Small businesses move fast. You close deals, ship products, and solve problems while bigger companies are still scheduling meetings about scheduling meetings.
But speed means nothing if you’re using the wrong tools. The best apps for small businesses make work easier, faster, and more profitable. 📈
Here are the small business apps that deliver on this promise.
15+ Best Small Business Apps to Simplify Your Work
- Best Apps for Small Businesses at a Glance
- What Should You Look for In Small Business Apps?
- The Best Small Business Apps
- How we review software at ClickUp
- 1. ClickUp (Best for project management and collaboration)
- 2. Zoom (Best for remote team meetings)
- 3. Square (Best for mobile payment processing)
- 4. QuickBooks (Best for small business accounting)
- 5. Expensify (Best for expense report automation)
- 6. BambooHR (Best for employee information management)
- 7. WordPress (Best for flexible website creation)
- 8. Wix (Best for visual website building)
- 9. Canva (Best for quick graphic design)
- 10. Sortly (Best for visual inventory organization)
- 11. Google Analytics (Best for website performance tracking)
- 12. Wave (Best for budget-conscious accounting)
- 13. Hootsuite (Best for social media scheduling)
- 14. Grammarly Business (Best for professional writing)
- 15. Calendly (Best for appointment scheduling)
- 16. TripIt (Best for travel itinerary management)
- 17. Mailchimp (Best for email marketing campaigns)
- You Could Use Five Apps…Or Just ClickUp
Summarize this article for me pleaseBest Apps for Small Businesses at a Glance
Here’s a quick comparison of the top small business apps. 📊
| Tool | Best for | Best features | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| ClickUp | Project management and collaboration Team size: Suitable for all business sizes | AI-powered task management, docs, time tracking, automations, CRM, dashboards, chat, templates | Free forever; Customizations available for enterprises |
| Zoom | Remote team meetings and webinars Team size: Ideal for distributed teams and client calls | HD video, breakout rooms, screen sharing, meeting recordings | Free; Starts at $15.99/month per user |
| Square | Mobile point-of-sale and payments Team size: Ideal for retail and small restaurant businesses | POS, inventory, invoice creation, sales analytics | Free; Starts at $29/month (+ processing fees) |
| QuickBooks | Small business accounting and bookkeeping Team size: Ideal for solo entrepreneurs to mid-sized firms | Invoicing, bank sync, expense tracking, cash flow reports | Starts at $19/month |
| Expensify | Automated expense management Team size: Ideal for field teams, finance teams, and frequent travelers | SmartScan receipts, reimbursements, approval workflows | Starts at $5/month per user |
| BambooHR | Employee information and HR management Team size: Ideal for growing teams with HR needs | Employee self-service, time-off tracking, onboarding tools | Custom pricing |
| WordPress | Flexible website creation Team size: Ideal for SMBs needing custom websites | Custom themes, plugin ecosystem, SEO tools | Free; Paid plans start at $9/month |
| Wix | Visual drag-and-drop website building Team size: Ideal for founders and creatives | AI site builder, templates, e-commerce tools | Free; Paid plans start at $17/month |
| Canva | Quick graphic design Team size: Ideal for marketing, social media, and internal design needs | Templates, brand kit, Magic Resize, collaboration | Free; Paid plans start at $15/month per user |
| Sortly | Visual inventory tracking Team size: Ideal for product-based SMBs and service ops | Photo-based inventory, barcode scanning, alerts | Free; Paid plans start at $49/month |
| Google Analytics | Website traffic and user insights Team size: Ideal for businesses with online presence | Traffic sources, engagement, conversions, dashboards | Free |
| Wave | Budget-conscious accounting Team size: Ideal for freelancers and small service providers | Bank sync, receipt scanning, invoicing, reporting | Free; Paid plan at $16/month |
| Hootsuite | Social media scheduling and insights Team size: Ideal for marketing teams and agencies | Scheduling, analytics, brand monitoring, integrations | Starts at $149/month |
| Grammarly Business | Professional writing and tone consistency Team size: Ideal for distributed and content-heavy teams | Grammar suggestions, brand tone, plagiarism detection | Free; Paid plans start at $30/month per user |
| Calendly | Appointment and meeting scheduling Team size: Ideal for client-facing teams and solo professionals | Time zone syncing, calendar integration, reminders | Free; Paid plans start at $12/month per user |
| TripIt | Travel itinerary management Team size: Ideal for travel-heavy roles or consultants | Real-time flight alerts, auto-itinerary from emails | Free; TripIt Pro at $49/year |
| Mailchimp | Email marketing campaigns Team size: Ideal for SMBs with e-commerce or newsletter needs | Automation, segmentation, templates, analytics | Free; Paid plans start at $13/month |
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat Should You Look for In Small Business Apps?
