The best startup tools to grow your business

This article will provide a comprehensive list of more than 60 tools for an entrepreneur starting a business. It will cover categories like low-code, marketing, sales, etc. Most of the tools listed will provide either a free tier or a free trial to start.

Startups play an essential role in the economic growth of countries. Launching a startup company in a developed country or a developing & underdeveloped economy will generate jobs, revenues, and creativity.

Startups are the money-making engines of countries that give solutions and create new opportunities for fellow businesses. According to Statista, there are more than 590 unicorns worldwide, and the most valuable unicorn is the Ant Group worthing more than $200 billion. 

However, these young businesses are conventionally started with limited resources, employees, and budget. Therefore, this guide will suggest one of the best free tools for startups to boost their efficiency and growth chances.

Keep reading to discover the essential tools for startups.

What is a Startup?

A young company with a problem-solving approach in its early functional stages is a startup. Startup businesses join the markets with innovative schemes to deal with a problem under the supervision of 1–3 entrepreneurs.

Personal savings, family & friends, crowd fundings, etc., are the primary funding resources of startups. But, yes, startups’ failure and growth probabilities are very high. Google, Uber, and Dropbox were successful startups that went uphill over time.

Benefits of Creating a Startup

Startups grant numerous advantages to the global economy and humanity. But we are going to discuss the major benefits of creating a startup below:

Quick & Adaptable

Big corporations usually follow conventional business models to satisfy their customers, investors, and upper-level management. But as a new business, startups are not bound with particular business strategies.

That is why in the case of adapting to any change or imposing any new technological strategy, startups are rapid to absorb it. On the contrary, established businesses need much time to modify their business model to accept recent technological or global changes.

Strong Workplace Bonding

Big enterprises work in casual working environments where people from one department don’t recognize the employees from another department. Even in many cases, the company’s CEO or top-level management aren’t familiar with the employees. But, startups are known because of their strong team chemistry.

Startups usually begin their journeys with small teams. That is why all of them are familiar with each other. They cooperate, collaborate, and communicate appropriately while solving a problem. This workplace chemistry also enables the employees to be more productive and overcome the turnaround time.

Less Bureaucracy

In established firms, every decision or step needs formalizing documentation. People from distinct departments also review every process or decision before final approval. This formalization takes much time to conduct different tasks and keeps the decision-making inefficient.

Withal, startups don’t follow specific administrative rules. That is why decision-making and implementations are agile in them. This feature enhances their work efficiency and gives them a competitive edge over large enterprises.

Better Utilization of Resources

Startup businesses permit entrepreneurs to outset their companies with limited resources. These young businesses with innovative approaches can better use different resources as beginners.

IT giants like Apple, HP, Amazon, and Google have also shared that they commenced their business journeys from garages. Yes, Steve Wozniak & Steve Jobs have mentioned using Steve Jobs’ childhood house garage for early operations.

In other words, creating a startup can also teach the entrepreneurs how they can utilize unused resources for their ventures.

Brand Personality & Competitive Pricing

The brand personality of startups is more engaging compared to the big corporations. Though employees get a small salary in startup companies, they get more acknowledgment and freedom, contributing a lot to building a brand’s personality. Many customers are automatically attracted to startups because of their freshness and underdog nature.

Startups don’t need to invest in extensive infrastructure and workforce to offer more competitive pricing. These innovative businesses proceed with limited resources and small teams. That is why they can confer flexible pricing compared to the big companies.

Wealth & Employment Creation

If we look at the overall impact of startups on local or global economies, then it is very pleasant. Indeed, startups generate new jobs. These startup businesses created around 3 million jobs only in the United States, as per Statista report.

By creating new jobs in different industries, startups are lowering the unemployment rate of countries. That is good for their economic growth. With more wealth, these businesses are expanding their market exposures and giving reasonable amounts to governments in the name of taxes.

This wealth-making activity is also associated with economic growth, improving living standards, and social prosperity.

The Best Tools for Startups

This guide divides tools for startups into different categories. Therefore, young businesses can easily benefit from these startup software tools according to their requirements. Here are the top startup tools for each category.

Category: Backend

Please find below three great examples of startups providing backend services. For a complete list, please read the article BaaS Providers.

Back4App

Startups are usually not experts in building server sides of their applications. That is why the use of backend tools should be beneficial for startups, developers, and business owners.

In this regard, the use of Back4App for creating advanced applications with solid backend support could be reliable.

Startups can annually save tons of money by using Back4App. VantageBP is a recent example of it that secured its $500K with the help of this backend tool as a startup.

This startup tool is entirely free to use for 1 GB transfer & storage, 25k requests, and 250 MB data storage. Luckily, young businesses also don’t need to attach their credit card to benefit from the free plan of Back4App.

Features

• The cross-platform SDK support, real-time queries, and cloud code functions enable startups to quickly build and launch their applications with modern features. With these properties, startups can also shorten their time to market and enhance productivity.

• Back4App is one of the most scalable tools for startups. Users can easily extend their resources when their companies grow in upcoming times.

• It lowers the back-end development cost and enables the new businesses to focus on their core competencies instead of investing time on server-side operations.

• Under the umbrella of its BaaS and mBaaS products, it also outsources the cloud infrastructure and manages it for startups. Hence, startups don’t need to buy hardware and invest in maintenance.

• Customer service and support is great and works 24/7.

Firebase

Firebase is another excellent free tool that startups must consider if they are about web and mobile applications.

This startup tool gives excellent benefits to small businesses with the backing of Google. Though its premium plans support large enterprises, its free products are considered suitable for young companies.

It categorizes its products into three parts: ‘Build,’ ‘Release & Monitor,’ and ‘Engage.’ The free plan of Firebase is known as Spark Plan. It offers a free plan, startups can get free A/B testing, analytics, app indexing, distribution, 10k monthly authentications, 10 GB data transfer, and many other cloud facilities.

Features

• To build backends of applications, Firebase confers a variety of products, including real-time databases, remote configuration, authentication, cloud messaging, and Firebase ML.

• It is quick for startups to deploy applications with SSD-backed Firebase’s hosting support. New businesses can also get a free SSL certificate when they host applications with this backend tool.

• Firebase also grants one of the best products like Google Analytics, test Lab, performance monitoring & app distribution to monitor the stability of an application regularly.

• This highly scalable tool makes it a perfect choice for startups because these new ventures grow rapidly.

• Similarly, community support like Google Groups, Slack, Stack Overflow, and GitHub is another advantage of using Firebase for backend development.

Backendless

Backendless is also one of the finest tools for startups that provides server-side support to build applications.

In this regard, it confers a plan ‘Backendless Cloud’ that is mainly designed to deal with small businesses and startups. Two hundred database tables, unlimited push notifications, and API calls undoubtedly facilitate the young companies.

However, startups can also pick ‘cloud 9’ and ‘cloud 99’ later when their venture grows. Indeed, startups can initially proceed with these cloud plans free of cost without using credit cards. Later, they can pay $25/month or $99/month when they need more resources.

Features

• It is one of the most scalable backend tools for startups because it gives freedom to switch. Indeed, Backendless Console permits the users to swap the plan anytime.

• Backendless allows startups to easily administer the data with the assistance of a graphical browser. Real-time databases without code API integrations and SQL-driven search are also exciting benefits of using Backendless.

• Typically, it is hard for startups to hire seasoned developers. So, Backendless could be helpful because there is no need to utilize scripts for API and further integrations.

• Its multi-tiered security gives invulnerable protection to startups, especially if they are willing to run a data-centric business.

Category: Low-Code Platform

Please find below three great examples of starts providing backend services. For a complete list, please read the article Top 10 Low-Code Platforms.

Bubble.io

With 1,353,030+ bubblers, Bubble.io is more than a low-code platform. It gives full functionality to build robust web and mobile applications without using code.

