When it comes to the business scales, the small and medium businesses or SMBs showcase a more challenging and risky business landscape. While the world continues to be a place where successful entrepreneurs are leaving their mark on the business fraternity, the list of businesses that failed to achieve merits is also sizable.
While free business tools continue to be a top priority for the freelancers and small business setups, the entrepreneurs must be wary of their choices. There are many tools that can slow down your growth pace and have a negative impact on your business, instead.
Given the impact of the current pandemic, entrepreneurs across the globe have switched their crisis-mode ‘ON’. As per the Harvard Business Review, around 58.9 million people in the USA are employed in the SMBs and form 47.5% of the private working force.
When faced with a pandemic of such sorts, most of them are anxious and are looking for the best ways to keep their business afloat. Given below is a list of the expert-approved free tools for small businesses that can help them in achieving their business goals, all the while acting as the best support for their ventures.
As per Forbes, the three crucial terms that are going to decide the future of SMBs in the coming time, are:
- Disruption
- Automation
- Data Analytics
All the free online business tools can cater to the above-mentioned and many other futuristic and contemporary demands of your business. So, read on to avoid being stagnant and give your ventures the right set of wings to fly high in the sky!
Free Small Business Tools That Your Small Business Needs Today
1. Google Analytics
Actionable analytics are the core of traffic-driven businesses such as information portals and blogs etc. Google Analytics is one of the best small business tools that offer you intense and qualified data. Reports, trends (daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly, etc.), performance stats, and live stats – you can tap into the most crucial business analytics with a free account.
Perfect for:
Small, medium, and enterprise setups with scalable needs; bloggers, analysts, and data experts.
Unique Features:
- It lets you track your goals, visualize the flow of your visitors, and generate audience reports.
- It helps in campaign measurement and creating custom reports.
2. Hotjar
Hotjar’s behavioral analytics go beyond the basic feed and numbers and offer you a better understanding of your visitors’ activities when they visit your website. Hotjar has an attractive suite of features relevant to marketers, designers, and managers. Based on the actionable analytics such as heat maps and user behavior, you can make changes in your user interface and increase your conversions. This is undeniably one of the best tools for businesses driven by analytics.
Perfect for:
Small, medium, and enterprise business setups.
Unique Features:
- It helps you identify the areas where your users and visitors get stuck.
- It empowers you to make changes based on user behavior and increase conversions.
3. Canva
Canva is an excellent source of professional-grade graphics and comes with hoards of pre-formatted templates to create flyers, social media or promotional banners, blog graphics, and practically anything to everything.
It effectively compensates for the lack of professional designers and expertise in creating eye-catching visuals for all your needs.
Perfect for:
Businesses of all kinds and all scales that require graphics.
Unique Features:
- Hoards of stock images, illustrations, font libraries, and custom templates
- Drag & drop editor, photo editor, and branded templates
- Customizable branding and design resizing
4. BrandCrowd
BrandCrowd is your one-stop-shop for your small business branding needs. With little investment, you’ll have access to hundreds of customizable logo designs. However, BrandCrowd is not just a logo destination.
They also provide design templates for Instagram and Facebook, business cards, Youtube covers, email signatures and much more.
Perfect for:
Small and mid-sized business owners who don’t want to spend a huge amount for their branding and marketing needs.
Unique Features:
- There’s no need to resize the templates for social media as all of them are custom-fit for their purpose.
- Thousands of social media templates automatically customized with your logo colors.
- The logo maker boasts thousands of unique designs created by professional designers from around the world.
5. JungleScout
JungleScout is an all-in-one online platform for learning about selling on Amazon. Offering an expert step-by-step and intensive guide for beginners, experts, and seasoned online sellers, JungleScout can help you multiply your earnings and increase your audience on Amazon.
It can also help brands and agencies to transform their online selling experience via various products such as databases, product trackers, launchers, and analytics.
Perfect for:
New Amazon sellers, existing Amazon sellers, and brands & agencies selling on Amazon.
