Best Business Software 2025: Small Business Software for Project Management, Accounting, HR & More
Choosing the right business software for your company starts with figuring out which operations you need to revamp. Read on to learn about some of the best business software solutions, their features and the top selling points.
Written by Adeyomola Kazeem (Writer)
Reviewed by Kate Hawkins (Editor, Writer)
Facts checked by Simona Ivanovski (Fact-Checker, Formatter)
Last Updated:
All our content is written fully by humans; we do not publish AI writing. Learn more here.
Key Takeaways: These Are the Best Business Software
- monday.com — Easy to use project management tool with advanced automations. Try a 14-day free trial of the Pro plan.
- Sync.com — Secure cloud storage with client-side encryption. Get unlimited data with the Pro Teams Unlimited plan, costing $6 per user per month annually.
- IDrive Business — Secure cloud backup with unlimited users and devices. The Business plan starts at $5.80 per user per month, annually, for a shared storage of 5TB.
- Zoho One — Comprehensive business suite with scalable pricing, either $90 per user per month annually for select employees, or $37 per month per user annually for all employees.
- Slack — Instant communication tool with an intuitive interface. Get Slack for free with a 90-day chat history.
- BambooHR — Hiring, onboarding and employee management tool. Pricing starts at $250 per month for 25 or fewer employees, or $10 per user per month for 25 or more employees.
- Salesforce Sales Cloud — Data-backed customer engagement service. Try it with a 30-day free trial.
- Xero — Automated and centralized invoicing reporting tool. You can test Xero with a 30-day free trial.
- HubSpot — Automated multichannel marketing option. You can try HubSpot out with a limited free plan.
- Zoho Inventory — Inventory control with shipping and post-shipping management. You can get a feel for the software with its free plan.
- QuickBooks Online — Highly automated accounting service. Test out QuickBooks Online with the 30-day free trial.
Facts & Expert Analysis About Small Business Software:
- Third-party integrations: Tools with a diverse range of third-party apps will help businesses avoid vendor lock-in and connect with your existing software.
- Automation and AI: Choose secure tools with a high level of automation and AI features so teams can focus on crucial tasks and enhance productivity.
- Free trials: Before committing to a tool, test it out with a free trial or free plan to confirm that it fixes operational issues or enhances your business’s workflow.
The best business software often stands out because of its efficiency, ease of use and affordability for many team members. Although countless options are available, understanding how each one fits into your organization’s needs is crucial to making the most of them.
In this article, I assess some of the best business software solutions for different business needs, from project management to business cloud storage solutions to other team operations. Read on as I dive into the details.
The 11 Best Business Software Solutions Explained & Compared
| Software: | Free Plan | Best Pricing | Purpose | Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| monday.com | Limited boards, docs, column types & integrations | Standard: $12 per month (one-year plan) per user Pro: $19 per month (one-year plan) per user | Project management | Time tracking AI insights Resource management Automation |
| Sync.com | 5GB free Limited storage, few productivity features & no admin control | Pro Solo Basic: $4.80 per month (one-year plan) for 2TB Pro Teams Unlimited: $15 per month (one-year plan) for Unlimited GB | Cloud storage | Client-side encryption Data protection Collaborative access |
| IDrive Business | 10GB free 15-day money-back guarantee | Team: $6.22 per month (two-year plan) for 5TB | Cloud backup | Collaborative access Users & groups Unlimited users & devices |
| Zoho One | Only 30-day free trial | All User: $45 per employee per month or $444 per employee per year Flexible User: $105 per user per month or $1,080 per user per year | Business suite | Mailing Meeting Cloud storage Finance management |
| Slack | Limited chat history, app integrations & meeting participants | $8.75-$18 per user per month | Team collaboration | Instant messaging Video & audio meetings File sharing |
| BambooHR | No free plan | Starts at $250 per month for 25 employees or fewer, or starts at $10 per employee per month for more than 25 employees | Human capital management | AI assistant Hiring & onboarding Analytics & reporting |
| Salesforce Sales Cloud | Only 30-day free trial | $25-$550 per user per month | Customer relationship management | Engagement management Workflow automation Analytics & reporting |
| Xero | Only 30-day free trial | $25-$90 per month | Finance automation | Transaction matching Data capture Automated invoicing |
| HubSpot | Two users, limited reporting, limited AI & automation | Starter: $15 per seat per month or $108 per seat per year | Automated marketing | Multichannel marketing Reporting Custom workflow creation |
| Zoho Inventory | Lowest API, invoicing & order limits | $39-$299 per organization per month $348-$2,988 per organization per year | Inventory management | Item management Shipping management Post-shipment tracking Invoicing |
| QuickBooks Online | Only 30-day free trial | $38-$275 per month | Bookkeeping | Automated bookkeeping Automated bank feeds Expense organization |
1. monday.com — Best Project Management Software
I consider monday.com one of the best project management tools because of its rich collection of templates and high level of automation. A highlight of monday.com for me is the ease of customizing boards to suit any type of project I’m working on.
