Undoubtedly, companies today compete in a complex, changing context, with more and more things to pay attention to. It is because of that, es imprescindible el uso de software que nos ayude. For that, here is a list of the best free programs for companies and businesses. With them we will optimize the administration of various important areas of our company.
And it is that the times in which we could manage clients "by hand", or accounting without a specific application, are long gone.
Como siempre y cuando elaboro una lista (ya ocurrió con los mejores CRM gratis para empresas), las condiciones para aparecer aquí son:
- I have used them personally and they are useful In day to day.
- They are free or have a generous enough free version or account and useful for a small entrepreneur to take advantage of.
- There is no financial interest nor hiding by recommending any of these free programs for businesses. No one has paid or will pay to appear.
- I have not wanted to give a thousand options in each area, but only the best, screening the rest. This will help prevent us from getting caught up in a "paradox of choice" (in other words, the more options we have, the less we do, because we waste time analyzing and trying to choose between too many alternatives).
- Some they can be in english. It is the sign of the times, the best free programs for companies today are in that language, even when great knowledge is not necessary and there are also many options in Spanish.
Having said that, we are going with the best free programs for companies in my experience, divided into areas.
Free comprehensive business management programs
I will not deny that one of the great challenges of these applications is that, although they do everything in one place and avoid the fragmentation of using several functions, they are usually not the best in anything specific.
Above all In the billing and accounting sections, as it is necessary to adapt to the law of each country, it will not be enough to carry this part of the business only with the integral application or ERP.
However, these free comprehensive management apps are the best I've tried, in my opinion.
1. Flowlu, my choice for a long time
I already mentioned that I used Flowlu at post sobre CRM gratis. Pero Flowlu es mucho más que administración de clientes y puedes administrar (casi) toda la actividad con esta aplicación.
Includes sections of:
- Task and project management, including methodology Agile.
- Administration of income and expenses of those projects.
- CRM and contact management and leads.
- Billing, budgeting and even financial administration.
- Company knowledge management.
- Messenger service.
In short, a lot and good for a free ERP / Comprehensive Administration application. The disadvantage? English if we do not master it, even when it does not need too much knowledge.
And the fact that billing and financial administration should be done with a tool adjusted to Spanish law (or the country where we are).
With a free account for the first two users, it is ideal for those self-employed or micro-companies who want to manage everything in a single centralized place and in an intuitive way.
2. Bitrix, controlling everything and everyone
Bitrix is a free ERP program that encompasses almost everything. It includes:
- Collaboration and communication between workers and members of the business (including documents and HR).
- Project and task management (pointing to the cart of the kanban how good a result it has given, as an example the Trello).
- CRM e inclusive algo de marketing, como a modo de ejemplo poner un chat en tu Web y captar más leads.
Bitrix es un veterano que he usado intermitentemente. Su verdadero poder se muestra cuando hay varias persons trabajando con él. Como casi siempre he sido un freelance lonely with one-off collaborations and certain delegated tasks, it is too big for me.
But for businesses with several people in the team it is useful and suitable, while your free account is sufficient for many small businesses
Billing and accounting programs
I will not deny that I have spent a lot of time looking for good billing software and, to be honest, I use a paid service.
Among the free, online applications do not fundamentally stand out and most have limitations too strict to be truly useful.
No soy un abogado de lo gratis, muchos servicios y aplicaciones que uso las he contratado de pago. En el caso de facturación y contabilidad, probablemente be una de esas cosas en las que queramos invertir.
That being said, here are the free business programs that I find make billing and accounting easier.
3. MGD Administration, a veteran, Windows only
Considering that it is the operating system used by the majority who read this, I comment on MGD Administration. At the same time, it is the program that I used when I started, so many years ago, and it is still there. It is undoubtedly something to praise.
Enables unlimited free billing and accounting according to Spanish regulations.
4. InvoicesCloud, free cloud billing
Si vive en el browser la mayoría del tiempo y prefiere aplicaciones web, quizás quiera probar InvoicesCloud.
It is the free billing program that seems most generous.
5. Contasimple, invoicing and accounting for free, if you don't do too many invoices
The third option to highlight is ContaSimple. It has a no-cost plan, even though it is quite limited.
However, for those who make few invoices (50 maximum per year) to few clients (10 maximum) for the sale of few products (5 different maximum), it can be a good fit.
BONUS
After having tried everything, these are the 20 necessary applications that are used in Resources for SMEs. To manage clients, marketing, projects, etc.
DOWNLOAD DOCUMENT
Email marketing programs
It does not matter that our proposal is very focused on the Internet, if we are not employing email marketing, we are neglecting the most profitable medium feasible.
