Best Small Business Tools to Boost Your Business

To help your small business survive in today’s world, you will need help. Thankfully, you can get it for free or at a meager price with apps to small businesses that we will be discussing here.

In this article, we will discuss the best small business tools that can help business owners not only survive but grow and thrive.

The small business tools we will be discussing include:

Accounting Software
Project Management
Time Tracking and Time Management
Customer Relationship Management
Payroll Software
General Productivity

Let’s dive into our list of the best small business tools and apps with that in mind.

Accounting Software

Keeping track of everything going on in your business is not easy. It’s often a challenging task, but thanks to technology, it can be easier.

Let us look at the best accounting apps for small businesses that can make managing your business much easier.

QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks is probably the most popular accounting software in today’s world, and QuickBooks online is a great small business tool.

The solution offers a lot, like an intuitive interface that’s easy to navigate and integrate with many third-party applications and services such as PayPal.

QuickBooks helps small business owners and managers stay on top of things by enabling them to track their sales and expenses, view balances and financial statements, approve estimates, and send invoices on the go, thanks to its excellent mobile app.

A free trial is available, after which you can get it for a small monthly fee that starts at $5 per month.

URL: https://quickbooks.intuit.com

Wave

Wave is one of the best tools for small businesses thanks to the reach features and the fact that it is completely free.

It combines accounting, receipt scanning, and invoicing in a simple, easy-to-navigate package. In addition, the solution simplifies tracking business expenses o a new level and allows users to accept payments via credit cards for convenience.

Wave makes accounting a breeze and allows users to create and send professional-looking invoices in moments without worrying about any fees or hidden charges whatsoever. This makes it an ideal solution for freelancers, entrepreneurs, and small businesses.

URL: https://www.waveapps.com

FreshBooks

Right behind QuickBooks comes FreshBooks in terms of popularity and name recognition. However, FreshBooks Cloud Accounting Application seems to be even better as it has a better rating on the iTunes app store.

FreshBooks is one of the best small business tools. It allows you to create and send professional-looking invoices, automatically bill your client for recurring invoices, track billable hours, receive payments via credit card, create customizable business and expense reports, and more.

The solution is cloud-based, of course, and synchronizes between your mobile device and your desktop in real-time, so you are always up-to-date with everything.

Like QuickBooks, FreshBooks offers a 30-day free trial, and you can get it for a monthly subscription fee starting at $15.

Like what you read but want more options? Take a minute to check out the Best Accounting Software for Small businesses.

URL: https://www.freshbooks.com

Project Management

Project Management apps allow managers and business owners to stay connected with their employees. They can streamline workflow and centralize communications to save your business time and money, which then you can invest in more pressing matters.

Trello

Free, very intuitive, and functional. I could end this here because that’s all you need to know about Trello.

Trello uses a Card Board system. Creating a board and cards is easy, adding comments and uploading attachments is very intuitive, and you can add due dates, labels, and stickers to your cards in the easiest way possible.

Trello’s mobile application is as intuitive as its Desktop version, notifying you whenever a change is made in cards or when you are mentioned. You will get notifications on your mobile device and your email as well.

Trello is free forever for individuals and small teams, but pricing starts at $12.50 per member per month for large businesses.

URL: https://trello.com

Asana

Like Trello, Asana is a cloud-based project management solution that allows for easy communication and collaboration.

The main difference between Asana and Trello is that while Trello is considered more visually appealing, Asana is more Text-heavy. So if your work depends on checklists, Asana is the way to go.

Asana allows users to view and track all tasks and projects from their mobile devices. File sharing is easy, and it also integrates with Google Drive and Dropbox if you want to attach larger files and don’t want to re-upload them.

Other integrations include Evernote, WordPress, Box, MailChimp, and Slack. Asana is free for up to 15 users, which makes it an excellent choice for small businesses. However, their premium plan pricing starts at $9.99 per month.

URL: https://asana.com

BaseCamp

BaseCamp is probably the most well-known task management tool and is certainly one of the easiest available today.

That’s thanks to its streamlined interface and intuitive nature that makes using the solution a joy. You can attach files, track progress, chat within projects, create checklists, and invite collaborators easily.

I left Basecamp for the end, though, because of its limited flexibility. For instance, you can’t see everything in one glance the same way you can do with other solutions, and no advanced reporting or budgeting options are available.

