{"id":113643,"date":"2020-05-05T00:41:52","date_gmt":"2020-05-05T00:41:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/en\/?p=113643"},"modified":"2025-07-01T21:20:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T04:20:08","slug":"best-online-tools-for-freelancers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/best-online-tools-for-freelancers\/","title":{"rendered":"Best online tools for freelancers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"freelancing<\/p>\n

Whether you\u2019re contemplating a move to the remote working world or hoping to turn your solo venture into more of a \u201creal business,\u201d there comes a time when you need to invest in some tools of the trade.<\/p>\n

At a certain point, you\u2019ll realize that doing everything manually is eating into your working hours and your bottom line.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot to juggle when you\u2019re on your own. What about taxes, invoicing, time tracking and time management, billable hours, and productivity tools for example? How do you find clients and get them to pay you money? Can you just use PayPal or do you need something more specialized like Stripe for credit card payments and a dedicated freelance business bank account? How do you streamline your boring admin tasks so you can get back to work, already?<\/p>\n

The list goes on.<\/p>\n

\"Stressed<\/p>\n

You don’t need to worry though, because below, we\u2019ve compiled a list of some of the best tools for helping you\u00a0maximize your time<\/a>, understand your books, and ideally,\u00a0earn more money<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll look at a few different categories \u2014 spanning apps and websites to keep your finances in order, keep clients moving through the pipeline, and more.<\/p>\n

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Must-have resources for freelancers<\/h2>\n

Proposal software<\/h3>\n

Proposals are one of those necessary evils for a lot of solo-preneurs. If you depend on using proposals to win new business, it\u2019s high time you stop relying on Google Drive and the copy-and-paste method to land those big fish clients.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the point of a proposal, you ask?<\/p>\n

Well, the proposal first establishes your role and the goals of the project. Meaning, this document gives the prospective client a rundown on what it\u2019s like to work with you, and how the project is expected to go. On your terms.<\/p>\n

But writing a customized proposal for each potential client can be a real grind, and it will certainly cut into the time you\u2019re spending earning money.<\/p>\n

Instead, look toward proposal project management\u00a0tools like\u00a0Proposify<\/a>,\u00a0BidSketch<\/a>, or\u00a0Purposeful<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These tools allow you to customize your proposals with minimal effort and professional design, so you can turn these babies out faster than ever so you’re applying for new jobs in real-time.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more \u2014 incorporating a proposal software into your strategy allows clients to sign them electronically \u2014 turning your document into a binding contract \u2014 so you\u2019d just killed two birds with one stone.<\/p>\n

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We found that most proposal software costs between $20 and $30 per user per month, so more than Spotify and Netflix combined.<\/p>\n

However, many freelancers swear by this investment, and they come with some sweet features.\u00a0BidSketch<\/a>, for example, gives you a report of which team members viewed each proposal, so you can tailor your follow-up message accordingly. Effective communication tools are vital to your success too.<\/p>\n

Another option is\u00a0PandaDoc<\/a>, a proposal software that comes with some cool built-in features and plugins like e-signature software and an analytics dashboard that provides a look at bids won and contracts signed.<\/p>\n

Financial tools<\/h3>\n

\"freelance<\/p>\n

One of the biggest challenges for freelancers is financial matters. As such, it\u2019s easy to feel out of one\u2019s depth when presented with that first tax bill or waiting around for a critical invoice when you’ve bills to pay. You need tracking tools for your finances as well as for your time.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a lot to keep track of when it comes to freelance finance. For one, you need to get really good at budgeting \u2014 setting money aside for tax season is no joke.<\/p>\n

Second, you\u2019ll need a better way to keep tabs on expenses \u2014 whether that\u2019s your monthly co-working membership or all of those receipts from your digital subscriptions.<\/p>\n

These days, it\u2019s crazy to rely on spreadsheets and calculators to keep track of this stuff.<\/p>\n

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Cloud-based apps offer free plans, flexible pricing, automatic updating, and access from anywhere. Plus, many of these options come with automatic bank feeds and invoice collection, so you don\u2019t have to add data entry to your mile-long to-do list.<\/p>\n

Using a tool like\u00a0Xero<\/a>,\u00a0QuickBooks Online<\/a>,\u00a0FreeAgent<\/a>, or\u00a0Zoho Books\u00a0<\/a>can help you learn some basic accounting skills\u2014and they\u2019re all pretty cheap. Any of these options are a good choice, but you may want to take the free trials for a spin before making a commitment.<\/p>\n

A decent CRM<\/h3>\n

Most people think of CRMs (customer relationship management systems)\u00a0as a sales tool built for companies closing major deals and across multiple reps. However, that\u2019s not necessarily the case. There are CRMs built for companies of all sizes \u2014 including teams of only one.<\/p>\n

Pipedrive, Base, and Agile, among countless others, all work to help freelancers and small businesses manage their relationships \u2014 giving you more visibility than you\u2019d find in your Gmail inbox. The benefit is, you can track your client prospecting efforts, view current client communication, and keep tabs on pending milestones.<\/p>\n

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ThriveSolo<\/a>\u00a0might be a good choice if you\u2019re well, running a solo operation. Pricing is $19 a month \u2014 or $190 for the whole year. Or, there\u2019s Insightly, which starts at $29 per month.<\/p>\n

Or, try\u00a0Hubspot<\/a>, a massively popular marketing platform\/CRM offered for free. Zoho\u2019s CRM is offered on a freemium model, as well.<\/p>\n

The point is, a CRM doesn\u2019t need to be wildly expensive, so you should just bite the bullet and take one (or three) for a spin. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a web designer, a freelance writer, work in email marketing, develop Android mobile apps, or simply work freelance for a big company like Apple; a CRM will help you in the long-term.<\/p>\n

Project Management<\/h3>\n

If you\u2019re a freelance writer or have some marketing experience, you probably have some experience with a project management platform. Likely, you\u2019ve tried them all in the context of working with a client.<\/p>\n

But we\u2019d like to make the case for adopting the practice yourself.<\/p>\n

These collaboration tools make it easy to break big projects down into tasks and assign items to others.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s also a great way for freelancers to communicate with their clients. Use a tool like\u00a0Basecamp<\/a>,\u00a0Asana<\/a>, or\u00a0Trello<\/a>\u00a0(Softonic\u2019s in-house choice) to onboard new clients and communicate about specific projects.<\/p>\n

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We should add a disclaimer here, though. You\u2019ll always want to check in with a client before thrusting a new tool on them.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s always the chance that they might not be all that excited about adopting a new tool in addition to whatever they\u2019re doing day-to-day<\/p>\n

Where to invest first?<\/h3>\n

When you\u2019re freelancing, it\u2019s hard to pick and choose which business tools and expenses are worth the splurge and which ones feel more like a want than a need.<\/p>\n

However, you\u2019ll need to do some soul searching to determine which areas need some extra assistance. If you\u2019re spending a lot of time on proposals, then it might be worth getting proposal software. If accounting is a challenge, same thing.<\/p>\n

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Other tools like social media monitoring software or a CRM depends on your individual operation. As such, consider the cost of the software with how much time it will save or how it will potentially help you collect more income.<\/p>\n

Finally, most of these options come with 30-day free trials. So, you\u2019ll get a chance to see where that ROI might come in before you\u2019re on the hook.<\/p>\n

Just be sure you set a reminder to cancel your account before you get charged, as many SaaS companies choose to collect CC#s before letting you in.<\/p>\n

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Got a side-hustle? Here are some tools to make life easier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9161,"featured_media":114999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[3150],"tags":[1036],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-113643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-productivity"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113643"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":325276,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113643\/revisions\/325276"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113643"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=113643"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=113643"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=113643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}