Running a business a business can be hectic at times. Each day, you may have to tackle multiple challenges to further your business. Software that can help you tackle these challenges and help enhance productivity can be called business apps. In a world filled with digital products, it is not surprising that there are numerous business apps out there.
Here, you will discover some of the most essential business apps you should use in 2024 to revolutionize your operations. The list we have picked contains applications you can use for various purposes including hiring individuals, collaborating with colleagues, streamlining workflows, etc. So, to steer your business in the right direction effectively, read on and find out the top 20 essential business apps in 2024.
20 Essential Business Apps In 2024
We have selected some of the best business apps you can use in 2024 based on their features, ease of use, and overall functionalities. We have made an extra effort to include a diverse range of applications in this article. So, you will find at least one application you need to use daily in your business enterprise.
1. Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is one of the highest-rated business applications available. It can help you actively connect all the different departments and staff members together and manage them individually. Teams help staff members from different teams to work together even if they are in totally different geolocations.
One of the major advantages of Microsoft Teams is that the platform brings all the necessary tools such as scheduling, chats, events, meetings, task management, and even calendars in one place. This means that you can streamline a lot of processes from one single platform.
Subscription Plans: Starting from $4
Also Read: Best Google Tools
2. Asana
Asana is a work management software developed in the United States. The app is available on web and mobile devices. It can help the employees of an organization track, and manage their work. From individual tasks to team projects, you can manage the entire workflow of the company in one place.
Asana helps employees keep tabs on their to-do lists, instructions, and deadlines. Since the application is supported across devices, users can use the app wherever they are. This allows users to always keep track of the progress and keep the entire team focused on their objectives.
Subscription Plans:
Free for personal use and small teams
Starter Pack: $10.99 user/month
Advanced: $24.99 user/month
Enterprise: Get a quote
Enterprise+: Get a quote
3. QuickBooks
Quickbooks is one of the most popular accounting apps for freelancers and small businesses. The application runs on mobile devices and the web making it possible for you to run your business from anywhere you want.
Using Quickbooks, you can organize your finances, manage cash flows, manage expenses, and analyze your growth. This is much needed for a growing business to know the trajectory of their business and to plan their future creatively and cost-effectively.
Subscription plans:
Simple start – $9/month
Plus – $27/month
Advanced – $60/month
4. Slack
Slack is a widely used application for team communication and collaboration. The application can help you communicate and organize your conversation by topics, projects, and more. You can message, or call your team members to give instructions or to share documents and collaborate to further enhance the productivity of the team.
Slack also lets its users integrate other business tools they use including Google Drive, Salesforce, Dropbox, Asana, X (Twitter), etc. The application can let you search for a term used in the conversation, enabling you to keep track of your goals and things to do. It is also notable that the notifications are customizable, meaning that you can switch off notifications of chats depending on their priority.
Subscription plans:
Pro – $7.25 user/month
Business+- $12.50 user/month
Enterprise Grid – Get a quote
5. Trello
Trello is a software that lets its users manage projects, organize tasks, and collaborate with team members. Trello works well to help the team focus on the projects at hand. The employees can easily find what they need to do on that day and view the upcoming tasks, to better time their tasks. It allows you to update the status of the work at hand, making the progress timeline easily accessible to the immediate supervisors.
In addition to assigning tasks, the application allows you to break down tasks with checklists. The employees can check off the things as they get them done, you can view this on an intuitive status bar and see the progress become 100 percent. One of the major uses of Trello is that it allows one to manage all the projects of a business in one single platform.
Subscription plans:
Free – Up to 10 members
Standard – $5 user/month
Premium – $10 user/month
Enterprise – $17.50 user/month
6. Gusto
Gusto is a software platform that helps small businesses and startups in the United States manage their employees and run payroll. The application offers a variety of features including automated/manual payroll, managing insurance and 401(k) accounts, and tax registration all in one online software.