Running a small business is a hustle, and the right apps can lighten the load. Here’s what to prioritize to boost efficiency and growth:
- Streamlined task management: Track time spent on tasks with deadlines, team assignments, priorities, and time estimate features
- Robust data security: Protect sensitive business data with encryption and GDPR or SOC 2 compliance
- Real-time analytics: Access customizable reports to monitor sales, expenses, or performance metrics
- Customer management: Track client interactions and history to personalize your CRM process and improve retention
- Mobile accessibility: Manage operations on the go with small business apps that offer reliable, feature-rich mobile versions
- Time-saving automation: Automate repetitive tasks like email marketing or inventory updates for workflow optimization
🔍 Did You Know? Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are the backbone of economies across the globe. They make up over 90% of all businesses, contribute around half of the total value added, and generate more than two-thirds of business employment.
Summarize this article for me pleaseThe Best Small Business Apps
These are our picks for the best small business apps. 📋
How we review software at ClickUp
Our editorial team follows a transparent, research-backed, and vendor-neutral process, so you can trust that our recommendations are based on real product value.
Here’s a detailed rundown of how we review software at ClickUp.
1. ClickUp (Best for project management and collaboration)
Most small teams deal with the same problem: too many tools, not enough time.
ClickUp keeps it simple. It’s the everything app for work, built to replace your scattered stack into a Converged AI Workspace so your team can get things done.
ClickUp gives you the full project management toolkit—powered by AI and built for small teams.
Make work easier to follow
Small teams often work on instinct, but that only goes so far. ClickUp Tasks help you lay out every project step-by-step. You can assign owners, set due dates, and track progress.
Then, use ClickUp Custom Fields to tailor tasks to how you work—add fields like client name, content type, or review stage. And with ClickUp Task Priorities, your team knows what to tackle first.
Example: Running a client newsletter? Create tasks for drafting, design, and approval. Add a Custom Field for the client name (“Maple & Co.”), tag the content type, set the priority, and everyone knows exactly what’s next—no chasing updates.
Know where the hours go
It’s hard to scale if you don’t know where your team’s time is going.
With ClickUp Project Time Tracking, you can log time directly in the task (manually or with a timer) and then sort it by person, client, or project.
Say you run a branding studio. If you’re consistently spending 14 hours on logo concepts when you only scoped for 10, that’s a problem. The project management software for small businesses helps catch those patterns early and adjust before they affect your margins.
Get all your AI tools in one place
ClickUp Brain lets you switch between multiple AI models, such as Claude, OpenAI, and Gemini, in one space, so you get the power of all three without the extra subscriptions.
For example, a sales manager preparing for a weekly check-in asks ClickUp Brain to summarize all tasks tagged ‘demo scheduled’ and ‘follow-up pending’. The AI pulls a clean, ready-to-share update showing which leads need attention and which ones are moving forward.
If you’re working across devices, ClickUp Brain MAX brings the same AI power to your desktop—complete with Talk-to-Text for hands-free note-taking, task creation, or idea capture. Imagine dictating your next client brief or campaign update, and ClickUp instantly turns it into a formatted Doc or Task. No context lost, no typing needed.
For busy founders and teams juggling calls, meetings, and deliverables, this keeps creativity and documentation flowing—without breaking focus.
Keep your docs close to work
Processes, SOPs, and notes shouldn’t live in random folders. ClickUp Docs keeps everything organized and easy to use.
You can draft documents, link them to tasks, assign action items, and keep everything connected to the work—not lost in a separate tool. And if you’re starting from scratch, ClickUp Brain can help you create content faster.
For example, a training lead creating a new onboarding guide uses ClickUp Brain to generate the first draft based on tagged tasks and existing docs.
Keep conversations in context
Messages don’t get lost when they live inside the work. In ClickUp, chat threads stay attached to the task, doc, or client project, so decisions don’t disappear into 9 different apps.
