20+ Best startup tools that you must have and use

Running a startup is like no other. You need a good idea, a great team, and the right tools. 

While ideas, teams, and tools seem separate, they are interlinked and play a huge role in the success of your startup. If you have a great team, having the right tools can help your team reach their full potential. If you have a good team, using the right tools can make them great.

In this article, you will get over 20 online tools to use in your startup business, their key features, pricing details, and alternatives that are almost as good as them. Plus, these tools are not solely for startups and can be used in businesses at any stage. In fact, we use many of these tools here at forms.app. Without further ado, let’s get started.

Many tools offer special discounts to startups and N.P.Os, even if it is not stated on their pricing page, you can contact them through live chat and ask about it.

1. forms.app

The homepage of forms.app

forms.app, as its name suggests, is a form builder application for creating various forms and surveys, like feedback forms, satisfaction surveys, or social media trivia. From pre-orders to applications and from feedback to event registrations, a form maker tool like forms.app will come in really handy.

forms.app is best known for gathering feedback and collecting applications.

Key features

forms.app pricing

Notable alternatives to forms.app: Formstack, Typeform, Jotform, Google Forms

2. Trello

The homepage of Trello

Trello is a popular project management tool that every startup needs in their toolkit and workflow. The reason? Simple; you need a project management tool to make things flow in your project, and Trello offers the most needed features for free. As forms.app, we have used Trello to create and track tasks since day one, so it’s tested and approved. 🔬

In their words, Trello is best known for tracking, managing, and completing tasks together. 

Key features

Trello pricing

Notable alternatives to Trello: Airtable, Asana, Teamwork, Notion

3. Popupsmart

The homepage of Popupsmart

Popupsmart is a no-code popup builder that allows you to create engaging popups in minutes for different business solutions, like increasing conversion, growing email lists, reducing cart abandonment, and more. 

Popupsmart is best known for creating customized pop-ups for a web page.

Key features

Popupsmart pricing

Notable alternatives: Poptin, WisePops, OptinMonster

4. Slack

The homepage of Slack

Slack is a communication platform for a digital workplace. No matter your business or industry, you can use Slack to communicate with your team, members, or even customers. Here are forms.app, we use Slack every day for work-related conversations. Plus, you don’t need to pay anything to get a great value out of it. And if you want more, you will know it’s worth it.

Slack is best known for being a workplace communication platform.

Key features

Slack pricing

Notable alternatives to Slack: Microsoft Teams, Discord, Mattermost

5. Upmetrics

The homepage of Upmetrics

Upmetrics is an AI-powered business planning app for small businesses and emerging startups. This easy and intuitive tool helps emerging entrepreneurs create stellar business plans, pitch decks, and financial forecasts using Advanced AI functionalities. It also helps with strategic planning and offers a bundle of free guides for business planning and growth.

Upmetrics is best known for AI-powered business plan writing and automated financial forecasting.

Key features

Upmetrics pricing

6. HubSpot

The homepage of HubSpot

HubSpot serves as an all-in-one marketing, sales, and customer service platform. Whether you are looking for a CRM, email marketing, or a sales tool, you will see Hubspot one way or another. They offer the whole package for businesses, whether it’s a startup or an enterprise. Of course, this comes with a little and most understandable cost.

HubSpot is best known for its comprehensive packages for marketing, customer service, and sales.

Key features

HubSpot pricing

Notable alternatives to HubSpot: Salesforce, Zoho CRM, ActiveCampaign, Marketo

7. Stripe

The homepage of Stripe

Stripe stands as an established player in the online payment processing arena. If you are looking for a way to collect online payments, billings, or subscriptions, Stripe is a go-to tool for you. At forms.app, for instance, we offer payment collecting features in your forms, and you can do this by connecting your account to, yes, you’re right, Stripe.

Stripe is best known for collecting online payments and making subscriptions easier.

Key features

Stripe pricing

Notable alternatives to Stripe: PayPal, Square, Braintree

8. Usersnap

The homepage of Usersnap

Usersnap is a tool that you can use to get real user feedback and bug reporting for your startup. This is especially useful if you run a SaaS startup. But you can also get value for any type of website. 

Usersnap is best known for gathering feedback and bug reports from users.

