Discover How You Can Make
More Money as a Web
Designer and Find High-Paying Clients

My name is Conrad Feagin and over the past 8 years, I’ve taught over 30,370 people to make more money using the best web design tools on the market.

Now I’ll teach you the techniques for quickly and easily building websites so you can make 4 times more than other web designers.

Plus, my income-increasing methods are simple, easy-to-follow, and work for beginning or advanced web designers.

32058 Readers

Free Updates via Email, Facebook, or Twitter!

Top 5 Web App Combos for Running an Online Business

Posted September 3, 2008 in Business, Tools/Resources

Top 5 Web App Combos for Online Business

When it comes to freelancing and working on the web, few things are more important than the online applications that make it all possible. From project management, to invoicing, to contact management, and more — each of these apps play a critical role in running an online or freelance business.

At FreelanceFolder, we’ve been on a sort of quest to find the ‘holy-grail’ — A combination of web apps that completely fulfills a business owner’s needs without breaking the bank or over complicating things. We’ve organized our findings into the following top 5 web app combos:

Combo #1 — Business on a Budget

Zoho budget invoicing app

This combo is a great way to get started on a really small budget. Most of these apps are well thought out and very functional, but you may have to live with a few extra ads. If you’re just starting out, though, this is really a perfect choice. Total Cost: $27/mo.

  1. Wrike — Project Management –  Premium plan, $8/mo
  2. ZOHO Invoice — Invoicing — Basic plan, $5/mo
  3. Gmail Contacts — Contact Management — Free!
  4. RememberTheMilk — Task Management — Free!
  5. Google Docs — Document Sharing — Free!
  6. Skype — Call Management — SkypeIn + Unlimited World, $14/mo

Combo #2 — Simplicity Rules

37 signals simple webapps

Everyone knows that an online tool is only as useful as its interface. For those workers who need tools that are simple and elegant, without any complication, this collection of apps is for you.Total Cost: $84/mo.

  1. Basecamp — Project Management — Basic Plan, $24/mo
  2. Freshbooks — Time Tracking + Invoicing — Shuttlebus plan, $14/mo
  3. Highrise — Contact Management — Basic plan, $24/mo
  4. Google Docs — Document Sharing — Free!
  5. RingCentral — Toll Free + Calls + Fax — Business Plus, $24/mo

Combo #3 — Host it Yourself

ActiveCollab - host your own project management

If you don’t like the idea of recurring charges, and can’t stand putting your data in someone elses hands, then this is your combo. Each of these apps have been picked because 1) they rock, and 2) you can pay for it once and install it on your own server. Total Cost: $298 + Hardware.

  1. ActiveCollab — Project Management — Small Biz Version, $199
  2. Invoice That — Invoicing — $99
  3. Simple Customer — Contacts + CRM — Free!
  4. SmartFTP — File Sharing — Free!
  5. KnowledgeTree — Document Management — Free!
  6. Asterisk — Build your own PBX — Good Luck :-)

Combo #4 — Feature Complete

SalesForce - Complete CRM

For those of you who want to have the most possibilities and the most options in the future, this is the right package. Each of these webapps was chosen for its robustness and completeness, though to be  fair we made sure they were easy enough to use too. Total Cost: $107/mo.

  1. ActiveCollab — Project Management — Basic Plan, $24/mo
  2. QuickBooks Online — Invoicing + Accounting– Online Plus, $34/mo
  3. SalesForce.com — Contacts + CRM — Group Edition, $25/mo
  4. Google Docs — Document Sharing — Free!
  5. Toodledo — Task Management — Free!
  6. RingCentral — Toll Free + Calls + Fax — Business Plus $24/mo

Combo #5 — Open Source All The Way

Vtiger - Real open source crm

For open source junkies, your train has come in. This package features all of the best open source products you need to build the perfect virtual office. Though, we don’t recommend this package for the technically-averse, since code and server knowledge is a usually a must. Total Cost: Free + Hardware.

