Best all-in-one software solutions
For Entrepreneurs, Solo Business Owners, One-Person Companies, and Side Hustles
SMBR is a great place to find software and tools that help solopreneurs, small businesses, side hustles and start ups.
SBMR sums up what each software or tool does, identifies core features, and lists pros and cons about the software.
"SMBR is becoming a great place to get honest down-in-the-trenches reviews for software for solopreneurs"
- Dakota Hanshew, Founder, OptimAudience Digital Marketing
Reviews
Soloniche Management
GoSolo Software
GoSolo Software helps anyone trying to set up in business through each step of bringing their business to life. From naming it, to the fast build of a world-class website, to handling the legal stuff – it’s all done with you in the order it needs doing.
The best part of GoSolo is the highly condensed and actionable information. One of the most difficult aspects of being an entrepreneur is knowing when we have enough information (it seems like we never do) about a specific topic to make the best decison for the business based on the context of where things are at currently.
The other highly valuable aspect of this software is helping you decide for yourself and your business what the best option or decison is to make by giving surveys, questions or just information to consider before taking the next step towards growing and scaling.
Key features | Starter:
- Features a ready-made soloniche you can just step into
- Builds your business from idea to income, step by step
- Includes templates for every need–proposals, scheduling, contracts, invoices, payments, etc.
- Runs on a connected desktop and mobile app
Key features | Starter plus
- Email, chat, and phone support (depending on the plan you choose)
- Monthly conference call with solo business building experts to work on any business issue
- New Business Opportunities Briefings
- Business Referrals for your specialty
Key features | Full support:
- Hands-on Business Builder advice and execution for your specific needs (two hours per month)
- 1-on-1 Mentoring Check-ins with a senior business expert (weekly)
Most impressed:
I love the minimalist style of this software. It has what you need when you need it and has the data you need flawlessly organized on a timeline that is impossible to diverge from. I also enjoy the fact that the amount of information within each section isn't intimidating. Lots of times when I find new information on starting something, I procrastinate because of how time-consuming it is just to get through the lengthy text. This does the exact opposite of that and makes you want to move onto the next task and gets you excited to move to the next step of building your dream business.
Least impressed:
The basic layout and simplicity of GoSolo is the best and worst thing about the software. At the low price I didnt expect GoSolo Software to provide every business solution that my company will need, even though it provides most until I grow in size. I hope the software will include additional higher end features as it evolves.
Pricing:
Begins at $10/mo for Starter up to $208/mo for full support.
Client Management
Business Power Tools
Business Power Tools helps automate internal operations of every aspect of a company that are repetitive and time consuming. It creates a detailed business plan for growth. And when the time arises, it creates a powerful and compelling pitch to show to investors to raise funds . These tools make financial models, supportive documents, and professional pitches seem easy due to their video tutorials and outlines.
Key features:
- Creates compelling pitches for investors
- Financial models customized to your business
- Keeps your business organization, strategy, and growth up-to-date
- Pre-written text to minimize any grammatical errors
- Includes software sample templates, strategic planning, employee policies, and safety training handbooks
Most Impressive:
Business Power Tools gives you a customizable blueprint to turn any startup idea into a reality. Its strength and focus in recent years has been supplying the tools to help create a complete investment package and GAAP Compliant, 5-year Pro Forma Financial Projections, along with a business’ core philosophies and goals.
Least Impressive:
A great early-leader in this space, but it is best suited to growing companies rather than smaller startups and solo operations.
Pricing:
Basic program $27/mo rising up to premium at $47/mo.
BusinessTown is a go-to source of information for small business owners or any aspiring entrepreneurs about starting and managing a small business. They also help you navigate and set up things like accounting, hiring, legal matters, employee management, marketing, and sales
Key Features:
- Helps you ideate and find your dream business
- Helps you start your own business
- Easy-to-follow video timeline
- Bite-sized videos and other content so you don't get overwhelmed
Most Impressive:
BusinessTown has high-quality information and video that gets paired with easy-to-follow instructions after each section is complete. The friendliness and simplicity that's consistent throughout the whole site makes it stand apart.