Indeed, startups can easily create a website like Facebook or an application like Uber by using this platform without having the basic knowledge of scripting tools.

As new companies, startups can benefit from the free plan of Bubble to make people aware of their brand. The Free plan also comes with community support, so getting solutions from Bubble experts is convenient.

However, to get more customization, API, and core platform features, the Personal plan could be an ideal choice. Monthly charges of the Personal plan start from $25.

Features

• This low-code platform provides an extensive library of visual elements and dynamic containers. Because of its feature-rich UX, startups can quickly build and customize their web and mobile applications with Bubble.

• Bubble enables young businesses to quickly deploy, build and host applications because this platform doesn’t ask for codes. Its limitless data storage, traffic, and user capacities make it one of the most scalable no-code platforms.

• You can share this platform with around 40 teammates and easily set their login permissions according to their designations. This property makes it an ideal choice for startups who outsource services and work remotely.

• Bubble’s drag and drop characteristics permit the users to build a website or app with complete freedom.

Retool

Retool is a credible low-code tool platform that was launched in 2017. The use of Retool is suitable for companies of all sizes, but it could be a more helpful platform when startups utilize its features.

Luckily, compelling building blocks like tables, wizards, lists, maps, charts, and forms permit the new businesses to assemble a new app within 30 seconds. Indeed, Retool’s drag and drop editor also performs its duty to complete this task.

LeadGenius, Avo, Neo4j, and Doordash are rapidly growing startup companies using this low-code platform. LeadGenius has saved $1 million in terms of efficiency by using Retool tools like project manager dashboard and user profile builder.

Features

• Third-party integration is very seamless with this low-code platform. You can easily connect it with tools like Slack, Redis, Google Sheets, and databases by using appropriate APIs.

• The free plan of Retool permits the new businesses to create applications to know about their grip on app building. Howbeit, it is better to use its $10/month Team plan to build applications for users.

• Quick customization, debugging, and import of libraries are additional benefits depending on this low-code platform.

Airtable

If startups want to experience a light and user-friendly low-code platform, then the use of Airtable is the best idea.

This California-based platform connects the teams with relevant applications to improve collaboration and workflow. Around 250,000+ companies with unique business ideas are using this low-code service.

Startups can gather datasets into spreadsheet-like databases with this cloud collaboration tool. This tool lets the companies get 1.2k records and 2 GB for attachments per base under its free plan. Similarly, its Plus plan charges $12/month and provides 5k records per base and many other facilities.

Features

• Startups usually consist of new employees who are only familiar with spreadsheet-like interfaces. In this regard, Airtable aids these new companies to leave notes, comments, and further details into sheet formats. This approach helps the startups to improve teamwork and efficiency.

• It is easy to integrate Airtable with other services like Dropbox, Slack, MailChimp, Google Drive, GitHub, and much more.

• The user interface of Airtable comes in the form of tables and columns. Therefore, startups can customize and use them easily with properties like drag and drop.

NoGordio

NoGordio empowers non-programming users to create or evolve business rules when they need, drawing flowcharts to describe their rules, with no need of coding.

As each flowchart is exposed as an API, the IT effort in a project is reduced to a simple API calling, giving the inputs and dealing with the outputs. There is no need for the IT team to understand or code the rules.

As the most volatile part of projects, most change requests are demanded due to changes in rules. Being accountable for these rules, the user can make all the changes with no impact on IT schedule. And better, after the project is deployed, the rules can be changed by users themselves, with no need for new IT projects.

For IT, the main benefit is concentrating efforts in projects which add more value to the company and customers, using technology, instead of changing rules each time the market demands it (which means: always).

Features

• User-friendly interface, drag-and-drop components to create a flowchart

• Custom integrations, to access any internal or external rest APIs

• Access a database, where you can store anything you want and create exception lists, marketing campaigns, A/B tests and even your customers’ or operations’ information

• Test and simulation tools

• 1-click deploy

Category: Marketing Tools

Here are three of the best marketing tools for startups. For a complete list, please read Top 10 Marketing Tools for Startups.

MailChimp

Email marketing is an ideal tool to generate leads and successful sales. Startups can get massive ROI with limited email marketing budgets.

Typically, businesses can get $36 ROI when they invest $1 for email marketing campaigns. Thus, startups must consider using MailChimp. It is an all-in-one email automation tool to engage B2B and B2C customers.

In 2001, this marketing platform was designed to assist small businesses and business owners with marketing automation, but now it has become an essential tool for SMEs and large enterprises.

It also grants users social media ads, landing pages, innovative content, postcards, and many automation functionalities.

Features

• It provides time-saving email automation tools, pre-built templates, catchy content, and analytical reports to support the marketing campaigns of startups.

• MailChimp only takes a few minutes to build engaging postcards, social media, and Google retargeting ads to grab the attention of potential audiences towards your startup.

• The geotargeting property of MailChimp enables the startups to only focus on the customers from targeted locations, cities, or countries.

• Entrepreneurs and their marketing teams don’t need particular expertise to start and run marketing campaigns with MailChimp.

Hootsuite

If you want to emphasize social media marketing because your startup can engage more clients from social networking sites, then Hootsuite could be an optimal pick for you. Ryan Holmes launched this social media management platform in 2008.

In the beginning, it was giving integration support for renowned platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. But now, it can be connected with more than 20 social applications. Although this startup marketing tool confers a free trial of 30 days, its monthly charges start from $19.

Features

• Startups don’t have significant social media marketing teams, so it is tough for them to schedule posts and create quality content. But with the help of Hootsuite, they don’t need to waste time on these activities.

• The analytical support of Hootsuite makes the startups aware of what customers or target audiences think about their brand. This data can also help them in improving their products and services.

• It is a popular platform with solid community support. Yes, around 18 million international social media marketers are using this tool. Hence, marketing teams of new businesses can get guidance and learn about new strategies to utilize its features more efficiently.

Google Analytics

Probably, many of us are already aware of Google Analytics and use it to check the traffic of a particular website or application. Hence, this marketing tool provides numerous benefits to businesses.

First of all, this startup tool gives the marketing teams a complete overview of how different product and service pages of their website or app are performing.

Secondly, it helps to analyze the behavior of target audiences. This free tool lets startups know about user segmentation, geolocation trends, and competitors.

Features

• Google Analytics is an entirely free marketing tool for startups. Their marketing teams can handle this tool without any expertise. It takes a few seconds to link your website with their tool to know the user analytics.

• This marketing tool also tells the startups where the audience is clicking the site. If your startup is covering that location, then it is good. Otherwise, you can turn off your website for that city or country.

• Without conducting any marketing search or survey, this tool shares the data about user segmentation. Likewise, it presents the gender, age, and further users’ information.

• This marketing platform also lets the marketers know what keywords can attract more customers from search engines.

• Similarly, it can give a good idea of how social media marketing campaigns work and how much traffic your app or website generates from social networking platforms.

Sender

Startups need affordable tools that are powerful yet don’t break the bank. Sender is exactly like that. 

The marketing automation software helps you combine email and SMS campaigns to offer customers an omnichannel experience. As a result, you can create effective drip campaigns, cart recovery, welcome emails, and triggered emails to boost engagement and sales.

Features

Email and SMS marketing automation. You can combine email and SMS campaigns to engage customers on multiple platforms and boost sales rapidly. Both campaigns can be managed from the same dashboard, so you won’t need to switch between apps.

Drag-and-drop email builder. With Sender, startups can create stunning emails by picking a template from its massive library and editing it using the email editor. You can also use the HTML editor to create a template from scratch.

Segmentation and personalization. Build relevant segments and send targeted emails tailored to your subscriber’s interests.

Popup and signup forms. Create high-converting popups and forms to attract leads and nurture them to customers.

Pricing

Sender offers 4 pricing plans. The ‘Free Forever’ plan gives you 15,000 emails for up to 2,500 subscribers every month. 