Unique Features:
- It offers loads of quality educational material such as ebooks, guides, webinars, case studies, and success stories.
- It also offers estimator tools and affiliate marketing.
6. Kickstarter
If you want to crowdsource funding for your business, but don’t want to give away the equity, then sign-up on Kickstarter.
It is a unique funding platform that can help you recruit micro-investors and donors for your business venture. It is available for free and asks for a small percentage as a fee-only after the funding campaign is fruitful.
Perfect for:
Small and very small businesses and freelancers.
Unique features:
- Easy to raise funding for your project and venture
- Reliable and high success rate of funding
7. MailChimp
MailChimp is one of the best free business tools that you can lay your hands upon. You can create bulk newsletter content of up to 12000 emails for 2000 subscribers without paying a single penny.
Apart from creating beautiful newsletters, you can enjoy the benefits of advanced analytics and easy personalization.
Perfect for:
Small, very small, and medium businesses looking for free, yet effective ways to be in constant touch with their prospects.
Unique Features:
- Complete email transparency
- Email tracking, custom report generation
- Management of un-subscribers and subscribers
8. Shopify
Having given wheels to more than 1 million businesses across the globe, Shopify is an all-in-one online platform that offers the best tools for businesses of all kinds and all scales.
It offers an incredibly efficient and robust platform to start, run, and grow your business ventures.
Perfect for:
Businesses of all types and scales.
Unique Features:
- All free business tools available under one roof
- Shopify experts for mentoring
- A suite of tools ranging from security to ecommerce and marketing to analytics
9. Buffer
Buffer is an intuitive and streamlined social media management tool that offers actionable insights.
It helps social media managers to achieve meaningful engagement on social media and offers analytics, team collaboration, and post publishing.
The free plan offers a few limited features and is suitable for small businesses with a limited audience.
Perfect for:
Small, medium, and enterprise business setups.
Unique Features:
- Automatic post scheduling
- Different analytics for gaining insights into important data such as popular content
- Scheduling across different social media channels
10. Qualaroo
Qualaroo is a brilliant tool that can help you gather valuable customer feedback via targeted surveying of users in context, obtain actionable insights in user data, and create delightful business assets.
It comes with AI-powered analytics and empowers you with advanced targeted insights into user behavior and experiences. It has a suite of lucrative features that can work wonders for your business.
Perfect for:
Small, medium, and enterprise business setups.
Unique Features:
- You can gain actionable and advanced insights into the user experience.
- You can do advanced and targeted surveys such as AI sentiment analysis, and exit intent surveys to craft a better and personalized user experience.
11. Zapier
Zapier is a reliable and robust tool that helps you automate your workflow and comes with a forever free plan for small business owners.
Using Zapier, you can conduct customer surveys, find new customers, and interact with them, organize events such as webinars and create targeted lead nurturing campaigns.
Perfect for:
Small, medium, and enterprise business setups.
Unique Features:
- You can integrate Zapier with all the other tools for businesses and apps.
- With Zapier you can start and finish workflows from any app automatically.
12. Doodle
Doodle is a free online meeting scheduling tool that enables you to organize events with people using different kinds of digital (and even non-digital) calendars.
You can easily bypass the difficulties of different time zones, email exchanges, and also keep your calendar private while planning meet-ups with Doodle.
Perfect for:
Startups, small businesses, medium & enterprise setups, and freelancers.
Unique Features:
- Doodle comes with free appointment scheduling by creating polls.
- You can create any type of meet-ups and online events without having to take consent via emails or messages or chats.
13. Skype
This is one of the best free online business tools that was also one of the very first ones. It continues to offer effortless online collaboration with teams and clients without weighing down on your pockets. Mobiles, desktops, or any other digital device of your choice – Skype serves you the best when you have to do face-to-face interactions.
Perfect for:
Businesses of all kinds and all scales.
Unique Features:
- You can make calls across the globe, share files, enjoy screen-sharing, and much more.
- You can search for your permanent chats at any time.
