At the beginning of 2019, around 17% of U.S. adults said they made online purchases from their smartphone in the past three months, which is a percentage that’s increased every year since 2014. As more and more consumers move to online shopping, it’s becoming increasingly important for businesses of all kinds to establish an online presence—especially if you’re just starting out.
Thankfully, there are tons of apps and tools available for small business owners to help them establish their brand on the internet. Here are five that have been getting consistently good reviews from entrepreneurs in recent years:
Table of Contents
Best Apps For Online Business
obile applications are changing the face of business. They’re becoming more prevalent and more powerful, and most importantly, they can help your business run more smoothly. Want to improve daily operations? Organize your ideas? Manage travel expenses? There’s literally a small business app for that.
As a small business owner, the more you can automate tasks, stay organized, and streamline your processes, the more efficient and productive your business will become. Thankfully, there are a ton of tools on the market to help — in addition to DreamHost’s managed hosting plans, of course.
Here are the 30 best small business apps in 2021.
Cloud Computing Apps
Running a small business usually requires delegating tasks to several talented people — think designers, copywriters, project managers, your significant other. If you don’t have the right tools to keep everyone on the same page, it’s easy to miscommunicate. The following apps will help you share files, organize ideas, and stay up-to-date on your team’s to-do lists.
- Google Workspace
Google Workspace website home page.
Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) lets you port files among PCs, tablets, and smartphones. The standard package comes with 30 GB of online storage per user with options to upgrade to unlimited. And it allows you to create docs, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, and more.
Key Features:
Offers a popular set of intelligent business apps
Stops the need to use different apps for basic business functions
Provides professional and ad-free business email experience.
Price: Plans start as low as $6 per user per month.
Related: How to Sign up for G Suite in Your DreamHost Panel
- ShipStation
Best Small Business Apps DreamHost
If you sell and ship products online, you need a time-saving e-commerce solution to streamline your shipping. Cloud-based ShipStation is simple to use and allows you to process online orders, get order alerts, print shipping labels, track shipments, and more.
Key Features:
Works with most e-commerce platforms, including WooCommerce and Shopify
Streamline the order processing system to fit your business’s needs
Create custom shipping labels that show off your brand
Price: Plans start at $9 per month
The Host with the Most
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- SurveyMonkey
Small Business Apps DreamHost
Stop guessing what your customers want, and ask them yourself. With SurveyMonkey, you can create surveys to measure user engagement and get anonymous customer feedback on your products, pricing, website, and any unmet needs of your target market. Build simple or more complex surveys, and find tips on the SurveyMonkey website about question types and how to word them. Survey creation is collaborative, and results and reports can be viewed by different team members without sharing login information.
Key Features:
Create surveys from a template and brand with your own business colors and logos
Review survey results as they come in from any device
Send your surveys out into the world via your website, email, social media accounts, and more
Price: Freemium, with advanced packages starting at $32 per month (there are discounts for students and educators)
- FreshBooks
Best Small Business Apps DreamHost
This cloud accounting software will make your invoicing (and more!) quick and simple. With FreshBooks, you can create and personalize invoices, and set up automatic billing. You can also track business expenses — and create a minute-by-minute record of how you spend your time for a real eye-opening accounting of your productivity.
Key Features:
Accessible from any and all of your screens
Accept credit cards on your mobile device
Converts estimates into invoices
Price: $15/month for five clients; Free Invoice Template downloads
- Dropbox Business
Dropbox Business is a cloud computing app that allows you to sync files and folders across various platforms. The mobile app gives you access to all your files on the go and offers plans for really small businesses — we’re talking just three users.
Key Features:
Offers cloud storage of all important files
Prevents lost files
Provides flexible storage plans
Price: Starts at $12.50/month for 3+ users
- Microsoft OneDrive
Microsoft OneDrive allows cloud storage and file sharing through synced folders. You can view and edit OneDrive files from any smartphone or tablet with the OneDrive mobile app. Though it works for both Macs and PCs, additional services like settings backup and automatic photo upload are reserved for Windows 8 and Windows Phone users.
Key Features:
Offers convenient file sharing
Stops lost folders and files
Provides easy collaboration tools
Price: Starts at $5/month per user
Related: How to Choose the Best Cloud Applications
- Unifyle
Unifyle is a cloud storage management solution that pairs with other storage services like DropBox, SugarSync, Access Box, and more. It also organizes email from different providers, allowing you to view, send, and search across accounts.