Startups can also consider purchasing its ‘Standard’ and ‘Professional’ plans. The monthly costs for these plans start at $8 and $29. If you want a customized plan, you can go for the ‘Enterprise’ package with advanced features such as SSO (SAML v2) and Activity Logs for Audit.

Sales Tools

Here are three of the best sales tools for startups. For a detailed list, please read the article Top 10 Sales Tools for Startups.

Clearbit

If you are a B2B startup, you shouldn’t pass over Clearbit. It is a B2B marketing data providing platform that boosts sales.

This marketing data engine was founded in 2015, and only in a small span of time, it has 400k+ users and 1500+ business clients.

Clearbit could be easily integrated with marketing platforms, including HubSpot, Pardot, Salesforce, and Marketo.

Features

• This tool finds the potential businesses and all necessary contact details of their business representatives. After gathering this data, it gives all information to CRM to quickly generate leads and sales.

• Clearbit Prospector grants 200 million contacts of 20 million businesses to increase team productivity. With these contact details, startups can generate their leads rapidly.

• Clearbit Reveal gives real-time activity details, such as which companies visited your startup’s profile page or website.

• This startup tool also customizes the chats and responses for valued companies. These features aid this tool in providing 2x better sales conversations and retargeting.

Hunter

Finding fine and professional email addresses to generate sales has become tough nowadays.

Hunter assists the startups in dealing with this problem. Startups just need to write the target company’s name in their search box and find various results.

With a free account, users can only run 25 researches in a month. But with its Starter Plan, businesses can conduct 1000 verifications and 500 pieces of research per month. The price of the Starter plan is $49/month.

Features

• Hunter is a suitable choice for startups of all sizes. Its plans allow the new companies to extend their research easily when business grows. Its scalability properties qualify the startups to switch the program within a few clicks.

• It doesn’t only help in finding an email but also facilitates verifying an email address. You can click on the ‘Email Verification’ tab under the product section in this regard.

• To enhance the efficiency of your sales team, you can also proceed with the Bulk Tasks option to get all results in minutes.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is one of the best tool for startups if they want to rapidly get the contact details of the right companies and business personnel.

This sales tool comes with the support of LinkedIn, which is already a trusted platform with 800 million users from 200 countries of the world.

Almost every business has a presence on LinkedIn. That is why it is easy for this platform to suggest the contact details of the requested companies. Nevertheless, compared to other sales tools, it is a bit expensive.

Its Professional Plan starts from $99.99/month, but yes, you can cancel it anytime when you pay monthly.

Features

• Its products are divided into two categories. The one is Sales Navigator that is valuable for advanced research, CRM integrations, and lead suggestions. The second product is known as Sales Insights. It is beneficial to gather real-time data and track the success ratio of your revenue goals.

• This sales tool successfully conducts sales-related activities, including sales leadership, sales development, account management, and sales operations.

• Startups can smoothly customize and scale up their businesses with this tool. It permits the users to consume its products according to their requirements.

Category: SEO Tools

Here are 3 of the best SEO tools for your startup. Please read the article Top 10 SEO Tools for Startups for a complete list.

Moz

Moz is a fundamental tool for startups that helps to improve search engine rankings. This smart SEO software offers plenty of products, including Moz Pro, Moz Local, STAT, and Mozscape API. Around 500,000+ users utilize this SEO tool’s magical functionalities to improve their online rankings.

Even though Moz is a free SEO, but its Pro version gives outstanding facilities to improve business rankings. The price of the Moz Pro Standard plan is $99/month. Its Medium, Large and Premium plans monthly cost $179, $249, and $599, respectively.

Features

• The free SEO tools of Moz are convenient. You just need to register your Moz account and enjoy its free products. Users can also easily install an extension of Moz for their browsers and instantly check the spam score, domain ratings, and other credentials of websites. This browser extension is famous as ‘MozBar’.

• Its Keyword Explorer tools enable startups to discover the traffic-driving keywords for their ventures. In this regard, this SEO already owns 500 million organic keywords.

• Startups can also conduct an in-depth analysis of their websites by using the Domain Analysis function of Moz. This tool provides authentic information about domain authority and shares data about the top pages and other competitive analytics.

• Entrepreneurs can also benefit from a friendly Moz community. This community consists of Moz Q&A Forum, MozCon, and Moz Lab.

Ahrefs

Ahrefs is the prior SEO choice of businesses of all sizes. SEO experts and marketing teams are crazy to buy this tool to know how their app or website performs in search engines.

Luckily, startups can benefit from this SEO tool free of cost. Yes, Ahrefs recently launched ‘Ahrefs Webmaster Tools’ like Google Analytics.

With this function, webmasters can easily monitor the health of their website, evaluate the backend reports and examine the organic traffic. New businesses should sign up there to avail this free feature of Ahrefs.

Features

• The user-friendly dashboard of Ahrefs permits the startups to audit the SEO reports like domain authority, website health, and organic traffic. SEO teams of startups don’t need much expertise to understand Ahrefs’ dashboard functionalities.

• The Free Keyword Generator tool of Ahrefs empowers the startups to create thousands of organic keywords for different search engines within minutes. These search engine platforms could be Google, Amazon, Bing, and YouTube.

• With the help of its comparison tool, startups can also conduct a quick comparability test of their website with rivals. This comparison test also guides the startups on what pages and keywords they need to improve to get more traffic.

• New businesses would also find a variety of on-page SEO with several off-page SEO suggestions by using this startup tool.

Semrush

SEMrush is one of the top-rate visibility management tools for startups and webmasters.

This Boston-based SaaS platform was made public in 2008. To track organic traffic and other credentials of websites and businesses, it hands over 40+ Semrush tools.

The pricing of its paid plans starts from $99.95/month when you pay annually. But to gain the advantage of its free properties, users just need to register there and add their website as a project.

Features

• If you are looking for an innovative way to win SERPs, then the use of Organic Research of Semrush should be a perfect option for you. This feature presents the top 100 keyword rankings of Google and key competitors. Users can effortlessly find how they can improve SERPs and beat competitors.

• The Keyword Overview analysis of Semrush also guides the startups about keyword difficulty, CPC, competition level, content marketing, social media profiles, and much more.

• This SEO tool expedites Local SEO. In this regard, it grants listing management, on-page SEO checker, social media toolkit, and position tracking.

• To get new ideas about keywords, startups can use Semrush Keyword Research. The database of this SEO tool has more than 20 billion keywords so, it can readily provide good lists of new keywords.

Category: Integrations

Please check below some great integration tools options.

Zapier

Automation has become essential to achieve organizational growth nowadays. Zapier is an integration tool that could be very conducive to enhancing automation.

Without using any script, this tool aids businesses to robotic their continual pieces of work. It moves and processes information between two or more web applications.

This integration grants its users a Free Forever plan with plentiful advantages. Withal, the use of its Premium Plan could also be a good suggestion because it begins only from $20/month.

Features

• Startups typically hesitate to get the services of coders because of their high fees. Hence, these startup companies can go with Zapier to integrate their venture with other applications without using code. It saves time and money.

• Zapier has more than 3,000 apps that new businesses can easily integrate with their projects. They just need to select the ‘role’ from the top right tap, and they will find several options on Zapier.

• Zapier made the data transfer from one app to another very fast. Transfer By Zapier (BETA) offers bulk data transfer and management in this regard.

• Users can also choose a suitable template that suits their application.

RapidAPI

RapidAPI is another notable API integration tool for startups. It is famous among developers because it supplies more than 30k APIs.

To integrate different applications, this platform offers multiple API support. The primary API types are REST, SOAP, GraphQL, RapidQL and Kafka.

Startups can use thousands of free APIs for integration with RapidAPI under its ‘Free APIs’ plan. Users don’t need to add credit cards to avail this plan. However, the charges of its paid API plans start from $10/month.

