For freelancers and small business owners, saving time is one of the most effective ways to create more opportunities to generate income. Therefore, finding the right tools for this purpose often increases cash flow.
As remote work opportunities keep increasing, more and more freelancers are searching for the best software to add to their toolbox.
If you’re one of these freelancers, this guide provides a list of the top tools that can help you with various activities, including project tracking, client management, task management, tracking expenses, and financial reports.
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What type of freelance tools exist
As a freelancer, there are hundreds of tools available to help you improve your skills and the services you offer. Depending on how you make use of these tools, you can also boost your earnings as a freelancer.
The freelancer tools you find can be split into various categories, with some offering specialized features, while others are general-purpose.
Depending on the freelance career path you walk, these are some of the tools you’ll need for different functions.
- Marketplaces: Upwork, Fiverr, PeoplePerHour
- Design: Canva, Adobe Creative Cloud
- Communication: Google Workspace, Zoom, Slack, Teams
- Time management: Google Calendar, Toggl, Timely
- Cloud storage: Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive
- Project management: Asana, Basecamp, Trello, Notion
- Financial management: QuickBooks
- Content writing: Google Docs, Hemingway, Grammarly
11 Essential freelance tools
With so many freelance tools to pick from, having a few recommendations for the best options doesn’t hurt. Here is a list of the top freelance tools you can use today.
Some of these tools offer a free service, while others have affordable subscription plans you can try.
1. Upwork
If you’re starting as a freelancer, you must have done your research on the best places to find jobs. One of the sites that you’ll have come across is Upwork, which is one of the largest freelance marketplaces.
Upwork is a site that connects freelancers with clients. For freelancers, it provides an easy way to find the right jobs that match their skills.
The site also helps clients connect with freelancers who meet specific job requirements, while eliminating certain costs of hiring a full-time employee.
The Upwork platform offers features for portfolio display, proposal submission, client-freelancer communications, job search, and payments.
You can use the features on the web and mobile app, ensuring you’re able to monitor your account even on the go.
2. Grammarly
A Grammarly premium subscription is one of the must-have tools for freelancers who are into any form of writing. In addition to its strong editing functions, Grammarly also excels in detecting plagiarism, especially if you’re collaborating with other freelancers.
With your Grammarly account, you can set up directly with an app like Google Docs to make use of a real-time editing feature. Being able to edit your content while you write is a great way to save time on editing later.
While Grammarly is one of the popular content editing tools available, there are other excellent software you can use. Hemingway Editor is one of them. Both editors offer a free version, allowing you to compare them and decide which one is best for you.
When using content editors, always try to read through each recommendation carefully.
Depending on how you go about using these apps, you may lose your tone, and your content begins to lean towards an AI-written piece.
3. Dribbble
Having a portfolio is essential for showcasing your work to potential clients, so every serious freelancer should have one. You can share your portfolio using your personal website, but not everyone will be able to find you.
A better option is to use a professional platform to share your work.
If you’re a freelance graphic designer, an excellent platform to display your portfolio is Dribbble. Plus, setting up a profile on Dribbble gives you a chance to network with other freelancers, find new design inspirations, and sell your digital products.
The platform functions like a social media site, so you’ll need to use the right tags to improve the visibility of your content. Dribbble offers a subscription feature that can help freelancers improve their visibility and search rankings.
Freelance designers also have access to other design websites for networking and inspiration. One of these is Behance by Adobe, which offers an excellent integration with the Adobe Creative Cloud, live streaming functions, case studies, and challenges.
4. GitHub
This is another great tool for portfolio display, but this time, for those who’re into coding and other related fields. Additionally, GitHub offers excellent collaborative features, albeit with a learning curve.
Using GitHub allows you to host some of your projects for free, with excellent project organization features that make it easy for others to follow your work.
You can also find lots of useful information on GitHub, along with access to other repositories for further learning.
5. Google Calendar
Google Calendar is one of the top tools for organizing your daily activities.