ClickUp Chat keeps your conversations connected to the task or project they’re about. Create channels for each List and turn key messages into Tasks so nothing gets missed.
For instance, if your customer support team spots a trend in refund requests, they can drop it into the client chat thread, tag finance and product, and spin it into a task for next week’s review.
ClickUp best features
- Automate repeat work: Set up ClickUp Automations to trigger actions like task assignments, status changes, or follow-ups without manual effort
- Monitor goal progress: Break work into measurable targets using ClickUp Goals so teams stay focused and aligned
- Create subtasks automatically: Let ClickUp Brain create action items from Docs and Tasks so nothing gets missed during reviews
- Plan your week smartly: Auto-schedule tasks with ClickUp Calendar and use AI-powered time blocking to protect deep work hours
- Get a bird’s-eye view: Build ClickUp Dashboards to track workload, task progress, and time logs in one place
- Turn responses into Tasks: Create ClickUp Forms to collect client inputs, requests, or updates and send them straight into your workflow
- Track your entire pipeline in one spot: Use ClickUp’s CRM features to manage contacts, follow-ups, and deal status without leaving your workspace
- Bring your favorite tools along: Connect apps like Google Drive, Zoom, and Outlook using ClickUp Integrations
- Start fast with built-in workflows: Launch common projects, Docs, or recurring processes in just a few clicks with ClickUp Templates
ClickUp limitations
- The project management software offers deep customization, but that means it can take a while to structure your workspace in a way that makes sense for your team
ClickUp pricing
free forever
Best for individual users
Free Free
Key Features:
60MB Storage
Unlimited Tasks
Unlimited Free Plan Members
unlimited
Best for small teams
$7 $10
Everything in Free +
Unlimited Storage
Unlimited Folders and Spaces
Unlimited Integrations
business
Best for mid-sized teams
$12 $19
Everything in Unlimited +
Google SSO
Unlimited Message History
Unlimited Mind Maps
enterprise
Best for many large teams
Get a custom demo and see how ClickUp aligns with your goals.
Everything in Business +
White Labeling
Conditional Logic in Forms
Subtasks in Multiple Lists
* Prices when billed annually
The world's most complete work AI, starting at $9 per month
ClickUp Brain is a no Brainer. One AI to manage your work, at a fraction of the cost.
ClickUp ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (10,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (4,000+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about ClickUp?
Per a G2 review from a small business owner:
🧠 Fun Fact: The Small Business Administration was created in 1953 to fund businesses and defend them legally. Its original mandate included helping small firms win government contracts against larger competitors.
2. Zoom (Best for remote team meetings)
via Zoom
Remember when video calls meant pixelated faces and ‘can you hear me now?’ moments? Zoom changed that completely.
The interface feels intuitive enough that even your most tech-averse team member can join without a crisis. And well, what sets this small business collaboration app apart is how it handles interruptions gracefully. When someone’s connection drops, they can rejoin seamlessly without disrupting the entire meeting flow.
Zoom best features
- Host webinars and large meetings with up to 1,000 participants while maintaining video quality
- Record meetings directly to cloud storage so team members can catch up on discussions they missed
- Create breakout rooms during large meetings to split participants into smaller groups for focused discussions and team exercises
- Share specific applications, whiteboards, or multiple screens simultaneously during presentations
Zoom limitations
- Free plan cuts off meetings at 40 minutes when more than two people join
- Video quality drops noticeably during peak usage times or when internet connections are unstable
- Early versions of Zoom faced “Zoombombing” security issues, but most have been resolved. Still, companies in finance, healthcare, or legal often require additional security layers
- Advanced features like cloud recording and administrative controls require paid subscriptions
Zoom pricing
- Basic: Free
- Pro: $16.99/month per user
- Business: $21.99/month per user
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Zoom ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.6/5 (55,500+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (14,000+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Zoom?
According to a G2 review:
📮 ClickUp Insight: 31% of managers prefer visual boards, while others rely on Gantt charts, dashboards, or resource views.
But most tools force you to pick one. If the view doesn’t match the way you think, it just becomes another layer of friction.
With ClickUp, you don’t have to choose. Switch between AI-powered Gantt charts, Kanban Boards, Dashboards, or Workload View in a single click. And with ClickUp AI, you can auto-generate tailored views or summaries based on who’s looking—whether it’s you, an exec, or your designer.