- You can send SMS and also use Skype for Wifi hotspots.
14. Docracy
Docracy is one of the must-have free tools for small business. It is an open-source for legal documents such as service agreements, employee contracts, and lease agreements, etc. It can help you save thousands of dollars on attorneys and other legal procedures. All the documents are available as different listings such as freelancer documents, writers’ documents, and developers’ documents, etc.
Perfect for:
Start-ups, small and very small businesses, and freelancers.
Unique Features:
You can digitally sign your legal documents and also request for a document that is not available.
15. Slack
As a small business owner, you cannot undermine the importance of communications with your team and clients.
Slack is one of the leading team communication apps that comes with lots of lucrative features in its freemium version.
- The free plan comes with 10000 searchable messages, one-to-one video calls, and integration with 10 other apps and tools.
- Paid versions offer many other features such as instant feedback, file sharing, and searching the communication history, etc.
Perfect for:
Businesses of all scales.
Unique Features:
It offers ‘2 Factor Authentication’ in its free version as well. So, you cannot fall prey to password thefts, etc.
16. PayPal
When you work with overseas clients, having a secure and feature-rich online payment gateway is a must. PayPal is one of the most commendable platforms that make your online transactions (credit and debit cards) easy, secure, and hassle-free. It is recognized on a majority of websites and also supports recurring payments.
Perfect for:
Small, very small, and medium-sized business setups and freelancers.
Unique Features:
- No sign-up fee
- No direct fee
17. GoDaddy Website Builder
The largest domain name registrar – GoDaddy, offers an impeccable free website builder tool for small businesses and freelancers. The website builder comes with a guaranteed 99.9% up-time and lots of customization options. The brand boasts of an excellent customer support system and has highly positive customer feedback. You can also utilize the website builder if you already have a domain name plan.
Perfect for:
Small and medium-sized business setups and bloggers etc.
Unique Features:
- Step-by-step walkthroughs for customization of websites.
- 24X7 support via phone, chat, and ticketing system.
18. Pilcro
Pilcro is one of the best free tools for small business setups that can be used by entrepreneurs for affordable brand management practices such as logos, colors and fonts. You can store all such assets in a shared online space. This way, your entire team can have access to all these assets as and when required.
Perfect for:
Businesses of all scales.
Unique Features:
- You can create a business assets artboard where everything is stored in a shared space.02
- Marketing teams can create content without delays and confusion.
19. Todoist
Todoist gives you a sense of perfect management with its impeccable ‘to-do’ list planners. Apart from having a clear overview of what needs to be done, you can enjoy features such as Quick Add, recurring due dates and task view, etc. You can also assign favorite tags and prioritize your tasks.
Perfect for:
Businesses of all kinds and all scales.
Unique Features:
- You can delegate tasks, send notifications, and also comment on the tasks.
- You can set amazing incentives via Todoist Karma and productivity visualizations.
20. Pixabay
Pixabay is everybody’s go-to place for free stock images that are several grades higher than the other sources of free images. Offering a distinctive and an all-inclusive line-up of impressive and out-of-the-box images, Pixabay is just the right place to find pictures that speak a thousand words.
Perfect for:
Businesses of all kinds and scales.
Unique Features:
- Stock videos are also available to help you create stunning and rich content.
21. Dropbox
This is a fantastic software that makes your files accessible across all platforms and devices with ease. You can simply store your files in Dropbox folders and assign the access rights as and when required. This is one of those free online business tools that can save time and effort spent in managing, sharing, storing, and editing files and documents.
Perfect for:
Businesses of all scales and all types.
Unique Features:
- It offers you a smart workspace for creating content effortlessly and sharing it seamlessly.
- Dropbox can be integrated with a large number of other apps and tools.
22. WordPress
As per the official stats, WordPress is the foundation of 36% of the web. From building your website to blogging and sharing to selling your stuff, WordPress does a commendable job. You don’t have to grapple with coding, scripting, and any manual while using WordPress. Professional themes, stunning designs, and ease of use – this is undoubtedly one of the most impressive free business tools currently.
