Startup Tools

Here is our handy list of tools for startups to help get you started and manage your business.

Accounting

Adminsoft, free, ad-supported accounting software

Money Manager Ex, open-source, full-featured financial software

Wave,  financial/accounting/payment/invoicing software

Zipbooks, accounting and online invoicing

Expensify, expense reporting with mobile tracking and receipt scanning

Valuation, free business valuation reports based on revenue, costs, cash, market success, and other factors.

Efficiency

Bitlya link shortener that can also create custom URLs

Envoy, an open-source edge and service proxy, designed for cloud-native applications

Google Trends, trend search with interest level graphs

Notion, A great tool for organizing and collaborating on almost anything you can think of

OnlineGDB – online compiler and debugger tool for multiple languages

Pomodoro Timera tool to stage work in time increments to work more effectively, for longer

QR Code Generator – Link QR codes to various different links/files

Thonny – Python IDE for beginners

TinyURLURL shortener

Data

Google Data Studioa dashboard and report creator for data

Google Forms,  a way to quickly create forms for surveys, events, and more.

Qualtrics, a tool for surveys, research and customer discovery that can capture customer, product, and brand insights

/r/startups, a platform to get unbiased feedback and advice through a subreddit of entrepreneurs

Statista, a leading data portal that is an online repository of statistics, consumer survey results and industry data

Surveymonkeyonline survey tool

Typeforman interactive form building tool, without code.

Communication

ChatWoot – Free chatbot (self hosted) and communication software

ezTalkvideo, audio and IM chat for teams

FortKnoxster, military-grade encryption online communication platform

Google Hangoutsonline meetings and conferencing with Google accounts

GoToMeetingonline meetings and web conferencing for teams

Hunter, Chrome extension to find email addresses from a webpage

HyperWrite AIan AI powered technology platform to help you communicate more effectively and efficiently

Join.mescreen sharing, online meetings, team collaboration

OthersideAI, AI technology to help communicate more efficiently

Patchwork, Direct messaging for Google Chrome. Share and have conversations without ever leaving your page.

Skypefull-featured online meetings software

Slack, collaboration software platform to communicate, collaborate and manage workflows

TinyLetter, a tool to create personalized newsletters

Trello – A notion alternative, Collaborate and manage your projects.

UberConferenceweb conferencing and online meetings

WebEx (Cisco)enterprise video conferencing and online meetings/webinars

Wherebyfree, high-quality video conferencing

Zoomonline meetings software

Management & Operations

ApolloTarget your ideal buyer with precision, and get verified emails and direct dials phone numbers instantly on 200M people and 10M companies.

FreeConferenceCallfree HD audio/video/screen conferencing and sharing with up to 1000 participants

Grammarlyproofreading and plagiarism checker

Psiphon, a VPN tool that provides open access to the Internet for anyone, allowing users to create a community

RocketReachFind a persons contact information from their name

Sales QLFind contact details for the people you want to approach on LinkedIn, even if you haven’t yet connected with them

Startup Checker, a comprehensive website with over 500+ startup tools for small businesses — huge free directory, although some of the apps listed may have a fee to use. Extremely well organized and easy to navigate with hyperlinked resources in many categories

TeamViewerremote computer access software

Design

Affinitya creative suite for graphic design, photo editing, publishing

Beautiful.aian AI-powered pitch deck designer

Bubble, no-code platform for creating digital products & web-apps without code

Canvaa simple-to-use design tool for easy slide, logo, social post (and more) creation

Coolors.co, Color palette generator

DaVinci Resolvevideo-editing, color correction, visual effects, and motion graphics software

Epidemic Sound – Add music to your content creations

Figma – online platform for UI/UX design. Great for creating mockups for websites and mobile apps.

FlatIcon, a source for icons for pitch decks, websites, etc.

Flowmapp – UI/UX/Information Flow Design

FreePik, website with fantastic mockups, just make sure to set the filter to “free”

Gravit Designera full-featured vector design tool

Inkscapean online replacement for Illustrator.

InShot, free app to create Reels or TikToks to market your business

InVision, digital product design platform powering the world’s best user experiences.

Jitter – Simple and clean motion design

Justinmind, platform to create web and mobile app prototypes and wireframes with a UI tool

Laws Of UX, Good rules to follow when building apps/websites

LucidChart – intelligent diagramming application for mind maps, diagrams, and visualization

Lunacy – Incredibly powerful Sketch alternative for windows

Pexelsfree stock photos

Piktochart, an easy way to create high impact infographics for free, with templates and easy to use tools to communication information in a visual way

Pixabayfree stock photos

Pixlr Editorfree online Photoshop clone.

Polarr, iOS and Android online photo editing

SketchFull-spectrum design toolkit.

Slides Carnival, free PowerPoint templates and Google Slides themes that are customizable

Solidworks – solid modeling computer-aided design and computer-aided engineering computer program

TinkerCad – Easy to use 3D design, electronics, and coding software

Thingiverse3d models for 3d printing

Unsplashfree stock photos

UX Archive, UX software platform to inspire ideas

Vectr2D vector creator.

Web/Marketing

Ahrefs – Ahrefs offers some of their SEO tools for free but they offer a surprisingly robust collection of data

Amazon Drive back up photos, files, documents, and other company files

Answer the Public, Customer insights based on Google Data, SEO, etc

Boxstore, organize and manage company and personal content

CoSchedule, a WordPress add-on to help organize all marketing in one place and help with collaboration

Dictionary Domains, a source of unregistered dictionary words to help create domain names

Flickrupload, store, and share photos

Google Drivestore and share files

GTMetrix – Website speed testing tools

OneDrivestore and share files

Bensoundroyalty-free music

Brandmarka machine learning-based logo creator

Buffersocial media scheduling tool

Feedlynews and content aggregator around specific topics and influencers

Hootsuitean easy social media management tool

Hubspota marketing, sales, and CRM management software platform that is especially good for startups that are scaling

Hunter.iofind professional email addresses in seconds

Later, free platform to plan a feed and schedule social media posts

Mailchimpan easy to use email marketing platform.

Mediumblog/publication website

NameBounce, free domain name generator that helps you find domain ideas

Namelixa machine learning-based company name creator

Pickaxe – helps you find key contacts at app & game publishers

SEMRush, a SEO tool for auditing and optimizing social media and digital content

Springboard Enterprises, a connection platform for female founders

Tepfua marketing agency platform for startups and companies

Tube Buddya management and optimization tool  for YouTube creators

Drupal Commerce, e-commerce for Drupal CMS

Shopifye-commerce website builder.

Smylelyticswebsite performance monitoring

Square Online Storee-commerce website builder leveraging Square payments

Squarespacea code-free website builder for startup websites

UberSuggest, SEO and Keyword Research

UptimeRobot, monitor digital assets for downtime and get notified if there are any issues

VS Code, Great code editor for Mac/Windows

Webflowa code-free HTML/CSS generator to build great websites

Wix, a code-free website builder for startup sites

WooCommerceWordPress plugin for e-commerce

WordPressopen-source website CMS software.

Funding

AngelLista search platform for potential investors, early hires and team members

BuiltIn – startup and tech hub information with salaries

F6Sa tool to find and apply to accelerators (including Techstars), along with other startup resources

FounderSuitea CRM for raising investment capital

Fundera, a one-stop marketplace to connect with the right business loan for your needs – like the kayak.com for business loans

Fundwurx, connecting fundraising projects with donors

Kickstarter, a way to crowd source your funding without giving away equity

SBA.gov, truly the one-stop for writing business plans, creating financial projections, finding advice on how to finance your business, and straightforward business information to start and grow a business