💫 Real Results: CEMEX sped up product launches by 15% and cut communication delays from 24 hours to seconds using ClickUp.
3. Square (Best for mobile payment processing)
via Square
Your smartphone just became a cash register, and Square made it happen. This payment system turns any mobile device into a point-of-sale terminal, perfect for businesses that need to accept payments anywhere.
The little white card reader might look simple, but it’s designed to handle the chaos of real-world transactions. Square also eliminates the traditional headaches of merchant accounts and complicated fee structures by keeping everything transparent and straightforward.
Square best features
- Accept chip cards, contactless payments, and mobile wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay using compact card readers that connect to smartphones or tablets
- Track real-time inventory levels across multiple locations and receive automatic alerts when products are running low or out of stock
- Access detailed sales analytics that show peak sales times, popular products, and customer purchasing patterns
- Send professional invoices through email or text message with automated reminders for overdue accounts
Square limitations
- Processing fees range from 2.6% to 3.5% per transaction, which can impact profit margins for high-volume small businesses
- Limited customization options for receipts, invoices, and customer-facing materials
- Customer support response times can stretch during busy periods
Square pricing
- Free (+ processing fees)
- Plus: $29+/month (+ processing fees)
- Premium: Custom pricing (+ processing fees)
Square ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.6/5 (155+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (315+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Square?
From a G2 review:
💡 Pro Tip: Consider small business apps that play well with others. A fancy app that doesn’t integrate with your accounting tool, CRM, or email platform will cause more headaches than it solves. Look for native integrations or support for Zapier/Make.
4. QuickBooks (Best for small business accounting)
via QuickBooks
QuickBooks became the go-to choice for small businesses because it strikes the right balance between powerful features and usability.
With this app, you can send professional invoices, track who’s paid you (and who hasn’t), and keep an eye on your expenses. It connects to your bank accounts, so your transactions show up automatically, saving you time on manual entry. You’ll also get easy-to-read reports to get a clear picture of your financial health without drowning you in technical jargon.
QuickBooks best features
- Automatically import and categorize bank transactions from connected accounts while identifying duplicate entries and flagging unusual spending
- Design customizable invoices featuring your branding, payment terms, and automated late payment reminders sent via email or postal mail
- Compile real-time financial reports, including profit and loss, balance sheets, and cash flow summaries
- Integrate with over 650 third-party applications, including payment processors, inventory management systems, and customer relationship management tools
QuickBooks limitations
- Learning curve can be steep for users without an accounting background or bookkeeping experience
- Customer support quality varies significantly between subscription tiers, with basic plans receiving limited assistance
- The mobile app doesn’t always sync instantly with the desktop version, which can cause reporting delays for teams working on the go
QuickBooks pricing
- Simple Start: $19/month
- Essentials: $28/month
- Plus: $40/month
- Advanced: $76/month
QuickBooks ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.0/5 (290+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.3/5 (8,120+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about QuickBooks?
A G2 review states:
📖 Also Read: Best Affordable Small Business Database Software
5. Expensify (Best for expense report automation)
via Expensify
Expensify makes expense reporting almost painless. This app recognized that nobody wants to sort through receipts at the end of the month, so it flipped the process entirely. Instead of batching everything together, you handle expenses as they happen.
The magic happens when your manager can approve expenses while waiting for lunch, and reimbursements appear in your account without anyone touching a spreadsheet or chasing down signatures.
Expensify best features
- Scan receipts using your smartphone camera to extract merchant information, dates, amounts, and tax details
- Calculate distances and apply IRS-approved mileage rates for reimbursement using GPS location
- Build layered approval workflows that direct expenses to the right manager or department based on type and amount
- Pull in corporate card transactions and pair them with submitted receipts to prevent duplicate entries
Expensify limitations
- Receipt scanning accuracy decreases with crumpled, faded, or handwritten receipts, requiring manual interference
- Limited customization options for expense categories, approval workflows, and reporting formats
- Mobile app crashes occasionally when processing large batches of receipts or during peak usage periods
- Integration capabilities depend heavily on existing accounting software and may require technical setup
Expensify pricing
- Collect: $5/month per user
- Control: Custom pricing
Expensify ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.5/5 (5,395+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (1,135+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Expensify?