  1. DotProject — Project Management — Free!
  2. BambooInvoice — Invoicing — Free!
  3. vTiger — Contacts + CRM — Free!
  4. FileZilla — File Sharing — Free!
  5. KnowledgeTree — Document Management — Free!
  6. Asterisk — Build your own PBX — Good Luck :-)

What Do You Use?

Do you know of a better app for one of these combos? Do you use something extraordinary that we need to know about? Let us know in the comments…

Related posts:

  1. Patience and Online Business ? A Winning Combination?
  2. 7 Essential Set Of Tools For Everyone Who Earns A Living Online
  3. Online Business Marketing Is Much Like Marketing Offline
  4. Business Finance Posts – Top 100 From Bootstrapper
  5. 14 Web-Based Invoicing Tools To Make Sure You Get Paid

About the author: Mason Hipp is a designer, entrepreneur, and writer. He is co-author of the Book The Unlimited Freelancer, and has just recently launched a collection of premium graphic resources for web designers called MediaLoot. Follow him on twitter @MasonHipp



 
The Unlimited Freelancer is Now Only $19

Unleash the true potential of your business. Get The Unlimited Freelancer and start transforming your freelance business,
now only $19.

104 Comments
  • User Gravatar
    James Paden
    September 3rd, 2008 at 1:02 pm

    Wow, great post! I really like your approach with grouping the apps. Definitely bookmarked for the future and will be very useful to passing along to clients as well.

  • User Gravatar
    shiido
    September 3rd, 2008 at 1:54 pm

    CurdBee, for invoices
    Coded preview, for webdesign preview
    Goplan, for managing projects and collaborations.

    and all of them are free!! ( or have a free plan )

  • User Gravatar
    Qoska
    September 3rd, 2008 at 2:02 pm

    CurdBee is great. Paper and pen are always helpful to.

  • User Gravatar
    Bitmap Junkie
    September 3rd, 2008 at 2:04 pm

    Intuit Billing Manager – Free!

  • User Gravatar
    Mason Hipp
    September 3rd, 2008 at 2:05 pm

    @Shiido and Qoska — It sounds like CurdBee is definitely a worth addition, probably for the “Business on a Budget” category. Do you know if they support recurring invoices?

    Keep the suggestions coming! I’ll tally the best recommendations into a post sometime next week.

  • User Gravatar
    POTOR
    September 3rd, 2008 at 2:53 pm

    Wow! What a graet list of programs! A great resource for any entrepeneur. Just a quick addition: I use invoicejournal.com and it is incredibly easy. Unlike a lot of free invoice trackers/creators, there is no limit to the numer of invoices, clients, etc you can have. Hope this helps someone out. Great article.

  • User Gravatar
    Vin Thomas
    September 3rd, 2008 at 3:11 pm

    Great post! Very helpful.

  • User Gravatar
    Mike Smith
    September 3rd, 2008 at 6:27 pm

    I use the following:

    Google Docs – writing articles, keeping notes, ect
    http://www.btmclients.com for client management (using it upon the new blog theme machine launch)
    http://www.Pidgin.im – IM with clients
    http://www.Kall8.com – 866 number

  • User Gravatar
    Max | Design Shard
    September 3rd, 2008 at 6:38 pm

    Awesome post, not heard of most of these so i will be checking them out.

  • User Gravatar
    Phillipe Calmet
    September 3rd, 2008 at 6:56 pm

    Great combos there. There is also an alternative to ActiveCollab, called ProjectPier, that can be installed in your own server, and it is actually free to use. Might be useful to decrease even more the price of these packages. There is no online version, though… :P

  • User Gravatar
    Kari - The Caffeinated Copywriter
    September 3rd, 2008 at 6:56 pm

    Just started using CurdBee, and I LOVE it. I also use Slimtimer for time tracking, which is free and web-based (so I can track my time on any computer).

    I’ve just gotten a toll-free fax number for $5/month through TrustFax (trustfax.com). I have yet to receive any faxes though, so I can’t speak to that yet.

    Of course, Google has all those awesome free apps – I use Docs (for sharing and for downloading useful templates), Sites (for my portfolio), and Talk (for client chats).