Key Features:
Pairs with top-of-the-line apps
Stops security breaches
Provides virtual file management
Price: Free
- Evernote
Evernote can help you capture and remember all the brilliant ideas you come up with while on the move. It’s available on multiple platforms and allows you to store your ideas by voice, text, or photo. You can search your notes by keywords and tags.
Key Features:
Offers quick Google sign-in
Stops you from losing your best ideas
Provides on-the-go note taking
Price: Free for basic plan; upgrade to a business account for $14.99 per user per month
- DocuSign
DocuSign allows you to easily collect signatures online or via a mobile device. This is the perfect tool for collecting necessary information from clients and remote employees.
Key Features:
Offers rapid app development
Stops inconvenience of collecting signatures in person
Provides powerful integrations with Salesforce, Google, Microsoft, and more
Price: Starts at $10/month
- Polaris Office
Polaris Office is a good mobile alternative to Apple’s iWork suite or Microsoft’s Office Suite for spreadsheets and docs. It allows you to read and edit docs via the mobile app.
Key Features:
Offers outstanding compatibility to view and edit all documents
Stops increase on costs related to purchasing an office suite
Provides mobile and desktop access
Price: Pro plans start at $5/month
- SOS Online Backup
SOS Online Backup automatically backs up your files online and provides military-grade encryption.
Key Features:
Offers secure online backup
Stops loss of files
Provides 100%privacy
Price: Starting at $4.99/month
Cloud Computing apps truly are the way of the future when it comes to making sure your team has secure access to the right information.
Related: Safeguard Your Site with 13 of the Best Security Plugins
Communication Apps
Whether you’ve got a team of part-time workers or remote freelancers, it’s vital to have a way to stay connected. Here are some of the top tools to make virtual communication easy.
- Slack
Slack is one of the most popular communication apps on the market. With Slack, you can create different communication channels, send group messages, and even break off into one-off meetings within a slack channel.
Key Features:
Offers easy communication between teams
Stops confusion among team members
Provides targeted channel communications
Price: Freemium
- Fuze
Fuze is a great communication app for times when a simple chat isn’t enough. Fuze is a video conferencing tool that works across all platforms and devices. No matter where anyone is on your team, they can hop on Fuze and make it to your meeting on time.
Key Features:
Offers user training and materials
Stops remote employees from missing meetings
Provides “go-live” transition support
Price: Varies per plan — contact Fuze for more information
- Skype
Skype group call
Skype is a trusty app for simplifying team communication. Skype allows you to chat with team members from any location. And since the app is so popular, you can rest assured that your team members and clients will know how to use it.
Key Features:
Offers trustworthy calling, chatting, and video conferencing
Stops loss of easy collaboration
Provides free calls to friends
Price: Freemium
Of course, you could just pick up the phone to sync with your team members and clients, but if you really want to stay connected, these platforms make it easy to build open communication right into your workflow.
Related: 6 Reasons Why Your Small Business Needs to Get Online
Finance Apps
As a small business, the last thing you want to do come tax time is scramble around looking for crumpled receipts. Make sure you invest in one of the following finance apps. You’ll be glad you did come April 15.
- Quickbooks
Best Small Business Apps DreamHost
Quickbooks connects to your business bank account, PayPal, and Square (plus thousands more) and uploads real-time data to help you keep tabs on your company’s financial well-being. You can even use this accounting app to track expenses and upload pictures of receipts from your phone — a definite boon when tax season rolls around.
Key Features:
View profit and loss reports
Track unpaid invoices
Pay employees
Price: Starts at $7.50/month for freelancer plan
- Expensify
There are plenty of expense trackers out there, and Expensify is one of the simplest. It keeps track of expenses and mileage via multiple platforms. Receipts can be scanned and uploaded. Expenses can be submitted to employers by a click of a button. It can also read and import expenses from a linked bank account or credit card.
Key Features:
Offers top-notch integrations
Stops confusion at tax time
Provides help with expense tracking across several industries
Price: Contact Expensify for more information
- Abukai Expenses
With Abukai Expenses, you just snap a photo of your receipts with a smartphone, and the info gets entered into the tracking app’s interface. You can also take a photo of a map or itinerary to calculate and report mileage.
Key Features:
Offers easy record-keeping of receipts
Stops messy receipt tracking
Provides multiple expense tracking at one time
Price: Freemium
- InDinero
InDinero syncs with bank accounts and credit cards to predict future cash flow based on current trends and past expenses.