One Redditor writes:
6. BambooHR (Best for employee information management)
via BambooHR
BambooHR’s small business app puts your team’s info right where you want it. Pull up contact details, time-off requests, and more in seconds. Everything’s organized, easy to find, and ready when you are.
Here’s what makes it work. New hires can ease into their onboarding without feeling rushed or overwhelmed. Managers get friendly nudges about birthdays, anniversaries, and review dates (because let’s face it, we all forget sometimes). And when someone needs to check their PTO balance or update their emergency contact? They just do it. No forms to fill out, no waiting around for someone to get back to them.
BambooHR best features
- Organize employee information into digital profiles with contact details, job history, performance records, and document storage accessible to authorized personnel
- Automate onboarding processes with customizable checklists that guide new hires through paperwork, training modules, and introductions to team members
- Draft compliance reports for equal employment opportunity (EEO), worker safety, and other regulatory requirements using built-in templates and data filters
- Empower employees with self-service portals to update personal information, view pay stubs, access company policies, and enroll in benefits
BambooHR limitations
- Payroll functionality is basic and may require additional integrations
- Customization options for workflows, fields, and user permissions can be restrictive
- Users report that everyday tasks like generating offer letters or updating pay changes still involve several manual steps
BambooHR pricing
- Custom pricing
BambooHR ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.4/5 (2,600+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (3,065+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about BambooHR?
From a Reddit post:
🧠 Fun Fact: In 1946, after World War II, returning U.S. veterans started thousands of small businesses using the GI Bill. This led to one of the largest entrepreneurial booms in American history and reshaped Main Street economies.
7. WordPress (Best for flexible website creation)
via WordPress
WordPress powers the majority of websites because it’s flexible enough for anything: blogs, storefronts, membership sites, or full-scale business platforms.
This platform gives you complete control over your website’s appearance and functionality without locking you into rigid templates. What started as a blogging platform evolved into a complete website solution that can handle everything from simple business sites to complex e-commerce stores.
There’s a learning curve, but the payoff is a website that grows with your business rather than limiting it.
WordPress best features
- Customize your website with professionally designed themes, built-in editors, or custom CSS for unique branding
- Extend website functionality using over 60,000 plugins for e-commerce, SEO optimization, contact forms, social media integration, and analytics
- Optimize content for search engines using built-in SEO tools and plugins that analyze keyword usage, meta descriptions, and page performance
- Scale websites from simple blogs to complex business platforms with multiple user roles, membership areas, and e-commerce capabilities
WordPress limitations
- Regular updates for core software, themes, and plugins require ongoing maintenance and compatibility checking
- Plugin conflicts can cause website crashes, security vulnerabilities, or functionality issues
- Hosting requirements and costs vary significantly depending on website traffic and feature requirements
WordPress pricing
- Free
- Personal: $9/month
- Premium: $18/month
- Business: $40/month
- Commerce: $70/month
- Enterprise: Starts at $25,000/year
WordPress ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.4/5 (2,570+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (15,070+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about WordPress?
Someone on Reddit shares:
8. Wix (Best for visual website building)
via Wix
Wix appeals to people who think visually and want to see exactly how their website will look while they’re building it. The drag-and-drop interface feels natural; you position elements exactly where you want them, adjust colors and fonts in real time, and preview everything instantly.
This small business app has also removed the technical barriers that traditionally made website creation intimidating for non-developers.
Wix best features
- Browse hundreds of professionally crafted templates sorted by industry, business type, and style, with simple tools to customize each one
- Adapt your website seamlessly for mobile and tablet viewing through responsive design that adjusts layouts automatically
- Add full e-commerce capabilities like product listings, shopping carts, secure payments, and inventory tracking to support online sales
- Leverage Wix ADI to instantly build a complete website tailored to your brand, using your business info and design preferences
Wix limitations
- Template changes require rebuilding the entire website from scratch since designs are template-specific
- Limited customization options compared to self-hosted solutions and restricted access to website code
- Advanced features like e-commerce capabilities and premium apps require expensive subscription upgrades
- SEO capabilities are basic and may not meet requirements for competitive industries
Wix pricing
- Free
- Light: $17/month (billed annually)
- Core: $29/month (billed annually)
- Business: $39/month (billed annually)
- Business Elite: $159/month (billed annually)
Wix ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.2/5 (1,725+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (10,400+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Wix?
A G2 review highlights:
🔍 Did You Know? Most small businesses with employees have a team of around 12 people—small but mighty.