  • User Gravatar
    Rohan
    September 3rd, 2008 at 7:06 pm

    Here’s a great free task management app – http://www.statuswiz.com

  • User Gravatar
    Mason Hipp
    September 3rd, 2008 at 8:02 pm

    @Phillipe — I’ve used ProjectPier before and it’s definitely not bad. Actually, what happened was the ActiveCollab developer went from open source to closed source, and projectpier is the remaining open source fork. Personally, I think ActiveCollab is worth the price for most business uses though.

    @Kari — I love the fact that RingCentral has fax capabilities built in. I don’t know what I’d do with out it, because I absolutely hate real faxes.

    @Rohan — Looks interesting, I’ll have to check that out in more detail.

  • User Gravatar
    Fresh Rayanne
    September 3rd, 2008 at 9:41 pm

    Hey Mason,

    What an extensive and useful list of online business go-tos! Thanks so much for the shout out. FreshBooks’ Shuttle Bus package is actually $14, but what’s a couple bucks? ; )

  • User Gravatar
    Mason Hipp
    September 3rd, 2008 at 11:00 pm

    @Fresh Rayanne — Thanks for the catch, fixed now :-)

  • User Gravatar
    Mason Hipp
    September 5th, 2008 at 7:06 am

    Hey everyone, just a quick note — Somehow commenting got turned off on this post, but it’s back on now. So comment away :-)

  • User Gravatar
    Cedarwings
    September 5th, 2008 at 2:46 pm

    Simple personalized graphic interface makes reading a breeze. Bookmarked for future reference.

  • User Gravatar
    John
    September 5th, 2008 at 6:54 pm

    We use Intervals for its unique blend of time tracking and task management. The reports are great, too, and can be a lifesaver when billing clients.

  • User Gravatar
    Allan Collins
    September 6th, 2008 at 12:17 am

    This is absolutely fantastic! I am definitely bookmarking this post.

    The company I work for uses ChangePoint for project management.
    It’s pricey, with a tough learning curve…

    Thanks for this!

  • User Gravatar
    Narayanan Hariharan
    September 6th, 2008 at 10:41 am

    Hey.. Amazing list! Bookmarked for future use already..

    BTW how about GNU Cash for billing and managing finances.. It’s free and open source and can be installed on your desktop!

  • User Gravatar
    C Carter
    September 8th, 2008 at 2:25 am

    The additional comments with more avenues to explore help round out this already great article. Thanks!

  • User Gravatar
    Praveen
    September 8th, 2008 at 12:38 pm

    neat list. Thanks!

    Just wondering , if i can take all the open source softwares in Combo#5 and host it on amazon ‘s computing cloud.

    How much would it cost then?

  • User Gravatar
    Dan
    September 8th, 2008 at 1:57 pm

    For software project management (on a budget):
    Unfuddle http://unfuddle.com/ – Free for small projects, inexpensive for larger projects. Includes issue tracking / Subversion and Git hosting / milestone tracking

    Also, Google apps (for your domain) offers contact sharing and website hosting on a budget (free for certain organizations):
    http://www.google.com/a/

  • User Gravatar
    Tom Brander
    September 8th, 2008 at 2:57 pm

    Just a thought the Microsoft office Live offering http://home.officelive.com is pretty good for a lot of what you are discussing, and it’s FREE! Free web hosting with authoring tools, free collaborative tools free email, free project management free document management (all based on Sharepoint.
    See my site at http://tombrander.com for an example free web site.

    I’ not normally a MS fanboy (I’m trying to stick to all freeware) but this service is really pretty good and free.

    You can do a lot with wordpress.com as well (the site in my header)

  • User Gravatar
    Tom Brander
    September 8th, 2008 at 3:03 pm

    You can also check my WordPress blog which is focused on using free services and freeware for many uses at http:tombrander.wordpress.com

  • User Gravatar
    Nick
    September 8th, 2008 at 8:53 pm

    This is a really great list. I have tried a few of these and have had others recommended. I guess it is time to give them a try.