Key features

Usersnap pricing

Notable alternatives to Usersnap: BugHerd, Sentry, Instabug

9. Figma

The homepage of Figma

In the 2010s, anyone would say the best-known and most used design tool belonged to Adobe. In 2023, well… It’s the same. Because Adobe saw that they could not beat Figma at creating, testing, and sharing designs, so they decided to buy it, for $20 billion! This should give you an idea about how Figma captured the designers in a storm. And all is for a reason. 

Figma is a great design tool, especially for UI and UX designs, and it is best known for its real-time collaboration features and easy-to-use interface.

Key features

Figma pricing

Notable alternatives to Figma: Adobe XD, Sketch, Photoshop

10. Zapier

The homepage of Zapier

Whether you want to connect the tools you use or want your users to connect your tool with others, Zapier is the ultimate automation solution. It eliminates repetitive tasks and allows integration across your digital tools. Plus, you can even use its AI feature to automate the automation. 🛠️

Zapier is best known for simple no-code integrations.

Key features

Zapier pricing

Notable alternatives to Zapier: Make, Microsoft Power Automate, IFTTT

Here's ready-made templates to see how Zapier works:

11. Grammarly

The homepage of Grammarly

Grammarly started as a grammar-checking app, but it grew into a much bigger tool. If you are writing emails, web content, or anything at all, you can use Grammarly to fix grammatical errors, misspelled words, and punctuation. 

What’s more, you can use Grammarly to learn how your writing sounds like and get personalized suggestions. More recently, you can now use Grammarly's AI feature, Grammarly GO, to re-write sentences, analyze content, or write an entire copy.

Grammarly is best known for fixing grammar mistakes and giving you suggestions for better content.

Key features

Grammarly pricing

Notable alternatives to Grammarly: ProWritingAid, Word.ai, Hemingway App

12. Notion

The homepage of Notion

Notion is a tool that started off great and followed this up with awesome. With a promise to revolutionize how people take notes, Notion developed into an all-in-one workspace for creating and tracking notes, tasks, and databases. It’s one of the best free business tools for startups right now. You can always use Notion for your personal use to start taking notes or use it for your startup to manage projects and documentation.

Notion is best known for its simple and versatile uses for many purposes (From note-taking to habit tracking and planning to project management).

Key features

Notion pricing

Notable alternatives to Notion: Onenote, Evernote, Trello, Confluence

13. Udemy

The homepage of Udemy

While Udemy is not technically a tool, it is a great education platform where you can find comprehensive courses. Plus, everything is a tool if you know how to use it. Whether for personal growth or professional development of your team, Udemy provides valuable knowledge at your fingertips.

Udemy is best known for its detailed and countless courses that will help your team get new skills.

Key features

Udemy pricing

Notable alternatives to Udemy: Skillshare, Coursera, Udacity

14. GoDaddy

The homepage of GoDaddy

You have quite a few options for web hosting services. GoDaddy is a powerhouse in web hosting and domain registration. With GoDaddy, you can easily find the perfect domain name, build a professional website, and host it without worrying a dime.

GoDaddy is best known for domain registrations and web hosting services.

Key features

GoDaddy pricing

Notable alternatives to GoDaddy: Namecheap, Bluehost, Wix

15. Mailchimp

The homepage of Mailchimp

Email marketing is almost a must for every business nowadays. Mailchimp is the main champ in the email marketing area. It helps businesses manage their mailing lists, create custom emails, and automate their email campaigns. Plus, it has great integrations with other tools (like forms.app 🥳).

Mailchimp is best known for creating targeted email campaigns.

Key features

Mailchimp pricing

Notable alternatives to Mailchimp: Constant Contact, Sendinblue, ConvertKit

16. Miro

The homepage of Miro

In the Startup phase, you need lots of ideas and filter them correctly. Miro offers an online whiteboard for your team to use together. It’s super user-friendly, and you can create everything from agile workflows to design thinking sessions. In addition, it’s one of the best startup tools for free. We use it all the time for brainstorming all the time here at forms.app.

Miro is best known for creating mind maps and workflows.

Key features

Miro pricing

Notable alternatives to Miro: Lucidchart, Mural, Conceptboard, Jamboard

17. Google Workspace

The homepage of Google Workspace

Without online “office” tools, this list would be lacking. Google Workspace is a suite of cloud-based apps powered by Google. It includes Gmail, Docs, Drive, Calendar, and everything in between. If you have a remote working team, using Google Workspace or its alternatives will make things so much easier for you.

At forms.app, having a cloud-based solution is a must for us, so we use Google Workspace tools each and every day.

Google Workspace is best known for offering essential office tools that every business needs.

Key features

Google Workspace pricing

Notable alternatives to Google Workspace: Microsoft 365, Zoho Workplace

18. Google Analytics

The homepage of Google Analytics

You must have already heard that “Data is king.” You just know that’s just so true, especially if you are starting out. Only with proper data and understanding can you develop an effective marketing strategy and user experience. Google Analytics is a web analytics service that tracks your website and creates reports. 

It's an essential tool for marketers and business owners to understand customer behavior, evaluate the performance of content and campaigns, and drive data-driven decisions.

Google Analytics is best known for gathering and analyzing website data, such as traffic, conversions, and more.

Key features

Google Analytics pricing

Notable alternatives to Google Analytics: Mixpanel, Matomo, Clicky, Microsoft Clarity

19. Product Hunt

The homepage of Product Hunt

If you are looking for a way to get recognition and find new users who are enthusiastic about your startup, Product Hunt is the way. Product Hunt is a community-driven platform where new technology products are showcased and discovered daily. 

From entrepreneurs to tech enthusiasts and, of course, to investors, everyone visits here to find the latest innovations, give feedback, and connect with the makers.

Product Hunt is best known for showcasing online products and services.

Key features

Product Hunt pricing

Free to launch products ✅

Notable alternatives to Product Hunt: Indie Hackers, BetaList, Launching Next, Founders Network

20. Fiverr

The homepage of Fiverr

For startup founders, using the existing workforce effectively is more important than anything else. As a startup, you need to get things done and get things done fast. That’s where outsourcing comes in. Fiverr is a freelance hiring platform that makes it easy to find suitable people for your job. From graphic designers to voice actors, you can find anyone for a specific job.

Fiverr is best known for finding and hiring freelancers online.

Key features

Fiver pricing

Notable alternatives to Fiverr: Upwork, Freelancer, PeoplePerHour 

21. Canva

The homepage of Canva

Whether you want to create a poster, mockup, business card, social media post, or any other design, Canva can help you do it without any complex process. Canva is an online design tool that every marketer or designer can use in their marketing campaigns.

Canva is best known for offering a vast library of templates and a simple way to design assets.

Key features

Canva pricing

Notable alternatives: Adobe Express, Visme, VistaCreate

22. Social Champ

The homepage of Social Champ

To remove all the hassles and make things much easier, Social Champ can be your savior. With a vibrant UI and sleek user dashboard, the tool allows you to post all your content across nine major social media platforms, including Mastodon. You can easily create content, schedule posts, and track the performance of all your social media profiles using platform-specific metrics.

Social Champ is best known for managing multiple social media platforms with a unified dashboard.

Key features

Social Champ pricing

Notable Alternatives to Social Champ: Hootsuite, Buffer, SocialPilot

23. Hubstaff

The homepage of Hubstaff

Imagine having a powerful tool at your fingertips that streamlines your workforce management and earns accolades like the Forbes Best of 2023 award. Meet Hubstaff! Whether you're a small startup or a global enterprise, Hubstaff's pricing structure is designed to accommodate the unique needs of businesses across various industries.

Key features

Hubstaff pricing

Notable alternatives to Hubstaff: Toggl, Time Doctor, RescueTime

How can I choose the right tools for my start-up?

While there are many tools that can be commonly used by startups, you have to consider that every startup is unique and has its own needs. So, you need to first identify what is your needs and what you are trying to solve. For example, if you are looking for a tool for customer support, you need to search CRMs and find the one that suits you the best. Here’s a quick list of what you need to consider when choosing tools for startups:

Final words

All in all, startups need the right tools to create the right environments for their teams. Today, you can easily find many free online business tools to make things easier for you. Just make sure not to go overboard and use only the ones you need. 

In this article, we have covered twenty tools for startup founders and employees, explained how you can use them, listed their pricing details, and given some alternatives to them so you can look up them before choosing a tool. If you find this content useful, make sure to check out our other blog posts and give forms.app a try!