Choosing the wrong tools early in a startup's life costs more than just money - it costs migration time, data quality, and team adoption effort later. This directory compares the best SaaS tools for tech startups and SMEs across every core business function, with honest assessments of free tiers, pricing cliffs, and when to upgrade.
Communication & Collaboration
| Tool | Free Tier? | Paid From | Best For | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slack | 90 days message history | £7.25/user/month (Pro) | Teams of 10–50, developer-heavy orgs | Best UX; avoid until revenue > £500k/month due to cost |
| Microsoft Teams | Yes (M365 Essentials) | Included in M365 Business | Orgs already using M365 / Office | Best value when on M365. Slightly worse UX than Slack. |
| Linear | Free up to 250 issues | £8/user/month | Engineering teams, issue tracking | Best engineering tool; replaces Jira for most startups |
| Notion | Free (personal) | £7.50/user/month (Plus) | Documentation, wikis, all-in-one workspace | Excellent for early-stage. Gets unwieldy at scale. |
| Loom | Free (25 videos) | £10/user/month (Business) | Async video updates, demos, bug reports | Essential for remote/async teams. Huge time-saver. |
Slack
- Free Tier?
- 90 days message history
- Paid From
- £7.25/user/month (Pro)
- Best For
- Teams of 10–50, developer-heavy orgs
- Verdict
- Best UX; avoid until revenue > £500k/month due to cost
Microsoft Teams
- Free Tier?
- Yes (M365 Essentials)
- Paid From
- Included in M365 Business
- Best For
- Orgs already using M365 / Office
- Verdict
- Best value when on M365. Slightly worse UX than Slack.
Linear
- Free Tier?
- Free up to 250 issues
- Paid From
- £8/user/month
- Best For
- Engineering teams, issue tracking
- Verdict
- Best engineering tool; replaces Jira for most startups
Notion
- Free Tier?
- Free (personal)
- Paid From
- £7.50/user/month (Plus)
- Best For
- Documentation, wikis, all-in-one workspace
- Verdict
- Excellent for early-stage. Gets unwieldy at scale.
Loom
- Free Tier?
- Free (25 videos)
- Paid From
- £10/user/month (Business)
- Best For
- Async video updates, demos, bug reports
- Verdict
- Essential for remote/async teams. Huge time-saver.
CRM & Sales
| Tool | Free Tier? | Paid From | Best For | Versus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HubSpot CRM | Yes - CRM free forever | £36/month (Starter) | B2B SMEs, content marketing-led sales | Best free CRM; becomes expensive fast at Growth/Pro tiers |
| Pipedrive | No (14-day trial) | £14.90/user/month | Sales-led orgs, pipeline management focus | Better pipeline UX than HubSpot, less marketing features |
| Attio | Free (3 users) | £29/user/month | Modern CRM for product-led growth, VC-backed startups | Best relationship intelligence and Google Workspace integration |
| Close CRM | No (14-day trial) | £25/user/month | Inside sales, high call volume | Built-in calling/email sequences; best for SDR-heavy teams |
HubSpot CRM
- Free Tier?
- Yes - CRM free forever
- Paid From
- £36/month (Starter)
- Best For
- B2B SMEs, content marketing-led sales
- Versus
- Best free CRM; becomes expensive fast at Growth/Pro tiers
Pipedrive
- Free Tier?
- No (14-day trial)
- Paid From
- £14.90/user/month
- Best For
- Sales-led orgs, pipeline management focus
- Versus
- Better pipeline UX than HubSpot, less marketing features
Attio
- Free Tier?
- Free (3 users)
- Paid From
- £29/user/month
- Best For
- Modern CRM for product-led growth, VC-backed startups
- Versus
- Best relationship intelligence and Google Workspace integration
Close CRM
- Free Tier?