Basecamp starts at $24 per month, and this plan gets you 15 projects.

URL: https://basecamp.com

Time Tracking and Time Management

Time is money, and you are always running short on both as a small business. This is why tracking time has become so crucial for small businesses worldwide.

Time tracking applications help your employees become more productive, and as a result, your business becomes more successful. It’s a win-win situation.

Let’s take a quick look at the best time management apps for small businesses.

Toggl

Toggl is an excellent time tracking application that can track time spent to the second. This makes the solution ideal for business owners or managers who need an easy way to calculate billable hours.

Toggl allows you to track all your projects and/or clients, export timesheets, view your data in easy-to-understand graphs, and synchronize your data with other project management applications.

As a manager, you will be able to divide your employees into groups for better visibility, and your employees will be able to use it and view relevant data.

Toggl has a free edition that’s suitable for freelancers, entrepreneurs, and small businesses. However, unfortunately, this free version is limited to a maximum of 5 users and doesn’t have some features, such as billable others.

You can easily upgrade to their premium plans, and their pricing starts at $5 per user per month and gives you all the necessary features.

URL: https://toggl.com

RescueTime

RescueTime is a time tracking application that will track every second spent on websites, applications, phone calls, and other activities using your desktop and mobile devices. It will track your time, log in, and then you can see beautiful graphs and charts.

The solution allows you to set productivity goals, such as spending an X amount of time daily doing productive work. Then it will hold you accountable and show you exactly where you stand in achieving your goals.

The basic version is free and runs on Mac, PC, Linux, iOS, and Android.

The premium version pricing starts a $9/month and offers advanced features such as tracking offline activities and notifications. We think the free version is just fine for most startups, though.

URL: https://www.rescuetime.com

Time Doctor

Time Doctor is an accurate time tracker that offers many features for a good price.

It can take screenshots and send them to you to see the progress done on the projects, monitor time spent on meetings, phone calls, and chat, and create powerful reports for you that are both easy to understand and full of details.

Time Doctor can also help you with payroll as it can do basic payroll calculations based on fixed salaries or by-hour wages. It also offers GPS tracking, which could be a useful feature for remote team working.

The solution is available on most platforms. Unfortunately, Time Doctor doesn’t offer a free plan like RescueTime and Toggl but offers a 14-day free trial. After that, their pricing starts at $9.99 per user month.

URL: https://www.timedoctor.com

Customer Relationship Management

Customer Relationship Management is key to growing your business. Having good relationships with your customers helps you turn them into loyal paying customers, and having a growing customer base means having more sales.

So, let’s see what CRM software can help your business grow and become more successful.

HubSpot CRM

HubSpot CRM is the leading CRM software right now, and it seems like it doesn’t intend to slow down any time soon.

HubSpot is a successful solution because of its friendly and easy-to-use interface, the richness of features, and a wide range of available integrations.

The solution caters to businesses of all sizes, but their free plan and no-complications philosophy make this an ideal option for small businesses in particular.

The solution offers useful features such as document tracking, contact management, a customer filter, a sales leads filter, pipeline management, and deals tracking.

HubSpot can also store all the contact information you want and more, and you get up to 1 million contacts for free.

URL: https://www.hubspot.com/products/crm

Insightly

Insightly is a business suite that offers CRM, project management, sales tracking, and contact management. In addition, the solution is simple to use, which makes it a good option for small businesses.

As for the CRM features, Insightly offers plenty. These features make tasks such as managing leads and categorizing contacts easy.

You can also use Insightly to set up pipelines and track the status of those tasks. It also enables users to set up email reminders to help them avoid delays and keep everyone on track.

Insightly’s basic version is free, and their pricing starts at $29 per user annually.

URL: https://www.insightly.com

Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM is easy for users already familiar with the Zoho family of business and productivity products.

What makes Zoho CRM one of the best small business tools is the combination of an intuitive interface that’s very easy to use with a wide range of features. Now add these to the available integrations, and you have a winning solution.

Zoho CRM features include contact management, lead management, collaboration, and sales forecasting. In addition, the solution’s functionality extends to include project management, and Zoho can extend it even further thanks to the available integration.

Zoho’s free version gives users 50,000 contacts and unlimited storage but is available for a maximum of 10 users, but you can add more users for $15 per user per month.

