109 tools reviewed for small business owners

Customer Service
Modern helpdesk software for growing teams
Freshdesk offers a free plan with ticketing, email support, and basic automation, making it accessible for small businesses. Its AI features (Freddy AI) help suggest responses and auto-categorise tickets. Used by 60,000+ businesses globally.

Customer Service
Chat marketing automation for Messenger & Instagram
ManyChat automates conversations on Facebook Messenger, Instagram DM, WhatsApp, and SMS. It's widely used for e-commerce support and marketing automation combined. Free plan supports up to 1,000 contacts.

AI Agents
Build AI employees that run your workflows 24/7 โ no code required

Design & Creative
Online video editing and creation
Veed.io makes video editing accessible to non-technical users with automatic subtitles, AI avatars, screen recording, and social media export presets. Great for SMBs creating marketing videos without a video editor.

HR & Hiring
Skills-based hiring to find the right people
Toggl Hire uses skills tests and video questions to help SMBs screen candidates before reviewing CVs, reducing bias and saving interview time. The free plan allows 3 active jobs. Strong for roles where skills matter most.

Video & Media
Personalised video for sales and marketing
Vidyard enables sales teams to record personalised videos for prospects and track when they watch them. AI script writing and video messaging integrate with HubSpot, Salesforce, and Gmail. Free plan available.

SEO
Technical SEO crawler for site audits
Screaming Frog's SEO Spider crawls websites to identify technical SEO issues like broken links, duplicate content, and missing meta tags. Free for up to 500 URLs. The go-to technical SEO tool for agencies and developers.

Writing & Content
AI writing assistant for marketing teams
Jasper uses AI to help small businesses write blog posts, ads, emails, and social copy faster. It offers 50+ templates and a brand voice feature to keep content consistent. Ideal for marketing teams that need high-volume content without a full writing staff.

Sales & CRM
Feature-rich CRM for growing businesses
Zoho CRM offers a free plan for 3 users and an AI assistant (Zia) that predicts deal outcomes and recommends the best time to contact leads. Deep integration with the Zoho suite makes it compelling for businesses already in that ecosystem.

Video & Media
Video hosting for marketing teams
Wistia hosts marketing videos with customisable players, lead capture forms in videos, chapter menus, and detailed viewer analytics. Its SEO-friendly embeds keep traffic on your own site rather than YouTube.

Social Media
All-in-one social media analytics and scheduling
Metricool combines scheduling, analytics, competitor analysis, and ad management across multiple social platforms. Its free plan is quite generous. Popular with freelancers and small agencies for its combination of features at low cost.

Analytics & Data
Digital analytics for product-led growth
Amplitude provides deep product analytics including funnel analysis, user journey mapping, and retention cohorts. Free plan supports up to 10M events/month. The go-to for product-led growth SaaS companies alongside Mixpanel.

E-commerce
SMS marketing for Shopify brands
Postscript is a leading SMS marketing platform built exclusively for Shopify, with advanced segmentation, campaign analytics, and a conversational SMS feature. Particularly strong for DTC brands with high customer lifetime value.

AI Agents
Build, test, and deploy voice AI agents in minutes

Marketing Automation
Email marketing for creators
ConvertKit is designed for creators, bloggers, and online educators, offering simple automation, landing pages, and a commerce platform for selling digital products. Free up to 1,000 subscribers. Beloved for its simplicity.

Social Media
Modern social media tool with review management
Vista Social is a newer social media platform that includes review management (Google, Yelp, TripAdvisor), making it unique for local businesses. AI writing tools and affordable pricing make it a strong Buffer alternative.

Scheduling & Admin
Open-source Calendly alternative
Cal.com is an open-source scheduling platform with a generous free hosted plan and self-hosting option for privacy-first businesses. It supports all major calendar integrations and video conferencing tools.

E-commerce
Reviews, loyalty, and SMS for e-commerce
Yotpo provides product reviews, loyalty programmes, referrals, and SMS marketing in one e-commerce marketing platform. Its reviews widget boosts conversion rates, while the loyalty programme drives repeat purchases.

Social Media
Social media collaboration for teams and agencies
Planable focuses on team collaboration and client approvals, letting agencies and marketing teams preview, comment on, and approve social posts before publishing. The free plan supports 50 posts. Loved by agencies for streamlined client sign-off.

AI Agents
Build, deploy, and manage AI agents and multi-agent teams without writing code

Accounting & Finance
Complete accounting for growing businesses
Zoho Books is a GST/VAT-compliant accounting platform with a free plan for businesses under $50k annual revenue. It integrates deeply with Zoho CRM, Inventory, and other Zoho tools. Strong for businesses already in the Zoho ecosystem.

Video & Media
AI video generator for any use case
InVideo offers an AI video generator that creates complete videos from text prompts, plus a traditional template-based editor. Free plan includes watermarked exports. Covers everything from social media clips to promo videos.

Scheduling & Admin
Booking system for service businesses
SimplyBook.me is a feature-rich booking platform for salons, spas, clinics, and fitness studios. It includes class bookings, membership management, and a client app. The free plan supports 50 bookings/month.

Scheduling & Admin
Time tracking and invoicing for project teams
Harvest combines time tracking with invoicing and expense tracking, sending automatic payment reminders. It integrates with Asana, Trello, and QuickBooks. Popular with agencies and consultancies that bill by the hour.