Perfect for:
All types of businesses; irrespective of their scales.
Unique Features:
- Thousands of plug-ins and add-ons with easy installation and easy customization.
- Real-time analytics and notifications to help you create an ultimate website.
23. Sumo
Sumo is being touted as the topmost free email capture tool and once you go through its features, you will find it rightly so. It will stay free forever and takes a few seconds to get started. This is a simple, yet brilliant tool for small business owners that struggle to find efficient email capturing tools that are affordable as well.
Perfect for:
Small, very small, and medium business owners and freelancers.
Unique Features:
- You can integrate it with WordPress, Shopify, and Google Tag Manager.
- You can grow your email lists, boost your conversions, and deliver delightful customer experiences.
24. Grammarly
Working as a freelance writer and sending grammatically wrong samples is one of the worst things that can ever happen. Grammarly is a fantastic tool that not only helps you correct your mistakes but also helps you improve your writing style. Its free version is amazing too and can be integrated with a large number of apps and tools for a holistic experience. Its paid version also comes with an excellent plagiarism tool that can work wonders for your career as a writer.
Perfect for:
Businesses of all kinds and all sizes.
Unique Features:
- It allows you to set goals against which you can evaluate the performance of your content.
- Apart from grammar, you can also check the clarity, engagement, and delivery of your content.
25. EchoSign
Formerly known as EchoSign, the tool is now known as Adobe Sign. Adobe Sign facilitates signing, sending, and tracking all kinds of documents from within your browser. You can achieve all this without compromising your security. It integrates well with all the Adobe tools and products and is well-suited for all types of businesses. Using EchoSign you can electronically sign your documents from anywhere, create custom document templates, and reuse the previously used templates.
Perfect for:
Businesses of all kinds and all scales.
Unique Features:
- You can store and archive your documents in the shared document library.
- FAX the signed documents.
- You can create signable web forms that can also be embedded in your website.
Now that we have gone through the list of the best small business tools that are free and can support all kinds of small businesses, let us move on. We are going to share a few tips that can help you find out whether you need a particular tool or not.
26. My Hours
My Hours is a great time-tracking tool for small businesses. If you are keen on being effective and hitting goals in your business, My Hours can help you achieve these goals. One of the many useful features My Hours provides is the employee hours tracker. It includes the option to assign tasks, track the progress and ensure there are no delays. You can easily monitor everyone’s attendance, check their inputs, and measure your team’s productivity. You can also use My Hours to split work into projects, prioritize tasks, and assign them to your team while adding an estimated spending limit for each project or job your team is working on.
Without having to return to Excel, My Hours makes it easier for you to configure reports to meet your or your client’s needs. Additionally, you may keep your report preferences and have My Hours send the reports directly to you and your clients at appointed periods, saving you the time and effort of having to do it manually each time.
Perfect For:
Small enterprises, medium to large-scale businesses, and freelancers that strive to be more productive and complete projects at the right time.
Unique Features:
- It allows you to create and manage invoices with ease.
- You can track projects in real-time.
● You can customize reports for yourself and your clients.
How to know if a tool is right for your business or not?
It is very easy to fall prey to using lots of tools in the pursuit of having excellence at your workplace. From automation to creating worklists, from creating stunning graphics to having an intact virtual office – there are endless reasons to use tools.
While business tools can help you achieve much more, you must take care of choosing well and wise. Take a look at the following tips that can help you make the decision.
- Identify your business needs and business deliverables.
- Choose a tool that can suit both of them.
- Go for upgrades once your business reaches a significant milestone.
- Monitor your subscriptions and plans closely for avoiding unnecessary financial pressures.
This completes our discussion of the best free business tools that can offer exceptional and much-desired support to small business owners and freelancers. We hope that this line-up offers thoughtful takeaways for all the readers and they choose the rightmost set of tools to give wings to their ventures.
[Related: Cash Management Strategies for SMBs]