Features

• The startups confined with coded integration can proceed with RapidAPI without any worry. This integration tool provides API Key Rotation to deal with the security concerns of businesses. It could be helpful to reset an endangered API key.

• Startups can efficiently utilize these APIs in a unified format to integrate them with several other applications.

• This integration tool is highly scalable because its API Hub enhances resources for large enterprises and teams.

Integrately

With more than 10,000 customers and 8 million automation, Integrately is one of the notable integration tools for startups.

It is known because of its 1-click automation characteristics. By the same token, Integrately could also integrate 600+ applications that are a clear edge over competitors.

Its free plan allows users to conduct 200 tasks but to increase this limit. You can consider using its Stater, Growth, Professional, and Business plans.

Features

• Integrately provides 200 free tasks.

• The 1-click integration makes this platform popular because users can only start the automation with one click.

• This tool is very compatible to integrate with top marketing, survey, social media, and CRM applications.

For a complete list, please read the article Integration Tools for Startups.

Category: Project Management

Please check below some great tools for project management. If you want a complete list, please read Top 10 Project Management Tools for Startups.

Trello

Trello is the primary choice of small teams to work productively and more organized.

Startup teams don’t require coding to use this project management tool because their cards are easy to customize without code. Around 1 million teams are using Trello to manage their projects more effectively.

Squarespace, Google, and Fender are prominent companies that are benefiting from Trello.

Features

• The Free plan of Trello is good enough for startups because they can enjoy many project management features without investing anything. Its Free program confers 10+ boards, unlimited cards, 2-factor authentication, and much more.

• Startup employees can also use this management tool on their mobile devices. This tool provides both iOS and Android mobile device management.

• You can also simply integrate this project management tool with more than 200 applications without paying anything.

• It labels every single activity. That is why it organizes all tasks carefully for small businesses.

ProofHub

ProofHub is an all-in-one collaboration tool that startups can consider utilizing.

Around 85k businesses are already using this management tool, but it doesn’t grant free plans like the other project management tools. Yes, it only has two plans, Essential and Unlimited Control, and their charges begin from $45/month.

Features

• Under its discussions section, ProofHub facilitates the teams to discuss everything in a single thread instead of long and tedious lines.

• It arranges all significant information in a table format for the ease of startup teams.

• Similarly, ProofHub empowers entrepreneurs to customize the employees’ access on this platform according to their roles.

• It automates reminders and sets calendar notes to keep the teams aware of the deadlines.

Paymo

Paymo is an advanced platform that deals with project management. Startups can administer tasks, bill the customers and build schedules using this software application.

Its free plan permits the use of Paymo for ten users that is enough for startups. With this free plan, startup companies can run limitless projects.

On the other hand, startups with rapid growth capacity can easily switch to Small Office and Business Plans of Paymo.

Features

• This free startup tool grouped them neatly to establish and coordinate with different organizational tasks. In this way, team members can perform the functions more structured manner.

• It enables the members to discuss different matters in real-time to avoid confusion and enhance productivity.

• The Kanban board of Paymo is responsible for keeping the workflows steady and clear for teams. It doesn’t only customize the tasks but also quickly shares which team member is liable for a particular task.

Category: Payments

These are three of the best payment tools for startups. For a detailed list, please read Top 10 Payment Tools For Startups.

Stripe

Stripe is a full-stack payment solution that is trusted by B2B platforms, eCommerce, retail sites, and backend vendors.

Mainly, if a startup wants to pay from a credit card, then the use of Stripe is ideal because it transfers the money in the receiver’s account from the bank and credit card without any issue.

In the same token, this payment tool also fully integrated suits to sell different products and services online. The notable giants that use Stripe are Lyft, Shopify, Instacart, and Slack.

Features

• This tool supports 135+ currencies of distinct countries so startups can easily receive payments from international clients. It also accepts major debit and credit cards, including American Express, MasterCard, Visa, and UnionPay.

• It backs the users with features like Stripe Radar, Dispute Handling, and Dynamic 3D Secure to counter disputes and frauds.

• Stripe dashboard also administers a variety of data for businesses. It could be refunds, balance sheets, customer’s payment reports, etc. Fortunately, users can equally benefit from Stripe’s web and mobile app versions. It is suitable for iOS and Android devices.

Want to know details about Stripe’s technology stack? Please read the article Stripe Tech Stack.

PayPal

PayPal is a prominent and globally acclaimed payment gateway that startups must consider using. 400+ million worldwide users trust this payment solution. Undoubtedly, startups can easily create an account on PayPal to pay or receive money online.

Hulu, Spotify, and Groupon are significant companies using this online payment platform.

Features

• PayPal takes complete responsibility for keeping your financial information secure. Startups can make purchases within the United States without paying any fees. However, some charges will be applied if currency conversion involves.

• Similarly, this payment gateway has also made the payments very quick with its ‘One Touch’ feature. Yes, if you open your account on the same device and browser, you don’t need to put all of your login details. It could be helpful for financial teams of businesses, but they should avoid putting such sensitive information on shared devices.

• This payment platform offers merchant accounts for SMBs. Startup companies can also consult with PayPal’s account specialist to get advice about suitable accounts for their business. These business accounts could be easily customized according to the checkout design of your website.

• Businesses can effortlessly connect PayPal with applications like JotForm, GoDaddy, Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix, etc.

• It doesn’t only accept ‘buy now pay later’ debit and credit cards options but also allows the clients to pay in cryptocurrencies.

Square

Square is another leading payment gateway that supports all sizes of businesses. It permits the companies to make online, in-person, remote, and manually entered payments.

Typically, this payment platform is famous among businesses because of its transparent fees policy. It charges the same amount when you pay from different cards like Visa, Discover, American Express, and MasterCard.

The standard charges of Square are applicable for businesses with less than $250,000 annual income. But in case your yearly income grows, you will have to contact the sales team to get the custom pricing.

Features

The list of features include:

• Square enables businesses to use dashboards, get reports, analytics, transfers, and customer directory free of cost.

• This payment tool could be handily integrated with third-party platforms, including WooCommerce, Weebly, Wix, and much more.

• Startups can also benefit from its payment processing APIs. New businesses can utilize these APIs for their apps or websites to conveniently trade their products and services online.

Category: Video Conferencing

Here are three of the best video conferencing tools for startups. Please read the article Best 10 Video Conferencing Tools for Startups for a complete list of communication tools. 

Zoom

Zoom, formally called Zoom Video Communications, has been serving the software world since 2011. But this video conferencing platform became eminent in post-Covid days.

Till the end of 2019, Zoom has only 10 million daily meeting participants. But in 2020, with 300 million daily meeting candidates, it got a big boost in users.

This is an ideal tool for startups to conduct video conferences with team members without paying anything. Withal, you will have to go with paid plans to include additional features like hosting 100+ participants and continuing a meeting for more than 30 hours. The monthly charges of Zoom Pro start from $14.99.

Features

• Zoom provides all accessories of real meetings to its users. Around 1000 participants can join a single meeting with HD audio and video quality. To make these meetings more engaging, it streams 49 video screens at a time where candidates can raise hands, share videos, and use filters.

• SMBs who joined Zoom noticed a visible improvement in performance and engagement. According to Zoom, 95% of users mandated an increase in trust and performance.

• Whether using a desktop, iOS, or Android device, you can connect with your potential customer or teams anytime, anywhere by using Zoom. Providing background filters and images also elaborates your situation when joining meetings from home or any crowded place.

• Startups can personalize the Zoom according to their convenience. They can just begin the meeting with an audio call and open the camera to turn it into a video conference anytime. Probably, it could be a reliable check and balance tool to keep an eye on remote or lazy workers.

Please read the article Zoom Tech Stack to know more about the technologies used to build Zoom.

