awesome-startup-tools-list

Awesome list of FREE tools Startups should be using

This is a curated list of tools for everything from productivity to hosting to development tools to designing. These tools are all digital i.e., either app, SaaS, online service, or downloadable software. Most of them are either free or have a free plan that is enough for startups, indie hackers, entrepreneurs, individuals, or anyone to use. Feel free to suggest and contribute in this list.

For contributors: this list accepts only credible, established tools hosted on their own custom domain that offer a permanent free plan or free tier. Please read CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a pull request. Pull requests that do not meet the criteria are closed.

Featured listings: put your product in front of founders and builders using this list. Limited to 5 at any time, labelled Sponsored, and kept separate from the curated list. Get featured

Tech

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Chat

• Claude - https://claude.ai
• ChatGPT - https://chatgpt.com
• Google Gemini - https://gemini.google.com
• Grok - https://grok.com
• Microsoft CoPilot - https://copilot.microsoft.com
• Kimi - https://www.kimi.com
• Qwen - https://qwen.ai
• DeepSeek - https://www.deepseek.com
• Mistral Le Chat - https://chat.mistral.ai
• Perplexity - https://www.perplexity.ai

Git Repos

• GitHub - https://github.com
• Bitbucket - https://bitbucket.org
• GitLab - https://gitlab.com
• Azure Repos - https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/devops/repos
• Amazon AWS CodeCommit - https://aws.amazon.com/codecommit/

Cloud and Traditional Hosting

• Amazon AWS - https://aws.amazon.com
• Microsoft Azure - https://azure.microsoft.com
• Google Cloud - https://cloud.google.com
• Digital Ocean - https://digitalocean.com
• Render - https://render.com
• Vultr - https://www.vultr.com/free-tier-program/

Static Site Hosting

• Cloudflare Pages - https://pages.cloudflare.com
• Cloudflare Workers - https://workers.cloudflare.com
• GitHub pages - https://pages.github.com
• Google FireBase - https://firebase.google.com/products/hosting
• Netlify - https://www.netlify.com
• Vercel - https://vercel.com
• Amazon S3 - https://aws.amazon.com/s3/
• Surge - https://surge.sh
• Sevalla - https://sevalla.com/static-site-hosting/

Email Hosting

• Lark Email - https://www.larksuite.com/en_us/product/email

DNS, CDN, & SSL

• Cloudflare - https://www.cloudflare.com/
• ClouDNS - https://cloudns.net/
• Let's Encrypt - https://letsencrypt.org/

Maps & Geolocation

• MapAtlas - https://mapatlas.eu

Site Performance Tools

• Page Gym - https://pagegym.com
• Pingdom https://tools.pingdom.com/fpt pingdom.com - Website monitor
• Google Page Insight https://pagespeed.web.dev
• Web Page Performance Test - https://www.webpagetest.org/
• GTMetrix https://gtmetrix.com/

Web Scraping Tools

• Import.io - https://www.import.io/
• Webz.io - https://webz.io
• Dexi.io - https://dexi.io/
• Parse Hub - https://www.parsehub.com/
• 80Legs - https://80legs.com/
• Zyte Scrapy Cloud - https://www.zyte.com/pricing/?service=scrapy-cloud
• Scrapy - https://scrapy.org/
• Scraper - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/scraper/mbigbapnjcgaffohmbkdlecaccepngjd
• Web Scraper - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/web-scraper/jnhgnonknehpejjnehehllkliplmbmhn
• Scraping API - https://www.abstractapi.com/web-scraping-api
• Browserbase - https://www.browserbase.com/

Development IDEs/Editors (including AI-based)

• Microsoft Visual Studio Code (VSCode) - https://code.visualstudio.com
• Microsoft Visual Studio (IDE) - https://www.visualstudio.com
• JetBrains IDEs - https://www.jetbrains.com/ides
  • WebStorm - https://www.jetbrains.com/webstorm
• Sublime Text - https://www.sublimetext.com
• NetBeans - https://netbeans.apache.org
• Eclipse - https://eclipse.org

