Key takeaways
- Buy for jobs, not categories. A small company needs a place to talk, a place to write things down, a list of customers, a way to answer them, a way to email them and something to connect it all.
- Start on free plans, but know which limit you'll hit first. Message history, seats, subscribers and automation runs are the usual ones.
- Pay when a limit costs you time or money, not when a sales email says so. Review every subscription each quarter and cancel what nobody opened.
- Pick tools that connect to each other and let you export your data. Switching later is cheap only if you can get out cleanly.
- Our starter stack is Slack, Notion, HubSpot CRM, Tidio, MailerLite and Zapier. Each covers one job well, all have free plans, and they connect without a developer.
The first software decisions in a company are usually made in a hurry. Someone needs to share a file, so there's a Google Drive. A customer emails, so it goes to a personal inbox. A year later there are twenty-three subscriptions, three places to look for the same document and a credit card statement nobody wants to read.
Early October is when many small companies plan next year's budget, which makes it a good time to set the stack up properly. This guide covers the jobs a one-to-ten person company actually needs software for, how to use free plans without getting stuck, when to pay, and the stack we'd start with.
Why startup software bills get out of hand
- Tools bought for a single task. Each one is cheap, and together they're not.
- Seats nobody uses. Former contractors and people who logged in once still count.
- Overlap. Two tools for notes, two for tasks, three places where customer conversations live.
- Annual plans bought too early. The discount looked good before you knew whether the tool would stick.
- Lock-in. Data that's hard to export makes switching expensive, so you keep paying.
The fix isn't a cheaper tool. It's a short list of jobs, one tool per job, and a habit of reviewing them.
Step 1: List the jobs, not the categories
Write down what the company needs to do each week, then pick one tool per job. For most small companies the list looks like this:
| Job | Start with | Pay when | Read more |
|---|---|---|---|
| Talk as a team | Slack free | You need history older than 90 days | Slack alternatives |
| Write things down | Notion free | Shared content outgrows the free limits | Notion or Confluence? |
| Track customers and deals | HubSpot CRM free | A third person needs access, or you need automation | Best CRM, best free CRM |
| Answer customers | Tidio free | Conversation volume or AI usage grows | Free customer service software |
| Email customers | MailerLite free | Your list passes the free limit | Best email marketing |
| Connect the tools | Zapier free | You need multi-step automations | Zapier, Make or n8n? |
| Invoices and books | Your accountant's choice | From the first invoice | QuickBooks alternatives |
| Pay people | Local payroll | From the first employee | HR and payroll software |
Projects, scheduling, video calls, forms, a website and analytics come next. Our guides to project management, scheduling, video calls, forms, website builders and privacy-friendly analytics cover them.
Step 2: Start free, and know your first limit
Free plans are built to be useful for a very small team, and each has one limit you'll hit first:
- Slack: messages older than 90 days disappear from view.
- Notion: shared workspaces have content and history limits.
- HubSpot CRM: two users, with HubSpot branding on the free tools.
- Tidio: a monthly allowance of conversations and a one-off allowance of AI conversations.
- MailerLite: at the time of writing, 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month.
- Zapier: 100 tasks a month and two-step automations only.
Write the limit next to each tool. When you hit it, decide on purpose instead of clicking "upgrade" in a hurry.
Step 3: Pay when a limit costs you something
Upgrade a tool when its limit is costing time or money: lost Slack history you needed, a third salesperson who can't see deals, customers waiting because chats pile up. Upgrade that one tool, monthly at first, and switch to annual billing only once it has stuck for a few months.
A good rule: no annual plan until a tool has been used every week for three months.
Step 4: Connect the tools from day one
The stack works when information flows between tools without copy and paste:
- Website chat to CRM: new leads from chat become contacts. See connecting live chat to your CRM.
- Forms to email: sign-ups go straight into your email list.
- Everything to Slack: new deals, urgent support conversations and failed payments post to a channel.
Native integrations are best, and Zapier fills the gaps.
Step 5: Review every quarter
Keep a simple list: tool, owner, plan, monthly cost, renewal date, number of active seats. Every quarter, remove unused seats, cancel tools nobody opened, and check whether two tools now do the same job.
Common mistakes
- Copying a big company's stack. Enterprise tools need admins you don't have.
- Choosing by feature list. The tool your team actually opens beats the one with the longest list.
- Ignoring exports. Check you can get all your data out before you put it in.
