5 free business management softwares for business automation in 2021

We have begun to embrace the fact that some aspects of a business are better handled by computers. In matters of web development, high-data documents, and time-sensitive events, software solutions are now more than welcome to streamline our business for us.

Here are five free business management software solutions that can streamline your operations through automation. Typically a business would need some or all of these software solutions for automation depending on their requirement:

1. Billing software
2. Event registrations software
3. Venue booking software
4. Responsive website builder
5. URL shortener software

Billing software

"Proper invoicing inspires confidence in customers that the payments have been processed securely"

There are many subtle nuances around the particulars of invoicing - receipts vs. invoices, dates and numbers, return orders and credit purchases, taxing and discounts, etc. Each of these is an integral and inevitable part of a formal billing.

Uniformity promotes better management but is a challenge with regard to growing businesses. Without appropriate business management software, you may not be able to keep track of your company's invoices the way you should. Automating this information-dense part of your business can positively streamline your productivity.

PayPal — payment collections and basic invoicing

It is essential for invoicing software to be simple in its use. A familiar, simple, and free business management software to consider would be Paypal.

If you are someone who just needs an Invoicing tool and not an entire accounting system, then Paypal, which is ideally a payment transfer solution, can help you create invoices. You can customize invoices as per your brand, or you could just keep it simple and send professional, one-off invoices.

Pricing 

• No set-up, installation fee or hidden charges
• Only a per transaction charge of 2.5% + Fixed fee (₹ 3)
• PayPal pricing page - click here

If you are someone who needs more than this, then check the following options :

Tally.ERP 9 — complete billing software with inventory management and accounting

Tally.ERP 9 is a simple invoicing software for small businesses. It features powerful solutions for managing accounting, inventory, banking, payroll, and more. You can always consider trying this popular software on a free trial. It is a desktop based software with per user per year licensing post free trial.

Pricing 

• Initial setup charges are ₹ 18,000 + taxes for a single user and ₹ 54,000 + taxes for unlimited users
• Yearly renewal charges for a single user is ₹ 3,600 + taxes and for unlimited users is ₹ 10,800 + taxes

Due — Free online invoicing software for freelancers

Due is a delightfully minimal yet engaging invoicing solution with powerful features that also considers the needs of small business owners and freelancers. Due is a cloud based invoicing software with payment integrations with PayPal. 

Pricing 

Due offers its customers multiple subscription plans.

• Basic for $ 7.99 monthly which includes features such as adding 10 clients, unlimited invoices, accept dues online and adding 3 team members
• Pro for $ 16.99 monthly which includes features such as adding unlimited clients, unlimited expenses, archived invoices and unlimited projects
• Premium for $ 27.99 monthly which includes features such as priority support and adding 15 team members  
• Due pricing page - click here

Swipez — Billing software with payment gateway integration

You can power up your business by true invoice automation, which would enable you to perform a long list of tasks. These include online payment collections, creating recurring invoices, setting automatic reminders as per due dates, accepting part-payments and tips, adjusting discounts and shipping fees, and detailing tax information. 

You can also harness true invoicing power by setting up auto-debits and integration with your accounting processes. With your business growth, accounting goes beyond invoicing. Thus, let the automation software handle this for you.

Pricing 

Swipez offers its customers flexible subscription plans.

• Free plan which includes features such as adding unlimited contacts, invoices, estimates, payment reminders through email and online payments
• Startup for ₹ 5,999 annually which includes features such as recurring billing, vendor payouts, unlimited invoicing, estimates, customers, online payments and payment notifications through email and SMS
• Growth for ₹ 11,999 annually which comes packed with features such as GST filing, coupons, franchise management, API based access along with the features offered in their other subscription plans
• Swipez pricing link - click here

Event registration software

"Expectations and the tone for an event are set during registrations, and are, therefore, profoundly important."

Event management companies are only too familiar with the importance of customer experience, which begins right from the registration — well before an event even starts. 

You don't want willing, potential attendees to be missing out on opportunities or events, simply because the registrations weren't managed right. Improper registrations can also affect the user experience when they arrive at the location due to mismatched expectations.

Almost everything crucial about an event (date, time, duration, agenda, venue, attire, ticketing, etc.) is supposed to be disclosed on an event's page during registrations. Error avoidance is particularly tough when events are decided in the spur-of-the-moment, and the limited time available is required for setup or publicity.