Online Development Platforms/IDEs

• VSCode for Web - https://vscode.dev
• Humanitec - https://humanitec.com

AI-based Online Development Platforms/IDEs

• Base44 (AI based) - https://base44.com
• Bolt.new (AI baseed) - https://bolt.new
• Lovable (AI based) - https://lovable.dev
• Replit (AI based) - https://replit.com
• v0 by Vercel (AI based) - https://v0.app
• Google AI Studio - https://aistudio.google.com

AI-based Code Agents

• GitHub Copilot - https://github.com/features/copilot
• Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) - https://devin.ai/desktop
• Qodo - https://www.qodo.ai
• Cline - https://cline.bot

Development Playgrounds

• JSFiddle - https://jsfiddle.net
• Plunker - https://plnkr.co/
• CodePen - https://codepen.io/
• JSBin - https://jsbin.com/

Local Development Environments

• Docker - https://www.docker.com
• Laragon - https://laragon.org
• XAMPP - https://www.apachefriends.org
• Laravel Herd - https://herd.laravel.com
• Local (for WordPress) - https://localwp.com

Utilities

• FileZilla - https://filezilla-project.org/
• FreeFileSync - https://freefilesync.org/
• CryptoMator - https://cryptomator.org/
• WinScp - https://winscp.net
• PuTTY - https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/

Testing and Code Insights

• Sauce Labs - https://saucelabs.com/
• Code Climate - https://codeclimate.com

Data

• Estuary - https://estuary.dev/
• MotherDuck - https://motherduck.com/
• Nhost - https://nhost.io/
• Supabase - https://supabase.com/

Email Services

• Resend - https://resend.com/
• Brevo (Ex Sendinblue) - https://www.brevo.com/
• MailGun - https://www.mailgun.com , https://www.mailgun.com/google
• SendGrid - https://sendgrid.com
• MailChimp - https://mailchimp.com
• Mandrill - https://www.mandrill.com/
• AWS SES - https://aws.amazon.com/ses/
• Sweego - https://www.sweego.io/
• Elastic Email - https://elasticemail.com/
• ForwardEmail - https://forwardemail.net/
• MX Toolbox - https://mxtoolbox.com/SuperTool.aspx
• DMarcian - https://dmarcian.com/dmarc-tools/
• Mailtrap - https://mailtrap.io/
• Email Validation API - https://www.abstractapi.com/email-verification-validation-api
• Stripo - https://stripo.email

Notification (Push, SMS etc) Service for Developers

• OneSignal - https://onesignal.com
• Pusher - https://pusher.com
• Twilio - https://www.twilio.com

Changelog

• Headway - https://headwayapp.co/

Content Management Systems (CMS)

• WordPress - https://www.wordpress.org
• Drupal - https://www.drupal.org
• Joomla - https://www.joomla.org

Ecommerce CMS

• WooCommerce for WordPress - https://www.woocommerce.com
• OpenCart - https://www.opencart.com
• Prestashop - https://www.prestashop.com

Business, Marketing, Sales, Finance

Analytics

• Google Analytics - https://analytics.google.com
• New Relic https://newrelic.com/
• Inspectlet https://www.inspectlet.com/plans
• LiveSession - https://livesession.io/
• Amplitude - https://amplitude.com/
• Microsoft Clarity - https://clarity.microsoft.com
• PostHog - https://posthog.com/

ERP / Business Management

• Odoo - https://www.odoo.com
• Bitrix24 - https://www.bitrix24.com

Accounting & Finance

• Wave Apps - https://www.waveapps.com
• Odoo Accounting - https://www.odoo.com/app/accounting

CRM

• HubSpot CRM - https://www.hubspot.com/products/crm
• Capsule CRM - https://capsulecrm.com
• Insightly - https://www.insightly.com
• Bitrix24 CRM - https://www.bitrix24.com/tools/crm
• Google Contacts (can be used as lightweight CRM) - https://contacts.google.com
• Attio - https://attio.com/
• Dealboard - https://getdealboard.com
• EventSync - https://eventsync.io

