Small businesses are responsible for an essential part of the US economy. And, if you are a small business owner or employee, you know that to keep up with managing the various needs of your business, digital tools can come in handy.
To keep small business leaders one step ahead of the pack, this article prepared a list of the best software for small business that can support you in basic activities to keep your business up and going. Check it out!
Best software for collecting payments on-the-go: ChargeStripe
Why is it the best?
ChargeStripe is a software that makes it even more straightforward to use Stripe as your payment processor. Therefore, as a verified partner, this app connects businesses’ Stripe accounts into mobile devices to accept credit card payments, send invoices and manage customer data.
Features
- Credit and debit cards payment processing
- Support payments in 27 currencies
- Available in 34 countries
- In-person payments
- Online and mobile payments
- Send invoices
- Recurrent payments
- Stripe integration
- Customer support
- iOS and Android applications
- Card readers
Pricing and Plans
ChargeStripe is entirely free to download for any Apple or Android device of those who use it integrated with a Stripe account. As a result users can enjoy all features the app can offer at no cost – which is a perfect fit for small businesses.
ChargeStripe will only charge a 1% fee on top of Stripe fees when used for transactions. (Stripe fees are 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction).
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Best software for Accounting: Xero
Why is it the best?
Accounting tasks are not easy for many business owners, but Xero makes it simple. This friendly accounting software has an excellent user interface and offers a fantastic experience to businesses of all sizes – even the small ones.
Features
Xero has many features that make accounting simple to everyone. For instance, here are some of them:
- Connection with banks and payment apps
- Cloud-base environment
- Integration with third-app marketplace
- Simple inventory management
- Mobile app
Pricing and Plans
This accounting software has three different plans for different business sizes and needs:
Starter Plan
Price: $20/month
Includes:
- 20 invoices/month
- 5 bills
- Reconcile bank transactions
- Short-term cash flow
- Image capture (for bills and receipts)
And you can pay to add extra features like Claiming expenses, tracking projects, and analytics data.
Standard
Price: $30/month
Includes:
- Unlimited invoices, bills and PDF quotes
- Reconcile bank transactions
- Image capture (for bills and receipts)
- Short-term cash flow
- Bulk reconcile transactions
And you can also pay to add extra features like Claiming expenses, tracking projects, and analytics data.
Premium
Price: $40/month
Includes:
- Unlimited invoices, bills and PDF quotes
- Reconcile bank transactions
- Image capture (for bills and receipts)
- Short-term cash flow
- Use multiple currencies
- Bulk reconcile transactions
Here you can also add extra features like Claiming expenses, tracking projects, and analytics data.
Best software for Marketing: HubSpot
Why is it the best?
HubSpot is a well-known and renowned marketing company that provides a robust system that brings all marketing efforts together in one place. For instance, it has a friendly interface, and it is simple to use by anyone, even those who are not familiar with digital marketing activities.
HubSpot also offers a beneficial free trial that allows you to explore most of its features before deciding on purchasing a license.
Features
HubSpot offers all types of digital marketing features:
- Marketing automation software
- Inbound marketing campaigns
- Blog planning and management
- Social Media management
- Paid ads management
- Landing pages creation
- Email marketing platform
- Analytics dashboards
- Results reporting
- Integration with other marketing tools and applications
Pricing and Plans
HubSpot plans start at a free trial and have three other paid options:
Free Plan
Price: $0/month
Includes:
- 2,000 email sends per month
- $1,000 spend limit in ads for simple website audience only
- 5 active lists for segmentation
- 3 dashboards with 10 reports each
- Follow up on 10 custom properties
- $1,000 spend limit on retargeting for 2 audiences
Starter Plan
Price: $45/month
Includes:
- 10,000 emails sends per month
- $1,000 spend limit in ads for 2 contact lists audience
- 25 active lists for segmentation
- 10 dashboards with 10 reports each
- Follow up on 1,000 custom properties
- $1,000 spend limit on retargeting for 2 audiences
Professional Plan
Price: $800/month
Includes:
- 20,000 emails sends per month
- $10,000 spend limit in ads for 5 contact lists audience
- 1,000 active lists for segmentation
- 25 dashboards with 20 reports each
- Follow up on 1,000 custom properties
- $10,000 spend limit on retargeting for 5 audiences
Enterprise Plan
Price: $3,200/month
Includes:
- 40,000 emails sends per month
- $30,000 spend limit in ads for 15 contact lists audience
- 1,500 active lists for segmentation
- 1,500 static lists
- 50 dashboards with 20 reports each
- Follow up on 1,000 custom properties
- $30,000 spend limit on retargeting for 15 audiences
Best software for team communication: Slack
Why is it the best?
Slack is probably the most used communication app for team messaging because of its popularity. For instance, its friendly and straightforward user interface and usability made this app famous among businesses of all sizes – especially the small ones.