monday.com Pricing & Value
monday.com offers four paid plans — Basic, Standard, Pro and Enterprise — and one free plan. The free plan comes with 500MB of storage, supports two-factor authentication and allows up to two users.
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The paid plans are sold in user blocks, but you’ll have to contact sales to inquire about pricing for plans supporting 50 users or more. The Standard plan offers the best balance of features and pricing, including unlimited boards, guest access, 250 monthly automations and integration actions, and timeline and Gantt chart views.
monday.com’s money-back guarantee offers prorated refunds for yearly subscriptions only within the first 30 days. Read our monday.com review to learn more, or test out the service with the free plan.
- Maximum users: 2
- Minimum users: 3; All prices per user
- Minimum users: 3; All prices per user
More plans
- Minimum users: 3; All prices per user
- Enterprise-level features.
2. Sync.com — Best Business Cloud Storage
Although security and privacy are Sync.com’s major selling points, its unlimited business storage offering and Microsoft 365 integration are also key features to consider. Sync.com provides custom file-sharing portals and supports remote collaboration.
Sync.com Pricing & Value
Sync.com has six paid plans (three for individuals and three for teams), and a free plan that offers 5GB of storage and up to 30 days of file versioning. The annual subscriptions generally offer better value for money than the monthly subscriptions, offering discounts of up to 25%.
Check out our Sync.com review for more details, as it thoroughly discusses the provider’s security, privacy, user-friendliness and speed.
- 5GB
- 2TB
More plans
- 6TB
- per user, per month, billed annually
- 1TB
- Priced per user (3 users minimum)
- Unlimited GB
- Minimum 100 users, custom requirements, account manager, training options
3. IDrive — Best Business Backup
Mac, Linux, Android and Apple devices.
There’s no limit to the number of users and devices you can add to an IDrive Business plan. It supports various backup servers and operating systems, so I was able to use it across multiple platforms.
IDrive Business Pricing & Value
IDrive Business pricing is not tied to the number of users or devices, which is a major plus for me. With this pricing structure, you don’t have to worry about increased costs as your team grows.
Although IDrive has a free plan that offers 10GB of backup storage, IDrive Business is a paid plan. You can choose between a monthly or yearly subscription, but the yearly plans are cheaper in the long term. Read more about the plans, pricing and features in our IDrive review.
- No credit card required.
- 10GB
- One user.
- 100GB
- One user, multiple computers. Plans starting from 5TB up to 100TB. Big discount for first-time signup.
- 5TB
More plans
- 5 computers, 5 users. Starting at 5TB up to 500TB. Big discount for first-time signup.
- 5TB
- Monthly Plan storage starts at 1.25TB up to 50TB Unlimited users, multiple computers and servers. NAS devices. 250GB storage. Starting at 250GB up to 50TB. Large discount for first-time signup.
- 250GB
- 5TB
4. Zoho One — Best Business Operations Suite
files locally without downloading them.