Sales & Marketing

• HubSpot - https://www.hubspot.com
  • Marketing - https://www.hubspot.com/products/marketing
  • Sales - https://www.hubspot.com/products/sales
  • Website Grader - https://website.grader.com
• Buffer App - https://buffer.com
• HootSuite - https://hootsuite.com
• PinGroupie - https://pingroupie.com
• SocialEcho - https://www.socialecho.net/
• Ubersuggest - https://ubersuggest.org
• My Site Auditor - https://mysiteauditor.com
• WooBox - https://woobox.com
• BuzzSumo - https://buzzsumo.com
• Ritetag - https://ritetag.com
• Tagboard - https://tagboard.com
• Shortstack - https://www.shortstack.com
• Post Planner - https://www.postplanner.com
• Carousel Hero - https://carouselhero.com
• Cello - https://cello.so
• Social Proof Examples - https://socialproofexamples.com
• Website Headlines - https://websiteheadlines.com
• Vidclue - https://vidclue.com
• AnswerThePublic - https://answerthepublic.com
• Where Should I Launch? - https://mydentify.com/tools/startup-directory-finder
• Optux AI - https://optux.ai

Automation

• Zapier - https://zapier.com
• Make - https://www.make.com
• IFTTT - https://ifttt.com
• n8n - https://n8n.io

Team Chat & Communication

• Slack - https://slack.com
• Microsoft Teams - https://teams.microsoft.com
• Google Chat - https://chat.google.com
• Mattermost - https://mattermost.com
• Rocket.Chat - https://rocket.chat
• Twist - https://twist.com

Customer Support/Live Chat

• Olark - https://www.olark.com/
• Facebook Messenger - https://web.facebook.com/business/products/messenger-for-business
• WhatsApp for Business - https://business.whatsapp.com
• LiveChat - https://www.livechat.com
• Tawk.to - https://www.tawk.to
• WishKit - https://www.wishkit.io
• UserJot - https://userjot.com

Social Media

• Facebook - https://facebook.com
• X (Twitter) - https://x.com
• LinkedIn - https://linkedin.com
• Instagram - https://instagram.com
• Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com
• YouTube - https://youtube.com
• TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com
• Threads - https://www.threads.com
• Mastodon - https://joinmastodon.org
• Bluesky - https://bsky.app

Blogging, Writing

• Substack - https://substack.com
• Medium - https://medium.com
• Dev.to - https://dev.to

Productivity, Management, Organization

Note-taking & Reading

• Notion - https://www.notion.com
• Microsoft OneNote - https://www.onenote.com (part of Microsoft 365 Copilot)
• Google Keep - https://keep.google.com
• Capacities - https://capacities.io
• Obsidian - https://obsidian.md

Journaling

• DailyWins - https://dailywins.ibexoft.com (by Ibexoft, maintainer of this list)

Documentation & Collaboration

• Atlassian Confluence - https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence
• Microsoft Loop - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-loop
• Microsoft Word - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/word (part of MS Office - https://www.office.com)
• Google Docs - https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/
• Microsoft Excel - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/excel (part of MS Office - https://www.office.com)
• Google Sheets - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/
• Peony - https://www.peony.ink

Video & Screen Recording

• Atlassian Loom - https://www.loom.com
• LICEcap - https://www.cockos.com/licecap

Product Demos & Tutorials

• supademo - https://supademo.com

Storage

• Microsoft OneDrive - https://onedrive.com
• Google Drive - https://drive.google.com
• Amazon S3 - https://aws.amazon.com/pm/serv-s3
• Dropbox - https://www.dropbox.com
• Box - https://www.box.com
• Mega - https://mega.io
• Proton Drive - https://proton.me/drive
• Cloudflare R2 - https://www.cloudflare.com/developer-platform/products/r2/