9. Canva (Best for quick graphic design)
via Canva
Graphic design used to require expensive software and years of training. Canva has changed that equation by making professional-quality design accessible to anyone with an internet connection.
Their marketing tools are perfect for anyone to create professional-looking graphics in minutes. Need a social media post? A flyer? A presentation? Just pick a design project management template and make it yours. What makes Canva special is how it balances simplicity with professional results. You can create something that looks polished without spending hours on it.
Canva best features
- Explore millions of stock photos, icons, illustrations, and design assets included in your plan
- Collaborate with team members on design projects using real-time editing, commenting, and approval workflows
- Maintain brand consistency across all designs using custom color palettes, font selections, logo uploads, and brand guideline templates
- Resize designs automatically for different social media platforms, print formats, and marketing channels using Magic Resize
Canva limitations
- Advanced design features like background removal, premium templates, and brand kits require paid subscriptions
- Template customization options can be limited for complex design projects requiring precise control over elements
- Export quality may not meet professional printing standards for high-resolution marketing materials
- Stock photo and graphics licensing terms can be restrictive for certain commercial uses and resale applications
Canva pricing
- Free
- Pro: $15/month per user
- Business: $20/month per user
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Canva ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (4,500+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (12,865+ reviews
What are real-life users saying about Canva?
As shared on Reddit:
10. Sortly (Best for visual inventory organization)
via Sortly
Inventory management doesn’t have to involve endless spreadsheets and barcode scanners. Sortly uses photos to help you see what you have and where it’s located, which makes more sense than trying to remember cryptic product codes.
The AI tool for startups appeals to visual learners who prefer seeing their inventory rather than reading about it. You can organize items however makes sense for your business, whether that’s by location, category, or project.
Sortly best features
- Capture barcodes and QR codes to instantly add items, adjust quantities, and monitor stock movement across locations
- Trigger low-stock alerts that send email or push notifications when inventory falls below your set limits
- Build in-depth inventory reports with cost breakdowns, movement logs, and valuation summaries that sync with your accounting tools
- View inventory data across devices (even offline) for seamless access during warehouse or field operations
Sortly limitations
- Limited ability to adjust templates, folder colors, or add images to folders hampers flexible visual organization
- Less suited for operations needing manufacturing support, demand forecasting, BOMs, or complex reporting
- The mobile app is helpful for quick lookups, but bulk actions still require a desktop, which is not ideal for teams updating inventory in batches.
Sortly pricing
- Free
- Advanced: $49/month
- Ultra: $149/month
- Premium: $299/month
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Sortly ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.4/5 (20+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (945+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Sortly?
On Capterra, a user wrote:
💡 Pro Tip: Make feedback part of your tool stack. Once a month, ask your team: ‘Which app is annoying you most right now?’ One tweak or swap can unblock hours of hidden friction.
11. Google Analytics (Best for website performance tracking)
via Google Analytics
Your website might be getting visitors, but Google Analytics tells you the story behind those numbers. It goes beyond simple visitor counts to reveal how people use your website.
You can see which pages keep people engaged, which ones make them leave immediately, and what path they take through your site. The real value comes from understanding visitor behavior patterns that help you make smarter decisions about content, design, and marketing investments.
Google Analytics best features
- Identify traffic sources and marketing channel effectiveness, including organic search, paid advertising, social media, and referral sites
- Break down audience demographics like age, gender, location, interests, and device usage to better understand your visitors
- Monitor website performance metrics like page load times, server response times, and mobile usability issues that affect user experience
- Define custom conversion goals for your small business and enable e-commerce tracking to monitor signups, downloads, or sales
Google Analytics limitations
- Interface complexity can overwhelm new users with too many options and technical terminology
- Data sampling affects accuracy for high-traffic websites, potentially skewing important metrics and trends
- Privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA limit tracking capabilities and data collection in certain regions
Google Analytics pricing
- Free
- Google Analytics 360: Custom pricing
Google Analytics ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.5/5 (6,465+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (8,140+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Google Analytics?
Someone on G2 shares:
🔍 Did You Know? According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 95% of small businesses use at least one tech platform to keep things running smoothly.
12. Wave (Best for budget-conscious accounting)
via Wave
Wave makes the money side of running a business way less stressful and, dare we say, kind of satisfying? Send off polished invoices, link your bank account to track what’s coming and going, and see where your cash stands without clicking through 15 tabs.