Least Impressive:
There are some elements to creating a business that I think should have gone more in depth. But the whole point of this solution is to reduce fluff and increase the amount of actionable information able to be consumed and actually digested by entrepreneurs starting their own business.
Pricing:
7 day free trial. Then $19.95/month. Cancel anytime.
ClickUp gives you the power to narrow down the most important tasks at hand by viewing them in a list, board, or calendar, whichever is the most efficient for you! You can build your own mission control center and take on what you want to. This app lets anyone work on anything. It includes: docs, reminders, goals, calendars, and scheduling.
Key Features:
Lists divided into groups
Calendars made
Docs created in ClickUp can be attached anywhere
Mindmap, tree branches view
Charts, tables, and data embedded
Most Impressive:
ClickUp is such a great app with so many diverse features at an affordable price. It has helped me plan, organize, and collaborate--all in one software. It helps save tons of time. Before, I found myself a bit overwhelmed and unorganized. Now I feel relieved and ready to take on the week knowing that everything is all in one place.
Least Impressive:
Nothing to add.
Pricing:
Begins at $5/mo.
Gumroad helps you sell your products online. It gives you a home on the web by telling your audience about you and your work. Gumroad helps to build your audience and gives you the tools needed to engage with your audience. Gumroad has brought success to many companies and can do the same for you.
Key Features:
Universal analytics
Generate license keys
Sell multiple versions of your product
Rentals in a click
Lightweight DRM
Most Impressive:
Gives you more time to focus on the creative aspects of business by taking the skills you have and helping you make money off of it.
Least Impressive:
It is focused on the selling of a course, and is not an all-in-one solution.
Pricing:
Begins at $10/mo plus a commission fee per sale.
Hello Bonsai’s goal is to help you focus on your passion, not paperwork. Bonsai helps to run your business in all aspects, from proposal to tax season. Bonsai is trusted by more than 200,000 freelancers and agencies, proving it to be reliable.
Key Features:
- Built for all work types
- Helps to grow businesses
- Used for all trades including: marketing, design, writing, development, photography
Most Impressive:
Very affordable with many great features for a reasonable price. Unlike HoneyBook, Bonsai uses PayPal with stripe for ACH and credit card payments. I really liked that Bonsai offered a 14-day free trial because it helped me to see if Bonsai really was for me and if it would be beneficial.
Least Impressive:
It claims it is an all-in-one product suite, however I do not believe it has everything that a business owner needs. There definitely could be some updates on the site, but for the price I think it is very reasonable and overall a great tool.
Pricing:
Starts at $19/mo.
HoneyBook is positioned as an all-in-one app that will change your business tremendously. It helps to simplify and improve your internal processes and workflows. The software is easy to set up and use, allowing anyone to benefit from their service.
Key Features:
Easy to use and simple interface
Features specific to your soloist business
Automation and workflow management tools
Project and task management
Payment processing with multiple currencies and gateways
CRM functionality and customer support channels such as email, live chat, and social platforms
Most impressive:
HoneyBook has helped us not lose track of time and money because it has helped us stay organized and systematic with our internal operations. HoneyBook is so reasonably priced as well, that I recommend it to any business owner.
Least impressive:
It’s not really all-in-one, despite the claims. HoneyBook focuses on you getting paid -- very important, but only part of running a business. Also, HoneyBook doesn’t process payments using PayPal, Stripe, Venmo, and other payment processors. If you need to accept payments via cash, check, or other methods made outside of HoneyBook, you have to do the setup manually. And it lacks customization in some forms, though I believe this is being remedied.
Pricing:
Begins at $34/mo (annual billing) or $40/mo (monthly billing).
Kajabi has everything you need to create, market, and sell your knowledge online. Kajabi has spent the last 10 years helping over 50,000 business owners create and sustain a successful business online. Kajabi says its customers have made over $1.5 billion on the platform to date:)
Key Features:
Integrated subscriptions, courses, and digital products
Get paid on your terms
Smarter business moves with better data
Beautiful emails
Track your leads
Most Impressive:
I loved the ready-to-use blueprints because it helped me set up a precise document with no questions or confusion! A lot of the documents are fill-in-the-blanks and customized to your content. It saved me so much time when creating and sending documents!