Project/Task Management

Good for personal tasks

• Todoist - https://todoist.com
• Superlist - https://www.superlist.com
• Microsoft Todo - https://todo.microsoft.com (Previously Wunderlist)
• Any.do - https://www.any.do
• Tick Tick - https://ticktick.com
• Meister Task - https://meistertask.com
• Google Tasks - https://tasks.google.com
• Memorigi - https://memorigi.app

Good for team projects

• Jira - https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira
• Asana - https://asana.com
• GitHub Projects - https://docs.github.com/en/issues/planning-and-tracking-with-projects/learning-about-projects/about-projects
• Trello - https://trello.com
• Airtable - https://airtable.com
• Teamwork - https://teamwork.com
• ClickUp - https://clickup.com
• Wrike - https://www.wrike.com
• Basecamp - https://basecamp.com
• Shortcut - https://www.shortcut.com
• Paymo - https://www.paymoapp.com
• GoodDay - https://www.goodday.work
• Taskade - https://taskade.com

Calendar

• Google Calendar - https://calendar.google.com
• Outlook Calendar - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/outlook/calendar-app
• Proton Calendar - https://proton.me/calendar
• Calendly - https://calendly.com

Attendance & Time Tracking

• Toggl - https://toggl.com
• Clockify - https://clockify.me
• TimeCamp - https://www.timecamp.com
• Everhour - https://everhour.com
• My Hours - https://myhours.com
• Paymo - https://www.paymoapp.com
• Jibble - https://www.jibble.io
• Connecteam - https://connecteam.com/employee-time-clock-app/employee-time-tracking-app/

Productivity Techniques

• Pomodoro Technique - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique
• GTD - https://todoist.com/productivity-methods/getting-things-done
• Eisenhower Matrix - https://todoist.com/productivity-methods/eisenhower-matrix

Graphics, Design, and Media

Video making

• Google Vids - https://workspace.google.com/products/vids
• Biteable - https://biteable.com
• Powtoon - https://www.powtoon.com
• Animoto - https://animoto.com
• Openshot - https://www.openshot.org
• VEED - https://www.veed.io
• Tavus (AI based) - https://www.tavus.io

Stock Photos/Illustrations/Icons

• Unsplash - https://unsplash.com
• Pexels - https://www.pexels.com
• Shopify Burst - https://burst.shopify.com
• Undraw - https://undraw.co/illustrations
• Excalidraw - https://excalidraw.com
• Icons8 - https://icons8.com
• Favicon Generator - https://favicon.io
• APPLORE App Icon Generator - https://applore.app/app-icon-generator

Online Logo

• Shopify Logo Maker - https://www.shopify.com/tools/logo-maker
• Looka - https://looka.com
• Cool Text - https://cooltext.com
• Free Logo Services - https://freelogoservices.com
• Graphic Springs - https://graphicsprings.com
• Design Mantic - https://designmantic.com
• Zillion Designs - https://zilliondesigns.com
• Logo Maker - https://logomaker.com

Designing & Editing

• Gamma (AI based) - https://gamma.app
• Canva - https://www.canva.com
• Snappa - https://snappa.com
• Photoshop - https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html
• Photoshop Express - https://www.photoshop.com/tools
• Pixlr - https://pixlr.com/
• Fotor - https://www.fotor.com/
• Stamp creator - https://www.speedystamps.co.uk/
• Method Draw (SVG Editor) - https://editor.method.ac
• AConvert (Image to SVG Converter) - https://www.aconvert.com/image/png-to-svg/
• Image Compression and Optimization API - https://www.abstractapi.com/image-processing-optimization-api
• Figma - https://www.figma.com/
• BulkPicTools - https://bulkpictools.com/
• EnigmaEasel - https://enigmaeasel.com/
• flow-chart.io (AI based) - https://flow-chart.io

Security and Privacy

Password Managers

• Proton Pass - https://proton.me/pass
• Avira PWM - https://passwords.avira.com
• Passbolt - https://www.passbolt.com
• BitWarden - https://bitwarden.com

Virtual Private Networks (VPN)

• Proton VPN - https://protonvpn.com