Hubilo — Comprehensive event management software

A business management software knows the significance of timing and accuracy, and the Hubilo software is an option worth trying.

It's an easy-use, small business management software that provides a clean interface for managing event registrations. Your business can quickly set up event pages that accept different payment methods, are visible on multiple platforms, and keep it simple for people to RSVP.

Pricing 

• Pricing on request
• Hubilo pricing page - click here

You could also try these free event registration softwares

Swipez — Event registration & online ticketing for events of all sizes

An easy to use event builder page allows you to publish an event online within minutes. Provides you total control on your attendee data, unlike other event platforms. Provides QR code based tickets to your attendees and a QR code scanner for you to organize your box office entry on the day of your event. Free to use with no commissions charged on your ticket sales.

Pricing 

Swipez offers its customers a choice of subscription plans.

• Free plan which includes features such as adding unlimited events, tickets, ticket confirmations through email and online payments
• Professional for ₹ 5,999 annually which includes features such as promotional SMS, payment notifications through email and SMS, QR code reader for box office operations and online payments
• Enterprise for which you need to contact Swipez for a quote which comes packed with features such as GST filing, franchise management, white labelling, API based access, custom integrations along with the features offered in their other subscription plans
• Swipez pricing link - click here

Bookwhen — Online booking system with flexible event setup

This is a good event software solution for recurring and or one-off activities for a wide range of categories like school events, performance arts, health and fitness, etc. Wide ranging feature set makes this a good option to consider for your events. They provide a Free trial to experience their offerings before making a purchase.

Pricing 

Bookwhen offers its customers multiple subscription plans.

• Free plan which includes features such as 50 spaces booked, 1 users, 1 booking page and allows free events only
• Lite for $ 15 monthly which includes features such as 300 spaces booked, 2 users, 1 booking page, Zoom integrations and online events
• Standard for $ 29 monthly which includes features such as 800 spaces booked, 5 users, 3 booking pages, Zoom integrations, reminder emails, Youtube integrations and online support
• Plus for $ 59 monthly which includes features such as 1800 spaces booked, 10 users, 6 booking pages, Zoom integrations, reminder emails, Youtube integrations, online and phone support
• Enterprise for which you need to contact them for a quote and includes features such as bespoke plans, franchisor system, re-seller accounts and class search portals
• Bookwhen pricing page - click here

Attendize — Open-source ticket selling and event management platform

Attendize is a good open-source option that specializes in ticketing and event management solutions. The user experience is designed to be easy and functional, right from event creation to the dashboard, while keeping it simple for the user. This will require some technical knowledge at your end to setup on your own server and host the solution for yourself.

Pricing 

Attendize offers its customers multiple licenses.

• Standard license for € 69 which allows you to use Attendize in a event which you are creating for your own purposes or for clients on 1 domain
• Extended license for € 299 which allows you to use the platform in a event which you are creating for your own purposes or for clients on up to 10 domains
• SAAS license for € 399 monthly which allows you to use the platform as a SAAS product on one domain
• Attendize pricing page - click here

Venue booking software

"An empty venue is an investment going stale."

Venues are a competitive interest, and everyone wants the best of the best. This is why your location's visibility matters a lot. With everything happening online, being listed in the right places can be your best bet at getting booked.

Online bookings are made easier with transparency and detailing. It is important for people booking your venue to have all the details about your rules and regulations as well.

Making sure multiple bookings proceed in the most timely manner is a management concern too. With concerns regarding over-lapped booking, scheduled appointments, and multiple payment sources, venue management tends to become a very time-sensitive style of administration.

These concerns can be alleviated through software solutions that allow you to manage time slots across venues, publish your booking calendar to your customers, and accept multiple sources of online payment.

Skedda — Free online booking and scheduling for your venue

With a free signup, Skedda appears to feature all the ingredients required to manage your space intelligently. It allows you to give customers the flexibility of easy booking and canceling online. The software allows user management through custom tags for client-specific features like pricing and quota allowances.

Pricing 

Skedda offers its customers their platform for free but with an option to purchase multiple optional extras.

