Imagine you’re looking for the best software for business owners. Trickier than it seems, right? I mean, there are so many options out there. Where do you even begin? Do you sift through a bunch of reviews from tech blogs and customer reviews on Amazon? How do you differentiate between the software that’s actually good and the software that sounds good but isn’t really worth your time?
There are so many different types of applications that you can use to run and operate your business. Some of them are free but most of them require money. If you are a small business owner and are looking for the best software for business owners, look no further.
Wave Accounting
Wave Accounting was created in 2010 by co-founders Kirk Simpson and James Lochrie who were frustrated by the lack of free and easy-to-use financial software for small businesses. Today Wave has more than 250 employees serving small businesses around the world. We chose it as the best accounting software because it lets small businesses track income and expenses, send invoices, scan receipts, track sales taxes, and more, all for free.
Wave helps users connect multiple bank accounts and credit cards and set up profiles for multiple businesses to help keep track of income and expenses. The software organizes accounts, payments, and invoices to make tax time easier and also offers robust reports to help identify cash flow trends.
Users can create and send professional, branded invoices from Wave’s dashboard or mobile app. The invoicing software can set up recurring invoices and automatic credit card payments for repeat customers and automatically syncs invoice and payment information with its accounting software.
Wave’s mobile app lets users scan receipts anywhere and sync them seamlessly with their Wave account to help keep track of business expenses. Users can also email invoices to their Wave account or scan receipts offline to be synced the next time the device is online.
Although Wave is completely free to use, it also offers additional paid services, including accepting credit cards and bank payments and setting up payroll for employees and contractors.
Wave Accounting
- Free accounting
- Free invoicing
- Free receipt scanning
Wave Payments
- All Wave Accounting features
- 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction for Visa, Mastercard, Discover
- 3.4% + 30¢ per transaction for American Express
- 1% per ACH transaction ($1 minimum fee)
Wave Payroll
- All Wave Accounting features
- $35 plus $6 per employee/contractor per month (tax-service states)
- $20 plus $6 per employee/contractor per month (self-service states)
Wix
- All Wave Accounting features
- 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction for Visa, Mastercard, Discover
- 3.4% + 30¢ per transaction for American Express
- 1% per ACH transaction ($1 minimum fee)
MailChimp
MailChimp was created in 2001 by web design agency owners Ben Chestnut and Dan Kurzius who wanted to create an affordable email marketing service for small businesses. It has grown into a full-fledged marketing platform offering landing pages, websites, postcards, and more. We chose it as the best email marketing software because it offers small businesses high-level email marketing with both free and affordable paid plans.
MailChimp’s free email software makes it easy for business owners new to email marketing to get started. The platform offers premade email templates, opt-in popups and signup forms, audience segmentation, and basic personalization. Users also get a mobile app that lets them view campaign performance and send emails with just a few clicks.
MailChimp’s drag-and-drop templates let users create professional, branded emails with no design skills. A built-in analytics tool also keeps track of open rates and clicks, and segments data to help show what’s working and what’s not. Users can automatically send out targeted emails based on user behaviors, like a welcome message for new signups or a related product recommendation for a recent buyer.
Most small businesses can get pretty far using MailChimp’s free plan. The paid plans add more subscribers and lists as well as more detailed automations:
Free Plan
- FREE
- 2,000 subscriber limit
- 10,000 emails per month
- Basic email templates
- Integrations with 250+ apps
- Landing pages and popup forms
- Google, Facebook, and Instagram retargeting ads
- Single-step automations
- Segmentation
- Basic reports
Essentials Plan
- $9.99 per month (based on the number of subscribers)*
- 500 subscriber limit
- 5,000 emails per month
- All Free Plan features
- Access to all email templates
- A/B testing
- Remove Mailchimp footer
- 24/7 email and chat support
Standard Plan
- $14.99 per month (based on the number of subscribers)*
- 500 subscriber limit
- 6,000 million emails per month
- All Essentials Plan features
- Behavior-based automations
- Multi-step automations
- Send time optimization
- Delivery by time zone
* Use the MailChimp calculator to determine pricing based on the size of the email list.
Trello
In 2011, a company called Fog Creek Software launched a prototype of a project management tool designed to solve high-level planning issues. Later named Trello, the software grew to over 500,000 users in just one year and 4.75 million by 2014. We chose it as the best project management software because it offers a free, flexible, and visual way to manage projects.
Trello uses Kanban-style boards for task and project tracking and makes it easy to manage both individual projects and ongoing workflows. Its simple and intuitive interface lets users create custom boards and lists with cards that can include images, files, links, checklists, due dates, and more.
Users can get started in seconds with a blank board or choose from hundreds of categorized templates created by other users that can be modified as needed. Trello offers integrations with Slack, Google Drive, Dropbox, and dozens of other third-party platforms as well as mobile apps to streamline collaboration and workflows.
Trello offers a lot with its free plan including unlimited personal boards, lists, and cards. The free plan is limited to 10MB per file attachment, 10 team boards, and one third-party integration (Power-Up) per board. The Business Class plan comes with expanded features and a 14-day free trial:
Free Plan
- FREE
- Unlimited personal boards
- Unlimited cards
- Unlimited lists
- 10MB per file attachment
- 10 team boards
- One Power-Up per board
Business Class Plan
- $10 per user per month
- All Free Plan features
- 250MB per file attachment
- Unlimited team boards
- Unlimited Power-Ups
Slack
Slack was originally built as an internal communication tool for a game development company started by Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield in 2009. Launched publicly in 2013, it currently has over 12 million users in over 150 countries. We chose it as the best team communication software because it offers real-time messaging, feedback, and collaboration in a free, online platform.