An instant message, practically free and that is more effective than social networks, pay-per-click ads, etc? It's crazy not to use it.
Even when we don't sell anything online, email marketing is great for deepening customer engagement and getting them to buy from us again.
And, of course, used as "cold email", email is also a great tool for finding new customers.
That is why we should have a list (complying with all data protection regulations, etc., needless to say) and use an email marketing tool.
These are the ones I have tried, they have a generous free account and I highly recommend them.
6. Mailchimp, the leading email marketing application
What can I say? Mailchimp It is the best known of these applications and its free account is generous enough.
Free of charge up to 2,000 contacts, he is undoubtedly a leader for a reason and the first that we should try.
7. Mailerlite, a good alternative to Mailchimp
Mailerlite is another free application for marketing companies via email. At least free up to a list of 1,000 users and a sending limit of 12,000 emails per month.
I tried it at the time when there was confusion about the European regulation of Safe harbor and I still use it in some proposal. Very similar in features to Mailchimp, it is always good to have another alternative.
8. MailRelay, la aplicación de marketing por correo electrónico gratis más generosa
The key to recommend Mailrelay is that it is the most generous choice of free email marketing program. In reality, this free plan makes it possible to manage up to 15,000 contacts and send up to 75,000 emails per month.
Until a while ago, what kept me back personally was its interface, tremendously outdated and, so different from the usual, that it became complicated and not very intuitive.
But that has changed.
They have finally modernized it, therefore, easier use, together with such a generous cost-free plan, make it ideal for those with more contacts And at the same time they want to save with free email marketing programs.
Free CRM programs
Ya dediqué todo un contents a los 12 mejores CRM gratis que hay. Lo ideal para quien busca el más adecuado es leer el análisis que hice.
However, of those 12 options I am going to stay here with 3. It is not because I think that they are the best in all cases, but the 3 that best suit the majority and where I recommend starting.
9. Hubspot CRM, el CRM gratis más generoso
Hubspot is a leading marketing company that, to attract customers, offers its CRM and applications online for free. You can store contacts, activities, etc in a way unlimited.
At the same time, being so generous, it is widely used, which has made it a standard when being compatible with other services and applications, What Gmail.
In short, it should be the first option to try, to see if it fits with our way of working.
10. Streak CRM, for those who live in Gmail
If the majority of relationships are by email, and at the same time you centralize it in Gmail like me then maybe Streak be the free CRM program you want to take a look at.
Its free version makes it possible to have the basic CRM features and some other tool, at the same time as the sales funnels you need, without leaving your email page.
That's why if you live in Gmail for much of your customer relationships, maybe Streak is a better fit than Hubspot. Another plus point is that it integrates with the Gmail cell phone application.
11. Zoho CRM, an alternative to Hubspot CRM
If Hubspot doesn't quite fit in for whatever reason, and you intend to separate email management from customer management, then I'd say Zoho CRM It is the free client management program that you should try next in your company.
Your plan is free of charge for up to 3 users and it has the essential basic features for any small and medium-sized company. Mind you, onboarding with email is not as good as the previous two options.
The free account is a bit hidden. Go here to select the free version more easily and compare what specific features it has.
Free task management programs
I won't deny that, it's 2019 already and I haven't found the "perfect" task management program yet. Or at least the one that fits in such a way that you use it constantly and without changing to another.
These free programs to manage tasks in our business are ideal for freelancers and small businesses.
Even though some are very good at managing larger projects, and even collaborating with other people on the team, they tend not to have as many benefits in that regard as specific project management programs.
In other words, for a majority who read this, free task management programs will be enough for your business. But if the management of large projects is essential and we manage large teams, we must take a step towards the section of free project management programs.
12. TickTick, the best in my opinion
What can I say? If there is a free task management program that looks like the ideal (for the way I work) it is TickTick. And I can guarantee that I have tried them all.
I'm actually guilty of procrastinating trying and trying new free business programs when they were out. I suppose it's a way of wasting time that you can more easily justify as "work."
TickTick has a forgettable name, but very good benefits on your free account. You will be able to manage tasks, group them by projects, set reminders ... It has web applications, for PC and cell phone ...
In short, even though many of these task management applications are very similar in performance, it seems to me that TickTick is the one that best implements them.
13. Asana, the free task (and project) management program with hundreds of fans
Asana is a task management program, with a free version that will meet the needs of the business 90% read this.
At the same time, it has a lot of fans and is one of those shows that has become standard and leader.