URL: https://www.zoho.com/crm/

Payroll Apps

Managing payroll has never been an easy task. But then, payroll software came about, and everything changed.

Payroll solutions offer better accuracy, better value, more accuracy, and higher security than third-party payroll processing services.

Gusto

Formerly known as Zen Payroll, Gusto is a cloud-based business platform that provides Payroll, HR, benefits administration, and compliance services and features in one place.

It was designed to provide small businesses with the tools to manage their core human resources needs, which has made Gusto a great all-in-one stop for most of the needs of small businesses and startups.

The interface is easy to use, the payroll features are both rich and robust, and some automation features are available to make your life easier.

Gusto allows users to streamline and automate the calculation, payment, and submission of your business’s federal and state taxes.

URL: https://gusto.com

Intuit Payroll

This accounting and payroll platform was designed from the beginning to satisfy the needs of startups and small businesses.

Intuit Payroll can handle payroll management and processing efficiency and guarantees 100% accuracy.

The solution can automate tax calculations, generate paychecks in a few clicks, and integrate with popular third-party accounting solutions such as QuickBooks for added accounting functionalities. This integration also adds some valuable cash flow features and improved compensation capabilities.

It doesn’t stop there, as Intuit also brings the tools for employee management and talent acquisition to enable your business to find the top talents you are looking for and keep them satisfied.

You will not need to worry about any tax or labor laws changes as Intuit will always keep you up to date with them.

Intuit is available for small businesses, and the small solution also comes with the options of printing paychecks in moments or even paying with direct deposit.

URL: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/payroll/

Xero

Xero is a leading solution that handles the accounting needs of more than half a million businesses in 180 countries worldwide.

As an accounting platform, Xero simplifies handling bills and expenses, managing orders, and payroll processing.

You will also be able to handle your expenses and cash flow easily.

The solution is cloud-based, and the app synchronizes in real-time so you can not only access your data from anywhere, but you will also be able to get the latest updates right on your mobile device.

Xero is so easy to use that you can sign up for an account and start using it in minutes.

A 30-day free trial is available, and their pricing plans start at $6.30 per month.

These three solutions are great and should work for most people.

URL: https://www.xero.com/us/

General Productivity

When running a small business, you can get lost in an endless cycle of meetings, interviews, presentations, studying and taking notes, reviewing performances, and so on.

The human brain is capable, but it needs breaks, makes mistakes, and forgets things pretty easily, too.

Using a productivity application has become necessary in the last few years. It can help you become much more organized and focused on becoming more successful in what you do.

Evernote

Evernote has quickly taken place as one of the best digital notebooks around the world. The solution is straightforward to use and superbly efficient at what it does.

You can use Evernote to write, store, and organize all your notes, ideas, memos, bills, receipts, and more. It’s a versatile solution that works on all platforms, which means you can access all your notes and thoughts no matter where you are.

Evernote can be of great help to small businesses. It can be helpful in a wide variety of everyday situations and tasks.

Their basic free plan gives you access to most of the features but limits your use to two devices only for small business owners who want more premium features such as business card scanning and use on more than three devices.

URL: https://evernote.com

Todoist

Todoist is very simple. It’s a digital to-do list. The solution is clean, intuitive, and gives you access to all your lists wherever you are, whenever you want to.

Using the solution is very pleasant and makes checking your lists and organizing your tasks a breeze.

Evernote allows you to share and comment on files, plan projects, and assign tasks in a few clicks. You can also add recurring deadlines to save time.

Todoist is free for freelancers and entrepreneurs, and their business plan costs $28.99 per user paid annually.

URL: https://todoist.com

Pocket

Remember that exciting post you saw while scrolling on LinkedIn but didn’t have the time to read at the moment because you opened the app to send a message to someone?

Now you are trying as hard as possible to remember its title to search for it, but you just can’t.

With Pocket, you could’ve saved this article and read it on your mobile device when you have the time.

Pocket doesn’t only save articles. You can also use it to save videos, posts, and whatever you come across online and want to check out later.

Pocket is very user-friendly and very simple to use. You will not even need an internet connection to view what you’ve saved.

And Yes, Pocket is free.

URL: https://getpocket.com/

We hope you enjoyed this article. If so, you might enjoy these resources:

So now, you know the best small business tools every successful business needs.

Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash