Wunderlist
Simply put, Wunderlist is a to-do list, but a highly effective one. You can create an endless number of task lists and share them with whomever you want. Lists sync automatically so that others can see which items have been completed.
Wunderlist has even launched a higher-powered business app that lets you delegate tasks to team members, break them down into subtasks, add notes, set deadlines, and program reminders. Basic Wunderlist is free, while Wunderlist for Business is $4.99 per user per month.
How many times have you run across something interesting, but you didn’t have the time to read it right that instant? If Evernote feels overwhelming to you, Pocket makes it easy to save videos, articles, and whatever else you find online so that you can peruse them later.
RescueTime
If you know you waste too much time on digital distractions like Facebook, Twitter, or online shopping, RescueTime can hold you accountable. It breaks down where you spend your time by application and website and lets you set productivity goals. A premium version even lets you block certain sites, track offline activity, or set notifications (like if you’ve spent too much time on one activity, for instance).
The basic version is free, while premium will set you back about $9 a month. Though RescueTime is available for Mac, PC, and Linux, its app is only available for Android phones.
Toggl
With one click, the Toggl timer tracks where every second of your time is going, making it ideal for anyone who needs to log billable hours. You can track as many projects or clients as you want, view colorful graphs, export timesheets, and sync your numbers with several project management apps.
Best of all, all of your employees can use Toggl, and you can divide them into different groups to stay organized.
Toggl is free for up to five users, while a Pro version allows unlimited users and adds billable rates, subprojects, and other features for $5 per user, per month.
Eternity Time Log
Productivity extends beyond your work life, and Eternity Time Log recognizes that. Your day is first broken down into three broad chunks: Work, play, and sleep. Within those groups, you can further track your time with different labels and tags, even running multiple timers at once.
You can view the results using colorful pie charts and reports that can be exported to any device. Eternity Time Log will set you back $4.99. It’s only available for iPad and iPhone.
Basecamp
Basecamp is the most well-known project-management app of this trio, and it might be the easiest to use of the bunch. The interface is streamlined and intuitive, and it’s easy to invite collaborators, chat within projects, attach files, create checklists, and track your progress.
However, this ease does come at the cost of some flexibility: For instance, you can’t do advanced reporting or budgeting, and it’s hard to see everything in one glance. If your projects are straightforward and you don’t want to devote much time to learning a new system, it could be a good pick.
With Basecamp, you pay per project instead of per user — users are unlimited. Plans start at $20 per month for 10 projects and go up to $150 a month for unlimited projects.
Trello
We recently switched from Basecamp to Trello to manage our content at The Simple Dollar. Trello’s main strength is that it’s highly visual: On any given board, you can create several lists, and move cards between them as the status of a particular project changes.
For instance, each article has a card, and we drag those cards from list to list depending on where they are in the writing process: assigned, writing, editing, ready to publish, etc. You can attach files, create checklists, and assign members to each card so they’re updated as the status of the article changes. Team members can chat directly on each card, too.
Trello is free for personal use, but starts at $3.75 a month per user for businesses.
Asana
Asana is more text-heavy than Trello, and if you love checklists, this app is for you.
Projects, or “tasks,” can be easily reprioritized within its flexible interface, and a dashboard charts your progress visually. You can chat with team members within those tasks, assign due dates, attach documents or other files, and choose what kind of notifications to receive.
The app integrates with an impressive number of other services, including Evernote, Google Drive, Box, Slack, MailChimp, WordPress, and ZenDesk.
The basic version of Asana is free for up to 15 users — a very nice feature for small businesses on a budget — while a premium version starts around $21 a month for five users.
Slack
The Simple Dollar team has used Slack for quick questions and answers. Though it’s not the most intuitive app from the get-go, it allows for easy filtering and searching that make finding what you need a snap. You can create channels for just about any conversation theme: particular projects or clients, general water cooler chat, or whatever else works best for your small business.
Notifications are highly customizable, so you can stay in the loop when you need to and filter out unnecessary noise when you don’t. The best part is that basic Slack is free for an unlimited number of users. More advanced features, including unlimited searches and app integration, start at $6.97 per user per month.
HipChat
HipChat has a shorter learning curve than Slack, and it’s certainly cheaper — you can use the basic service for free, or pay just $2 per user per month if you want features such as video sharing and screen sharing.
HipChat organizes conversations by rooms, allows drag-and-drop file sharing, and archives conversations for easy searching. Emoticons and GIFs help keep the mood light, too.
Streak
If your small business uses Gmail or Google Apps, Streak is a great little CRM that integrates with both. Instead of organizing customers by contact, it lets you keep track of where you are in your business relationship.
For instance, perhaps you’re just beginning a pitch, or maybe you’re finalizing a deal. You can view all emails associated with each client directly within Streak, and a newsfeed can keep everyone on your team updated on the status of everything in the app.
Streak’s basic service is free for up to five users. Beefed-up plans range from $19 to $119 a month per user.
Insightly
Insightly is a relationship manager that also boasts a lot of project-management features, which could make it a one-stop shop for some small businesses.
You can categorize contacts with tags, integrate their social network profiles, and manage leads. You can also create tasks for team members, set up pipelines to track the status of those tasks, and create email reminders to keep everyone on time.
Though there is a free basic version, you’ll have to pay at least $12 a month per user for access to the app.
Nimble
If your business has a prominent social media presence, Nimble might be the CRM for you. It gleans data from your contacts’ social profiles, updating itself so that you don’t have to do it. It even analyzes shared interests and integrates with Gmail, Outlook, Hootsuite and many other services.
Nimble also learns what relationships you value as you continue to interact with it, making it more likely to highlight future opportunities. Pricing starts at $15 a month per user.
Square
If your business depends on point-of-sale purchases but you have a limited budget for payment systems, Square could be a life-saver. Plug in a small card-reader to your smartphone or tablet, and you can swipe credit cards and process payments just like any established retailer.
You don’t have to be connected to the Internet, you can use email or text messages to send receipts, and the system can even allow customers to leave a tip of 15%, 20%, or 25%.
There is no monthly fee; instead, you’ll pay 2.75% of each transaction, or a bit more if you have to manually enter payment information instead of swiping.
Dwolla
Dwolla doesn’t offer a card swiper, but if your business doesn’t rely on point-of-sale purchases, it’s a compelling way to accept payments via bank transfers. That’s because it’s free.
Wave
Say you’re on a tight budget and you really, really don’t want to pay for accounting software.
source http://www.thesimpledollar.com/best-small-business-apps
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