Google Meets

Google Meet is another predominant video conferencing tool that was launched in 2017. With the backing of Google, it provides a secure video meeting environment for all kinds of businesses. Google is granting this premium-looking video conference tool free of cost for its users nowadays.

Users just need to click on the ‘New Meeting’ button to create a meeting instantly, schedule it in Google Calendar or go with a meeting for a later link. Participants should enter the link in the ‘Enter a code or link’ bar to join the meeting.

Features

• Google Meet authorizes 100 participants per meeting. Therefore, the startups can quickly invite all employees by sharing a simple link in a video conference.

• These video conference and file-sharing tools also permit the new businesses to work remotely without renting or buying an office to start their small venture. Although SMBs can go with in-house operations later, this approach can save lots of money initially.

• This startup tool is compatible with Android, iPhone, Laptop, iPad, and Google Next Hub Max. Users can adjust their screens and layouts seamlessly with this handy video conferencing tool.

• This tool is also ideal for getting weekly or daily performance reports from employees because it allows them to share links, messages, and files. Equivalently, Google Meet could be integrated with Microsoft Office and other Google tools.

Microsoft Teams

To conduct a video meeting for 60 minutes with 100 participants, it is entirely free to use Microsoft Teams. The free version of this collaboration platform authorizes the businesses to share the screens, schedule meetings, and customize backgrounds simply.

To integrate Office services and applications with this tool, startups should pick Microsoft 365 Business Basic plan. It only costs $5/month. Anyhow, this package only gives a limited Office apps integration.

To add office apps like Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint in your meetings, you can consider Microsoft 365 Business Standard plan. With an annual subscription, it only debits $12.50 monthly from you.

Features

• Around 250 million people from different countries are using this free meeting tool because of its user-friendly and secure interface. It protects the data of businesses and is also compliant with 42 regulations, including EU Model Clauses and SOC 2.

• Team members can also join the meetings by using their phones with audio conferencing features of Microsoft Teams. Such meetings could be conducted anywhere, and they only need limited internet connectivity to proceed.

• Businesses can tag their vendors, potential customers, or suppliers as guests and invite them for meetings with this tool. Meet hosts can monitor and control the activity of guests in such conferences.

• It gives direct access to users to utilize Office 365 applications. They could be Word, Excel, OneDrive, SharePoint, or email addresses.

Category: Schedule Management

Read on to discover three of the best schedule management tools for startups. For a complete list, please read the article The Best Schedule Management Tools.

Calendly

This is an acclaimed online scheduling application that was launched in 2010. Right now, 50,000 international businesses are depending on Calendly to schedule their appointments and further tasks professionally. It comes with an ‘Always Free’ plan that is suitable for new and small business ventures.

Startups can create limitless one-on-one events, one-off meetings and connect this schedule management tool with Office 365, iCloud, and Google calendars. $8 is its initial charge per seat and month under its Essential plan.

Features

• This platform is known because of its modern scheduling approaches. It reduces the appointment cancellation ratio because it books the meetings on good terms. Users just need a few clicks to book an appointment or schedule a meeting with this application.

• Calendly sends automated reminders and keeps the entire workflow in an arranged manner to avoid confusion.

• Businesses can also embed this schedule management tool in their websites to improve customer experience and increase conversion rates. Inline, pop-up widgets and pop-text are practical ways to embed Calendly in websites.

• Entrepreneurs can customize their appointment schedules according to their availability. This real-time tool would help the individuals only book an appointment according to their availability.

You Can Book Me

Startup companies commence their journey with a limited staff, where it is challenging to hire secretaries. To meet this requirement, young businesses can get assistance from You Can Book Me.

This platform deals with thousands of bookings daily. Around 22k customers are already utilizing this tool.

Businesses can use a 14-days free trial with this platform, but its monthly charges are $10, which is lower than the salary of any secretary.

Features

• This tool automatically identifies the time zones and schedules the meetings accordingly.

• You Can Book Me confers different types of notifications to its users. It sends appointment confirmation reminders, follow-up emails, and much more. But you can’t only customize these notifications but can also quickly turn off its SMS and email notifications.

• It doesn’t only govern the availability of a single staff member but also acutely ensures all team members’ presence for a meeting. Team members can also accept or reject these meeting invitations.

• Businesses can integrate this scheduling tool with video conferencing applications like Google Meet and Zoom. Its connection with Zapier enables this business tool to incorporate with 1500+ apps.

Setmore

If you are looking for entirely free scheduling software for up to 4 users, unlimited appointments, and payments with Square, you should choose Setmore.

This Portland-based software company started its journey in 2011, and now, it is facilitating automotive, legal, medical, spa, sales, tour booking, and many other industries.

It offers three plans. The first one is entirely free to use. The second one is Premium, and the third plan is known as Pro. The monthly fees of these Premium and Pro plans are $9 and $5, respectively.

Features

• Setmore delivers a free online booking page to users that they can customize according to their exigencies. Startups can even schedule appointments with this software without having their own website. This tool also provides customers with an opportunity to self-book their appointments.

• The best thing about Setmore is its invoice generation and online payment functionality. You can securely create invoices and get payments through Square. However, the paid plans of Setmore permit the businesses to receive payments through PayPal and Stripe as well.

• Though social media, CMS, and analytics integrations are free with Setmore, SMBs can take advantage of Google and Office 365 2-way sync with its Premium cover.

Category: CRM

Here are three of the best CRM tools for startups. For a comprehensive list, please read Top 10 CRM Tools for Startups.

Pipedrive

Pipedrive is a cloud-based customer relationship management tool that was launched in 2010.

This free startup tool doesn’t demand credit cards. That is why more than 95,000 businesses are using this CRM tool globally. On the other hand, startup companies can also consider using their paid plans because of their attractive features.

In this regard, Pipedrive proposes four plans. The basic paid plan is famous as Essential, and its monthly fees are $12.50. The other programs are called Advanced, Professional, and Enterprise.

Features

• This CRM tool is perfect for turning leads into sales and increasing revenues. Sales teams can seamlessly custom and manage deals by using drag and drop properties of Pipedrive. Businesses can filter and label the more potential deals in their Leads Inbox.

• Pipedrive also facilitates the companies with real-time chat that work 24/7. To improve the response time of your conversations, you can use chatbots, but it is good to prolong these discussions through sales staff.

• Startups should integrate this application with other widespread automation and marketing tools to enhance sales. These tools could be Zapier, HubSpot, and Apiway.

• Companies can monitor how their business data is handled through the security dashboard of Pipedrive. Entrepreneurs or admins can also control the user permission with this dashboard to improve data security.

Zoho CRM

The use of Zoho CRM is vital for businesses to build the most satisfying customer relationships. Startups can go with a free edition of Zoho CRM, where they can use features like documents, files, and leads. More than 250,000 enterprises based in 180 countries of the world have shown their association with Zoho CRM.

This tool speeds up the sales, business processes and provides data security. Better customer relationships and mobile accessibilities are also some catchy properties of this CRM software.

Features

• Zoho CRM enables businesses to connect with their potential clients through social media channels, email, chat, or phone.

• Its quick automation saves time and makes you aware of the real-time activities and recommended workflows.

• This CRM tool’s insight analytics and report allow businesses to make intelligent and timely decisions. In this regard, it examines key performance indicators and provides future predictions based on current data.

Insightly

Insightly is also a reliable SaaS-centric CRM tool that startups can employ for their projects.

Young companies can use this platform free for only two users. Withal, if users of this CRM software increase, you will have to go with a paid plan. It takes $29 per user and month when companies are billed annually.

Features

• This tool believes in generating the most relevant leads to turn them into sales. It depends on real-time lead routing and uses email, phone, meetings, and other engaging approaches to accomplish lead generation tasks successfully.

• To improve customer relationships, it sends appealing emails to customers and keeps them safe and trackable.