• Core is offered for free and includes features such as unlimited bookings, users, custom URL, custom booking instructions and in-app chat support
• The Pro Pack addon costs $ 390 per year which includes features such as uploading images, unlimited booking admins, 7 years data retention and white labelling on emails and mobile
• Their integrations addon for $ 190 per year includes Integrations with 1000+ apps and feeds to external calendars for admins and users
• Their payments addon for $ 190 per year includes integration with Stripe and pay later options 
• Skedda pricing page - click here

Meeting package — Booking organizer for meeting rooms and venues

This is a good meeting space booking platform with various solutions for venue management. It allows you to manage your inventory distribution and optimize your revenues by enabling real-time bookings.

Pricing 

• Pricing on request

Swipez — Venue booking software for calendar and time slot bookings of venues

The right software has the ability to empower clients to book online and see your venue as a comfortable, reliable option. Swipez lets you ensure maximum utilization, help clients manage memberships/renewals, and ease on-ground activities.

Pricing 

Swipez offers its customers a host of subscription plans.

• Free plan which includes features such as adding unlimited calendars, slot bookings, ticket confirmations through email and online payments
• Startup for ₹ 5,999 annually which includes features such as promotional SMS, payment notifications through email and SMS, QR code reader, unlimited calendars, slot bookings and online payments
• Growth for ₹ 11,999 annually which comes packed with features such as GST filing, coupons, manage memberships, franchise management, API based access along with the features offered in their other subscription plans
• Enterprise for which you need to contact Swipez for a quote comes packed with features such as GST filing, franchise management, white labelling, API based access, custom integrations along with the features offered in their other subscription plans
• Swipez pricing link - click here

Function tracker — Venue & event management software

An exhaustive 30-day trial lets you manage scheduled bookings, staffing rosters, and also event coordination. A good cloud-based solution using a simple and intuitive interface. Also provides integrations to Dropbox, Google drive, Mailchimp and host of other services. Learn more.

Pricing 

• Offers a monthly subscription for $ 62.50 which includes features such as badge management, budgeting, conventions, social media promotion, sponsorship management, ticketing, volunteer management and ticketing
• Function Tracker pricing page - click here

Responsive website builder (with integrated payment gateway)

"To say that the 21st century will unfold online is an understatement."

All things, like selling products, spreading information, campaigning, advertising, and promoting, today, start and end with a reliable website. These sites have to have responsive web designs to fit the multiple browser options and screen sizes today. They must also be integrated with a payment gateway that makes a website functional, instead of behaving like just a show-piece. It would be a shame to lose money simply because a website isn't set up to accept payments.

Making sites engaging, colorful, and on-brand can mean the difference between creating a lasting impressing or being scrolled over.

Constant revamps, adding sister domains, and onboarding newer facets of business lead to a permanent requirement for website building.

Wix — free online website builder

Fast, automated website builders have become the norm for publishing web pages effectively. Landing pages are sometimes time-sensitive necessities, and, therefore, require the quickest/easiest software to get the job done. Wix is a free software solution that offers stunning templates to choose from along with the option of customizing domains. Learn more.

Pricing 

• Offers its base platform for free with an option to upgrade to their premium plan for a yearly subscription for ₹ 348 which includes features such as no ads, free domain for a year, 10GB storage, unlimited bandwidth, Google analytics, online payments and an online store
• Wix pricing page - click here

Site123 — easy to use website builder

With ready-made styles and layouts, Site123 lays emphasis on its simplicity. It also has ability to host an online store to sell your products. It has a free tier with a generous 500MB storage. Learn more.

Pricing 

Site123 offers its customers a choice of subscription plans.

• Free plan which includes features such as 500MB storage,1GB bandwidth and
  subdomain
• Premium for $ 5.80 per month includes features such as free domain for 1 year, 10GB storage, 5GB bandwidth, no ads, connect your domain and e-commerce
• Site123 pricing link - click here

Webstarts — Website builder for online stores or blogs

A free feature-heavy solution to suit various website use-cases, right from blogs to online stores, with the benefits of automatic domain setup and search engine submission. Provides a free tier with 1GB of cloud storage. Learn more.

Pricing 

WebStarts offers its customers a choice of subscription plans.