Personally I have used it and it was more than good. Even though I cannot say that in my case it was the most suitable, or that it amazed me, I admit that friends, colleagues and hundreds of users swear by it.
14. Wunderlist, the veteran who does not fail
Wunderlist is a veteran of free task management programs, now owned by Microsoft. At the same time, time and time again it has won awards for the best task management app.
I remember using it many years ago and coming back from time to time. It certainly still has that distinctive look and a ton of great free features. Therefore, if for whatever reason the previous two applications do not convince you, do not hesitate to try Wunderlist.
15. Google Calendar, mi elección actual
I will not deny that the Google calendar It is what I currently use the most, because, in my case, the most effective task management is given by an administration around dates and times.
I lock time on the calendar and follow it. At the same time as that way of managing, again there is the reason that I am quite involved in the Google application ecosystem.
That is neither better nor worse than being in Microsoft or Apple, but obviously it makes incorporation with the rest of the programs I use, such as Gmail, better.
Project management programs
Repeatedly, these free project management programs in a company take care of managing the broad perspective of what we have seen in the previous chapter.
As project management programs also manage tasks, in some cases they can make those earlier programs irrelevant.
Having said that, here are the best free business project management programs.
16. Trello. The undisputed leader and a free program that every business should use
Undoubtedly, Trello is one of the best application to manage projects. Actually managing projects is just one of the things you can do, as Trello users (myself among them) use it for almost everything.
Through a method in the style kanban you can manage whateverThere are those who use Trello as CRM and who also use it to manage knowledge or almost any part of the business.
The ability to collaborate, add images, files, comments, etc, while having mobile applications for Android and iOS, make it the best of the free programs to manage projects and businesses. Its cell phone application, by the way, is excellent and allows you to work better than it seems.
17. Clickup. Excellent free project management app
Clickup it is one of the most recent discoveries I have made. It serves to manage projects and tasks the way you like it, adapting to the way you work.
With traditional to-do list views, calendar (integrated with Google calendar, which is ideal in my case), and a dashboard view kanban Trello style, it is highly recommended.
You can set goals, determine a portfolio most importantly, integrate with services like Dropbox or Google Drive ...
Your free account allows 100 megabytes of storage, but unlimited users and projects. At the same time, it also has desktop and cell phone applications for almost every operating system.
Programs to carry out a business plan
I'm not going to cheat, there aren't many options to make one completely free and useful. Actually, that is exactly why in Resources for SMEs we made one and released it for everyone.
18. ES Company Plan, free business plan software
What can we say? If there had been a lot of good free company plan software options we wouldn't have had to make one of our own to help out on the job.
But we had to do it and the result is ES Company Plan.
At the same time, it brings a practical approach based on a method that works, based on the experience of all these years.
100% free of charge, for Windows and Mac, is used as a company plan program in universities that teach with it, at the same time that it has already helped hundreds and hundreds of entrepreneurs who have downloaded it for free.
Team management and collaboration programs
Communication between teams and company members ... That trail of emails, with copies to everyone, those documents that are in one email and another, but you don't know which is the final version ... All that should belong to the past and is what these programs intend.
If you work with more than one person, use them. Seriously, even with clients. It is incredible how useful they are, allowing a fluid conversation, eliminating noise and those contradictory versions of events and documents.
Sadly, the 99% of the clients I work with still use the classic "Email it to me in Word."
Anyway.
De veras que valen la pena, imagine un WhatsApp para empresas con capacidad de crear canales o grupos con los implicados y nada más, al mismo tiempo de poder hacer otros para noticias, anexar documentos…
19. Slack, el líder de los programas de comunicación para negocios
Slack is the king of free real-time business communication and collaboration software and it's no wonder. Forget once and for all the hateful emails with copies to twenty people involved, who immediately do not know where they are going because everyone answers, but you do not know what or who is doing it.
Slack is a free communication and collaboration application for companies that, with its chat system, channels for the different projects in which to put those who work in them and bots to automate tasks, will allow you a fluid collaboration and communication.
At the same time, it has an excellent incorporation with the Google suite, which makes it possible for document collaboration to be flawless as well.
20. Flock, an alternative to Slack
For those of you who don't fundamentally fit Slack, you can take a look at Flock.
It simply offers very similar features, with a very generous free account, up to 10 gigs of storage and the opportunity to search the last 10,000 messages.
21. Tipi, business communication without the need to be online all the time
Teepee is another free program for companies of this style, where communication is asynchronous.
That eliminates one of the drawbacks of these applications, the need to always be connected, that addiction to react and respond in the moment, which kills productivity and, repeatedly, does not give the best answer.