• CRM teams can use this platform anywhere anytime because of its top-rated iOS and Android applications.

• To keep data secure and safe, it complies with SOC 2 Type II, EU/US Privacy Shield, and authentication protocols.

Category: Messaging

Please check below three of the best messaging tools for startups. For a detailed list, please read the article The Best Messaging Tools for Startups.

Slack

Slack is one of the leading free messaging apps that tech startups love to use. Businesses and their teams easily open accounts on Slack and connect with other corporations and personnel to communicate effectively.

The free version of Slack capacitates the companies to approach 10k most recent chats and 1:1 video and voice calls. Users can also integrate Slack with ten applications. Slack’s paid plans cost the companies $6.67 and $12.50 per month.

Features

• Slack is a very flexible messaging application that delivers information without making an issue of time zone, location, and other operations.

• It brings the right people together through spaces that are known as channels. Members can chat with individuals within and out of the company without any problem. Luckily, admins can customize the access of channels and make them public or private anytime.

• Startups can integrate third-party apps with this messaging tool and share the files of 5GB with teammates for free. Interestingly, Slack also enables the teams to use animated tools like emojis to make meaningful messages.

• Businesses can also seamlessly download the resources and files directly from Slack into their devices.

Skype

Skype is one of the most acceptable startup tools because of its instant messaging properties. It is not only a free video meeting app, but companies can also use it to send and receive messages, documents, and attachments spontaneously.

Startups surely benefit from this app to talk with teams, potential customers and investors.

Features

• This instant messaging app authorizes the entrepreneurs to react to any text and respond to particular members with @mentions.

• Skype is applicable for all devices, including Alexa, Xbox, tablet, smartphone, and desktop. Its interface is equally compatible with all of these devices.

• Users can’t only send messages in Skype’s window, but it also enables the account holders to send SMS and phone calls on any mobile number anywhere in the world. Probably, users will have to subscribe to Skype Credit to avail this feature.

• Skype also enhances startups’ productivity because teammates can instantly share links, documents, files, and all necessary details on Skype within a few clicks. Mainly, if your team is working remotely, it is the most admirable messaging app for you.

WhatsApp

WhatsApp is a popular mobile messenger application that startups shouldn’t ignore to use. A recent survey of Statista claims that with 2000 million monthly active users, WhatsApp is the utmost beloved messaging app of the year.

Although many of you are only familiar with its mobile version, businesses prefer to use its web version or desktop app that is also very handy and user-friendly. Indeed, it is a magical tool for team messaging and dealing with clients.

Features

• WhatsApp empowers businesses to open business accounts on this messaging app to contact and chat with targeted customers. By pressing ‘/,’ startups can answer customers’ commonly asked questions according to their businesses.

• Young companies can also send automated greetings and other messages to customers who chat with businesses for the first time. It improves the response time of startups as well.

• Businesses can display their catalogs on WhatsApp to engage more potential audiences. Similarly, startup teams can also label the contacts like ‘new client,’ ‘old customer’ etc.

• Businesses can display their catalogs on WhatsApp to engage more potential audiences. Similarly, startup teams can also label the contacts like ‘new client,’ ‘old customer,’ etc.

Category: Graphic Design

Here are three of the best graphic design tools for startups. For a detailed list, please read the article Top 10 Graphic Design Tools for Startups.

Canva

The average annual salary of a graphic designer is around 46K as per PayScale. Undoubtedly, startups can’t afford such high wages in the beginning.

That is why they prefer to take advantage of free graphic design tools, and Canva is one of them. Startups just need to open an account on Canva and start using its graphic designing functions.

Features

• The free plan of Canva provides 250,000 free templates to users to build and customize business logos, cards, flyers, and infographics.

• Companies can easily create office presentations, official letters, and social media posts with 100+ design categories under the free plan of Canva. In this regard, you can also take advantage of its free cloud storage that is about 5 GB.

• Startups can also benefit from thousands of royalty-free images available on Canva.

• You can also invite your teammates to design different projects with Canva and share real-time comments.

Visme

Visme is a notable name in the graphic design world. It is not only suitable for startups, but it also gives great benefits to growing or large enterprises.

With limited templates, 100 MB storage, and public access, startups can use this graphic design tool under the free plan without paying anything.

To get full access to templates and 24/7 chat and email support, you can also go with the Personal Plan of Visme. It only costs $15/month.

Features

• Teams can collaborate to create charts, infographics, logos, and social media postcards with Visme.

• Admin is empowered to allot particular positions and customize fonts, colors, and templates for different team members.

• To deal with the security concerns of companies, it also provides 99.98% uptime, data encryption, and two-factor authentication.

DesignWizard

DesignWizard is a considerable tool for startups to generate high-quality visual content within minutes.

This platform grants users 15K templates and more than 1 million images to build catchy social media posts, banners, logos, cards, and much more.

Though startups can commence their graphic design journey for free with DesgnWizard, all of its features are not free. It acts upon a pay-as-go policy for its free plan.

Features

• The best thing about DesignWizard is its image resizing property that is not available for free in advanced tools like Canva. You can simply resize your content and templates with this tool.

• It owns a beautiful image stock with the name of PikWizard. You can click on the Free Images tab on its header.

• Similarly, free font library, free HubSpot & Buffer integration, and custom color palette are also exciting features of using this startup tool.

DocHipo

If you are running a business, you need to design numerous documents daily to market your business and build your brand. DocHipo makes this job easier and faster with thousands of professionally designed templates and an intuitive editor for you to customize them.

The free edition provides you access to all the free templates and design assets. You can design up to five documents in the free plan.

Upgrading to the Pro plan unlocks the ability to create unlimited documents, and access to all premium templates and design assets only at $10/month.

Features

• DocHipo does not leave any watermark on the downloaded designs, even if you are on the free plan The free plan allows you to resize a document into various other document dimensions
• You can save a design directly to Mailchimp, even in the free plan
• A DocHipo user can access multiple companies under one log-in

Category: Social Media Management

Here are some of the best tools for social media management. For a more comprehensive list, please read the article Top 10 Social Media Management Tools.

Hootsuite

This is a Canada-based social media management tool that has been aiding businesses since 2008.

Hootsuite joined the marketing industry intending to save the companies’ time on social media posting and management.

Using suitable social media marketing approaches also rapidly grows the likes or followers.

Features

• This tool helps businesses to schedule social media posts. Indeed, stead of creating timely new posts, you can schedule them for later.

• Users can monitor the social media responses of their target audience and improve them accordingly. Its dashboard also provides all analytics like how many times you are being mentioned on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking apps.

• Team collaboration tools also remove the probability of un-replied social media messages.

Buffer

Buffer is a social media scheduling tool that excellently works for Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

With its Free plan, startups can get three channels and schedule around ten posts per channel. Withal, this free account could only be used by an individual.

To schedule unlimited social media posts, you should elect the Essential plan. It costs $5 per channel.

Features

• Users can draft, schedule, and publish a social media post using any device anywhere anytime using this tool.

• It confers deep analytics to track the target audience’s behavior for published posts. Users can still customize this report by using filters.

• It keeps niche-oriented hashtags saved and automatically uses them for a new post.

SocialPilot

SocialPilot is one of the trusted and inexpensive social media marketing tools for startups.

Compared to top social media marketing platforms, it facilitates businesses with competitive rates. It only costs users $50/month to deal with 25 profiles.

Features

• SocialPilot automates the social media marketing strategy, provides quality content, suggests mentions and tags.

• It helps businesses know about their biggest fans, audience insights, and the right time to make a post to engage more clients. These analytical tools are Facebook Analytics, Instagram Analytics, LinkedIn Analytics, etc.

• It gathers complete social media informatFion in a single place. So, users can conveniently explore comments, posts, likes, and followers.

• Its browser extension enables businesses to schedule any news article, image, or content on social media platforms while online surfing.