Features
Slack has a complete set of features for making communication fast and straightforward between co-workers:
- Messaging dashboard
- Messaging channels
- Voice and video calls
- Slack connect (to connect with people outside your organization)
- Various app’s integrations
- File sharing
- Data protection plans
- Secure environment for your information
Pricing and Plans
Slack has four different plans:
Free plan
Price: $0/month
Includes:
- Access to 10.000 most recent messages from your teams
- 5GB of file storage
- 1:1 voice and video calls
- Basic customer support
Pro plan
Price: $8/month
Includes:
- Unlimited access to your team’s messages
- 10GB of file storage
- Group video calls and screen sharing
- Slack Connect
- Priority customer support
Business+ plan
Price: $15/month
Includes:
- Entire access to your team’s messages
- Unlimited apps
- Slack Connect
- Data export for messages
- 20GB of file storage per member
- 24/7 customer support
Enterprise Grid plan
Price: Personalized (contact sales team)
Includes:
- All features from other plans
- Unlimited workspaces, apps and integrations
- Support on data loss prevention
- Offline backups
- Exclusive customer support
- 1TB of file storage per member
Best software for store maps and location info: Storemapper
Why is it the best?
Storemapper is a simple, user-friendly, and fully customizable store locator. As a result, you can easily add to any website in minutes because it requires no coding skills or developer team hiring and can be used in websites from store owners to multi-location organizations.
Features
This locator app has an excellent pack of features:
- Works in all types of websites and with all kinds of templates
- It is highly customizable so that you can adjust to your brand guide and needs
- Is mobile-friendly
- Has analytics dashboards with user interaction data
- It is easy to upload new locations and remove old ones
- Has an excellent customer support
Pricing and Plans
Storemapper has a 7-day free trial run for those considering using a store locator at their website. After that, you can choose between three different plans:
Micro plan
Price: $19/month
Includes:
- Possibility to add up to 100 locations to your map
- Customizable visuals and functions
Pro plan
Price: $29/month.
Includes:
- Possibility to add up to 1,000 locations to your map
- It makes even greater customization on your visuals and functions
Premium plan
Price: $59/month.
Includes:
- Possibility to add up to unlimited locations to your map
- Fully customization on your visuals and functions
- Social media integration
Best software for eCommerce: Shopify
Why is it the best?
Shopify is the most popular e-commerce for businesses of all sizes. In fact, it is simple, user-friendly, and doesn’t require developer skills for anyone who wants to start an online business.
Features
Shopify has a lot of great features for business owners:
- Has a responsive design
- 24/7 customer support
- User-friendly interface
- No transaction fees
- Ready to use templates
- Consumer fraud analysis
- Integration with thousands of apps and extensions.
- Shopify SEO experts
Pricing and Plans
Shopify has three different plans:
Basic Shopify plan
Price: $29/month
This plan is ideal for new e-commerce and stores with occasional physical sales.
Includes:
- 2 staff per account
- Customer support 24/7
- 4 inventory locations
- Upload unlimited products
- Abandoned cart recovery
Shopify plan
This plan is ideal for businesses that are growing and selling online or in-store
Price: $79/month
Includes:
- 5 staff per account
- Customer support 24/7
- 5 inventory locations
- Upload unlimited products
- Abandoned cart recovery
- Standard Reports
Advanced Shopify plan
This plan is ideal for businesses in expansion and with the need for advanced reporting.
Price: $299/month
Includes:
- 15 staff per account
- Customer support 24/7
- 8 inventory locations
- Upload unlimited products
- Abandoned cart recovery
- Advanced Reports
Best software for Project Management: Trello
Why is it the best?
Trello is a simple Kanban-style management software that has chatting features and allows file storage, making it easy for teams to work together, remotely or not.
Features
Trello’s features are ideal for business owners looking for a simple solution to manage from small to big team projects:
- Friendly user interface
- Drag and drop features
- Create unlimited work boards
- Various app integrations
- No coding needed
Pricing and Plans
There are four different plans for using Trello:
Free Plan
Price: $0/month
Includes:
- Unlimited cards and members
- 10 boards per Workspace
- Unlimited storage for files up to 10MB
- Unlimited activity log
- Mobile apps
Standard Plan
Price: $5/month
Includes:
- All free features
- Unlimited boards
- Advanced checklists
- Custom Fields
- Unlimited storage for files up to 250MB
- Single board guest
Premium Plan
Price: $10/month
- All free and standard features
- Dashboard, timeline, calendar, map, and workspace view
- Saved searches
- Priority support
- Google Apps sign-on
- Simple Data export
Enterprise Plan
Price: $17.50/month
- All free, standard, and premium features
- Organization-wide permissions and visible boards
- Public board management
- Multi-board guests
- Attachment permissions
- Power-Up administration
- Unlimited automated command runs
FAQ – Best Software for Small Business
How do I choose the best software for small business?
To choose the best software for your business, you need to pay attention to some details like:
- Analyze your business needs
- Research about all software possibilities
- Look for customer ratings and reviews
- Check compatibility with your other business software and apps
- See if the pricing fits your budget
What are the essential software for small business needs?
Some tools and software are essential to help any business make its daily activities more efficient and optimized. To illustrate, the essential ones are marketing, email, accounting, project management, and payment software.
Conclusion
To summarize, here is a review of the best software for small businesses we presented in this article:
- ChargeStripe, for collecting payment
- Xero, for accounting
- Hubspot, for marketing
- Slack, for communication
- Storemapper, for mapping locations
- Shopify, for e-commerce
- Trello, for project management
Are you ready to use all those software to help your small business grow? Then give this plan a start with ChargeStripe, and make collecting payments easy as any other essential task of your workday.
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