• Free plan which includes features such as unlimited pages, 1GB storage,1GB bandwidth and live chat
• Pro Plus for $ 7.16 per month includes features such as custom domain name, free advertising worth $ 250, 10GB storage, 100GB bandwidth, no ads and membership features
• Business for $ 19.99 per month includes features such as custom domain name, free advertising worth $ 500, 40GB storage, unlimited bandwidth, no ads, membership features and an online store
• WebStarts pricing link - click here

Strikingly — Easy to use website builder for selling products or hosting blogs

A good solution for free layouts for small businesses looking to keep it simple. With ability to create sign up and contact forms. Their free plan provides unlimited free sites as a sub-domain.

Pricing

Strikingly offers multiple subscription plans.

• Free plan which includes features such as unlimited free sites, 500MB storage,5GB bandwidth and Strikingly.com domain
• Limited for $ 8 per month includes features such as 2 limited sites, unlimited free sites, 50GB bandwidth, 1GB storage per site and a free domain 
• Pro for $ 16 per month includes features such as 3 pro site, 3GB storage, site membership, pop-ups, no ads, site search and 24/7 chat support
• VIP for $ 49 per month includes features from the other plans as well as send newsletters and account management
• Strikingly pricing link - click here

Swipez — Website builder with online payment collections

An 'online-in-minutes' solution that is both mobile-friendly and enabled with payment collections. The key benefit is that the Swipez Website Builder enables you to list your products and packages on the website and, at the same time, receive the payment from the customer. Combining your website builder and invoicing solution can improve your business scale with reduced operational overheads.

Any easy-to-create site can significantly facilitate the effectiveness of social media campaigns. The truth today is, if you aren't online, you don't exist.

Pricing 

Swipez offers its customers easy to choose subscription plans.

• Free plan which includes features such as website builder, free Swipez domain, online payment and 1 free page
• Professional for ₹ 3,499 annually which includes features such as website builder, connect your own domain, online payments, custom packages and plan pages
• Swipez pricing link - click here

URL shortener software

Sharing links is a useful method of showing viewers more web pages related to your business. It is also a great way to get them from any one place on the internet — directly to your website.

While hyperlinking used to be a way to avoid the sharing of links, there are still too many platforms where it isn't possible. Space constraints have made it a necessity to either cut the message you want to deliver or avoid sharing the link that people need to visit.

They also make for smoother scrolling, which further eliminates the risk of accidental clicks. It enables quick marketing when the software is integrated with other applications and improves the user experience on chatbots, messengers, and other media campaigns. True automation would allow you shorten URLs with a single click and have it shared in any location, any number of times.

Bitly - URL shortener

Small business management software like Bitly understand the constant need to shorten URLs.

Shortening the URL makes for trimmed and appealing web content, which has been shown to make people want to click on it. Short URLs are perceived as a respectful way of sharing a source, as opposed to a rude barrage of a string of letters and numbers that make no sense to a viewer.

Pricing 

• Basic plan for a yearly subscription for $ 348 which includes 1,500 branded links
  1 user seat and 1 free custom domain
• They also offer a customized solution for which you can request a quote with 3,000 - 500,000+ branded links, 1 - 1,000+ user seats and 1 - 100+ custom domains
• Bitly pricing page - click here

Google URL shortener — has been discontinued

Google URL Shortener, also known as goo.gl, is a discontinued URL shortening service offered by Google. It was succeeded by Google's Firebase dynamic links service.

Swipez — URL Shortener for businesses of all sizes

A comprehensive solution that allows for scalability, and customized domain URL shortening. The click tracking & analytics feature is a valuable addition that helps businesses gain insights on online visibility. Transactions and notification frequency on mobile phones are at an all-time high, and having a short URL based on your domain can uplift your brand significantly.

Pricing

Swipez offers multiple subscription plans.

• Growth plan for ₹ 0.015 per URL upto 1 million URL's, ₹ 0.012 per URL for over 1 million URL's with features like bulk URL shortening via file upload and click tracking
• Enterprise plan for ₹ 0.02 per URL upto 1 million URL's, ₹ 0.015 per URL for over 1 million URL's with features like bulk URL shortening via file upload, click tracking, custom domain, API access and on premise deployment
• Swipez pricing page - click here

Harnessing the true power of software

Each of these activities discussed above, like billing, event registration, web building, etc. are integral parts of any business today. Each of these softwares are able to automate the business management to a certain extent. Check out Swipez business automation software here to automate key aspects of your business like payment collections, invoicing, payment reminders, expenses, payouts and GST filing.