  • User Gravatar
    Shane G
    September 10th, 2008 at 8:15 am

    A life saver of an article ! I am in the process of leaving my “Job” and starting out on my own as a freelance designer / developer. This article is exactly what i was looking for. Sometimes putting all the pieces together can be real challenge when starting up and having articles like this (along with valuable comments) are so useful, thanks again.

  • User Gravatar
    Joe Manna
    September 10th, 2008 at 2:55 pm

    Great entry, Mason. Personally, I really dig combo #4. These are excellent combos for running a small business; there’s a problem that I hear from small business owners all the time — there is a learning curve for all these products and services. In addition, not all systems talk to each other, unless the provider has open APIs and a small business owner has a Web developer connect them up.

    I think all-in-one solutions are great and connect the dots for small business owners in to automating and managing their small business effectively. One such software is Infusionsoft, boasting automated follow-up marketing, e-mail campaigns, voice/fax broadcast support and fulfillment automation. Many small business owners are turning to Infusionsoft to run their business. The only thing lacking is finances like QuickBooks and the price is a bit high — $299/monthly, $5,000 setup and consulting.

    You can learn more about Infusionsoft and even get an exclusive demo at https://crm.infusionsoft.com/go/crmdemo/jvm/ if you’d like.

    Keep it up, I love this blog!

    ~Joe

  • User Gravatar
    Rajesh Kumar
    September 15th, 2008 at 4:28 pm

    1. Amazon S3 – Jungle Disk for storage – $20 one time, around $5 a month for 5 GB storage

    2. Google Docs for Word, Excel, Powerpoint

    3. Host website in a shared host – http://www.midphase.com – $6-8 a month
    Free 24/7 support, email and they fix problems with site.

    4. Hire a php freelancer, to create a Simple CRM app in the shared host – $120 One Time
    PHP/MySQL

    5. Company email – Gmail for Domain – Free

  • User Gravatar
    Narayanan Hariharan
    September 16th, 2008 at 12:06 am

    I had subscribed to the comments of this post and Rajesh’s comment made me come back here for another comment.

    I’ve been using midphase’s services for the last 20 days and shifted to them after checking out all the rave reviews that they got. Since then I’ve had over 10 hours of downtime and their support don’t really support you. I had to send them 6 emails, go thru 3 chat sessiong and 2 calls just to change MX records!! This is an example for pathetic service.

    I think midphase is in the process of losing more than one customer!!

  • User Gravatar
    julie
    September 17th, 2008 at 10:50 pm

    Tim Ferriss made a great post with some cool resources as well. Less about running a business and more about running your life, but some of the applications he mentions are pretty helpful too. Check out his post at: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2008/09/17/how-to-never-forget-anything-again/

  • User Gravatar
    Sal
    September 18th, 2008 at 6:30 am

    We use DeskAway to manage our people, projects and processes.

  • User Gravatar
    Ryan D.
    September 30th, 2008 at 12:48 pm

    Instead of pay invoice services try a free alternative if you’re not sending out hundreds of invoices a month.
    http://www.invoicejournal.com

  • User Gravatar
    Patrick Godbey
    December 13th, 2008 at 3:57 pm

    I personally use Collabtive for project/time management, paypal for invoicing, gmail for calendar/todo/multiple email accounts, etc, google docs for document management/sharing, and vonage for telephone/fax.

  • User Gravatar
    Chloe Sanders
    December 13th, 2008 at 9:06 pm

    I’ve been using Jexxe Freelancer from http://www.jexxe.com for the last month.

    I’ve found it to have just the right mix of invoicing and project management all in the one app. Its also hosted on my own website so I have been able to rebrand it to match my own site

    its perfect for me :-)

  • User Gravatar
    Esther
    January 17th, 2009 at 1:23 am

    We use CurdBee for invoicing, project pier for project management, and pidgin for IM

  • User Gravatar
    Bruno Lima
    January 26th, 2009 at 2:25 pm

    Great post!

    I’m using Harvest for invoicing. For me it works great since I’m brazilian and I need to customize all fields of the mailing invoice.

    Still looking for a CRM and Project Management that works for me.