Least Impressive:
Although it has many wonderful features, it is quite expensive...especially since it only focuses on the client management portion of running a small business.
Pricing:
Basic plan is $119/mo, Growth plan is $159/mo, Pro plan is 319/mo.
LaunchLab is an all in one business management program that gives you access to all your products and services in one place, a single report on all the metrics that matter, and learning tools.
Key Features:
Manages your social media profiles
Manages your online presence
Manages your advertising
Manages your reputation
Grows your business
Most Impressive:
Gives local businesses tools to grow, make more money and compete with local businesses. LaunchLab manages your online presence; sometimes it is hard to consistently be online at all times, but with LaunchLab that isn’t an issue.
Least Impressive:
It is a full-service solution that can be too pricey for most small businesses. But if you can afford them, the results will be among the best you could expect.
Podia includes everything you need to sell courses, webinars, downloads, and memberships. You never have to worry about getting a bunch of different tools to “talk to each other” again.
Key Features:
Online Courses
Digital downloads
Memberships
Webinars
Custom website
Email marketing
Live chat widget
Affiliate marketing
Most Impressive:
The custom website feature helps you create a beautiful, modern, and mobile friendly website for your brand. You will love how customizable it is, and how much business it is likely to bring you.
Least Impressive:
Focus is on selling courses, which is great, and so it is not an all-in-one solution.
Pricing:
Mover plan is $39/mo, Shaker plan is $79/mo, Earthquaker plan is $179/m.
Offers an all in one suite of tools that help you with projects and tasks. The software has more than 20,000 businesses signed up--very impressive.
Key Features:
A dashboard that displays all your highlights
Contacts section: keeps track of clients and projects
Manage multiple projects simultaneously; know where projects stand at any time
Create lead inquiry forms to generate business
Online questionnaires
Calendar and integrations
Most Impressive:
Instead of feeling overwhelmed by all the projects on my plate, it's all laid out so I can easily see what I need to do and the timeline correlates with the tasks. 17hats has made running a business much easier and has made the workflow run smoother. I love the universality in 17hats, in that anyone can use it from developers to coaches to musicians!
Least Impressive:
Nothing to say here.
Pricing:
Level 1 plan is $13/mo, Level 2 is $25/mo, and Level 3 is $50/mo.
StudioCloud is a reasonable and reliable business management platform. It has helped many business owners manage their businesses from anywhere with its versatile features.
Key Features:
• Manage clients, partners, and vendors in one place
• Create and send professional invoices
• Send automated, personalized text and email reminders
• Have clients review and sign contracts online
• Easily customize the look and feel of your software
Most Impressive:
The most impressive feature about StudioCloud is how it schedules and manages appointments. In the past, we've have had overlapping appointments but with StudioCloud we are constantly reminded when we have appointments and potential overlaps that need to be considered. StudioCloud helps us manage our employees by setting up and tracking security roles, commission, and schedules. StudioCloud has saved us a lot of time.
Least Impressive:
It can get expensive depending on which service you choose.
Pricing:
Starts at $10/mo per seat on up to $60/mo for full powered EmployeeBoost.
Vcita helps manage clients, appointments, and payments from a single app. It is all you need to run your business smoothly. Vcita has got your back from the first hello to the final invoice, they have all the features to make your business successful.
Key Features:
Build long lasting relationships with clients
Get your services booked quickly with your website
Automated SMS reminders
Actionable invoices and friendly payment reminders
Client portal
Runs business with automation
Most Impressive:
Vcita helps run your business on auto-pilot, meaning you will not miss anything. I love how the reminders are automated and keep me on track daily. The client portal is my favorite feature because it allows clients to schedule, pay, and take any action online from a friendly self-service portal. I find this to be very beneficial in my business because it allows the client to feel welcome to do things on their own time.
Least Impressive:
Nothing to add here.
Pricing:
Essential Plan is $19/mo, Business Plan is $45/mo, the Platinum Plan is $75/mo.