By streamlining the payroll process and by providing transparency to employee benefits, Gusto can help improve the workplace culture and overall affinity of the employees towards their employers. We have found that the application is easy to use and manage. This means that the HR team wouldn’t need extensive training programs to use the application effectively.
Subscription plans:
Simple – $40/month
Plus – $60/month
Premium – $135/month
7. Square
Square is a financial service platform designed for small and medium-sized businesses. It enables businesses to sell their products and services any way the customers want to buy them. The application is easy to set up, meaning that you can build your business profile on the platform from scratch regardless of your technical expertise.
It allows businesses to accept payments through credit cards, contactless payments, gift cards, etc. By using the platform for accepting payments, you can send invoices straight to the customers without having to use a separate application for that. The application also allows to processing of returns, refunds, tax payments, and all other payment-related needs.
Subscription plans:
Free subscription with 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction
8. FreshBooks
FreshBooks is another invoicing application that comes with a free trial for 30 days. You can check invoices and track all your expenses in one single platform. The software is designed for business owners who need to manage their books, and client relationships, and improve the efficiency of their business.
Some of the key features that FreshBooks boasts include creating invoices, tracking expenses, finding potential tax deductions, tracking time, providing online payment options, generating reports, etc. The application has an award-winning customer support team that is always ready to help the users with every step of the application.
Subscription plans:
Starts from $7.6 per month
9. Google Workspace
Google Workspace is a powerful all-inclusive platform that integrates several business solutions you need for a seamless collaborative workspace. The platform integrates the business version of several applications you might use in a day-to-day life including Gmail, Drive, Calendar, Meet, Docs, Sheets, etc.
The workspace is cloud-based meaning that you can fire up all the services offered without needing to install the applications. But if you need to, you can find them all in Google Play and App Store. Additionally, the workspace now offers advanced features with the help of Google’s native AI, Gemini.
Subscription plans:
Business Starter – $6 user/month
Business Standard – $12 user/month
Business Plus – $18 user/month
Enterprise – Get a quote
10. Hootsuite
Hootsuite is a social media management app made for small and growing businesses. It can help businesses to better manage all their social media accounts from one single platform. You can schedule your posts, respond to comments evaluate your growth all from the Hootsuite application. It can connect social media such as TikTok, Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter (X).
The application allows you to upload photos, videos, and gifs to multiple social media platforms right from your phone. This means that you can keep engaging your potential customers wherever you are. You can also use the web version of the app depending on your convenience.
Subscription plans:
Professional – $99/month
Team – $249/month
Enterprise – Get a quote
11. Mailchimp Email Marketing
Mailchimp is a marketing and CRM mobile application. It helps the business market and grows business through several marketing tools. You can access these tools wherever your work takes you and be ready whenever you need to use them. By doing this you wouldn’t have to miss another sales opportunity.
Mailchimp is an excellent application for businesses that are heavily dependent on sales. It lets you keep up with the contacts and call, text, and email directly without having to use an extra phonebook to keep track of your customers. It also provides analytic reports on sales, automates emails, Facebook and Instagram ads, brand management, and more.
Subscription plans:
Standard – Free for 1 month, starts at $20/month
Premium – Starts at $350/month
12. Evernote
If you work well when you have written your goals in the form of a to-do list, you would really appreciate Evernote. It brings the to-dos and notes together so that you can act on your objectives a lot easier. It also allows you to connect to your Google Calendar making you stay on top of your schedule.
You can write, collect and capture ideas whenever you want in the searchable notes, and to-do lists. Additionally, you can insert various types of content into it including docs, photos, PDFs, audio, and paper clippings as references.
Subscription Plan:
Free – limited features
Personal – $129.99/year
Professional – $169.99/year
Teams – $249.99/year
13. Expensify
Expensify is an application that allows you to track your costs and process reimbursements without needing to go through the painful process of finding paper receipts. The application boasts a powerful receipt scanner and receipt organizer. It can help if you are running a business on your own or with a small team.