    Best to all.
    Bruno Lima

  • User Gravatar
    Jon Clark
    March 5th, 2009 at 11:58 am

    I just recently signed up for BaseCamp (love it so far) and signed up for CurdBee as a result of this post. This is a fantastic list – my business has recently started to take off and getting a CRM, invoicing, etc in order was becoming a big problem.

    Oh, on the IM front – I use Digsby. Great app!

  • User Gravatar
    Ryan
    March 6th, 2009 at 10:00 am

    I’ll be using http://www.sixcentral.com as soon as it’s launched. As a freelancer, it will be a perfect fit for client and proposal management for me.

  • User Gravatar
    Elle
    March 7th, 2009 at 12:31 am

    i’m glad to see filezilla in your list — i was so pleased to have discovered it awhile ago. for a free/open source program, i found it to be _extremely_ well done, and i enjoy and appreciate using it. (fyi, to use on a mac, you’ll need 10.5+. this was kind of a bummer for one of my machines that is still tiger.)

    +1 on the basecamp + freshbooks combo. if you’re just starting out with at most 3 clients, the free freshbooks account (‘moped’) is a great deal. the basic ($24/mo) basecamp price is not too bad either, as although it could use man feature upgrades, it’s a very useful tool. i use basecamp for not only project management, but also task management (to-do lists) and some documents sharing (writeboards).

    37signals’ backpack tool is available free for minimal features, although i’ve found that its usefulness for me professionally has been somewhat limited. but perhaps it can also be used for task management, or other creative uses.

  • User Gravatar
    Niche Pro
    March 11th, 2009 at 8:00 pm

    Great post! Thanks for the info I’m still checking it all out.

  • User Gravatar
    Alex
    March 27th, 2009 at 6:36 pm

    We use our online project management tool SantexQ in-house. It’s similar to basecamp in that it’s simple but elegant. The focus is task and time management but the latest version also includes invoice creation. It’s a great tool for keeping all your projects organized as well as keeping track of progress.

  • User Gravatar
    Internet Strategist
    March 30th, 2009 at 2:55 pm

    #GeekTip – Google & install “ToodledoAir” & “Snackr” – these two combined make organising & managing your tasks a breeze with ToodleDo (grab your task feed in TD and subscribe in Snackr) batch process your rss feed during the day. GTD Nirvana :D

  • User Gravatar
    David Cobwell
    April 24th, 2009 at 6:48 pm

    Great topic thread, found it really useful. Personally I have gone with Jexxe at http://www.jexxe.com and finding it to be exactly what I need.

    Not bloated, but got all the features we need, can’t recommend it highly enough for small freelancers

  • User Gravatar
    Another Collaboration Tool for SMBs
    June 29th, 2009 at 6:15 pm

    I like HyperOffice because it is most like the most comprehensive in terms of feature range. It includes completely integrated collaboration features(online document management, intranet and extranet workspaces, contact management, project management, calendars, forums, polls, mobile access), messaging features ( web and mobile email, Outlook integration, shared Outlook tasks/calendars/contacts) and also integrated web meetings and web databases.

    What more could a freelancer, small business want!

  • User Gravatar
    nagendra
    July 10th, 2009 at 5:32 am

    Wow, a great list of web apps and great combination.

    Cheers

  • User Gravatar
    Dani Schenker
    September 1st, 2009 at 4:32 pm

    I was searching for something like BambooInvoice for a long time. Thanks a lot!

  • User Gravatar
    Jake Napster
    September 10th, 2009 at 9:33 am

    We use a HyperOffice – Skype combo. (It has even won an award recently – http://share.skype.com/sites/business/2009/09/hyperoffice_competing_to_win_g.html)HyperOffice provides for our online collaboration, project management, email, document sharing needs, and Skype allows us to quickly get together and confernence in audio, and chat in real time. It is especially great that theyre both integrated.

