Running a small business often means spinning many plates. You’re the marketer, the finance manager, the customer service rep and the CEO all rolled into one. So it’s no surprise that having the right tools can make a huge difference to your productivity and your profits.
We’ve rounded up 10 of our favourite apps and platforms of small business tools, for business owners who want to streamline their workflows, collaborate with their team (or freelancers), and automate the repetitive stuff that eats away at your day.
Every small business tool here is something we’ve used, tested, or added to our Toolbox because it genuinely makes running a business easier.
If you’re still tracking leads and clients in a spreadsheet, it’s time to level up. Capsule is a brilliantly intuitive customer relationship management (CRM) tool designed specifically with small businesses in mind.
It helps you manage contacts, sales pipelines, tasks, and even email marketing all in one place. The dashboard gives you a real-time view of what’s happening, and the automation features are perfect for saving time and boosting consistency. Whether you’re nurturing leads, managing repeat customers or selling services, it keeps your communication organised and on track.
Asana is one of the best productivity small businesses tools for juggling multiple projects and deadlines. It’s great for visualising workflows, assigning tasks, setting reminders and keeping things on track. Whether you’re a team of two or ten, Asana makes collaboration easy and gives you a clear view of who’s doing what (and when).
You can break work into boards, lists or timelines depending on how your brain works, and use templates to speed up recurring tasks. It’s also easy to integrate with other tools like Slack, Dropbox and Google Drive.
If you sell digital products, courses or even one-off services, Thrivecart is a brilliant all-in-one business management platform. It lets you create high-converting checkout pages, handle VAT, offer upsells and even build a simple affiliate programme.
We use it ourselves to manage product sales and love how easy it is to customise and launch offers quickly. Plus, it plays nicely with tools like ConvertKit, Teachable and Xero — so your systems can stay connected behind the scenes.
We’ve used Xero for years, and honestly, we wouldn’t go back. It’s perfect for small business owners who want to stay on top of their finances without getting lost in spreadsheets.
With features like automated invoicing, expense tracking, payroll and real-time financial dashboards, Xero is a solid choice for any modern business. You can connect your bank account for seamless reconciliation and collaborate with your accountant directly in the platform. It also integrates with other tools in this list — which keeps your business operations streamlined.
➡️ Visit Xero
Trello is a more visual, card-based project management tool that’s brilliant for brainstorming, content planning or organising client work. You can move tasks through custom stages like “To Do,” “Doing,” and “Done,” and colour-code them by priority or team member.
It’s especially helpful for small teams or solo business owners who want a flexible way to manage tasks without getting too bogged down in complexity. It’s also perfect for marketers and creatives managing editorial calendars or client deliverables.
If you work with freelancers or want to better understand how your time is spent, Full Scope is a great time tracking and business productivity tool. You can track hours across different clients or projects, set rates, and keep an eye on billable time.
The dashboard helps you see how productive your days really are, and it’s particularly useful if you’re thinking of raising your rates, building a more accurate pricing structure, or simply noticing what’s taking up too much of your energy.
We’re big fans of Slack for team messaging. It’s quick, intuitive and helps cut down on messy email chains. You can set up different channels for projects, clients or topics, and integrate with tools like Trello or Google Calendar.
It’s also useful for working with contractors or collaborators, letting you message, share files, and keep updates all in one place. Plus, it’s searchable. So you’ll never lose that important message again.
➡️ Try Slack
Notion is incredibly powerful for keeping everything in one place. Business plans, content calendars, meeting notes, SOPs… you name it. It’s like a combination of a document editor, project management tool and database all rolled into one.
We use it to plan launches, map out business ideas, and create internal templates we can duplicate for future tasks. If you’ve ever wished Google Docs was just a bit smarter and more visual, Notion’s your tool.
➡️ Try Notion
You don’t need to be a designer to create professional-looking graphics for social media, websites or emails. Canva makes it easy to drag and drop your brand colours, fonts and photos into templates designed for every platform.
We use it daily for marketing content and visual assets. Whether it’s Reels covers, Pinterest pins or email graphics, Canva helps you show up online looking polished, without the price tag of a full design team.
From Gmail to Google Docs, Sheets and Drive, Google Workspace is essential for many small businesses. It allows easy file sharing, real-time collaboration, and secure document storage.
We love that you can co-edit in real-time, leave comments, and access everything from any device. Whether you’re onboarding a new team member or sharing resources with a client, it keeps your documents clean, professional and easy to access.
➡️ Get started with Google Workspace
There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to small business tools for productivity and profit. The best tools are the ones that support yourway of working and help you feel more in control. Whether you want to simplify your admin, stay better connected with your team or automate your client onboarding, these tools can provide the foundation to grow.
Want to see everything we use and recommend? Head over to our Toolbox for more productivity and business tools we genuinely love.
And if you’re just starting out, our Starter Kit will help you build strong foundations with tools, templates and tips to get you set up right from the start.