Task / Project Management
Asana helps team activities run a lot smoother. These team activities can include: sharing files, task assignments, projects progress tracking, receiving notifications, updates, and comments. It helps in seamless communication and works efficiently for timely delivery of projects.
Key Features:
Encourages teamwork by letting the team know what needs to get done
Lets teams work together in a shared space for a project
Organizes and assigns tasks
Lists what needs to be done by priority
Most Impressive:
Asana has an elegant UI -- a delight to work on. In an office of 10 people, it can keep everyone on task, organized, effectively collaborating right in the software..
Least Impressive:
Asana is ideal for larger companies and a lot of the features are simply “more” than a smaller company will need.
Pricing:
Begins at $11/mo on up to $60/mo per user.
Keap helps run your business through automated emails, sales pipeline and business processes. It helps to remind you and your business of any meetings, clients, or tasks for the day. It will save you time, lead scoring, and help your business have better customer service.
Key Features:
Automation emails
Sales pipeline automation
Business process automation
Builds relationships
Helps you follow up on potential sales
Tracks the customer journey
Office administration
Most Impressive:
Tracks potential sales by sending follow-up emails to customers who have browsed your website, abandoned their cart, or even written-in with a customer service question.
Least Impressive:
Keap is ideal for a bit larger companies, not smallcos.
Pricing:
The Lite Plan is $56/mo, Pro Plan is $112/mo, Max Plan is $140/mo.
MavenLink offers services and solutions for project management, resource planning, collaboration, and project accounting. MavenLink combines the robust functionality of a Professional Services Automation solution with intuitive user-friendly project management.
Key Features:
Support for resource management
Time and expense tracking/management
Planning
Reports
Analytics
Encourages collaboration
Most Impressive:
It is nice to use an app that is so extremely well-explained. In the past, I have struggled just trying to figure out the app itself, however MavenLink makes it extremely easy to track expenses, give reports, show analytics. Files can be tagged to tasks so the team stays organized and working more efficiently.
Least Impressive:
The software could run smoother; there are a few glitches that could stand to be updated.
Pricing:
Customized to your company.
Monday.com helps to handle workflow management for any project. It helps to guide your team in what tasks are important and prioritize them. It will allow you to assign and track tasks and follow processes across teams and projects. It has features of messaging, Calendar sync, due date reminders, time tracking, graphs, and forms.
Key Features:
Map
Timeline
Charts
Calendar
Forms
Templates
Events
Most Impressive:
It is so accessible from anywhere, your laptop or your phone. It lets you know the work you have to do as a team and as an individual. It has discussions, ongoing tasks, and completed tasks. It keeps me organized and knowing exactly what I need to get done for the day.
Least Impressive:
Better for large small businesses than solo outfits.
Pricing:
Basic plan is $8/mo, Standard plan is $10/mo, Pro plan is $16/mo.
Process Street is a simple powerful way to manage your team's recurring checklists and procedures. The simplest way to manage recurring workflows for your team.
Key Features:
Create process template
Run multiple instances of the template as checklists
Track progress and collaborate with your team
Create procedure documents in seconds
Run processes as collaborative workflows
Most Impressive:
As a business, I feel much more organized with Process Street’s feature of tracking our progress. This feature has helped let my team know when an individual is done with their work, what else is left, and whose tasks need to be completed next. This has helped my team become much more efficient.
Least Impressive:
Designed for a large business and not as applicable to small business needs.
Pricing:
Starts at $25/mo.
Wrike is a task management software to store your personal to-do list and ideas, manage team collaborative task lists, and effectively work with your team to get things done – all in one place in real time.
Key Features:
Manage all your work in one spot
Collaborate with your team to achieve better results with less time
Share the workload wisely
Track time spent on tasks
Keep your to-do list in sync across browsers, devices, and mailboxes
Save time on your routine work
Most Impressive:
Instead of having to flip through paperwork, it is all on Wrike! Very convenient way to handle all the paperwork.
Least Impressive:
It’s not an all-in-one software and so many other softwares are required to run a company.
Pricing:
$10/mo.
Todo.vu is a simple company management software that focuses on getting things done. It brings your customer management and project management into one place with a beautiful and simple user interface. Todo.vu works with freelancers, small agencies, and consultants to track work across multiple projects.