With Tipi, you have time to think about that answer well and communication remains clear.
At the same time, it also serves as a knowledge manager for the company, an important chapter that we will also see.
Free office automation software
Microsoft Office is the queen of office automation and it does not look like that is going to change in the short term, really.
Admittedly, Excel is unbeatable and Word and PowerPoint are standard. But there are excellent free programs for business office automation, beyond the well-known Libre Office (a good alternative).
22. Google's office suite
Google Docs it is the program that I use personally for documents. Why? Because it enables me to better collaborate with clients.
Undoubtedly, the Google Docs collaboration alternatives are the most advanced and simple. At the same time, together with the spreadsheet and presentation applications, it forms a simple, minimalist and pleasant to use suite.
23. OnlyOffice, a free alternative to Microsoft Office very similar
For those who are not very convinced of using Google Docs (even when it works offline it's decent) exists OnlyOffice.
Simply is the closest thing to Microsoft Office with respect to interface and also has excellent compatibility. OnlyOffice is a free program with versions for the main operating systems.
Free note-taking programs
The best ideas are also generally the most fleeting, that is why you have to catch them in the moment or they will go forever. The same happens with the need to write down what is important in a presentation or in the book we are reading.
That is why, it seems to me essential that a business uses note-taking applications. Here are the free programs for companies of this style that convince me the most.
24. Google Keep, my personal choice
Google Keep is my personal choice of free note-taking program, when these have to be fast, how to dump that unforeseen thought that you do not want to forget.
Especially, it is my pick on the cell phone. With support for voice memos, checklists, images, labels, and even notes on hand if we have a pen for a cell phone or tablet, Google Keep isn't perfect, but over and over again it's the one I end up using.
25. Microsoft One Note, the free note-taking program loved by hundreds of users
Personally, I have not gotten to the point, but I recognize its power and that it has become one of the best free note-taking software.
Especially if you use the rest of the Microsoft Office suite, with OneNote he is going to be at home. Legions of fans swear by him and defend that he is the best.
In my case, it doesn't suit my way of working too much, but I understand that for many others it will be just what they want, which is why it deserves to be on this list of the best free programs for companies.
26. Dynalist, Note Taking and Schematic Development
This is a beast of a different category. Dynalist is a free application that not only will allow us to save ideas and notes, rather, it is a tool that is used to create diagrams and develop, in a hierarchical and organized way, the idea that we are writing down or that we have saved before.
Making these diagrams allows us to work in an intuitive way if we have to structure anything: a report, a presentation, any writing or document ...
You can work online from the web or download your free programs for any operating system, while also having free mobile applications.
Free knowledge management programs
We go one step further than the above. Knowledge management is essential in any business. The core of my own activity is summed up in those three words, but it is not only suitable for a business like mine.
Today it is key in any company, whatever it does.
What guidelines should sellers follow? What is the process for a return? Who to turn to when a specific question arises? All that knowledge must be documented and achievable in one place for the people who work in the company. At the same time, it must be easily searchable.
Otherwise, the dance of emails begins, confusion and inefficient communication, where you do something because someone told you, but then someone else corrects saying that it is not the stipulated way to do it.
And what is that?
With a knowledge management system in the company you can go and look without a doubt, those questions are no longer asked, that time is no longer wasted and the costs caused by confusion are not available.
27. Notejoy, my personal choice
This is my personal choice for taking longer notes and, in general, managing knowledge (from my own content to interesting posts that I find and save in Notejoy to read or work later).
Your free account is generous enough to be useful on a day-to-day basis, and I especially appreciate your cell phone app and Chrome plug-in, which is a must for me today when doing topic research.
It is also true that I took advantage of a very good offer and used their payment service, but it is because I liked it. I find a very interesting free knowledge management program for professionals and freelancers like me.
28. Teamsight, a great free program that includes business communication
Another no-cost program that I have tried for team and company knowledge management is Teamsight.
Your free account makes it possible up to 3 members per "workspace" (You can create several spaces, as an example for marketing, management, etc.) and infinite teams and notes, but with a storage of 5 gigabytes in total and 5 megabytes of maximum size of the files you upload.
In short, useful for micro-businesses and recommended.
Other free programs for companies and businesses
At the same time of accounting, billing, clients and others, there are other areas of the business in which software to help us is essential.
That's why here are a few additional free business programs to help us.
29. Rescuetime, control where the time really goes
I have always said that personal productivity is an essential knowledge for any entrepreneur. And the reality is that, most days time passes, you don't know where it has gone and important projects still don't take a step forward.
One of the main measures against that is to control the time. Because as soon as you are careless, more is gone than it seems in social networks, email, aimless surfing the web and the like.