Key Features:
Offers excellent bookkeeping services
Stops the need to invest big in bookkeepers
Provides tax services for small businesses
Price: Starts at $300/month
- Time Doctor
Time Doctor home page.
This time tracking app records billable hours, workers’ time on the clock and on projects. The app estimates that it can increase your workplace productivity by 22%.
Key Features:
Offers screenshot monitoring
Stops payroll confusions
Provides powerful reporting tools
Price: $10/user per month
If it’s your goal to get your finances in order before Uncle Sam comes calling next April, these apps can help.
Travel and On-the-Go Networking Apps
As a small business owner, chances are you find yourself on the road (or up in the air) more often than you imagined when you first started your business. Travel is expensive, and it can be difficult to stay on top of all the details. Unless you have the right scheduling app to help you, that is.
- TripIt
TripIt allows travelers to keep business trip arrangements, itineraries, and information together all in one location, including meeting times and flights details. It also corrals weather forecasts, maps, and directions.
Key Features:
Offers a master itinerary for every trip
Stops travel hiccups
Provides access plans from anywhere on any device
Price: Freemium
- Inigo
No more carrying stacks of business cards. Inigo is a networking app that allows you to create and share a virtual business card by tapping your smartphone with someone else’s.
Key Features:
Offers easy sharing of business cards
Stops business cards from getting lost
Provides a real-time networking solution
Price: Freemium
When it comes to business travel and networking on-the-go, you can either fly by the seat of your pants or download these apps. We know which option we’d prefer.
Operations Apps
Do you find you need help with daily business operations? You’ll be happy to know there are several apps on the market to help automate your processes and stay organized.
- Upward
Upward app for hiring
As a small business owner, you’ve got your hands full with a long to-do list — and Upward sets out to make one of those tasks less painless: hiring. Whether your hiring needs are constant or sporadic, this app makes it quick and easy to post job listings, sort through applicants, and save and search resumes.
Key Features:
Post your listings on 100+ job platforms with a single click
Communicate directly with applicants via Upward’s messaging platform
Manage and rate candidates all in one place
Price: Starts at $50/job listing
Related: How to Make a Professional Resume Website (In 7 Easy Steps)
- Vivial
Vivial is a business marketing app. Vivial allows users to build online branding through social media, websites, local directories, and email newsletters. The service also automatically updates the Google Places listings for brick-and-mortar business users.
Key Features:
Offers easy website optimization
Provides local search optimization
Price: Contact Vivial for more information
- Asana
Asana is a collaborative information manager that’s way easier to use than standard — and more complex — project management software. It allows app users to manage both work and personal projects in one intuitive interface.
Key Features:
Offers easy collaboration
Stops miscommunication on task due dates
Provides project management tools
Price: Freemium
Related: 36 Brilliant Blogging Tools to Help You Write Better, Publish More, and Increase Traffic
- Square
Square allows businesses to take credit card payments through mobile devices and charges no start-up or monthly fees. Instead, it simply takes a percentage of each transaction.
Key Features:
Offers credit card processing from anywhere
Stops the need for cash-only
Provides free card reader
Price: Starts at 2.6% + 10¢ per transaction
- LogMeIn Pro
LogMeIn Pro is an Android app that allows you to log in remotely to perform administrative functions on other PCs. There’s also a Mac version: LogMeIn for iOS.
Key Features:
Offers 1 TB file storage
Stops loss of administrative functions
Provides remote printing
Price: $30/month for two computers
- KoolSpan TrustCall
KoolSpan TrustCall is a smartphone app that encrypts phone calls and text messages without the need to buy custom devices.
Key Features:
Offers encrypted phone calls
Stops security breaches
Provides encrypted messaging
Price: Contact KoolSpan for more information
- Podium
Podium is a marketing tool that can help you collect online reviews and testimonials through text messaging. After all, the more people who are talking positively about your business, the more customers will come your way.
Key Features:
Offers easy Google review collection tool
Stops disruptions in review collection methods
Provides access to leaving reviews through text messaging
Price: Contact Podium for more information
Don’t let your operations slip through the cracks. Instead, invest in the right tools to keep your business on the track.
Email Apps
Email marketing yields the highest return on investment of any other marketing effort. In fact, some reports indicate a $44 return for every $1 spent on email marketing. As such, it’s important to make sure you have the right tools for the job.
- Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor is an email marketing tool that will help you build your subscriber list, create beautiful email templates, and automate your marketing messages. Campaign Monitor also integrates with other business software like SalesForce and GetFeedback.