- No (14-day trial)
- Paid From
- £25/user/month
- Best For
- Inside sales, high call volume
- Versus
- Built-in calling/email sequences; best for SDR-heavy teams
DevOps & Hosting
| Tool | Free Tier? | Paid From | Best For | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vercel | Yes - Hobby (generous) | £16/month (Pro) | Next.js, React, frontend deployments | Best-in-class Next.js deployment DX. Paid plan needed for commercial use. |
| Railway | Free ($5 credit/month) | $5/month (Starter) | Backend APIs, PostgreSQL, Redis, full-stack | Simplest container deployment. Best value for backend services. |
| Render | Yes (slow builds) | $7/service/month | Web services, background workers, cron jobs | Good Heroku alternative. Free tier sleeps after 15 mins inactivity. |
| Cloudflare (DNS/CDN/Workers) | Yes - very generous | $20/month (Pro) | DNS management, CDN, edge computing, DDoS | Use regardless of other choices. Free plan covers most use cases. |
| GitHub Actions | Free (2,000 min/month) | $4/month (Team) | CI/CD pipelines, automation | Best CI/CD value with GitHub repos. Actions marketplace is extensive. |
| Sentry | Free (5k events/month) | $26/month (Team) | Error monitoring, performance, session replay | Essential for production applications. Free tier is surprisingly capable. |
Vercel
- Free Tier?
- Yes - Hobby (generous)
- Paid From
- £16/month (Pro)
- Best For
- Next.js, React, frontend deployments
- Notes
- Best-in-class Next.js deployment DX. Paid plan needed for commercial use.
Railway
- Free Tier?
- Free ($5 credit/month)
- Paid From
- $5/month (Starter)
- Best For
- Backend APIs, PostgreSQL, Redis, full-stack
- Notes
- Simplest container deployment. Best value for backend services.
Render
- Free Tier?
- Yes (slow builds)
- Paid From
- $7/service/month
- Best For
- Web services, background workers, cron jobs
- Notes
- Good Heroku alternative. Free tier sleeps after 15 mins inactivity.
Cloudflare (DNS/CDN/Workers)
- Free Tier?
- Yes - very generous
- Paid From
- $20/month (Pro)
- Best For
- DNS management, CDN, edge computing, DDoS
- Notes
- Use regardless of other choices. Free plan covers most use cases.
GitHub Actions
- Free Tier?
- Free (2,000 min/month)
- Paid From
- $4/month (Team)
- Best For
- CI/CD pipelines, automation
- Notes
- Best CI/CD value with GitHub repos. Actions marketplace is extensive.
Sentry
- Free Tier?
- Free (5k events/month)
- Paid From
- $26/month (Team)
- Best For
- Error monitoring, performance, session replay
- Notes
- Essential for production applications. Free tier is surprisingly capable.
Payments & Billing
| Tool | Transaction Fee | Monthly Fee | Best For | Key Feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stripe | 1.5% + 20p (UK) | None | Developer-first payment integration, global scale | Best APIs, best docs, best DX. Default choice for tech startups. |
| Paddle | 5% + 50¢ | None | SaaS / software selling globally, needs MoR | Acts as Merchant of Record - handles VAT/sales tax worldwide automatically |
| Lemon Squeezy | 5% + 50¢ | None (free) | Solo developers, digital products, indie hackers | Simpler Paddle alternative. Great for small indie products. |
| GoCardless | 1% + 20p (cap 4p) | None | UK/EU direct debit, subscription businesses | Best for recurring billing in UK. Bank debit reduces failed payments. |
Stripe
- Transaction Fee
- 1.5% + 20p (UK)
- Monthly Fee
- None
- Best For
- Developer-first payment integration, global scale
- Key Feature
- Best APIs, best docs, best DX. Default choice for tech startups.
Paddle
- Transaction Fee
- 5% + 50¢
- Monthly Fee
- None
- Best For
- SaaS / software selling globally, needs MoR
- Key Feature
- Acts as Merchant of Record - handles VAT/sales tax worldwide automatically
Lemon Squeezy
- Transaction Fee
- 5% + 50¢
- Monthly Fee
- None (free)
- Best For
- Solo developers, digital products, indie hackers
- Key Feature
- Simpler Paddle alternative. Great for small indie products.
GoCardless
- Transaction Fee
- 1% + 20p (cap 4p)
- Monthly Fee
- None
- Best For
- UK/EU direct debit, subscription businesses
- Key Feature
- Best for recurring billing in UK. Bank debit reduces failed payments.
What’s next?