180 tools reviewed for small business owners

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

HR & Hiring
HR software for European small businesses
Personio is the leading HR platform for European SMBs, covering recruiting, onboarding, payroll, and performance management with GDPR compliance built in. Strong in German-speaking markets and across the EU.

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.

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
Integrated customer support for e-commerce
Re:amaze offers live chat, helpdesk, chatbots, and push notifications in one platform. It integrates with Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce. A solid Gorgias alternative with broader channel support and competitive pricing.

Writing & Content
AI writing platform with a powerful free plan and SEO tools built in

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

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

E-commerce
Pop-up and email marketing for Shopify stores
Privy specialises in pop-up forms, email automations, and SMS for Shopify merchants. It's a lightweight Klaviyo alternative for smaller stores that don't need advanced segmentation. Easy to set up without marketing expertise.

Accounting & Finance
Bookkeeping done for you by real humans + AI
Bench pairs AI-powered bookkeeping software with a dedicated human bookkeeper. Businesses get monthly financial statements without doing any bookkeeping themselves. More expensive but completely hands-off.

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.

HR & Hiring
People management for high-performance teams
Lattice provides performance reviews, OKR tracking, employee engagement surveys, and compensation management. AI insights identify top performers and at-risk employees. Popular with SMBs wanting structured people management.

Design & Creative
Smart presentations that design themselves
Beautiful.ai uses AI to automatically adjust slide layouts as you add content, ensuring professional-looking presentations every time. Popular with SMBs that need to pitch to clients or investors. Team plan enables template libraries.

Accounting & Finance
Capture and process receipts automatically
Dext (formerly Receipt Bank) extracts data from receipts and invoices automatically using AI, then pushes it to QuickBooks, Xero, or Sage. It eliminates manual data entry for expense management. Popular with accountants and their clients.

AI Agents
AI agents built into Salesforce โ automate sales, service, and marketing workflows

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.

Social Media
Brand success platform for teams
Loomly offers content ideation, scheduling, approval workflows, and analytics. Its post inspiration feature surfaces trending topics and holiday content ideas. Popular with marketing teams that need structured content planning.