Zoho One offers an affordable, rich catalog of over 50 business applications, ranging from sales and marketing apps, to communication tools, to financial and operations systems. Its prices and plans are easy to understand, and its Flexible User plan allows you to scale your spending with the size of your organization.
Zoho One Pricing & Value
Zoho One has no free plan but does offer a 30-day free trial without requiring any payment details. You can choose from two plans — Flexible User and All Employee — depending on how many members of your team need a license.
The Flexible User plan is more cost-effective if less than 42% of your team needs a license. However, the All Employee plan is cheaper if more than 42% of your team needs a license. Read our Zoho One pricing guide for a comprehensive analysis of its cost and value.
| Plan: | Monthly Pricing | Yearly Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| All Employee | $45 per employee per month | $444 per employee per year |
| Flexible User | $105 per user per month | $1,080 per user per year |
5. Slack — Best Collaboration Suite
the contents of emails to Slack conversations.
One of my favorite features of Slack is its intuitive user interface. You can be part of many channels and have lots of direct messages but still navigate easily around the app. Huddles comes in handy for quick meetings, and I like the text-formatting features (including basic formats and multiline code blocks).
Slack Pricing & Value
Slack has a free plan that offers limited chat history, app integrations and meeting participants. For access to its other features, you can get one of three paid plans: Pro, Business+ and Enterprise+. You can also request a 30-day free trial of Pro and Business+.
The Business+ plan offers the best value. However, its administration is not as granular as with Enterprise+, and it offers only one workspace. Read our Slack review for a deeper comparison of its plans and features.
| Plan: | Monthly Pricing | Yearly Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Pro | $8.75 per user per month | $87 per user per year |
| Business+ | $18 per user per month | $180 per user per year |
| Enterprise+ | Custom pricing | Custom pricing |
6. BambooHR — Best Human Resources Management Tool
to verify the information it provides.
I like BambooHR because it doesn’t silo users into hiring and applicant tracking. It has useful features like employee data management, analytics and benefits tracking. Plus, navigation is easy, even on the applicant interface, and you can bundle features like payroll, time tracking and benefits administration.
BambooHR Pricing & Value
BambooHR has two pricing thresholds: If you have 25 employees or fewer, you’ll pay a flat rate starting at $250 per month. On the other hand, you’ll pay at least $10 per employee per month if you have more than 25 employees. BambooHR has no annual plans. It does offer volume discounts, though, so you may spend less per user for a larger workforce.
| Plan: | Pricing for 25 Employees or Fewer | Pricing for Over 25 Employees |
|---|---|---|
| Core | Starts at $250 per month | Starts at $10 per employee per month |
| Pro | Custom pricing | Custom pricing |
| Elite | Custom pricing | Custom pricing |
7. Salesforce Sales Cloud — Best CRM Tool
From a business perspective, Salesforce is superb because it has virtually everything you need for thorough visibility of your customers. However, it’s not the easiest to navigate out of the box due to its many features, such as analytics, AI-driven insights and engagement management. The platform does get easier to navigate as you get used to it, though.
Salesforce Sales Cloud Pricing & Value
Salesforce Sales Cloud has no free plan but offers a 30-day free trial. The five paid plans are billed per user, with the Enterprise plan offering the best value. Subscriptions are generally charged annually, but you can reach out to the sales team to ask about custom terms.
| Plans: | Pricing |
|---|---|
| Starter Suite | $25 per user per month |
| Pro Suite | $100 per user per month |
| Enterprise | $175 per user per month |
| Unlimited | $350 per user per month |
| Agentforce 1 Sales | $550 per user per month |
8. Xero — Best Financial Management Automation
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To me, what makes Xero stand out is its ability to import and integrate bank transactions for a holistic view of my finances. Moreover, Xero supports automated invoicing, payment reminders and data capture, and it has a real-time inventory management dashboard. There is no built-in report automation, though.
Xero Pricing & Value
Although it doesn’t have a free plan, Xero does offer a 30-day free trial. It also has three paid plans: Early, Growing and Established, all of which are billed monthly. The Early plan comes with invoicing, bill management and analytics limits, and the Growing plan offers the best value for access to Xero’s core features.
| Plans: | Pricing |
|---|---|
| Early | $25 per month |
| Growing | $55 per month |
| Established | $90 per month |
9. HubSpot — Best Marketing Automation Software
and Marketing SMS Short Code add-ons.