Key Features:
Offers email automation
Stops gaps in data collection with excellent reporting
Provides proven template design
Price: Freemium
- MailChimp
MailChimp is similar to Campaign Monitor in that it helps you easily boost your subscriber list, send out messages, automate your email campaigns, and create beautiful newsletters. MailChimp also has excellent e-commerce platform integrations like Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, and more.
Key Features:
Offers drag-and-drop email building
Stops companies from losing touch with subscribers
Provides email marketing automation
Price: Freemium
If your email marketing game is tired, use one of these apps to start growing your subscriber list with a regular newsletter.
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What’s Your Favorite Small Business App?
As you invest in the best small business apps — whether you want to streamline invoicing, boost productivity, or improve digital marketing for your business — don’t forget our DreamPress plans, fully-managed WordPress hosting solutions that will keep your website running with a 100% uptime guarantee.
Related: Want to Build a Website This Year? Here’s Your Game Plan
online business app list
The best small-business apps can help you run your company, startup or side hustle more efficiently, saving you time and money. Here are NerdWallet’s top picks for accounting, point-of-sale, payroll and invoicing.
Point-of-sale
Point-of-sale systems allow you to ring up customers and complete sales, and the best ones can be customized to fit your business and industry. Restaurants, for example, need POS systems that allow for table management and coordination. Retail shops, meanwhile, require robust inventory management features.
Square
NerdWallet’s pick for: Best overall.
Software cost: Free and up. (Additional hardware and payment processing are additional costs.)
Why we like it: Square is easy to use, and the company offers transparent pricing and live support. It’s also mobile-friendly and works on iPhones, iPads and Androids. For small businesses that don’t need advanced functionality, there’s also a free plan.
Square POS
Square
on Square’s website
Toast
NerdWallet’s pick for: Restaurants
Software cost: Free and up. (Additional hardware and payment processing are additional costs.)
Why we like it: Toast’s restaurant-specific design prioritizes features that make the back-of-house and front-of-house operate smoothly. You can manage menus and tables easily, get useful reporting and analytics and accept orders from multiple platforms.
Lightspeed
NerdWallet’s pick for: Inventory management.
Software cost: $69 per month (billed annually on a plan with Lightspeed Payments) and up. (Hardware and payment processing are additional costs.)
Why we like it: Lightspeed’s inventory management system sets it apart from the competition. That makes it an ideal choice for large businesses that keep track of a lot of inventory in multiple locations, with various discount rules or tax classes.
Shopify
NerdWallet’s pick for: E-commerce.
Software cost: $29 per month and up. (Hardware and payment processing are additional costs.)
Why we like it: Shopify makes it possible to almost instantly set up and run an e-commerce store and has helpful features like automated emails sent to shoppers who abandon their virtual shopping carts. It also offers software and hardware for accepting payments in store — including the option to rent hardware rather than buying it.
Shopify Ecommerce
Shopify
on Shopify’s website
Vend by Lightspeed
NerdWallet’s pick for: Retail.
Software cost: $99 per month (billed annually) and up. (Hardware and payment processing are additional costs.)
Why we like it: Vend is a retail-specific POS that allows you to set sales targets for your team, manage inventory easily and forecast purchasing trends. It doesn’t come bundled with hardware and payment processing services, so you can choose your favorites from a variety of compatible options.
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Accounting
With careful bookkeeping and good accounting software, you can track your business’s revenue, profit margins and overall financial health. It can also help you answer important questions, like, “How much can I afford to spend on marketing this month?”
QuickBooks Online
NerdWallet’s pick for: Best overall.
Cost: $25 per month and up (50% off for first three months).
Why we like it: QuickBooks is the industry leader for small-business accounting software, so it’s easy to find an accountant or bookkeeper who will support it. Its multiple tiers of service can easily scale with your company, too. QuickBooks Online, the cloud-based version, can also be accessed anywhere.
Quickbooks Online
QuickBooks
on QuickBooks’s website
Xero
NerdWallet’s pick for: Unlimited users.
Cost: $12 and up per month.
Why we like it: Xero is easy to use, rich with features and widely supported by bookkeepers and accountants. Unlike some competitors, it doesn’t place any limit on the number of users you can add.
Wave
NerdWallet’s pick for: Free option.
Cost: Free (Wave makes money through payment processing).
Why we like it: Unlike its competitors, Wave’s accounting software is completely free. With it, you can add unlimited users and unlimited bank and credit card connections. It’s also possible to run multiple businesses from the same account.
Zoho Books
NerdWallet’s pick for: Low-cost, high-value.