Rescuetime is an application that is used to automatically control how we use the hours. Your free account is adequate enough to be useful and your reports will open our eyes to a reality that we will not want to accept. We waste much more time than we think on low-value activities.
Especially if we are autonomous or freelancersWe will always want to control that time, both to bill it properly and not to lose it.
The first step to solve this is to be aware of reality and with Rescuetime we will have an ally. Undoubtedly one of the most useful free business programs out there.
30. Clockify, calculation of the time worked, free
Going a little further, if you perform a service and charge by time, or basically want to make better use of it, you require an application to control that time.
Of all the ones I have used, Clockify It is the one that has served me best. Undoubtedly, an excellent program with a generous free account, to see what time we dedicate precisely to each project or job.
31. FactorialHR, free Human Resources software
If our business has workers, Factorial HR is a Spanish application for human resources administration.
It does not include payroll, but it does include other useful things such as administration of vacations and absences, time control (now that it is mandatory), document administration, employee portal ...
And it's free 100% for an unlimited number of workers. Undoubtedly a good find.
32. Duplicati. Business data backups
If you don't have a backup of your data, your products, customers, etc., what you have is a huge problem.
That is why, the best investment a company can make is a software backups and the best free backup software is Duplicate.
You can schedule the copies for the time and day you want (if the PC is not turned on and the time passes, it does it as soon as it is turned on), say where they are going to be stored (it can be locally, in the cloud or another instance remote) ...
Anyway, you can restore the copies in case of disaster and, in general, it has all the alternatives, an intuitive interface and is for Windows, Mac and Linux.
You could not ask for more and that is why it is one of the best free programs for companies.
(* 35 *) 33. Google Drive, free program to work in the cloud
No, have a copy of the files in the cloud and automatically synchronize the changes not the same as having backup software. For this last I recommend Google drive.
The programs that make it possible to have files synchronized in the cloud are ideal for companies because you can work from wherever you want. If you have an Internet connection, you can access your files from your cell phone, tablet or PC. You can make changes and these are synced to the cloud.
That way, when you get to the office and turn on the PC, it is also synchronized and you can continue where you left off.
But if you accidentally delete a folder or several, those changes are synced and spread to all your devices. That way you run out of files. That is why you have to have a backup program (free or not), at the same time as a file synchronization program in the cloud.
Of all the free alternatives, Dropbox is the one that is best integrated and the one that works the best, but it is very restrictive: 2 gigs of free space and you can only install on 3 different devices.
If that works for you, Dropbox will be more reliable, in my experience, than Google Drive.
But considering everything, The best free cloud file syncing program goes for Google Drive. Con un client de escritorio que funciona «bien» (pero no tiene versión Linux) sus generosos 15 gigas gratis y el respaldo de Google lo hacen mi elección personal.
34. Airtable. The next evolution of Excel?
Airtable is an excellent free program for businesses that is difficult to establish since, like Trello, its users use it for practically everything.
And it is that in principle Airtable seems to serve as a kind of evolution of Excel in whose tables you can store the data you needBut exactly that flexibility is what makes it so useful.
Some use it as a CRM saving customer data, actions, etc. Some use it to manage projects, store information and also as a substitute for that Excel.
Forget the old boards, Airtable is the ultimate upgrade. Difficult to clarify in so few paragraphs, but highly recommended. Really.
35. Bonus: HabitBull, a program to control and work on your good habits
The results in the business will depend a lot on our personal productivity and this will almost always depend on our habits.
Positive habits, like contacting new people every day, working on important projects, and not getting distracted by social media, emails to nowhere, and other time wasters, etc.
A large part of the habits are unconscious and, that is why, to form new ones, we must make them aware, control them until they become strong and work on their own, such as brushing your teeth.
For that phase of creating positive habits, I recommend a free habit control application called Habitbull. We can carry it in our pocket, since it is free for Android and to ios.
Decida los buenos hábitos que quiere incorporar y controle la evolución con la app. Siendo conscientes de ellos, crecerán y se harán fuertes. Igual que los resultados de nuestra compañía.
So here they are, nothing less than 35 free programs for companies, really useful and that they will help us to obtain better results.
Apparently, you don't have to use all of them, but really, by following this list, you can have a huge arsenal of free programs for your company, truly efficient, that make life easier.
After all, I've spent more time than I should have testing and testing each tool in the sun.
BONUS
After having tried everything, these are the 20 necessary applications that are used in Resources for SMEs. To manage clients, marketing, projects, etc.
DOWNLOAD DOCUMENT