Category: Business Planning

Following are three of the best business planning tools for startups. For a more detailed list, please refer to the article Top 10 Business Planning Tools.

Enloop

Business planning is a crucial early stage to building a startup. Business plans are not only essential to create a step-by-step operational strategy for your company, but it is also significant to get a loan or approve funds from investors.

Users can build a business plan online by using this platform. It offers seven days free trial for three business plans with 16 financial ratio analytical comparisons. The price of its Detailed plan starts from $19.55 per month.

Features

• This tool only asks about the necessary details from the startups and their currency to set up a financial report.

• If you are not interested in writing the content of a business plan, then you should leave it to Enloop. Yes, it generates text for business plans.

• Enloop doesn’t only deliver a business plan and financial report but also providers scores. Businesses can generate business plans again and again to improve scores and financial forecasts.

LivePlan

With 500+ sample programs, LivePlan supports startups and SMEs to create a business plan online.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t provide a free package in this regard. Users can choose from only two plans Standard and Premium. If you bill annually, you will have to pay $15 monthly.

Features

• LivePlan facilitates the users with a drag and drop financial forecast. Businesses don’t need to break complicated formulas in excel to update the sheet.

• To deal with its on-page plan, users just need to fill up LivePlan Pitch, and it is compatible with all kinds of businesses.

• The financial dashboard gives deep insights and analytical reports of your businesses. Startups can easily connect this planning tool with accounting software like Xero and QuickBooks.

IdeaBuddy

IdeaBuddy is one of the innovative business planning tools that comes with a free trial of 15 days. It grants a single-page business idea to assist startups with all necessary financial forecasts and automation.

Young companies should select their Dreamer plan to implement a single business idea. In this regard, this plan charges you $7/month.

Features

• Its step-by-step guide about making business plans is beneficial for new companies to start their first project with IdeaBuddy.

• This startup tool empowers the companies with 161+ engaging and customizable business plan templates.

• Startups can easily monitor the net profits, costs, losses, and revenues through their financial management tools.

Category: Resource Planning

Please find below three great examples of resource planning tools. For a complete list, please read the article Resource Planning Tools for Startups.

Ganttic

With 20,000+ smart users, Ganttic is an efficient resource planning software. Startups can use its free version up to 10 resources. However, if your project has about 20 resources, you will have to pay $20 monthly.

Features

• Whether it is about rooms, workforce, or tools, a manager can easily use this tool to make his resource management strategy.

• Startups can also optimize their plans with the Strategic Project Portfolio Management approach.

• This PPM tool enables automation to enhance resource planning and management efficiency.

• Capacity planning and equipment management are also good features of this software.

Monday.com

Monday.com is a cloud-based platform that was launched in 2012. This user-friendly tool is not only known for resource planning, but startups can also take advantage of its marketing, HR, and task management services.

Features

• It is a popular resource planning tool that is trusted by 125k international businesses. Hulu, Adobe, NBC, and Discovery are satisfied customers of this platform. So, startups can depend on it without any worry.

• The Individual plan of Monday.com is entirely free. It provides 200+ templates, limitless docs, and boards to startups.

• Startups can connect this resource planning tool with apps like Excel, Slack, Microsoft teams, etc.

TeamGantt

New businesses should use TeamGantt to resource, schedule, and administer their startup ventures for free forever.

Without submitting a credit card, you can register on this platform and use its Free plan for the 1 Gantt chart project and three users.

Features

• Companies can track all of their projects on a single screen. These projects could be adjusted easily by using drag and drop functions.

• Admins can divide the tasks into teams and monitor their performances to manage resources without violating the budgeting terms.

• Users can also conduct a seamless comparison between planned and actual timelines.

Analytics Tools

Please find below three of the best analytic tools for startups. For a detailed list, please read the article Top 10 Startup Analytic Tools.

Mixpanel

To monitor analytics and traffic reports, the use of Mixpanel is a wise decision by startups.

This simple analytics tool was launched in 2008. Now, leading tech giants Uber, Yelp, and Docusign are top paying clients of Mixpanel.

Features

• With the help of meaningful interactive reports, businesses can evaluate the performance of every single product or service. Funnel reports also aid the startups in knowing about crucial retention drivers and ways to increase conversions.

• This is the best startup tool for companies that just want to track monthly 100k users. Yes, its free version covers this number.

• It also enables the companies to integrate with Redshift, Snowflake, and BigQuery to deal with data without depending on SQL.

Amplitude

Amplitude is a California-based company that emphasizes providing complete digital analytics.

Its Starter package comprises 10 million actions per month. On the contrary, to available Growth and Enterprise plans, you can contact their sales team.

Features

• It gives a 360 view of customers’ activity and how they behave towards your products and services. This tool will also share their locations, devices, and browsers usages.

• With Amplitude Recommend, businesses can engage potential users with customized approaches.

• This analytical tool is beneficial for B2B, eCommerce, B2C, media, and FinTech ventures.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a fitting solution for startups that want to experience unlimited analytical features for free.

Companies can’t only benefit from this app through web browsers, but its mobile application version is also satisfying.

Features

• GA authorizes businesses of all sizes to track online traffic and where this traffic is coming from. The common traffic sources that GA covers are organic, social, direct, paid search, display, and referrals.

• This platform also enables businesses to understand the customers’ behaviors. Bounce rates, average session duration, site searches, and unique page views are the common factors to learn end users’ attitudes.

• After connecting with Google Webmaster tools, it teaches web admins to improve a site’s functionalities, speed, and display.

Category: Notifications

Below are three of the best notification tools for startups. For a more detailed list, please read the article Top 10 Notification Tools for Startups.

OneSignal

OneSignal is a free startup tool that confers powerful web and mobile push notifications.

The free version of OneSignal restricts the web push notifications up to 10K subscribers. To probe more additional features, businesses can consider a Growth plan. Its charges start from $9/month.

Features

• To meet the demand of users, OneSignal delivers four different kinds of mobile push notifications. They could be conversion drivers, user messages, transactional notifications, and promos.

• To re-engage and retain the potential audiences, this tool practices the web push like new blog posts, mentions, announcements and friendly cart reminders.

• It also sends push notifications to assist the lead generation process while email marketing.

Twilio

Startups should use Twilio to engage the customers intelligently. It supports email notifications and is famous for sending SMS, phone, and video calls.

The pricing policy of this cloud communication platform is very flexible, and users need to pay for resources that they use.

Features

• It notifies every single customer like a VIP that improves the brand reputation.

• The 1:1 messaging of Twilio is fit for all types and sizes of messages.

• Programmable messaging APIs enable startups to send web and mobile push to recipients.

Pusher

Pusher presents two kinds of packages to handle push and notifications. The first one is ‘Channels’ that provides a scalable admin dashboard with other features. The Sandbox plan of Channels is entirely free with a 200k daily messages limit.

On the other hand, its ‘Beams’ package deals with programmatic push notifications. Users can avail of standard level support and 1000 subscribers with its free version.

Features

• Pusher is a highly scalable notification tool where startups can minimize and extend message limits within a few clicks.

• It provides complete security for all kinds of social and transactional activities.

• Quick SDK integrations, cross-platform compatibility, and particular user notifications are also benefits of using this platform.

Category: BI

Here are three of the best BI tools for startups. For a more detailed list, please read Top 10 BI Tools for Startups.

Tableau

Tableau is one of the most used tools for startups to meet their business intelligence needs.

More than 42,000 customers believe in Tableau to make data-driven decisions. New companies with limited budgets can download their desktop version and go with its free 14-days trial.

Features

• Tableau Public permits the novices to get answers to their data and BI-related questions from experts. They can simply join the relevant groups to ask such questions.

• Application development teams of startups can integrate this BI tool with cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, and GCP to improve analytics and make wise decisions.

• It focuses on implementing proficient decision-making approaches and teaches the businesses to make a stable environment for modified needs.