The best part of using HubSpot is creating workflows. In addition to having an easy-to-use workflow creation interface, it provides many templates. You’ll be ready to go almost right from the start. I like that it has native features like customer relationship management (CRM) and live chat, which some other platforms support only via third-party apps.
HubSpot Pricing & Value
HubSpot Marketing offers four plans, including one free plan that supports up to 2,000 emails per month. However, if you’re a small business owner, I recommend opting for the Starter plan — it offers higher limits than the free plan, and you can scale as your team grows.
If you have a larger team, consider the Professional Plan, which includes social media marketing and more reporting. The Enterprise plan is great for large businesses that want more control, deeper reporting and increased flexibility.
| Plans: | Monthly Pricing | Yearly Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Starter | $15 per seat | $108 per seat |
| Professional | $890 $50 for extra seats | $9,600 $540 for extra seats |
10. Zoho Inventory — Best Inventory Management Software
Zoho Inventory feels like more than just a stock-tracking app thanks to features like invoicing, shipping and payment management. Its integration with accounting tools such as Zoho Books makes it easier to manage financial records and reconcile them with your inventory.
Zoho Inventory Pricing & Value
Zoho Inventory has a free plan that gives you limited access to core features like the API, order management and invoicing. It also has a 14-day free trial for all four paid plans: Standard, Professional, Premium and Enterprise.
All paid plans are billed either monthly or annually, with annual billing offering up to 20% off the monthly rates.
| Plans: | Monthly Pricing | Yearly Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Standard | $39 per organization | $348 per organization |
| Professional | $99 per organization | $948 per organization |
| Premium | $159 per organization | $1,548 per organization |
| Enterprise | $299 per organization | $2,988 per organization |
11. QuickBooks Online — Best Accounting Software
QuickBooks Online comes with more built-in features than Xero, the other finance reporting tool on this list. In addition to analytics and automated reporting features, QuickBooks Online has AI-powered insights that automate repetitive tasks and proactively identify trends, helping you nip unwanted outcomes in the bud.
QuickBooks Online Pricing & Value
QuickBooks Online offers a 30-day free trial and four plans: Simple Start, Essentials, Plus and Advanced. Of these four plans, Plus offers the best value, including five users, AI insights, budgeting help and more. However, it doesn’t include features like forecasting or a custom report builder, which can be found on the Advanced plan.
| Plans: | Pricing |
|---|---|
| Simple Start | $38 per month |
| Essentials | $75 per month |
| Plus | $115 per month |
| Advanced | $275 per month |
How to Choose the Best Business Software
Follow these steps when choosing your business software:
- Evaluate your business needs: Evaluate your current workflow for potential improvements and fixes, then let the result guide your choice.
- Create a shortlist: Draw up a list of tools that offer solutions to your needs. Having more than one option reduces the risk of confirmation bias.
- Assess your options: Use free plans and free trials to test the tools. However, if these offer only limited access, verify that money-back guarantees are available before springing for a paid plan.
- Train your team: After choosing a tool, train your team to use it, focusing on the core functions and leaving room to learn other functions on the job.
- Implement the tool: After the team has been trained to use the tool, implement it in your day-to-day operations.
- Monitor performance: Once you’ve implemented the tool, monitor its performance to ensure you’re getting your money’s worth.
Final Thoughts
The best software for your business may not be what’s most popular. When choosing a software solution, assess your business needs and match them to what these tools have to offer.
Which tool is currently most crucial to your business’s daily processes and why? Did we overlook a tool you would have liked to see on this list? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below. As always, thanks for reading.
FAQ: Best Business Tools
The best business plan software is the solution that offers all or most of the features you need for the lowest price possible.
Yes, QuickBooks is worth it for small businesses. It offers many third-party integrations, affordable pricing, automation and useful built-in features.