A freelancer wears many hats. Not only are you responsible for creating cool design work, you’re also in charge of the accounts dept and responsible for managing projects and keeping track of where you’re spending your time. Thankfully there’s a range of tools available that help you run your little business like a global empire. This post rounds up 15 of the most popular tools that are used and recommended by thousands of freelancers in the design industry.
FreshBooks
What does it do?
FreshBooks is a comprehensive online invoicing, accounting and billing app. It combines all the features you would ever need as a small business into one piece of cloud based software.
How much does it cost?
FreshBooks offer a Free 30 day trial, then there’s a selection of paid packages from £19.95 per month depending on the number of clients you need to manage.
Pancake App
What does it do?
Pancake is an invoicing and project management app, but unlike many business suites featured in this post Pancake is a one-time-payment self-hosted application, meaning there’s no monthly fees and you have control over your data.
How much does it cost?
Pancake requires a one time payment of $49, with deluxe packages offering additional support.
FreeAgent
What does it do?
FreeAgent offers painless accounting and helps manage your finances, estimates, proposals, invoices and expenses via an online dashboard. Plus it has handy features to assist with UK tax returns.
How much does it cost?
FreeAgent has three separate packages for Sole Traders, Partnerships and Limited Companies ranging from £15 to £25 per month.
CurdBee
What does it do?
CurdBee is another comprehensive online billing and invoicing system. It incorporates all the important features of an accounting app but has one of the best free packages that includes many of the features only available in the premium versions of other apps.
How much does it cost?
The free CurdBee package allows unlimited clients and invoices amongst other important criteria, but other features can be accessed through the Pro and Big packages at $5 and $20 per month.
TeuxDeux
What does it do?
TeuxDeux is a simple, designery to-do app. It combines a browser software with a portable iPhone app which both feature a crisp and clean interface design.
How much does it cost?
TeuxDeux offers a free 30 days trial, after which access is charged at $3 per month or $24 a year.
Toggl
What does it do?
Many billing apps incorporate a basic time tracking feature, but tracking time is Toggl’s speciality. Instead of a browser based timer, choose to run the app on your desktop or mobile. It also syncs with popular tools such as FreshBooks and Basecamp.
How much does it cost?
Toggl offers just one $5 per month package which includes all features. A 30 day free trial is included.
Remember The Milk
What does it do?
Remember The Milk is one of the classic to-do apps and is probably the most versatile with official apps being available for iOS, Android, Blackberry, Gmail, Outlook, Twitter and Evernote.
How much does it cost?
Free!
Less Accounting
What does it do?
Less Accounting is aimed at smaller businesses and therefore doesn’t include the unnecessary features that sometimes bloat larger accounting apps. One of its main selling points is its ability to connect and import your transaction details from your bank account.
How much does it cost?
Less Accounting offer a single package of $30 per month.
Pulse
What does it do?
The main focus of pulse is to help you manage your cash flow. It’s packed full of features to track your income and expenses, view detailed reports and keep an eye on your balance.
How much does it cost?
The standard $14 per month package is limited to 3 accounts and users, so the $24/month package would be much more suitable for the average user. Also includes a free 30 day trial.
Blinksale
What does it do?
Blinksale allows you to create professional invoices and keep track of payments by sending automatic reminders and thank you messages. Blinksale is also combined with Blinkpay to allow clients to pay by credit card, rather than have to rely on services such as PayPal.
How much does it cost?
$15 per month grants you unlimited access to all Blinksale features. 15 day free trial available.
Ronin
What does it do?
Ronin is a simple invoicing and time tracking online app for small businesses and freelancers. It features all the same tools as other apps, but can also be run under your own domain.
How much does it cost?
The recommended Team plan at $29/month includes all the best features of Ronin. 30 day free trials are available on all plans.
The Invoice Machine
What does it do?
The Invoice Machine does exactly as the name suggests, it makes it easy to create great looking invoices without having to spend time setting up client and project details.
How much does it cost?
The Invoice Machine plans are based on the number of invoices sent each month. A limit of 30 is priced at $12 per month.
Basecamp
What does it do?
Basecamp is the world’s most popular project management app. It’s a crucial tool for any project involving multiple clients or team members to allow everyone to stay up to date and keep track of progress.
How much does it cost?
Pricing starts at $20 per month and increases as more projects and file storage is added.
Mint
What does it do?
Mint is a financial management app aimed at the public, but it would also be a great tool for freelancers working from home. It helps keep track of your money to see how your money is being spent, saved or invested.
How much does it cost?
Free!
Harvest
What does it do?
Harvest is a simple online time tracking app that builds comprehensive time sheets so you can see where your time is being spent. Then bill for this time with invoicing and payment integration.
How much does it cost?
The solo package for freelancers is priced at $12 per month.
Source: http://line25.com/articles/15-handy-tools-every-freelancer-should-know-about
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