It also organizes your expenses for easy sorting and generates basic reports like profit and loss, sales tax, and account balances.
Wave best features
- Connect bank accounts and credit cards for automatic transaction import and categorization using machine learning algorithms
- Track business expenses using mobile receipt scanning that extracts vendor information, amounts, and tax details automatically
- Process customer payments through integrated solutions, such as credit cards, bank transfers, and online payment options
Wave limitations
- Customer support options are limited to email and online resources without phone support or live chat
- Advanced features like inventory management, project tracking, and multi-currency support are not available
- Some users have experienced unexpected account closures and payment issues
- No bulk editing features
Wave pricing
- Free
- Pro: $16/month
Wave ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.3/5 (295+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (1,695+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Wave?
From a Reddit discussion:
📖 Also Read: How to Find a Business Mentor for Entrepreneurs
13. Hootsuite (Best for social media scheduling)
via Hootsuite
Hootsuite’s marketing app for small businesses helps you stay ahead of the conversation with real-time social listening across 150+ million sources, including blogs, forums, and podcasts. Spot brand mentions, track sentiment, and filter the noise with AI-powered tags and custom alerts, so you only get what’s relevant.
When it’s time to post, you can bulk schedule content, preview everything in a visual calendar, and publish across Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and more.
Hootsuite best features
- Review post performance with detailed metrics, such as engagement rates, reach, impressions, and click-through rates across all connected platforms
- Coordinate with your team through approval workflows, role-based permissions, and shared content libraries to keep messaging consistent
- Monitor competitors and industry trends with tools that uncover growth opportunities and benchmark performance against similar businesses
Hootsuite limitations
- Free plan limits users to three social profiles and 30 scheduled posts per month
- The dashboard can feel crowded and unintuitive
- Instagram posting capabilities are limited due to platform restrictions, requiring additional steps for certain content types
Hootsuite pricing
- Free trial
- Standard: $149/month per user
- Advanced: $399/month per user
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Hootsuite ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.2/5 (6,230+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (3,800+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Hootsuite?
A review from Reddit reads:
🧠 Fun Fact: Zara began as a small clothing store in Spain called Zorba. When the owner realized there was a bar nearby with the same name, he scrambled a few letters and renamed it Zara. That rebrand helped launch one of the world’s most agile fashion empires.
14. Grammarly Business (Best for professional writing)
via Grammarly
Running a small business means writing a lot—emails, proposals, social posts, team updates. Grammarly Business helps you sound sharp every time. It spots awkward phrasing, grammar slips, and inconsistent tone before you hit send, so you don’t have to slow down to double-check everything.
It’s also reliable for building stronger writing habits across your team. The suggestions are easy to follow and useful. Your brand voice stays consistent, communication gets clearer, and everything feels a little more professional without extra effort.
Grammarly Business best features
- Ensure consistency across team communications and marketing materials by customizing the brand tone and style guide
- Evaluate team writing with detailed reports highlighting frequent errors, progress patterns, and overall effectiveness metrics
- Detect plagiarism and maintain content originality using comprehensive database comparisons for all written materials
- Unlock advanced writing support with suggestions for richer vocabulary, better sentence flow, and tailored readability for specific audiences
Grammarly Business limitations
- Free users often experience aggressive prompts and locked suggestions—sometimes, even basic corrections are gated behind paywalls
- Grammarly can be overly aggressive, enforcing concise or active‑voice phrasings that don’t match the intended tone
- The intrusive floating widget can obscure text and annoy users; there’s no simple toggle to disable it
Grammarly pricing
- Free
- Pro: $30/month per user
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Grammarly ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (10,525+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (7,200+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Grammarly Business?
Based on a Capterra review:
💡 Pro Tip: Pick small business apps that grow with you. Look for flexible pricing, upgrade paths, and features that support your next stage. You don’t want to rebuild your systems every time you add a new hire or service.
15. Calendly (Best for appointment scheduling)
via Calendly
Scheduling shouldn’t take five emails and a calendar check. Calendly makes it easy for people to see when you’re free and book a time that works for both of you.
It also takes care of the boring stuff like confirmations, reminders, and calendar updates. You stay in control of your schedule without needing to manage every step. All that’s left is to show up prepared.