Cost: Free for businesses with annual revenue under $50,000; otherwise $15 per month and up (billed annually).
Why we like it: Zoho Books offers plenty of useful features at an affordable price, including a free option for businesses that bring in less than $50,000 per year. It also has handy automation tools so you can, for example, send email notifications to yourself when an employee creates an invoice that exceeds a certain amount.
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Invoicing
If you send bills or invoices to customers, invoicing software can be a key tool to keep track of transactions and what you’re still owed. The best options also handle quotes and estimates, time tracking and integration with payment processing and accounting systems.
Zoho Invoice
NerdWallet’s pick for: Best overall.
Cost: Free.
Why we like it: Zoho Invoice packs a lot of features into a free option, including estimates, time and expense tracking, invoicing, payment acceptance and a portal where clients can review everything on their account with you. It’s an easy choice if you use other Zoho software like Zoho Books, but even if not, it’s a strong contender.
FreshBooks
NerdWallet’s pick for: All-in-one invoicing and accounting solution.
Cost: $15 per month and up (60% off for first six months).
Why we like it: FreshBooks bundles accounting and invoicing tools together with useful automation features, handy mobile apps and integration options. With the mobile app, you can send automated messages to clients to remind them about invoices or late payments. It’s a helpful feature for entrepreneurs on the go.
FreshBooks Accounting
FreshBooks
on FreshBooks’s website
Hiveage
NerdWallet’s pick for: Freelancers.
Cost: Free and up.
Why we like it: Hiveage’s strength is its simplicity. The free and lower-cost versions don’t have as many features as some competitors, but that can be for the best if you just need to send invoices and accept payments for them. The free option allows up to five clients with unlimited invoices, and there are paid tiers that support more clients and more advanced functionality.
Harvest
NerdWallet’s pick for: Hourly invoicing.
Cost: Free and up.
Why we like it: Harvest makes time tracking easier by using integrations to pull in data from project management and productivity apps like Asana, Slack, Jira and Google Calendar. The free option only supports one user and two projects, but the paid tier, which charges by the seat, allows you to add unlimited users and projects.
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Payroll
Paying your employees is a must, and good payroll software can make it easier to manage and track wages, withholdings and tax filings. Many programs also give employees access to a portal so they can view their pay history.
Gusto
NerdWallet’s pick for: Best overall.
Cost: $39 per month plus $6 per person for the basic package, which includes tax filings and payments.
Why we like it: Gusto gives employees access to a self-service portal for payroll- and benefit-related information that’s accessible even after they leave a company. It also administers full-service payroll across 50 states and offers online and phone support.
Gusto Payroll
Gusto
on Gusto’s website
QuickBooks Payroll
NerdWallet’s pick for: Integrated payroll solution.
Cost: $45 per month (50% off for first three months) plus $4 per employee per month for the basic package, which includes tax filings and payments.
Why we like it: QuickBooks Payroll offers full-service payroll services in all 50 states with a direct connection to QuickBooks Online, unlimited payroll runs and next-day or same-day deposits. Also nice: Employees can view pay stubs, withholdings and remaining vacation day balances.
QuickBooks Payroll
QuickBooks
on QuickBooks’s website
Patriot Payroll
NerdWallet’s pick for: Low-cost option.
Cost: $10 per month plus $4 per employee or contractor for basic payroll (tax filings and payments not included).
Why we like it: Patriot’s payroll software is a relatively affordable payroll option that offers direct deposits, an employee portal, unlimited payrolls and multiple locations and pay frequencies. There’s also email, chat and phone support available.
Patriot Payroll
Patriot Software
on Patriot Software’s website
Payroll4Free
NerdWallet’s pick for: Best overall free option.
Cost: Free (monthly fees apply for two optional services: tax filings and direct deposit).
Why we like it: Payroll4Free is one of the few payroll companies that allows you to run payroll at no cost — though you’ll have to pay extra for additional services such as tax filing and W-2 processing. It supports tax calculations, PTO tracking, an employee portal, and direct deposits or paper checks. It also offers live and email support.
RUN Powered by ADP
NerdWallet’s pick for: Larger businesses.
Cost: Prices begin at $59 per month plus $4 per employee for basic payroll, which includes tax filings and payments.
Why we like it: RUN Powered by ADP is the industry leader’s cloud-based payroll software for businesses with up to 49 employees. This app allows you to automate payroll, enter data online or by mobile app and, in more advanced subscription tiers, manage human resources tasks such as background checks.
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