Eight great business tools for under $20

1. Buffer, $15/Month https://buffer.com/app

For just $15 a month you can access the Pro plan of Buffer, an online social media scheduling tool. The pared back interface is intuitive and easy to grasp, and you can manage up to ten social media accounts using it. If you’re using social media marketing to promote your business, Buffer makes sense. Using it you can schedule all your social media posts and announcements ahead of time, saving you stress and keeping you timely and on track.

2. FlatIcon, $0-9.99/Month https://www.flaticon.com

If you want your website to stand out from your competitors FlatIcon can help. The platform has hundreds of thousands of quality illustrations you can access for $9.99 a month – so you won’t need to hire a designer each time you want to publish a new post or update your websites visuals. Their illustrations are grouped into easy to navigate packs such as happiness, travel, medicine, social media icons, business essentials, charity and more. The icons are available in a number of formats to suit different needs.

3. Calendly, $0-8/Month https://calendly.com/

Organizing meetings can be a hassle, especially when you’re combating busy schedules and time zones. Calendly streamlines and simplifies the whole process. All you need to do is send someone a link to your schedule, and they can slot themselves in whenever suits them. And if you don’t want to spend money on scheduling meetings, the free version will allow you to schedule in the basic increments (think half an hour, hour) cost-free but with limited features.

4. Slack, $0-6.67/Month https://slack.com/

The free version is fine for those who want to try out the messaging and file sharing functions of Slack, but for those who want to integrate it into a business it’s worth investing the $6.67 a month. Slack is a communication hub that will let your employees communicate effectively with one another and their teams, work on projects together, and access your companies information and posts in a flash. Used by big players such as Airbnb and Oracle, Slack will help your employees hit the ground running from day one.

5. QuickBooks Self Employed, $10/Month https://quickbooks.intuit.com/self-employed/

QuickBooks can make managing and sorting your finances easy! Connect it with your bank, and it’ll help you track income and expenses, send quotes and invoices, store receipts, track GST, manage your payroll and more. With specialized advice for both self-employed people and business owners, QuickBooks will you stay on top of your money.

6. Tallyfy, $0-12.50/Month https://tallyfy.com/

Tallyfy will help you manage all the workflows and processes of your business, ensuring nothing slips through the gaps and all tasks are assigned properly. Highlights include real time tracking of processes, conditional branching which automates decisions, and simple, flowchart-free process variation. If you don’t want to dedicate too much time to managing tasks, and want to ensure everyone is following the same protocol, Tallyfy can help you get more done with less energy.

7. MailChimp, $0-10/Month https://mailchimp.com/

Mailchimp has intuitive email templates and the form integrations it provides makes it easy to grow your email list. If you’re interested in sending out newsletters to your customers and staying in touch with them, Mailchimp will allow you to segment them into lists and automate your email sequences. Mailchimp works with over 300 apps and services, so no matter which tools you use in your business, chances are they can link in with Mailchimp to make email marketing a breeze.

8. LucidChart, $9/Month https://www.lucidchart.com/

LucidChart helps you create diagrams – which you can use as, to manage projects, and to keep track of processes. Built for collaboration, LucidChart lets you speak with your team in real time as you create diagrams, allows you to embed documents, and shows you who has revised which part of the work. If you’re a visual learner and you want to streamline processes and make them more explicit, LucidChart can be a surprisingly useful tool.

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Having a tight budget doesn’t mean that you can’t lighten your workload using great tools: you just have to find the right ones! Let us know which low cost apps, programs or services you use to help your business thrive.

Lena Klein