- Personal accounts for company work. Use company email addresses, so access doesn't leave with a person.
- Letting customer conversations live in personal inboxes. Put them in a shared inbox from the first week.
A starter stack for a small company
One pick per job, in the order most small companies need them. We chose tools with a usable free plan, a clear upgrade path, good integrations and a clean way to export your data.
Slack is where a small team talks, shares files and gets notifications from every other tool. The free plan keeps 90 days of message history, connects up to ten apps and allows one-to-one huddles. Paid plans are billed per active user, so people who stop using it stop costing money.
Why we like it
- The integration hub for almost every other tool
- Free plan good enough for a new team
- Only active users count on paid plans
Watch out for
- Free history disappears after 90 days
- Easy to overuse, so set channel and notification rules early
Notion holds your company handbook, meeting notes, plans and simple task boards in one place. It is free for an individual, and a small team can start on the free plan with limits on shared content and a short page history. Paid plans are per member, with full Notion AI on the Business tier.
Why we like it
- Docs, wikis and lightweight projects in one tool
- Free guests for contractors and clients
Watch out for
- Shared workspaces outgrow the free plan quickly
- Needs some structure, or it becomes a messy attic
HubSpot's free CRM gives up to two users contacts, deals, a pipeline, email tracking and meeting links. It's the simplest way to stop losing leads in an inbox, and marketing and service tools share the same contact record when you need them. Paid tiers are per seat and climb as you add automation.
Why we like it
- Useful free plan for one or two people
- Grows into marketing and service without a migration
Watch out for
- Paid tiers get expensive as the team grows
- Free plan carries HubSpot branding and tighter limits
Tidio puts live chat on your website and brings chat, email, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp into one inbox, with Lyro, an AI agent that answers common questions from your help content. The free plan includes a monthly allowance of conversations, several seats and a one-off allowance of Lyro conversations to test it. Plans are billed by conversations rather than seats, which suits a small team where everyone helps with support.
Why we like it
- Website chat, social messages and email in one inbox
- AI answers for repeat questions, day and night
- Free plan with room for the whole team
- No developer needed to set up
Watch out for
- AI conversations are billed by volume, so model busy months
- Lighter ticketing than a full help desk for large, multi-department teams
MailerLite covers newsletters, sign-up forms, landing pages and simple automations at a low price. The free plan suits a first list of a few hundred subscribers, and paid plans are priced by subscriber count.
Why we like it
- Easy editor and good deliverability for the price
- Forms and landing pages included
Watch out for
- Free plan limits subscribers, emails and automations
- Less e-commerce depth than specialist tools
Zapier moves data between your tools without code, for example adding a new CRM contact from a form or posting new chat leads to Slack. The free plan runs simple two-step automations up to a monthly task limit, and paid plans are priced by tasks.
Why we like it
- Connects thousands of apps
- Fastest way to remove copy-and-paste work
Watch out for
- Costs grow with every task that runs
- Logic outside your apps needs documenting
A simple stack for the first year
- Week one: Slack and Notion for the team, with a page listing every tool and its owner.
- First customers: HubSpot CRM for leads and deals, and Tidio on the website so questions get answered quickly and land in one inbox.
- First newsletter: MailerLite, with a sign-up form on the site.
- First repetitive task: a Zapier automation to remove it.
- Every quarter: review the list, cancel what's unused, upgrade what's limiting.
Browse the index by category when you need a tool for a new job, or compare alternatives to Slack and alternatives to Notion.
Frequently asked questions
What software does a startup need first?
Team chat, a shared place for documents, a CRM or customer list, a way to answer customers, and email. Add accounting and payroll as soon as you invoice or employ people. Everything else can wait until a real problem appears.
Are free plans good enough for a startup?
For the first months, usually yes. Free plans are designed to be useful for one to three people, and each has one limit you'll hit first, such as message history in Slack or subscribers in MailerLite. Upgrade the tool whose limit costs you time, not all of them at once.
How much should a small startup spend on software?
There's no fixed rule, but a team of five can run on mostly free plans plus a few paid seats. The bigger risk is many small subscriptions nobody reviews. List every tool with its owner and renewal date, and check it each quarter.
Should I buy an all-in-one suite instead?
Suites such as Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 cover email, documents and calls well, and you'll probably want one. For CRM, support and marketing, specialist tools are usually easier and cheaper to start with. Pick ones that integrate with your suite.