Expensify can automatically categorize the scanned receipts by detecting the nature of the expense. It has gotten several awards for its ingenious operation and intuitive user interface.
Subscription Plan:
Free – limited features
Collect – $5 user/month
Control – $9 user/month
14. HubSpot
HubSpot is a one-stop destination that integrates sales, service, and marketing tools together. On Google Play, the application has a rating of 4.6 which is very impressive and means that most of the customers are happy with the service.
Some of the features of the application include sales call service and email notifications, automatic updation of call logs, cross-to-do lists, staying updated with sales reports, and more. It also has the ability to give you updates on your social media activities from platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, and Twitter.
Subscription Plan:
Free – limited features
Starter – $45/month
Professional – $800/month
Enterprise – $3,200/month
15. Zoho Books
Zoho Books is an online application for your accounting needs. It allows you to track your business’s cash flow, reconcile your bank statement, monitor your spending, keep updated on the expense of a project, and most importantly make your tax compliance automated.
Highlights of Zoho Books include keeping tabs on payable and receivable accounts, connecting with clients, collaborating with other members who manage expenses, keeping your accounting online and accessible from anywhere, and more.
Subscription Plan:
Free – limited features
Standard – $15/month
Professional – $40/month
Premium – $60/month
16. Tripit
While not a dedicated business app, Tripit can help grow your business, if you have to frequently travel to meet clients. Tripit is a travel planner that takes all the stressful parts of the preparation off your shoulders.
All you have to do is book a flight, and hotel, make domestic travel plans, and all the rest including planning the itinerary, syncing plans to the calendar, and sharing with the team members, will be taken care of for you.
Subscription Plan:
Free – limited features
Pro – $49/year
17. Linkedin
When talking about business apps, how can we forget LinkedIn? LinkedIn is a business and employment-focused social networking platform that works like other social media sites but for professional use.
LinkedIn is one of the most essential applications for growing your business. It can help find new clients, improve your audience reach, and find new talents for your team. Having a well-maintained LinkedIn profile can definitely boost the trustworthiness of your business.
Subscription Plan:
Free – limited features
Premium Career – $29.99/month
Premium Business – $59.99/month
Sales Navigator – $79.99/month
18. Xero Accounting
Xero is another application that will let you streamline your accounting process. It is most suitable for small and medium-sized businesses. You can manage your cash flow, view income, manage your expenses, and create invoices on the go.
The application is a global business platform. It can connect businesses to their accountants, bookkeepers, banks, etc. It has over 3 million subscribers worldwide. Overall the application is an easy-to-use accounting software.
Subscription Plan:
Early – $12/month
Growing – $34/month
Established – $60/month
19. Dropbox
Dropbox allows users to back up essential files to the cloud servers. This allows users to access them anywhere around the world. You can also use the app for sharing any type of files with other members of your team or with clients.
Dropbox allows users to easily share large files by using just a link to everyone in their team. This process cuts down the time it might usually take to circulate files among the members.
Subscription Plan:
Free – limited features
Plus – $9.99/month
Family – $16.99/month
Professional – $19.99/month
20. PayPal
PayPal is one of the most popular payment choices for businesses. Due to its ability to process online process, it is a great addition to e-commerce businesses. In addition to receiving payments, it also allows you to send invoices, and integrate with the accounting apps you use.
From the customer standpoint, the application allows them to pay by using whatever they want including credit cards, debit cards, PayPal credit, account transfers, and more.
Subscription Plan:
Free – limited features
Advanced – $5/month
Pro – $30/month
Read More: 7 Best Fitness Apps For 2024
Conclusion
Running a business of any scale can be taxing and exhausting. Each day, you may have to tackle new challenges. But by using business applications, you can take care of many aspects of a business easily.
In the article, we have discovered 20 essential business apps that can help further enhance the productivity and sales of your businesses. Depending on the scalability, you can choose the free version, basic version, or advanced version.