Slack was developed to eliminate the inefficiencies and delays of email communication. The software lets users create channels that can be organized around a topic, team, project, or even a client. Channels can be public and open to all users of a Slack account or private and accessed by invitation only.
Besides communicating in real-time, Slack offers tons of integrations letting teams share files, create polls, schedule meetings, and connect to third-party project management, cloud storage, and productivity tools. The platform offers free, one-click voice and video calls and even lets users spin-off discussion threads to keep larger conversations focused and uncluttered.
One of Slack’s most useful features is its search function. No more sorting through emails or written notes hoping to find that one valuable piece of information. Slack lets users search for a conversation, mention, or user and share or bookmark it no matter how long ago it took place.
Businesses that only need a single workspace, one-on-one video calls, and only a few app integrations can get by with a free Slack account. The free account also limits searches to 10,000 messages:
Free Plan
- FREE
- Search up to 10,000 messages
- Up to 10 third-party app integrations
- One-to-one video and voice calls
- 5GB storage per workspace
Pro Plan
- About $7 per user per month
- Unlimited message search
- Unlimited third-party app integrations
- One-to-one video and voice calls
- Group video calls up to 15 people
- Screen sharing
- 10GB storage per user
- Guest accounts and shared channels
- 24/7 support
Business+ Plan
- About $12 per user per month
- All Pro Plan features
- 20GB storage per user
- User management
- 24/7 support with four-hour first response time
Toggl
Overview: For very small businesses, freelancers, and entrepreneurs who just need a simple time tracker, Toggl might be the best bet. While there are many great software solutions out there that include extensive features such as expense management, mileage tracking, employee monitoring, and more, many small businesses don’t need all of those features (and don’t want to pay for them). With Toggl, it’s all about ease of use because employees can instantly track time across hundreds of third-party apps, computers, and devices — just hit Start and the timer gets going. Toggl is free with paid tiers that start at $9/month for add-ons such as invoicing features.
Free trial: Toggl offers a 30-day trial for all features.
Tech support: Toggl offers a free self-service help center on its website.
Freshteam
Freshteam was developed in 2017 by Freshworks, a developer of communication, sales, and marketing tools since 2010. The software allows businesses to manage hiring, onboarding, time-off, and employee information. We chose it as the best hiring software because it helps small businesses hire new employees in an easy-to-use and affordable online platform.
Freshteam’s applicant tracking system (ATS) makes it easy for small businesses to post jobs, screen resumes, track applicants, and even send offer letters. Users get access to job description templates and can post positions on free job boards, including LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter, Glassdoor, and Adzuna.
Freshteam helps users create custom workflows so they can track candidates from application, to interview, to hiring. The software can also automatically convert emails into applications and add senders as applicants. Finally, Freshteam lets users create a mobile-friendly career page and share job postings on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
Once an employee is hired, Freshteam sends her all the paperwork she needs to sign electronically as well as employee handbooks, other internal documents, and a welcome letter. The software adds new employees to the business’s org chart, securely stores employee data, and can even manage employee time off.
Freshteam’s basic plan, called Sprout, is free for companies with fewer than 50 employees and lets users post up to three jobs. Every plan also comes with a 21-day free trial and 24/7 email and 24/5 phone support:
Sprout Plan
- FREE
- Three job postings
- Basic career site
- Recruitment team inbox
- Candidate application via email
- Employee directory
- Employee org chart
- Mobile apps (iOS and Android)
- Basic time-off management
Blossom Plan
- $50 per month per 50 users
- 10 job postings
- Customizable career site
- All Sprout Plan features
- Recruiting automations
- Custom interview scorecards and kits
- Custom hiring pipelines
- Interview scheduling with Google and Outlook Calendar
- Job board Integrations
- Time-off approval workflows
- Up to two holiday calendars
- Up to two time-off policies
Garden Plan
- $100 per month per 50 users
- Unlimited job postings
- Advanced career site
- All Blossom Plan features
- Social recruiting
- Offer management
- New hire onboarding
- Unlimited holiday calendars
- Sponsored job postings on Indeed
PayPal
Overview: PayPal and Stripe are two of the largest online payment solutions available. While they share many things in common, such as an online payment processing fee of 2.9% + $0.30, PayPal overall is a better option for small businesses and entrepreneurs. While Stripe offers more customization options to suit larger companies, PayPal is easier to set up and use, making it a better choice for small business owners. PayPal helps millions of customers and merchants around the world send and accept payments using bank accounts and credit cards, which is why it’s one of the most widely adopted platforms in the eCommerce industry. The PayPal button can be added to the payment page, which allows customers to use PayPal, PayPal credits, or Venmo to complete purchases in just one or two clicks. From start to finish, PayPal is one of the easiest payment services available — for businesses and customers.
Free trial: PayPal does not offer a free trial period, but merchants do not pay startup or termination fees for most plans.
Tech support: PayPal offers multiple sources of customer support, including a community forum, resolution center, and text and email support.
Conclusion:
Business owners are busy running the show, but it doesn’t mean they don’t have time to learn about better software. The fact is, you can run your business better and more efficiently with the right software, automated marketing, and an efficient virtual assistant like Fiverr.