If you’re running an SME, you don’t want to spend a lot of money on software, and fortunately there are plenty of free tools which you can use to make your enterprise a success.
1. Wix Website Builder
Every small business could benefit from having its own website, so using a website builder like Wix which is available for free is a huge bonus. This software enables you to create your own mobile-friendly, fully-featured site that can your business off the ground.
2. CyberGhost VPN
Every small business could benefit from having its own website, so using a website builder like Wix which is available for free is a huge bonus. This software enables you to create your own mobile-friendly, fully-featured site that can your business off the ground.
3. Avast Endpoint Protection
You don’t want your business shut down by a hacker or virus, and Endpoint Protection from Avast is free and can protect your business network with malware blocking, rescue disk functionality and security scanning.
4. Wrike Project Management
This free software can support up to 5 users and an unlimited numbers of collaborators and offers 2GB of storage that allows you to share files, monitor group activities and manage tasks easily.
5. Join. me Video Conferencing
Connecting with remote workers, prospects and clients requires a good video conferencing solution and Join.me is ideal. Its free plan allows you to have up to ten participants in each video conference. 5 video feeds can be supported and you can even share screens.
6. Zoho Recruit Applicant Tracking
If you rarely have vacancies at your enterprise, Zoho Recruit is ideal, giving you access to 5 open positions and 1 recruiter simultaneously. Inputting, publishing and tracking jobs is possible to help you select the perfect candidate, while 5 free email templates make it easy to send messages to applicants.
7. Deputy Human Resources Management
Tracking the progress of your employees requires a good HR management tool and although Deputy’s software isn’t free, it only costs $1 per month. This represents amazing value since you can make announcements, manage tasks and schedule shifts with this single user-friendly tool.
8. Wave Accounting
Your workers need to be paid, as do your utility providers and landlord. Wave helps you balance your books for free thanks to its functions that allow the creation and scanning of invoices and receipts.
9. EquityNet Business Planning
This free of charge crowdfunding platform enables you to plan, analyse and share business plans with potential investors.
10. HootSuite Social Media Listening
A small business won’t usually require a huge social listening platform, but you do need to know what your customers say. That’s why Hootsuite’s user-friendly and free dashboard is ideal, enabling you to track followers and posts.
11. MailChimp Email Marketing
Popular and excellent, MailChimp is a great free email marketing platform if you send under 12,000 emails to under 2000 subscribers each month. With free drag-and-drop email and designer templates and the ability to check open rates, you’ll have enough functionality to meet your SME needs.
12. Tableau Public Data Visualisation
When you need data visualisation for free, Tableau Public gives you access to Microsoft and Google document managers, live dashboards, and responsive visuals which you can create and which can be seen even on mobile devices, as well as the ability to share visuals on social media.
13. Microsoft Power BI Business Intelligence
You can have 1GB of free business intelligence per day with this free plan that gives you the opportunity to scan up to 10,000 data rows each hour and publish direct to the internet.
14. Zoho Docs Document Management
If you only have a light document workload, this free plan gives access to 25 or fewer users as well as 5GB of storage for each user. You can also benefit from unlimited folder and file sharing, editing tools, desktop sync, version history and user management and you can integrate with Dropbox. There is even 2FA for your additional security as well as in-app-chat functionality for real time collaboration.
15. Zoho Desk Helpdesk Software
Your service team can benefit from a choice of work modes, community forums, a knowledge base, rebranded visuals for your unique company needs and a customisable help centre all for free.
16. X-Cart E-Commerce Software
If you’re selling products online, X-Cart 5’s free solution gives you site builder functionality as well as social-commerce sharing and newsletter. There are even free extensions and core upgrades like ShipStation so you can create shopping labels, Diib Analytics and Magic Slideshow so you can create your own onsite slideshow.
17. H5P eLearning Authoring
If you’re only starting to dip your toes into the waters of content authoring and don’t want to pay anything for the privilege this free Course Presentation software is ideal, allowing you to insert questions, images, text and videos.
18. Evernote Scannable Document Scanning
This new Evernote app can scan business cards, meeting notes and documents rapidly with just your smartphone camera and can connect with LinkedIn with ease. It’s a breeze to share documents to the cloud with this software.
19. SurveyGizmo Online Survey Software
Find out more about how your customers tick with the SurveyGizmo free plan that puts absolutely no limit on how many questions, responses or surveys you can manage. There are 25 question types to pick from as well as data visualisation tools and all without any charge.
20. Apptivo CRM Customer Relationship Management
CRM tools all-too-often are expenses, complex and have more features than your small business needs. Apptivo CRM’s free software plan gives up to 3 users a way of easing themselves into the complex world of your customer’s data. You’ll be able to access 500MB of data, project management features and detailed reporting as well as having the ability to connect to free finance management, procurement and helpdesk tools.
21. Agiloft Contract Management
For SMEs with basic contract management requirements, the Agiloft free plan is ideal for up to ten registered users with 30 days’ access to customer service.
These are just 21 of the best free software solutions that could help get your small business up and running.
