Stripe
Free planAccepting online payments in any app or site
The developer-favorite way to take payments and subscriptions.
4.82.9% + 30¢ per charge
Best PaymentsBusiness Tools
Everything you need to launch, run and grow a small business.
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BusinessSmall business owners
Buy for the problem you have this month
Software for small businesses is sold as a stack. You do not need a stack. You need the one tool that fixes whatever is currently costing you money, then nothing else until something else starts costing you money.
- Leads going cold — a CRM, free to start.
- Invoices paid late — invoicing plus a payment link.
- Work scattered across chats and files — one shared workspace.
- No way to reach past customers — an email list.
The pricing traps to check before you buy
Business software is priced to look cheaper than it is. Three patterns cover most of it. All three show up in the CRM prices we track.
- 1The annual rate shown as monthly. Zoho advertises $14 a user, which becomes $20 if you pay monthly.
- 2The introductory offer. HubSpot leads with $7 a seat for new customers; the standard rate is $20.
- 3Per-seat maths. Adding a third person charges you for three seats, not one, so free plans end expensively.
The number that matters
Work out what the tool costs at the team size you expect in a year, paid the way you actually intend to pay. That figure decides it. The advertised price rarely does.
Free plans are worth taking seriously
Several categories now have free tiers that a real business can run on rather than crippled demos. Zoho CRM covers three users and 5,000 records with no time limit. HubSpot covers two users plus marketing tools. Stripe charges per transaction rather than monthly.
Starting free is not a compromise. It buys you the months you need to learn what you actually want before committing money to it.
Quick guide
Start with the job, not the tool
Most small businesses need three or four pieces of software, not twenty. Work out which job is costing you money first.
Losing track of leads
A CRM is the fix. Start on a free plan and only pay once a third person needs access.
Getting paid slowly
Invoicing and payments come before anything clever. Stripe or FreshBooks solve this on day one.
Nothing lives in one place
A shared workspace such as Notion is cheaper than the hours lost hunting for the current version.
Business tools we rate
Namecheap
A cheap first year with free privacy for life
Affordable domains and free WHOIS privacy, no hard upsells.
4.5.com from $6.79 first year
Porkbun
One flat price that does not jump at renewal
The same price to register, renew or transfer, with privacy included.
4.6.com $11.08/yr, flat
Cloudflare Registrar
The lowest long-term cost if Cloudflare DNS suits you
Sells domains at cost with no add-on fees and no renewal markup.
4.4At cost, no markup
HubSpot CRM
Free planSmall teams that want a free CRM that grows with them
A useful free CRM with sales and marketing tools built in.
4.5Free for 2 users · Starter from $20/seat/mo
Best Free CRMPipedrive
Sales-focused teams that live in their pipeline
A visual, pipeline-first CRM salespeople actually enjoy using.
4.4From $14/seat/mo billed annually
Zoho CRM
Free planBudget-conscious teams inside the Zoho ecosystem
A feature-rich CRM at a low price that works well with other Zoho apps.
4.3Free for 3 users · Standard from $14/user/mo billed annually
Frequently asked questions
What software does a small business actually need?
Usually four things: a way to take payments, a way to invoice, somewhere to keep customer records and somewhere to keep the work. Anything beyond that should be solving a problem you can name.
How much should I budget for business software?
A one or two person business can often run on free plans plus payment fees. Budget from around $15 to $50 a month per person once you outgrow them, depending on how many tools you keep.
Should I start with free plans?
Yes, where a real free tier exists. Zoho CRM and HubSpot both offer free plans with no time limit, which is long enough to learn what you need before paying.
When is it worth paying for a CRM?
When a third person needs access. Also once you start losing track of deals. Both are signs the free plan has done its job and is now the constraint.