  • User Gravatar
    Bennie
    September 23rd, 2009 at 5:09 pm

    Thanks for the combo set. I think there should be one more listed tools from 5PMweb

    The great alternative for all known services like Basecamp, Activecollab and etc…

  • User Gravatar
    Maria
    October 2nd, 2009 at 6:35 am

    Thanks guys for recommending Curdbee, such a lovely app and exactly what I have been looking for months when I want to invoice my clients.

    I’ve tried quite a few products out there from Harvest, Freshbooks and Zoho but I can certainly confirm the free version of Curdbee does invoicing better than their counterparts.

    Its indeed a time saver for me and will save some bucks too. Love you all those who share great tools like these :)

  • User Gravatar
    Patrick Dodd
    October 27th, 2009 at 3:02 pm

    We have found that many small businesses love using Blinksale as part of their combo because of the simplicity. Would love to answer any questions for anybody regarding Blinksale plans.

    Thanks!

    Patrick
    patrick@blinksale.com

  • User Gravatar
    Joel Passen
    November 11th, 2009 at 1:31 am

    First of all, I disagree with Salesforce making this list. The others, all good calls. Salesforce is way too feature rich and thus complicated but, they have done a good job of extending their integration with other apps.

  • User Gravatar
    Alexander
    February 1st, 2010 at 6:41 pm

    ActiveCollab is greate. My choice is ActiveCollab

  • User Gravatar
    Matt
    June 8th, 2010 at 6:32 pm

    If you need something to help keep track of where staff are and their availability throughout the day, try Tabzon – an online in out board.

    It’s free and pretty easy to use.

  • User Gravatar
    Danny
    August 4th, 2010 at 1:13 am

    We’ve been using Curdbee for almost a year now and it’s been super, really love the simplicity and tracking feature that it offers. Right now we’re looking for a good project management/crm/invoicing app that really has all in one, including time tracking, email integration, calendar integration and client login… any recommendations?

  • User Gravatar
    wholesale air force ones
    August 20th, 2010 at 6:18 am

    I like the post is a good work that it can offer more effective imformation for us!

  • User Gravatar
    Tom E
    September 20th, 2010 at 4:34 pm

    What about dropbox?…that’s a great storage service for any freelancer

  • User Gravatar
    Deborah
    October 19th, 2010 at 11:15 am

    Hi there

    I thought I would share my favorite that’s so far not mentioned. Dooster. I highly recommend it for helping to organize and run any online business. http://www.dooster.net

  • User Gravatar
    Contractors
    December 17th, 2010 at 10:29 am

    We use Capsule CRM and Xero online accountancy. They work together brilliantly so you can look at a client and see all the work currently going on with them and the money you have invoiced so far, Great system.

  • User Gravatar
    Accountants
    December 17th, 2010 at 10:31 am

    Mailchimp is a great piece of kit to send email marketing newsletters to clients – its bottom plan is free and more than enough for most contractors. Little bit fiddly to use but not too bad.

  • User Gravatar
    Freelance
    December 17th, 2010 at 10:33 am

    I don’t know if this counts as an app but Wufoo, we use it on our website for new clients signing up and it does a great job – the forms are so good and it is really easy to use. Plus it gives a legal IP address so you don’t have to send out engagement letters as you can post this online and say that when you hit submit you agree our terms.

  • User Gravatar
    phonecards
    December 18th, 2010 at 1:32 pm

    I use Collabtive for project management, paypal for invoicing, gmail for calendar/todo/multiple email accounts, etc, google docs for document management/sharing, and vonage for telephone/fax.

  • User Gravatar
    Billy Kirsch
    January 21st, 2011 at 11:49 am

    Thanks for putting this together, I’ve been looking for a good way to invoice, and will check out ZOHO

  • User Gravatar
    ronald lewis
    April 10th, 2011 at 1:42 am

    i know that this article has been around for a long time but the one that i can add would be grasshopper.com for an online phone number which can forward call to any phone number you choose and also email voicemails for about $5 per month. I also love Salesforce.com now that they have lowered their prices and the interface is much easier to use.

