One of the reasons why startups fail is due to lack of proper marketing, development and research in finding the right tools. Startups are busy enough without having to find the right software for each task they have to complete to bring their product or service into the world.
In this article, you’ll find a list of free softwares that can be extremely useful for startups, from project management tools to customer relationship management systems. Wish you a great start!
Tableau Public
If you need a data visualization tool but you don’t have the coin to spend on Tableau Desktop (Visit Store at Tableau) , then you should try Tableau Public. Public is essentially the same as the full Tableau Desktop product, except you won’t be able to pull information from as many data sources as the paid version, and anything you create will be saved to a public version of Tableau’s cloud.
This product gives you access to live dashboards, responsive visuals that can be created and seen on mobile devices, and access to Google and Microsoft document managers. You can even share your visuals on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Microsoft Power BI
Microsoft Power BI (Visit Site at Microsoft Power BI) is available in a paid and free version for self-service business intelligence (BI). The free version limits you to 1 GB per user, which you can pay to increase to 10 GB. With this plan, your data will refresh daily, you’ll be able to scan 10,000 rows of data per hour, and you’ll be able to publish to the web.
To consume live data sources, scan millions of rows of data, or access data on a physical server, you’ll need to upgrade to Power BI Pro, which is still reasonable at $10 per user per month. The Pro version of this software also provides you with ways to collaborate with coworkers on visualizations across environments such as Microsoft Office 365.
join.me
If you’re looking to connect with clients, prospects, and remote workers, you’ll need a reliable video conferencing solution to help you get the job done. Join.me offers a free plan that lets you invite up to 10 video participants, share screens, and supports up to five video feeds.
Join.me isn’t the most robust offering on the market, but it’s definitely a strong competitor among the free solutions. If you don’t have money to spend, and you need the cream of the free crop, try join.me.
Zoho Recruit
Docracy for Managing Legal Affairs
The fees alone for preparing basic legal documents can make you give up on ever creating your businesses.
And what about the cost of hiring a good attorney to help you out? That’s another one that will eat up your budget as a startup.
But hey, don’t panic, Docracy will help you out.
Docracy is an open-source website that curates legal documents for individuals and companies. The website allows for the sharing and signing of documents such as NDAs, wills, employment, and business contracts, trusts, and all other basic service agreements.
Note, you do want to have all documents you find on the website reviewed by a professional to avoid any complications that might affect your business.
Buffer
Coordinated social media marketing is one of the most effective marketing tools available to companies of any size. Social media management platforms allow you to automate and batch the entire social media marketing process.
Plan and curate your content calendar, compose and schedule your messages and then spread them out over the course of a day or week.
Buffer’s free plan allows you to have one profile from three networks (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest) and schedule up to 10 posts ahead of time for each network. The Buffer team also maintain an excellent blog, providing ideas for acquisition strategies and advanced social media marketing tips.
Pricing
Free (with paid plans for additional features).
Alternatives
Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Oktopost, MeetEdgar, Crowdfire
Wave
Your employees definitely want to get paid. So does your landlord and your utilities provider. To keep your books balanced, you can use Wave . With the free version of Wave, you’ll receive accounting and reports functionality, you’ll be able to create and scan invoices, and you’ll be able to scan receipts directly into the system.
No, this isn’t a one-stop shop for all of your bookkeeping needs. But if you keep things simple, you’ll be able to get pretty far using this basic service. For things such as payments and automatic integration with direct deposit payroll, you’ll have to pay $19 month.
Livestorm
Livestorm is a webinar platform that is “GDPR ready and delivers a HIPPA compliant streaming technology.” All features are included in Livestorm’s pricing model. The only variable is the number of people who can attend your webinar.
The starter plan includes 100 attendees. Higher-level plans enable webinars of up to 250 and 500 attendees.
Pricing
Pricing starts at $99 per month.
Alternatives
EquityNet
If your company is still looking to lure investors, EquityNet (199.00 Starting Price at EquityNet) offers a free crowdfunding platform that will help you plan, analyze, and share your business plan with investors. You’ll create your plan using EquityNet’s plan and analysis software, and you’ll publish it onto the website and share it with anyone who is willing to read your pitch.
Although this is more of a funding tool than a planning tool, the software is good enough to get you through the initial ideation stages (and, who knows, you might even get lucky and find a deep-pocketed investor).
HootSuite
Most small businesses don’t need a mega social listening platform. A free, easy-to-use dashboard that lets you stay up-to-date on what your customers are saying should be enough. Fortunately, Hootsuite ($29.00 at Software Advice) offers a free version of its software that’s good enough to do the trick.
With HootSuite Free, you’ll be able to manage multiple social networks, schedule posts, and interact with your followers. You’ll also be able to track how many followers you have on each of your social networks and monitor which posts are generating the most clicks. If your business grows, you can move up to one of three premium plans, which give you access to additional profiles, analytics, and multiple users.
MailChimp
MailChimp ($10.00 at Mail Chimp) is one of the best and most popular email marketing platforms on the market. Service tiers are priced depending on how many emails you send per month. If your company sends fewer than 12,000 email messages per month to fewer than 2,000 subscribers, you’ll absolutely love MailChimp’s Forever Free plan.
This steal of a deal lets you use built-in signup forms to gather subscribers from across the web. You can use MailChimp’s drag-and-drop designer and email templates to craft the perfect message. You won’t get robust reporting on the Forever Free plan, but you’ll be able to check open rates and compare them to the average company in your industry. Not bad for zero dollars.
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Zoho Docs
Zoho Docs is an ideal document management solution for small businesses with light document workloads. In addition to plug-ins to the rest of Zoho’s software ecosystem, the Zoho Docs free plan is available for up to 25 users and includes 5 GB of storage per user.
The free plan also includes unlimited file and folder sharing, desktop sync, editing tools, user management, and version history. You’ll also be able to integrate with Dropbox and turn on two-factor authentication (2FA) for added security. Plus, each document provides you with in-app chat so you can collaborate in real time.
Zoho Desk
Zoho also makes the list with its feature-rich helpdesk software Zoho Desk ($14 Per User Per Month, Billed Annually at Zoho Desk) . The free version provides your service team with different work modes, a customizable help center, a knowledge base, community forums, and the ability to rebrand the visuals to suit your company’s needs.
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If your helpdesk needs are a bit more complex, then you’ll want to upgrade to the $12-per-user-per-month Pro version or the $25-per-user-per-month Enterprise version, which adds features intended for larger organizations.
X-Cart
For companies that have products to sell but don’t have much money to design a complex online shopping cart, X-Cart ($29.95 at X-Cart) is a powerful solution. X-Cart 5, which is the name of the free version, offers advanced features such as newsletters, social-commerce sharing, and a sitebuilder for tweaking themes. X-Cart provides free core upgrades and free extensions such as ShipStation to generate shipping labels, Magic Slideshow to create a slideshow on the site, and Diib Analytics.
Keep in mind: You’ll need a bit of technical prowess to get started with X-Cart 5. It’s not a plug-and-play e-commerce tool, so be sure to have a handy IT person around to walk you through your setup.
Unbounce
Unbounce is an easy way to build high-conversion landing pages for campaigns and events. Using a simple drag and drop editor, you can easily build landing pages optimized for data capture and lead generation. You can also run AB tests to test out landing page copy and layout to ensure your pages are always optimized for lead capture.
Pricing
Free 30-day trial; paid plans start at $99 per month.
Alternatives
Avast
What’s the point of growing a business if it can be shut down by viruses or hackers? Avast’s endpoint protection comes in a free and a premium version, both of which protect your network well.
If you opt for the free version, keep in mind that you won’t have access to proactive controls, a firewall, or data shredding. However, you’ll still get access to solid malware blocking, security scanning, and rescue disk functionality—all of which will come in handy at some point.
Wrike
Wrike’s (Visit Site for Plans and Pricing at Wrike) project management solution is one of the best on the market regardless of which tier you choose. The free version supports up to five users, an unlimited number of collaborators, and 2 GB of free storage. With this plan, you can manage tasks, share files, and monitor your group’s activities in a real-time feed.
If you need customizations and reporting, you’ll have to upgrade to a higher tier. But if you’re just getting started and your team is small, the free project management tool will be perfect for you.
Conclusion
We’ve created a list of tools we think can help grow your startup and we hope this has given you some new ideas and inspiration. Good luck!