There’s never been a better time to be an entrepreneur. New resources appear every day to assist you with marketing, team collaboration, project management, and more. Websites can be designed and created within days, allowing you to start marketing and selling products as soon as possible. 

If you’re ready to start your own business, now’s the time. We’ve compiled a list of the best small business tools that you can utilize to help your business grow and succeed in today’s market. We’ve chosen the following tools because they’re incredible, but also because they’re worthwhile for small businesses to use while capable of scaling up as your business grows. 

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Best Communication Tools

Communication is key, whether that’s between team members or between clients and representatives. The following tools help keep communication organized and effective for your business.

1. Loom

For product demos, training modules, project updates, and more, Loom is an invaluable tool for busy teams. With Loom, you can record your camera and screen to create video messages for a wide variety of purposes. Loom helps busy teams reclaim time that would otherwise be lost during daily stand-ups, allows your sales team to create personalized video demos for clients, and makes onboarding new team members a breeze. 

Pricing: 

• Free
• Business ($12.50 per seat/month)
• Enterprise (contact sales)

2. Slack

Very few apps tackle collaboration, communication, and productivity better than Slack. With Slack, your team can stay in touch and collaborate on projects, share files, have video meetings, and more. Slack is extremely secure with enterprise-grade data protection, which means both your company and client data are safe. With both desktop and mobile versions available, Slack is easily accessible in-office and on the go.

Pricing:

• Free (limited features)
• Pro ($7.25 per user/month)
• Business+ ($12.50 per user/month)
• Enterprise (contact sales)

3. Google Workspace

Few apps are as reliable and handy as Google Workspace (formerly G Suite). Complete with email, digital calendars, cloud storage, video conferencing, and messaging, Google Workspace has everything you need whether you’re a solo business or a team. If you’re looking for an all-in-one option for your business, Google Workspace is one of the best tools available. 

Pricing:

Some website hosts offer a bundled plan with Google Workspace, rolling the cost of Google Workspace into the cost of your domain.

• Business Starter ($6 per user/month)
• Business Standard ($12 per user/month)
• Business Plus ($18 per user/month)
• Enterprise (contact sales)

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Best Marketing Tools

The right marketing strategy can really help your business take off, but you need great marketing tools to make that happen. Here are some of our favorite digital marketing tools for small businesses.

4. Google Analytics + Google Search Console

These Google tools are listed together because they work better together. Google Analytics helps you understand how users find and interact with your website, allowing you to identify opportunity areas that you can fix and leverage for even better results. Google Search Console, as the name suggests, gives insights into your website’s search performance and identifies technical errors with your website. If you want to really lean into SEO and content marketing for your business, these tools are must-haves.

Pricing:

• Free

5. MailChimp

Email marketing is one of the best marketing strategies for businesses of all sizes, with an amazingly high return on investment. MailChimp makes email marketing easy with pre-made email templates, campaign management tools, A/B testing, reporting, analytics, and more. If you’re looking for a way to drive sales and connect with your customers, email marketing with MailChimp is the way to go.

Pricing:

• Free
• Essentials ($13 per month)
• Standard (free trial, then $20/month)
• Premium ($350 per month)

6. Grappos Product Locator

When it comes to product locators, Grappos is the best in the market. This app integrates with all major website platforms, including Shopify, Squarespace, Webflow, Wix, WordPress, and more. The Grapposs product locator is easy to implement and maintain, unlike other store locators, because customization, data management, and updates are all taken care of by the Grappos team. With Grappos, all you need to do is enjoy the benefits of having such a robust store locator at your fingertips. 

Pricing:

• Free trial for 30 days →
• Get a quote →

7. Canva

No graphic design team? No problem. Canva is a free design tool with thousands of free templates for a wide variety of uses, from social media posts to logo design, video presentations, posters, and so much more. With Canva, you can make beautiful, professional graphics that help generate leads, convert customers, and drive traffic to your website.

Pricing:

• Free
• Pro ($14.99/month)
• Teams (variable, starting at $29.99 per user/month up to 5 users)

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Best Customer Relationship Management Tools

Customer relationship management (CRM) tools help you track and convert leads, stay connected with customers, and provide better service to your customers. E-commerce and service-based businesses benefit the most from CRMs.