Calendly best features
- Integrate seamlessly with Google Calendar, Outlook, and other calendar systems to prevent double-booking
- Collect attendee information through customizable intake forms that gather relevant details before meetings begin
- Handle time zone conversions automatically for global scheduling while displaying meeting times in each participant’s local time zone
Calendly limitations
- The free plan limits users to one calendar integration and basic appointment types without advanced customization
- Some users encounter scheduling bugs, occasional booking page failures, or calendar sync/integration issues (particularly Outlook)
- Not HIPAA-compliant by default, so medical or mental-health providers can’t rely on it without disclaimers or controls
Calendly pricing
- Free
- Standard: $12/month per user
- Teams: $20/month per user
- Enterprise: $15,000/year
Calendly ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (2,395+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (4,000+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Calendly?
A G2 review about this small business app says:
🔍 Did You Know? More than 50% of small business owners say they’re working longer hours now than they did last year.
16. TripIt (Best for travel itinerary management)
via TripIt
Business travel involves managing multiple bookings, confirmations, and itineraries, making TripIt essential for frequent travelers. This app automatically creates organized itineraries from emailed confirmations for flights, hotels, and rental cars.
The small business app provides real-time flight updates, gate changes, and delay notifications. TripIt also tracks loyalty program points, expense categories, and travel patterns. It works offline, ensuring access to important travel information even in areas with limited connectivity.
TripIt best features
- Forward email confirmations from airlines, hotels, and rental car companies to automatically create comprehensive travel itineraries
- Receive real-time flight updates for gate changes, delays, cancellations, and alternative flight options via push notifications
- Categorize costs for flights, hotels, meals, and ground transportation for business reporting
- Share detailed itineraries with colleagues, assistants, or family members who need access to your travel plans and contact information
TripIt limitations
- Advanced features like seat tracking, fare alerts, and alternative flight options require the expensive Pro subscription
- Automatic itinerary creation occasionally misses booking confirmations or fails to parse complex travel arrangements
- Limited integration with corporate travel management systems and expense reporting software
- Expense tracking capabilities are basic compared to specialized business expense applications
TripIt pricing
- Free
- TripIt Pro: $49/year (billed annually)
TripIt ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (40+ reviews)
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
What are real-life users saying about TripIt?
Hear it from this Reddit user:
17. Mailchimp (Best for email marketing campaigns)
via Mailchimp
Email marketing remains one of the most effective ways to reach customers, and Mailchimp makes campaign creation accessible to businesses of all sizes.
This app offers drag-and-drop email builders, small business templates, and automation workflows. Mailchimp also provides detailed analytics about open rates, click-through rates, and conversion tracking.
Mailchimp best features
- Segment audiences based on demographics, purchase behavior, email engagement, and custom fields for highly targeted messaging
- Automate email sequences like welcome series, abandoned cart recovery, birthday campaigns, and post-purchase follow-ups that trigger based on customer actions
- Integrate with e-commerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento for personalized product recommendations and automated marketing campaigns
Mailchimp limitations
- Free plan limits subscriber count to 2,000 contacts and restricts advanced automation features
- Template customization options can be restrictive for complex email designs requiring precise control over layout and styling
- Customer support quality varies significantly across subscription tiers, with basic plans receiving limited assistance
- Advanced features like multivariate testing, advanced segmentation, and detailed reporting require expensive premium subscriptions
Mailchimp pricing
- Free
- Essentials: $13/month
- Standard: $20/month
- Premium: $350/month
Mailchimp ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.3/5 (5,295+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (17,560+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Mailchimp?
A G2 review puts it this way:
🔍 Did You Know? 73% of Gen Z and 75% of Millennials say they’d be more likely to shop at small businesses if the experience was as convenient as shopping at major retail chains.
Summarize this article for me pleaseYou Could Use Five Apps…Or Just ClickUp
The best small business apps don’t pile on features for the sake of it. They make work easier, help teams stay focused, and replace the constant context switching.
ClickUp does exactly that.
You can plan projects, chat with your team, draft content in Docs (with a little help from AI), and even track time without leaving the platform. Need to follow up with a lead? Set up a quick CRM view. Want to skip the repetitive stuff? Automations have your back.
It’s everything you need, minus the chaos. 🌪️
Why wait? Sign up for ClickUp today! ✅
Everything you need to stay organized and get work done.