As a freelancer, you can create a website with an option for clients to book your services or set up an appointment. If this is the case, then the calendar can help you track time, maintain records of tasks by time, and highlight your free time.
Time tracking is crucial if you want potential clients to schedule meetings with ease. Google Calendar also integrates excellently with other software. This enables clients to be automatically added to calendar slots, ensuring you don’t miss an appointment.
6. QuickBooks Self-Employed
As a freelancer, you’ll need a tool for expense tracking, tax payments, and income assessment. That’s where QuickBooks Self-Employed comes in.
This easy-to-use accounting software helps you manage your finances with ease, and even offers a feature to send invoices to clients.
QuickBooks is a cloud-based solution, meaning you can access it from any location or device. In addition to the web app, downloadable mobile apps are available for both Android and iOS.
The more you use the app, the more you learn about its advanced tools and how to improve your financial management.
With QuickBooks, you can connect your bank account to automate several financial activities, including invoicing and bill payments. As a freelancer, it’s easy to drown in tasks, so having your finances sorted saves you a lot of time and stress.
7. Trello
Being independent is one of the benefits of being a freelancer, and at some point, you’ll need to start juggling multiple clients and projects. When this becomes necessary, having a project management tool will save you a lot of time.
One of the most popular project management software available today is Trello, and it offers several benefits. First, it is very easy to use and understand, even for beginners.
Adopting the Kanban style, you get to make use of cards to represent each project or task you’re working on visually.
As you complete each step of a project, you can advance it through a workflow. Trello provides the option to set up a workflow, allowing you to create cards for Ready to Start, In Progress, Completed, and Sent to Client statuses.
Trello is an affordable option for freelancers, and it suits the needs of various job types. You can also integrate Trello with various apps, including Google Calendar, Slack, Notion, Gmail, and Zapier.
8. Figma (+ Google Docs)
Collaboration is an essential part of freelancing, and many tools now simplify this process.
If you’re into any form of content creation, Figma allows you to create digital designs and share them with other freelancers or clients. On the other hand, Google Docs is a top tool for collaboration.
A significant benefit of Figma and Google Docs is the option to perform edits and reviews in real-time.
Additionally, allowing multiple users to work on the same document simultaneously from various locations results in a faster turnaround for most projects.
9. Dashlane
Running a freelance business sometimes means sharing certain login details with other individuals. So, does this mean you should share your password? Well, not necessarily. Instead, you can share access using Dashlane.
With a tool like Dashlane, you can create a digital vault to store all your passwords. This vault is secured using a biometric authentication, a password, or a PIN. You can also implement two-factor authentication for additional security.
Now, instead of having to type in your password every time you need to log in to a freelance tool, you can use the autofill function from Dashlane. This works across connected devices, so you can set it up on your PC, smartphone, and tablet.
10. PayPal
Your goal as a freelancer is to get paid for using your skills to offer a service. One tool that allows you to accept payments is PayPal, which is available in most parts of the world.
You can simplify the payment process for your clients by providing a PayPal link along with your invoice.
Despite being one of the top online payment platforms available, PayPal isn’t perfect for every freelancer.
In addition to its services being limited in some locations, PayPal sometimes places temporary restrictions on accounts, which can affect your ability to withdraw your funds.
11. Proposify
Freelance jobs won’t just drop on your lap, and you often need to send proposals to get the attention of potential clients. If you’re still learning the ropes and need a bit of guidance on how to create eye-catching proposals, then a tool like Proposify can help.
This tool offers several proposal templates that you can edit, providing a guide on what to include. The major drawback of Proposify is its cost, so you may also consider other tools, such as Better Proposals or Bidsketch.
Conclusion
Working as a freelancer involves a lot more than just applying your skills to projects. You’ll also need to consider the business side of things, which often lies outside your area of expertise. This is where using the right tool can help save time.
Many of the top tools offer all the features you need to complete specific tasks, but you often need several of them to be effective. Using the recommendations in this article will give you a great start, but you can always find other useful tools to try out.