8. Hubspot

Hubspot has arguably one of the best CRMs available, and it’s totally free. The Hubspot CRM gives you a holistic view of your marketing, sales, service, and operations so you can provide effective support to your customers. There are also tons of integrations you can use with this CRM so you can keep track of your business in one convenient place.

• Free
• Starter ($45 per month)
• Professional ($450 per month)
• Enterprise ($1200 per month)

9. HelpScout

HelpScout is all about service and support. With this tool, you get a shared inbox, a customizable knowledge base, and live chat. HelpScout allows you to build a collection of articles that answer your customers’ FAQs and lets you share them easily via chat or email–no more hunting down information or paraphrasing.

Pricing:

• Standard ($20 per user/month)
• Plus ($40 per user/month)
• Pro ($65 per user/month)

10. Pipedrive

Pipedrive is one of the most customizable CRMs right out of the box, though it already has a beautiful and easy-to-use user interface. Pipedrive uses Kanban-style visual pipelines to illustrate workflows and processes, so your team’s productivity can soar. This CRM can help you close more deals faster and easily scale up as your business grows.

Pricing:

• Essential ($21.90 per user/month)
• Advanced ($37.90 per user/month)
• Professional ($59.90 per user/month)
• Power ($74.90 per user/month)
• Enterprise ($119 per user/month)

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Best Accounting Tools

You need to have a strong handle on your finances, or else you’ll watch your profits circle the drain. These tools help you manage your cash flow so you can keep your business profitable.

11. Freshbooks

Small businesses and freelancers benefit the most from this accounting tool. Freshbooks is very simple and easy to use, organizing clients and invoices neatly so you can manage your finances. Track your time, manage expenses, and monitor cash flow with this all-in-one accounting tool.

Pricing:

• Lite ($15 per month)
• Plus ($30 per month)
• Premium ($55 per month)
• Select (contact sales)

12. Quickbooks

Quickbooks has been around for decades and is still one of the best accounting softwares available. Powered by Intuit, Quickbooks can do pretty much everything you need, from invoicing to payroll, receipt capture, business expenses, and more. This is the perfect accounting tool for a small business to grow into.

Pricing:

• Simple Start ($30 per month)
• Essentials ($55 per month)
• Plus ($85 per month)
• Advanced ($200 per month)

13. Wave

Create beautiful invoices, accept online payments, and stay on top of your accounting with Wave. This accounting software is perfect for freelancers and solopreneurs who send invoices with regularity, as well as service-based small businesses. Wave helps you send professional invoices and keep track of your business expenses. Wave also offers payroll services at an extra cost, perfect for when your business takes off.

Pricing:

• Free (Invoicing & Accounting)

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Best Productivity Tools

Productivity tools empower small businesses by optimizing workflows, enhancing collaboration, and enabling more efficient use of resources. They contribute to increased productivity, improved decision-making, and overall business success–all of which are vital to the success of a small business.

14. Asana

Asana helps teams track, manage, and organize projects and tasks. This tool helps your team create workflows that improve productivity and efficiency, allowing your business to thrive. Asana also helps teams collaborate with one another and stay informed about project progress. Asana is the best productivity tool for a unified team.

Pricing:

• Basic (Free)
• Premium ($10.99 per user/month)
• Business ($24.99 per user/month)

15. Trello

Trello is another project management tool that leans more heavily into visualization. Including templates to help you get started, Trello features simple card-based workflows that keep your teams organized and stakeholders informed about project progress. Flexible and scalable, Trello is perfect for large, collaborative teams or individual users.

Pricing:

• Free (individuals)
• Standard ($5 per user/month)
• Premium ($10 per user/month)
• Enterprise ($17.50 per user/month)

16. Monday.com

monday.com is a comprehensive work management solution that makes teams more efficient, fosters smooth collaboration, and provides oversight for intricate projects. Originally conceived as a collaborative workspace, monday.com has since evolved into a multifaceted instrument for overseeing projects, cultivating customer relationships, managing human resources, facilitating software development, and various other business functions. 

Pricing:

• Free (up to 2 people)
• Basic ($8 per user/month)
• Standard ($10 per user/month)
• Pro ($16 per user/month)
• Enterprise (contact sales)

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Small Business, Big Impact

What are you waiting for? The market is primed for your great business, and there are so many tools at your disposal. Need help getting your product out there? Add the Grappos product locator to your website today and help your customers find your products near them.

Get a Grappos Product Locator demo today →

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