  • User Gravatar
    Marcel B
    April 10th, 2011 at 9:25 am

    Hey,

    thanks for the list. Its very usefull for me bacause i started a freelance business some years ago and still searching for some good tools (e.g. invoice tool). I used a lot of different services but now, with your advice of ZOHO i think i found a smart, powerfull and cheap way to manage my finance

  • User Gravatar
    Handy orten
    April 20th, 2011 at 6:22 pm

    Thanks a lot. I was searching for an app like Curdbee for months and did not find anithing comparable. I am very happy with the usage and possibilities of this program. It would be very interesting if you could add some new tools to the list because this post is a little bit old ;) Maybee there are some interesing new apps out there in the world wide web you could recommend to us!

  • User Gravatar
    Martin
    April 23rd, 2011 at 9:18 pm

    Its very usefull for me bacause i started a freelance business some years ago and still searching for some good tools!!

  • User Gravatar
    David Johnson
    May 10th, 2011 at 11:50 am

    I’ve recently been using Google Calendar and meetingShed to arrange all my meetings and events online. In combination they do a good job, and for free. Combine with GMail as well and you’ve got a free cloud hosted system for carrying out most office tasks that is much less expensive and complicated than the big software like Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes.

  • User Gravatar
    Mike
    May 11th, 2011 at 6:46 pm

    I’m now using Google Docs and don’t see the sense in any other document program for my use, particularly since it’s free. I’m beginning with Freshbooks as the company is growing and not sure about it yet although they seem good. Nice job grouping products and including prices!

  • User Gravatar
    Thomas Egan
    June 5th, 2011 at 11:28 pm

    wow I’ve never heard of some of these before. Great collection!

  • User Gravatar
    Herbert Maier
    June 11th, 2011 at 8:46 am

    Hi,
    wow very very cool :-)
    I hope Apple does a “Pages for Web” soon, because that would be quite cool, or Google Docs for the web,….thx for ur text , does the invoicing tool also help for the austrian law rules? or just US?

  • User Gravatar
    Herbert
    June 12th, 2011 at 8:53 am

    u forgot to show “sugarCRM”,also really cool software, i prefer compared to vTiger.

  • User Gravatar
    David Lyons
    June 27th, 2011 at 10:06 pm

    Great collection, open source technology is great and free, but unless you are willing to learn how to use it and support it you may have issues, thats why I always prefer to pay the guys who support the service to keep me from having to look under the hood, so to speak.

  • User Gravatar
    Mike
    August 9th, 2011 at 8:38 pm

    Just wondering if anyone has heard of tallyzip.com? They look interesting, but are they only for property managers or do they do project management and crm too?

    I’m looking for a bit of an all in one… but don’t want to spend what salesforce costs.

  • User Gravatar
    Lucy
    August 11th, 2011 at 7:17 pm

    We got Dooster.net a couple of months ago and we like it a lot. We had looked at Zoho and RTM and BAsecamp but we are quite a small company and even though the partners wanted Basecamp because our big clients use it and like it when people copy them we found Dooster does just as much for a fraction of the cost.

  • User Gravatar
    John
    August 29th, 2011 at 2:37 pm

    Love this post! Different than all the list of application out there. This one offers a full package. Interesting.

  • User Gravatar
    Adam
    December 28th, 2011 at 4:14 pm

    Check out http://www.assembla.com for hosting any kind of development projects. Cloud-based workspaces organize project tasks, collaboration, and code (svn, git, hg), and it offers an activity feed of all project activity, email notifications, and many tools for managers watching over development.

    My one go-to-tool for organizing and managing development projects.

  • User Gravatar
    up to date
    January 5th, 2012 at 2:22 am

    Well, I believe that clears up 2 issues for me personally. How about any person else?

  • User Gravatar
    Justin Foley
    February 13th, 2012 at 7:02 pm

    Toast Invoice is pretty good for a free invoicing app – http://toastinvoice.com

  • User Gravatar
    Tess
    February 21st, 2012 at 7:09 pm

    I use Dooster and I enjoy it. I hadn’t used collaborative software before. The company I currently work at have had it for some time.

