The Top 10 Best Apps for Business on a Budget

Everyone likes saving money! That’s why we’ve compiled a list of our best apps for business owners that won’t burn a hole in your back pocket, but can help you run your business more efficiently.

Here are our top picks for the best apps for business owners:

The 10 best apps for business owners on a budget

1.Google Drive – ‘The forgotten one’

Google Drive provides a comprehensive suite of helpful business and personal functions. Create documents, spreadsheets, presentations – you name it!

The Pros:

• Live cloud-editing allows for easy correspondence and collaboration
• You get 15GB of free storage with your Gmail account
• Syncs across your emails, within your organisation, or even publicly

If you haven’t tried this underrated platform yet, you’re missing out!

Cost: Free for 15GB, $1.99 per month for 100GB, a terabyte of online storage for $9.99 a month.

2. Hootsuite – ‘For the social savante’

As ever-increasing numbers of consumers turn their attention to their screens, businesses of all sizes are having to up their social media game. Hootsuite delivers a powerful punch in the fight to keep your brand front-and-centre in the minds of your target audiences.

• Integrating with most major platforms
• Gather content
• Schedule posts
• Report on and manage the entirety of your online presence
• All from one convenient location.

Available on iOS, Android, PC and Mac.

Cost: Free version available, with packages starting from $9.99 per month for additional features.

3. FreshBooks – ‘The money mogul’

FreshBooks is an easy-to-use, certifiably-secure platform that allows you to track:

• Invoices
• Expenditure
• Projections
• And much more…

Still not convinced?
Try it for yourself with a 30-day free trial and decide if it’s right for your business.

Available on iOS, Android and online.

Cost: $15 / $25 / $50 a month, depending on the number of clients you have.

4. Skype – ‘That tune stuck in your head’

The ‘videoconferencing king’ has held its own in an oversaturated market, Skype affords you the opportunity to talk to clients or employees from anywhere with an internet connection.

Available across iOS, Android, PC and Mac

Cost: Whilst credits can be purchased to make phone calls, Skype to Skype calling remains free of charge and a viable way of staying connected.

5. Mailchimp – ‘Build your brand. Sell more stuff.’

This robust email automation software is a perfect way to get that newsletter out to your clients, keeping them up-to-date on your latest projects, new products and anything else you can think of!

The iOS and Android apps allow you to report on campaigns performance and respond to any client queries that come through while you’re away from your computer.

Cost: Creating a free account gives you 2000 free subscribers. Packages with unlimited subscribers and additional features start at $10 a month.

6. Expensify – ‘Expense reports that don’t suck!’

This business app is a great tool for those whose businesses have them coming and going with a need to report expenses regularly.

Collate all your expenses on the go with Expensify:

• Scan receipts
• Apply for reimbursement
• Report on expenditure outside of the office

Cost: The app is free to the end user, however, the person responsible for approval (or reimbursing) will incur a cost of $5 per submitter, per month.

7. Asana – ‘Spend less time on guesswork. And do more great work’

One of the ‘founding fathers’ in project coordination software, Asana’s streamlined interface makes for smooth project and team management.

Track your team’s (or an individual’s) progress on the go and collaboratively work towards deadlines.

Available on iOS and Android

Cost: The free version of this best app for business project management allows for up to 15 team members and basic functionality. Thereafter, packages start at $9.99 per member.

8. Wix – ‘Create your own beautiful website’

Not all of us are HTML-coding wizards capable of typing our online presence into fruition. That’s where helpful sites like Wix step into the equation.

• Easy to use, drag and drop interface
• Get online in a matter of days
• Without the need to outsource
• Easily add anything from copy to video
• Start taking advantage of the worldwide access a website provides

Cost: Packages starts at $4.50 per month, going up to $24.50 for the VIP package.

9. Prezi – ‘Designed for people who aren’t designers’

This interactive presentation software aims to reinvent the art of presentations, making it easier than ever before to create engaging slides with audience tracking built in.

The Pros:

• Know who is viewing and where they’re engaging most at the click of a button
• No design skills required
• Their expansive library is optimised to help you get your message across in the most concise way

Cost: Their most popular package gives you unlimited presentations, advanced features, offline access and downloadable presentations for $15 per month.

10. Dropbox – ‘the no-brainer’

Dropbox helps keep all of your files organised and accessible from virtually any location on earth, perfect for backing up your business’ important documents.

The Pros:

• File sharing made easy through simple folders structures
• Available across a multitude of platforms including iOS, Android, PC and Mac
• This cloud-based storage system is a universal way to interact with clients and teams

Cost: Basic (free) accounts come with 2GB of space. Paid packages with more storage space start from $9.99 a month.

See? The best apps for business need not cost the earth. With the technology of today, enterprise-grade applications can now make it easier to do business and get ahead of the competition.

For more business services and savings, get in touch with a Smarter Business consultant today.