Looker

This business intelligence software joined the BI world in 2011. Its real-time, advanced, and Big Data analytics aid the startups to decide skillfully.

However, compared to other BI tools, this software is not free. Entrepreneurs will have to request a quote to know the pricing.

Features

• Looker facilitates the businesses with a 360° view of clients’ behavior, choices, and further activities.

• Companies can smoothly make a LookML model after connecting with SQL databases. Then, they can customize this dashboard according to their data needs to make intelligent decisions.

• Industry-standard encryption and secure data policy also comply with ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA, and many other compliances.

Qlik

Startups always want to reduce the gap between the data and decision, and the use of Qlik is the right choice in this regard.

It is a top-notch data integration and BI software that automates, delivers, and transforms data to make decisions from analytical reports.

Features

• It allows free trials for Qlik Sense® Business and Qlik Replicate™ to its worldwide users to guide how these BI tools work.

• This active intelligence platform also enables businesses to make rapid resolutions to live with market changes.

Category: Accounting

Please find below three great examples of startups providing RH solutions. For a complete list, please read the article RH solutions for startups.

FreshBooks

Hiring full-time accounting staff is always difficult for startups. In such conditions, they can rely on accounting software like FreshBooks.

It is a SaaS platform that helps in the accounting operations of self-employed individuals and SMBs. Moreover, the most popular plan, ‘Plus’ of FreshBooks, only takes $7.50 every month from startups.

Features

• Businesses can generate unlimited invoices for clients. The number of clients depends on their selected package.

• It creates speedy invoices and sends automated notifications to clients. Customers can use all cards, including American Express, Visa, Discover, MasterCard, and even PayPal, to make these payments.

• Understandable reports, double-entry accounting, and mobile applications are also some advantages of this accounting tool.

QuickBooks

QuickBooks is another simple accounting tool that 3.4 million SMBs have trusted.

Building custom invoices, tracking VAT, and getting insights using this accounting software is convenient. With a free trial of 30-days, startups can pick its Simple Start plan that costs €15/month.

Features

• It connects the accounts with Intuit servers to secure the user’s data. But yes, access could be shared with accounting staff.

• This software also permits the businesses or their staff to open multiple windows at a time.

• Built-in business reports, easy app synchronization, and FIFO inventory tracking are also appealing properties of QuickBooks.

Xero

With 3 million subscribers, Xero is another beautiful accounting software that startups should use. Its 24/7 support and secure transactions and trackings differentiate it from the other ordinary accounting tools.

Features

• Xero is a self-employed accounting tool. Under its Starter Plan, businesses can send 20+ invoices, accommodate bank transactions and enter five bills. Luckily, the monthly fee of its Starter plan is only $22.

• Its Analytics Plus feature enables businesses to monitor their financial health deeply with detailed reports.

• Other considerable benefits of Xero are sales tax calculation, currency conversions, and bank connections.

Fyle

Fyle is an expense management software that enables finance teams and employees to track and manage expenses seamlessly. From collecting receipts to credit card reconciliations to expense report approvals and reimbursements, Fyle automates the entire process end-to-end.

It is also the first expense management tool to introduce real-time credit card reconciliation through its direct integrations with card networks like Visa and Mastercard. This means you can now use the powerful suite of features offered by an expense software without changing your cards.

Features:

• Real-time expense management on Visa, Mastercard, and American Express business credit cards.

• Integrations with robust accounting software like NetSuite, Xero, QBO, and Sage Intacct.

• Track and submit expenses to Fyle from Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Microsoft Teams, SMS, and more.

• Complete compliance and control with digital audit trails and real-time policy enforcement.

Category: HR

Please find below three great examples of startups providing HR solutions. For a complete list, please read the article RH Tools for Startups.

Gusto

Startups don’t like to go with typical human resource management techniques.

In this regard, the use of advanced HR tools is ideal, and probably Gusto is the right software for it. This cloud-based online tool was founded in 2011, and its initial price is $45/month.

Gusto has recently partnered with Invoice2go, an all-in-one tool that helps small businesses, freelancers, and more

Features

• All in one HR operating system of Gusto automatically run payrolls and files taxes. You will see Run Payroll, Pay Contractors, Time Tracking, Benefits, and Stay Compliant on the left bar of its dashboard.

• Gusto authorizes businesses to pay contractors in 80 countries of the world.

• The wallet app of Gusto makes the employees aware of the paychecks, emergency cash, available funds, and other compensations.

Zenefits

Zenefits is a human resource management company that is based in San Francisco. It grants numerous online tools to produce payrolls and benefits. Startups should get a free demo before using this software.

Features

• It reduces the HR workload by automatically dealing with operations like payout projections, salary changes, taxes, and files.

• This all-in-one solution boosts the speed of HR tasks and decreases the cost of SMBs up to 60%.

ADP

If you are not happy with the interface of your existing HR software, then you should choose ADP.

This platform offers one of the most simplified solutions with an exciting dashboard. In addition, it is easy to trust this HR tool because 900,000 customers are already using it.

Features

• Startups usually own small teams, so they should elect the Small Business plan of ADP. This plan can get payroll, attendance, HR insurance, and PEO features for 1 to 49 employees.

• This HR platform also assists the new companies in hiring, recruiting, and onboarding talented staff.

FastTalent 

is a recruitment software platform allowing employers to advertise job openings to millions of job seekers across the United States through Lensa, a search engine.

The product enables companies to purchase single ad postings, making it a cost-effective solution for businesses of all sizes. With FastTalent, employers can quickly and easily find the best candidates for their open roles, streamlining the recruitment process and reducing time-to-hire.

This recruitment software includes features such as applicant tracking and job posting analytics, allowing employers to efficiently evaluate candidate applications and track the performance of their job ads. Recruiters can also purchase performance-based advertising and set their own bids at the job level.

In addition to individual job postings, employers and staffing firms can also advertise all their jobs on Lensa at a low price by quote. FastTalent generates reports to track the application process and identify suitable candidates, enabling companies to make data-driven hiring decisions. 

Category: Development Frameworks

Here is a complete list of Startup Development Frameworks. The three more prominent ones are:

React Native

React Native is one of the most acceptable development frameworks for startups.

It is an open-source tool that top startups have tested. The major companies that are using this framework are Uber Eats, Facebook, and Salesforce.

Features

• React Native is a free development framework that is good for cross-platform applications.

• It is quick to scale your projects with React Native because of its extensive libraries and support system.

• To grab the attention of investors, startups can also swiftly build minimum viable products with React Native.

Flutter

Flutter is a primary choice of developers to make iOS, Android, Linux, and Mac applications.

It allows the coders to build apps through a single codebase. Alibaba, Delivery Hero, and Toyota are notable enterprises using Flutter for different development operations.

Features

• It is superfast to build applications with Flutter. To save time, it allows developers to use the same script repeatedly and authorizes the developers to create apps through a single code base.

• Similarly, it is popular among the developer community as a famous framework. You can conveniently hire a Flutter developer for your project.

• This development framework also benefits the wide availability of plugins, low maintenance costs, and easy testing approaches.

Ruby on Rails

Business experts also suggest startups use Ruby on Rail as a framework to launch their first application successfully.

Because of its magical features, Twitter, Shopify, and GitHub have already utilized this framework for different tasks.

Features

• RoR emphasizes how to code efficiently. In this regard, it awards prebuilt plugins, modules, and many other tools to users.

• It doesn’t compromise app security and vigorously fights against SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and other cyber threats.

Conclusion

It is critical for startups to trust free startup tools. Indeed, it is one of the decisive times for their ventures. That is why they want to go with suitable options.

Therefore, this article shares one of the best free tools for startups with all of their features and plans. You can visit the right category and go with the most suitable startup tool as a startup.

For sure, you wouldn’t find such an itemized guide about startup tools on the internet!