May 27, 2024
·
minute read

The Best Tools for Small Businesses

By
Chloe West

Starting a small business is an exciting new venture and can be made much easier if you have the right tools.

There are tools for small businesses that help create websites, run accounting, manage projects, and so much more.

We’ve got 15 of the top tools for small businesses (plus a handful of AI tools) that help make running your small business feel much more manageable.

Read on to learn more about these tools, how they can help, and what they cost.

#1. Durable

Durable is a website builder that uses AI to help small businesses — especially solopreneurs — create a fully-fledged website in seconds.

With a number of tools that help brand new businesses get started from the ground up, Durable is the perfect option for building a brand, creating a website, and even getting help with blog content.

Features:

  • AI Website Generator
  • CRM
  • Brand Builder
  • Blog Builder
  • AI Assistant

Pricing: Plans start at $12/month.

#2. Canva

Canva is a graphic design tool that helps small businesses create graphics for their website, social media, email, and other marketing assets. 

It can also help design printable assets, like business cards, flyers, and brochures. Canva also has AI tools that make it easy for non-design-minded business owners to create beautiful designs.

Features:

  • Graphic design software
  • Design templates
  • Magic Studio AI tools
  • Printing services for business cards, t-shirts, etc.

Pricing: Completely free limited plan. Premium plans start at $15/month.

#3. VEED

VEED is a video editing tool that offers many features for working with video and creating both long and short-form video content. 

VEED also has AI video editing tools that make it easy for small business owners to create stunning video content without any video editing experience.

Features:

  • Video editor
  • Transcription
  • AI video tools

Pricing: Completely free limited plan. Premium plans start at $18/month.

#4. Mailchimp

Mailchimp is an email marketing platform that makes it easy for small business owners to create and send email content to their contact list. 

You can use your website to help build a list of potential and existing customers you regularly send product or service updates and information to.

Features:

  • Email marketing
  • SMS marketing
  • CRM
  • Marketing automation
  • AI marketing tools

Pricing: Completely free limited plan. Premium plans start at $13/month.

#5. Buffer 

Buffer is a social media management tool at an affordable price point, making it perfect for small business owners just getting started with their social media marketing. Schedule content, get content ideas, analyze your posts, and more.

Features:

  • Social media scheduling/publication
  • Social media analytics
  • Community engagement
  • AI post generation

Pricing: Completely free limited plan. Premium plans start at $5/month.

#6. QuickBooks

QuickBooks is under the same Intuit umbrella as Mailchimp, making these tools perfect together. It’s an accounting software that every business needs — even the smallest ones. Take advantage of QuickBooks for tracking revenue, expenses, and much more.

Features:

  • Accounting
  • Bookkeeping
  • Payroll
  • Invoicing

Pricing: Starting at $30/month.

#7. Asana

Asana is a project management software that can help business owners keep track of projects they need to do, either internally for their own business or externally for their business’s clients or customers. 

Set up projects with individual tasks so you can easily keep track of your progress throughout each project.

Features:

  • Project management
  • Workflows
  • Time tracking

Pricing: Completely free limited plan. Premium plans start at $10.99/month.

#8. ChatGPT

ChatGPT is an AI-based chatbot with many use cases for small business owners. Have ChatGPT help you brainstorm ideas, draft emails, get a good starting point for your marketing content, and more.

Features:

  • AI chatbot

Pricing: Free access to the GPT-3.5 model. Premium access to the new GPT-4 model starts at $20/month.

#9. Grammarly

Grammarly is a grammar and proofreading app that can help keep your marketing content, website copy, email communication, and more error-free. Access the AI writing assistant to help jazz up your writing even more.

Features:

  • Proofreading
  • Browser extension
  • AI writing assistant

Pricing: Completely free limited plan. Premium plans start at $12/month.

#10. Google Drive 

Google Drive is a cloud-based storage system that lets you create and collaborate on documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. 

Upload files for safekeeping, create documents for content creation, and track your business growth using spreadsheets.

Features:

  • Online storage space
  • Documents
  • Spreadsheets
  • Presentations

Pricing: Up to 15 GB of storage is free for Gmail users. To increase your storage to 2 TB, plans are $12/month. If you want to use your business email, sign up for Google Workspace starting at $6/month.

#11. Notion

Notion is another project management tool but with more bells and whistles. While a project management tool at its core, this sandbox tool allows its users to customize different dashboards and pages based on their needs. 

Create anything from a project tracker to a grocery database. Take advantage of AI tools to further ramp up your workspace.

Features:

  • Documents
  • Project management
  • Template gallery
  • AI assistant

Pricing: Completely free limited plan. Premium plans start at $8/month.

#12. Slack 

Slack is a team communication app perfect for teams of any size. Slack is also commonly used to build online communities, so you should look around to see if you find any for business owners or for your industry to help your network.

Features:

  • Communication
  • Channels
  • Private messaging
  • Huddles

Pricing: Completely free limited plan. Premium plans start at $7.25/month.

#13. Moo

Moo is a printing business perfect for getting bulk business cards and other printed marketing assets you need for your business. 

Design business cards, postcards, branded merchandise, stationary, and other products that you can use for promotion or even sell as an additional revenue stream.

Features:

  • Product design
  • Printing

Pricing: Pricing varies based on what you order and the quantity.

#14. Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a website analytics tool that can help you track nearly any metric related to your business website. While your site builder may have built-in analytics, using Google Analytics — a free tool — can only boost your reporting.

Features:

  • Website analytics
  • Link tracking
  • Reporting

Pricing: Completely free to use.

#15. Zoom

Zoom is a video conferencing tool perfect for hopping on new client calls, networking with other business owners, and hosting meetings with your team (once you build one). Zoom has a built-in AI companion to help you get even more out of the tool.

Features:

  • Video calling
  • Team chat
  • Webinars
  • AI companion

Pricing: Completely free limited plan. Premium plans start at $13.32/month.

Find the Right Tools for Your Small Business

Every small business needs an arsenal of tools to keep it running smoothly. Bookmark this list and come back to it when you need different tools for your small business. 

If you need a website for your business, Durable is your best bet. 

Durable is an AI-powered website builder suited for small businesses looking to build a strong online presence — with no technical knowledge in website design needed.

Durable home page

With just three clicks, you can have a fully designed website complete with different pages, copy, images, and contact forms.

Small businesses run on Durable.
Get your website up and running in under 30 seconds.
Generate your website
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No credit card required.
Chloe West

Chloe West is a digital marketer and freelance writer, focusing on topics surrounding social media, content, and digital marketing. She's based in Charleston, SC, and when she's not working, you'll find her playing card games or reading romance novels. Connect with her on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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