Best Tools and Software for Startups to Build, Run and Grow a Business

Need tools to build, run and grow your startup? Of course you do! On this list, you'll find all the best web-based software and tools to skyrocket your

By Julie Navntoft

We Love Tools. Tools Are Awesome.

Luckily, there are so many great web apps out there that will help you optimize your work and make your startup journey faster, more powerful and way more fun. Like finding the right team members for your startup team, finding the best software can be tricky. It’s a jungle out there and there’s an overwhelming pool of things to choose from. But fear not! We’ve made a list of great software for startups and divided it into categories like productivity software, analytics tools and design platforms that are great to boost the work of entrepreneurs and startup teams. Get ready to slap inefficiency in the face. You're welcome!

Best Productivity Tools for Startups and Small Businesses

To reach your goals, you must stay productive. Raising your own and your team’s productivity level is essential if you want to build and grow your startup into a truly great business, as well as being really useful for working remotely. These productivity tools will help you get there: 

Best Tools for Web Development, Frontend Development and Backend Development

If you’re building a startup, chances are you will need to develop something techy. A website, an app, a game. There are a ton of helpful development tools you can use, depending on what you are building. No matter if you’re a professional programmer, a spare-time coder or have no idea what we’re talking about, we think these tools for developing can help: 

Great Conversation Rate Optimization and A/B Testing Tools for Startups

It’s all about turning potential customers into actual customers. In a fancy word, you need conversions. Optimizing and raising conversion rates is one of the single most important tasks and challenges you’ll face. How can you get more people to become customers? Testing, testing, 1,2,3. To build a website, a product and a business that works, you have to get to know your customers. You must learn their likes and dislikes, track what they react to and understand what they need. One way to explore what makes your potential customers tick is to do A/B testing. Here are some of our favorite CRO and A/B testing tools

The Top Data Analytics Tools for Businesses

Data is the best friend you’ll ever have in your startup. Understanding your audience is crucial. So you need to collect data in a structured way and you need to analyze that data continuously and excessively. Here are some of the very best data analytics tools for you:

The Best Online Form & Survey Tools for Your Startup

The best way to learn what people think is to ask. No matter if you’re still building your product or it’s already on the market, it’s important to know what your (future) customers think. What do they like? What don’t they like? How can you improve customer experience? All of these questions are important. By sending out forms and surveys, you can get first-hand knowledge from your audience. Here are some great tools for it: 

Top All-In-One Marketing Software and Tools to Build Growth

If no one knows that your life-changing product exists, it won’t change any lives. That’s why marketing is so important. In fact, your business won’t get very far without well-planned, engaging marketing efforts. Maybe that’s why there are so much marketing software to choose from. We’ve gathered the best marketing tools for you, so you can start creating some buzz:

Great Tools for Doing Market Research 

Collaboration and Communication Software for Businesses

No matter the size of your team, you’ll need to collaborate and communicate. Whether it be with team members, partners, investors, or customers through virtual phone software, you’ll want to ease the way you collaborate and communicate in-house and remotely. Here are a list of our favorite tools for collaboration and communication:

Best Tools for Prototyping Ideas and Products

Before you go ahead and spend all your money on building a product, make a prototype. With a prototype, you can show people the idea of your product and have them test it, before you invest your last penny into building it. Here are the best tools for designing mockups and prototypes: 

Best SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Tools for Startups

Search Engine Optimization is the holy grail of inbound marketing. Growing your business organically increases your chances of building a profitable and successful business. SEO is all about optimizing your website and content to be found on Google without spending a huge amount of money on advertising. Here are the top SEO tools to get you going:

Payment System Software for Startups and Small Businesses 

Can you feel it? We’re getting to the good stuff. Having a business, means making money. Hopefully. No matter what type of business you’re running, chances are you’ll need a tool to collect payments. Depending on your business and needs, these payment systems are worth a look:

Best Project Management Tools for Startups 

Being an entrepreneur, means being a project manager. Throughout your startup journey, you’ll manage a ton of projects, from launching your business to improving products, hiring people, doing marketing and much more, everything is a project. Being a great project manager requires structure and overview. Here are the best project management tools to help you run your business:

Finance and Accounting Tools for Startups and Small Businesses

Doing finances and administrative chores can drag the motivation out of most fast-paced entrepreneurs. Luckily, there is a ton of great software around to help you manage your accounting and do your finances. Here are the top finance and accounting tools: 

Tools for Web Hosting and Finding Domains

Your website needs a home and a name. That’s why web hosting and domain services exist. Here are some quality tools and services for web hosting and domains:  

The Best Design Tools for Entrepreneurs

These days, you don’t have to be a designer to design something. Luckily. While there’s no doubt a trained designer would do magic to your products, website and marketing material, in the game of bootstrapping, we must scrape together what we can. That’s where design software comes in. We’ve gathered a list of the best design tools for entrepreneurs with- or without design skills.

Top Email Marketing Tools

To this day, emails are one of the most successful forms of marketing there is, measured on ROI. But sending emails takes time. You don’t just have to write them, personalize them, design them, send them to the right people and keep track of their performance. But you don’t have to do it alone. These are some of the best email management and automation systems on the market: 

The Best Presentation Tools for Presenting Your Startup

As an entrepreneur, chances are you’ll do quite a lot of pitching. You need your idea to spread and to get people on board, whether it be your friends, team members, business partners, customers or investors. These presentation tools will help you create beautiful, professional and powerful presentations:

Great Social Media Management Tools

When we talk about tools that will help you build and grow your business, there’s no way around social media management tools. For most businesses, social media is a main source of attention, leads and income. You can use them to build an audience, spread awareness, convert leads and sell your product. But managing social media is a time-consuming task, and you’ll need help managing, tracking and analyzing your SoMe performance. These Social Media Management tools are what you’re looking for: