When you’re starting a business, everything must be done on budget, and is even better if it’s done for free. The good news is that thanks to website monetization through ads, there are a lot of good, free tools that entrepreneurs can use when they’re just starting up. The bad news is that sometimes these tools are hard too find, or you’ll have to sift through a hundred lackluster tools before you find a good one to use.

I’ve listed out some of our favourite free business apps & online tools for startups below.

Accounting — Foxtail

Although it’s a pretty boring task, accounting is very important for startups. Having a proper invoicing system is imperative and helps to keep your revenue / expenses in check. I recommend Foxtail Invoicing. It’s a free service, though it does have a paid option as well that starts at just $10.00 per month.

Tasks — Trello

Organization is key for new businesses, so to keep your tasks in line use Trello. Trello is a task board app that allows you to create and share task lists with others, add notes, attach documents, and get updates in real time.

Email Marketing — MailChimp

Email marketing is one of the best ways to gain traction and build sales for new companies. MailChimp allows you to create a mail list by collecting emails on your website and send out remarketing emails to them. It is fully compliant with online privacy laws, so you don’t need to worry about rinsing your email list, that’s all taken care of for you.

Social Media Management — Hootsuite

Social media is an integral of any business marketing plan in today’s world. Hootsuite allows you to sync up multiple accounts so that you just have to post once instead of drafting individual posts for every social channel that you have.

Image Editing — PhotoPea

PhotoPea is a free, online app that works just like PhotoShop. It’s completely free to use and will allow you to upload and edit any image, and then download the finished product. It’s an awesome tool for creating custom thumbnails or graphics for social posts.

Google Suite –Drive, Docs, Sheets

For all your writing, spreadsheets, file sharing and more you should be using Google Docs. It works in the same capacity as Microsoft Office but is free with a Google Account. Google Drive is useful for sharing documents with clients and between employees.

Website Analytics — Google Analytics

If your new business has a website, you need to be using Google Analytics to track your traffic. You can then see where all your website’s traffic is coming from, whether it’s from your social channels, email marketing campaigns, or your SEO efforts. This will let you know where you’re getting the best ROI, and where you should be focusing your marketing efforts.