  • User Gravatar
    Wie bekomme ich eine Freundin
    March 4th, 2012 at 7:46 am

    Hey,

    thanks for the list. Its very usefull for me bacause i started a freelance business some years ago and still searching for some good tools (e.g. invoice tool). I used a lot of different services but now, with your advice of ZOHO i think i found a smart, powerfull and cheap way to manage my finance

  • User Gravatar
    Handy orten
    March 19th, 2012 at 5:24 pm

    Mailchimp is a great piece of kit to send email marketing newsletters to clients

  • User Gravatar
    Handy orten
    April 3rd, 2012 at 6:36 am

    Wow! What a graet list of programs! THX Jessy

  • User Gravatar
    eTreppenlift
    July 24th, 2012 at 7:38 am

    Its a amazing list of web apps, great & very usefull for the business. Like it very much and will recommend it to my friends and partners too.

  • User Gravatar
    Mobilspionage
    September 1st, 2012 at 4:10 pm

    Remember the Milk isn´t free anymore, any alternative?

  • User Gravatar
    Peter Richards
    October 31st, 2012 at 11:14 am

    Zoho has been good to me in the past, looking forward to the updated version.

  • User Gravatar
    Domique
    January 3rd, 2013 at 7:51 am

    Grate post. Have a look at Kanban Tool (http://kanbantool.com/) for tasks/ project management and real-time collaboration. It has a free plan and an unlimited plan (€3.5 per month). The app has recently received a major facelift.

  • User Gravatar
    Brian Terry
    January 31st, 2013 at 4:55 am

    Thanks for creating such an awesome list of web apps for running an online business! Here’s the best self-hosted project management software I use, it’s perfect if you outsource: http://outveo.com

  • User Gravatar
    http://easyhomeremodeling.webstarts.com/
    February 13th, 2013 at 12:07 am

    I blog as well and I’m publishing a thing very close
    to this excellent blog post, “Top 5 Web App Combos for Running an
    Online Business | FreelanceFolder”. Would you mind in cases where I actuallyimplement several of
    your personal concepts? Thanks -Saul

  • User Gravatar
    Mike Speranza
    March 14th, 2013 at 5:46 pm

    Hmm, I’d be curious how many freelancers or small businesses really use Salesforce. It’s a very heavyweight CRM, ideal for the enterprise environment, but a bit of an overkill for small businesses.

  • User Gravatar
    Yauhen
    March 18th, 2013 at 7:52 am

    I also use activecollab for data saving and collaboration. I know it is an od post, but I adveci you to include some more services for proposals and invoicing. I always use http://www.quoteroller.com to create and track proposals. I think it should be in your list!

  • User Gravatar
    Pierre Dubois
    March 30th, 2013 at 7:44 pm

    Recruitment is important for a business and more for an online business.
    For recruiting, an email is not enough and your email messaging tool (like outlook) is not the right place.
    So use a recruitment software like inKoming (http://www.inkoming.com)

  • User Gravatar
    Thea Dam
    April 15th, 2013 at 10:23 am

    thanks for at great post :)

  • User Gravatar
    Pay Monthly Reseller Hosting
    May 3rd, 2013 at 2:54 am

    I am sure this paragraph has touched all the internet
    users, its really really pleasant article on building up new weblog.

  • User Gravatar
    Rechtsanwalt Fulda
    May 22nd, 2013 at 9:20 pm

    I was searching for something like BambooInvoice for a long time. Thanks a lot!

Trackbacks

  1. Web applications to help you run your business
  2. Weekly Links: September 5, 2008 | LostInTechnology
  3. Links: 2008-09-05 | Meryl.net
  4. vBharat.com » Top 5 Web App Combos for Running an Online Business
  5. Best Design Resources of September 2008 | CrazyLeaf Design Blog
  6. 35 freelance, entrepreneurship and starting your own business tools and tips | Will Sullivan's website. Journerdism
  7. FreelanceSwitch Jobs Now on FreelanceFolder too! - FreelanceSwitch - The Freelance Blog
  8. random($foo): Online Tools for A New Small Business
  9. 适合小型外包团队的5个Web应用程序组合 – 好工作博客在线

Share your thoughts, leave a comment!