Key Features:
Intuitive user interface
Focused communication and real-time updates
Built-in time tracking and billing
Sync tasks with any calendar
Most Impressive:
You can manage all your work in one place, keeping you organized and focused. My favorite feature is the time tracking and billing, I no longer have to stress about billing because todo.vu can do it all for me. Todo.vu has been a lifesaver and has completed my company.
Least Impressive:
More options for the service or software that can be integrated with todo.vu would be great to see. As of now it cannot be linked with my Google Calendar which I use a lot for adding my daily events and reminders.
Pricing:
$9/mo.
Zoho Projects is a comprehensive project management solution. Teams can plan, track and collaborate online effectively with built-in Gantt chart reports, Kanban boards, forums, social feeds, resource utilization charts, templates, timers, chat and much more all bundled into one package with no additional cost.
Key Features:
Automate tasks to save time
Log every minute with timesheets
Get the big picture with Gantt charts
Customize your experience
Integrate with your favorite apps
Most Impressive:
Zoho Projects promotes team collaboration and works with all team sizes, which I find to be great for any business. My favorite feature is the free Zoho office suite access, version history, and annotating capabilities.
Least Impressive:
Some features that I would have liked to see are material and risk management. Although teamwork is encouraged by Zoho Projects, the teamwork feature lacks a bit in capability because you can only talk through the comments with other teammates.
Pricing:
Starts at $3/mo per user. A Free-forever plan is available. A 10-day free trial of the fully-loaded Enterprise edition is also available.
Business Plan Provider
Business-in-a-Box helps to increase business productivity, so that you can get more done in less time. With this software, you can quickly and easily create any document in minutes! The software contains nearly 2,000 business and legal document templates that are customizable for your business. These templates are created to help start, run, or grow your business. Business-in-a-Box is used by millions of entrepreneurs, business owners, CEOS, and managers, in over 190 countries and territories worldwide.
Key Features:
Business Plan Kit
Legal Agreements
Human Resources
Finance & Accounting
Sales & Marketing
Administration
Most Impressive:
The amount of templates this software has is extremely helpful. I used to spend endless hours on creating business documents, but with the new templates that is not an issue. The Business Plan Kit feature gives you everything and more that you would need to grow and run your business. It includes business plans, business proposals, and much more. This software has helped me learn how to grow and succeed as a business owner.
Least Impressive:
It is expensive. Yes it has many features, but at a handsome price.
Pricing:
$299.88 a year.
BusinessPlan.com gives you a step by step guide on how to start, build, and raise capital for your business. Business Plan says it has raised over $20 million for their clients.
Key Features:
Business Plan
Spreadsheet workbook
Provides documentation required by lenders and investors
Automated Business Plan
Most Impressive:
The amount of direction that is given within this software is extremely helpful. The software contains everything and more that you could need to grow your business. It has such great guidance and has helped me learn so much more about my business and how to succeed in the business world. Not only did I buy the software, additionally a free copy of Anatomy of a Business Plan came with it. This book is very informative and was a great addition.
Least Impressive:
It's a bit old-fashioned compared to its competitors, and the concept of the workbooks is good but I found them to be confusing and difficult to stick with.
Pricing:
Ranges from $80-$125.
Live Plan is considered the best business plan creation tool complete with customizable features and solid online help and learning resources. You'll receive step-by-step instructions as soon as you login. Your business planning process is made easy with prompts, definitions of key terms, and video and text tutorials built right in.
Key Features:
Expert guidance for your business plan
See your financials automatically
World-class help
Investor-ready business plans
Most Impressive:
Live Plan has everything and more to plan out your entire business. I have received the best business help through this software and have received world-class advice. My business has grown financially quickly and Live Plan has positively affected that. Live Plan’s investor-ready business plans are like no other, I have found success with them and would not trust any other software.
Least Impressive:
The business plans are extremely helpful, however there are 500+ example templates. It can be hard to scroll through them all and choose the one that is best for your business. It could use an update and some organization.
Pricing:
$15/mo (annual pay), $20/mo (monthly pay)