109 tools reviewed for small business owners

Sales & CRM
AI-powered CRM from Freshworks
Freshsales includes Freddy AI for lead scoring, deal insights, and activity suggestions. The free plan supports unlimited users with basic features. Part of the Freshworks suite, making it easy to pair with Freshdesk for support.

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.

HR & Hiring
Modern recruiting software for SMBs
Breezy HR offers a drag-and-drop pipeline for tracking applicants, with AI job description writing, video interviews, and background checks. Free plan for one active job. Popular with SMBs wanting a modern ATS without enterprise pricing.

Accounting & Finance
Expense reports that don't suck
Expensify automates expense reporting with SmartScan receipt capture, automatic expense categorisation, and one-click approval workflows. Its free plan covers individual use. Integrates with QuickBooks, Xero, and Netsuite.

Social Media
Advanced social scheduling at a fair price
Publer is a feature-rich social media scheduler with watermarking, UTM tracking, Instagram grid planner, and bulk scheduling. Free plan supports 3 accounts. Very competitive with Buffer and Later at lower price points for paid plans.

Social Media
Social media management with an inbox
Agorapulse provides social media scheduling, monitoring, and a unified inbox for managing all messages and comments. Its ROI reporting shows which social activities drive business results. Generous free plan for solo users.

Workflow Automation
1-click automation for small businesses
Integrately offers 20 million+ ready-made automations you can activate with one click, making it the easiest automation tool for non-technical SMB owners. Cheaper than Zapier for comparable use cases.

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.

E-commerce
Add a store to any existing website
Ecwid lets businesses add a full online store to any existing website, Facebook page, or marketplace without rebuilding their site. Free plan supports up to 5 products. Perfect for businesses with an existing website that want to start selling.

Analytics & Data
Automatically capture every user interaction
Heap auto-captures every click, tap, and form submission on your website or app without needing manual event instrumentation. AI surfaces insights from captured data. Retroactive analysis lets you answer questions using historical data.

AI Agents
Orchestrate multi-agent AI crews that collaborate to complete complex tasks

Accounting & Finance
Business banking built for small businesses
Relay is a business bank account with built-in budgeting tools, multiple sub-accounts, and direct Xero/QuickBooks sync. Free to use with no monthly fees. A modern alternative to traditional business banking for digital-first SMBs.

AI Agents
Automate complex workflows with AI nodes โ no code, no limits

Design & Creative
Create presentations, infographics, and more
Visme is a visual content creation platform for presentations, infographics, charts, and interactive content. Its AI slide generator and data visualisation tools are strong for B2B content marketers and trainers.

Workflow Automation
Native automations inside your project management
ClickUp's built-in automations trigger actions based on task changes, dates, or incoming emails, keeping projects moving automatically. Free tier includes 100 automation runs/month. No separate tool needed for ClickUp users.

Customer Service
Context-aware helpdesk from Zoho
Zoho Desk offers a free plan and deep integration with the broader Zoho ecosystem. Its Zia AI assists agents with sentiment analysis, response suggestions, and anomaly detection. Great for Zoho CRM users who want connected support.

SEO
Visualise PAA questions for content planning
AlsoAsked maps out Google's People Also Asked questions in a visual hierarchy, helping content teams plan topic clusters and FAQ sections. Highly affordable and focused on a specific but valuable use case.

AI Agents
AI-powered project workspace where agents help you research, plan, and execute tasks

Design & Creative
Quick, impactful content creation from Adobe
Adobe Express offers professional templates, AI generative fill, text-to-image, and brand kit features in a simplified interface. Free plan is strong; premium unlocks Adobe Stock and full Creative Cloud integration.

Sales & CRM
CRM inside Gmail, no new tool to learn
Streak turns Gmail into a CRM, adding deal pipelines, contact tracking, and email templates directly inside your inbox. The free solo plan is very capable. Loved by freelancers and small agencies who resist adopting a separate CRM.

SEO
Find what your audience is searching for
AnswerThePublic visualises search questions and queries around any keyword, helping content teams uncover what their audience wants to know. Now owned by Neil Patel. Great for content ideation and blog planning.

SEO
SEO tool for budget-conscious marketers
Ubersuggest by Neil Patel offers keyword research, site audits, and competitor analysis at a fraction of Ahrefs' cost. Free plan provides limited daily searches. A great entry-level SEO tool for SMBs starting out with SEO.

Video & Media
Turn content into compelling video, fast
Lumen5 uses AI to transform articles, blogs, and social posts into branded video content. Its free plan produces watermarked videos. Popular with content teams that want to repurpose written content into video without a videographer.