Free plans compared
Every tool with a free tier, what you get and the main catch.
Graphic Design
| Tool | What the plan includes | Main catch | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Figma | Collaborative interface design and prototyping in the browser. Free starter; Professional $15/editor/mo. | Editor seats add up | Free plan available |
| Canva | Browser-based design tool with templates, Magic Studio AI and brand kits. Free tier; Pro is $15/mo or $120/yr. | Limited precision controls | Free · paid from $15/mo |
| Adobe Express | Adobe's quick-design app with Firefly generative AI. Free plan; Premium $9.99/mo. | Slower editor | Free · paid from $9.99/mo |
| Penpot | Open-source design and prototyping platform, self-hostable and free. | Smaller plugin ecosystem | Free (open source) |
| Visme | Design tool focused on infographics, presentations and data visualisation. Free tier; Starter $12.25/mo annual. | Dated UI | Free · paid from $12.25/mo |
Photo Editing
Streaming
| Tool | What the plan includes | Main catch | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spotify | Music and podcast streaming. Free with ads; Premium Individual $11.99/mo, Duo $16.99, Family $19.99. | No true lossless on most tiers | Free · paid from $11.99/mo |
| YouTube Music | Music streaming bundled with YouTube Premium. $10.99/mo standalone, $13.99 with Premium. | Metadata inconsistencies | Free · paid from $10.99/mo |
Accounting
| Tool | What the plan includes | Main catch | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zoho Books | Accounting inside the Zoho suite. Free under $50k revenue; Standard $20/mo. | UI density | Free · paid from $20/mo |
| Wave | Free accounting and invoicing; you pay only for payments and payroll. Pro plan $16/mo. | US/Canada focused | Free · paid from $16/mo |
Productivity Suites
| Tool | What the plan includes | Main catch | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| ONLYOFFICE | Open-source office suite with excellent OOXML fidelity; self-host free or Docs Cloud from $20/mo. | Self-hosting needs ops work | Free · paid from $20/mo |
Project Management
| Tool | What the plan includes | Main catch | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linear | Fast issue tracker for software teams. Free tier, Basic $8/user/mo, Business $14. | Software-team specific | Free · paid from $8/mo |
| Asana | Work management for cross-team projects. Free up to 10 users, Starter $10.99/user/mo, Advanced $24.99. | No native time tracking | Free · paid from $10.99/mo |
| ClickUp | All-in-one docs, tasks and goals. Free Forever, Unlimited $7/user/mo, Business $12. | Overwhelming UI | Free · paid from $7/mo |
| monday.com | Visual work management boards with automations and dashboards. Free for 2 seats; Basic $9/seat/mo billed yearly. | Sold in 3-seat minimums | Free · paid from $9/mo |
| Jira | Atlassian's issue tracker for agile teams. Free to 10 users, Standard ~$7.53/user/mo, Premium ~$13.53. | Heavy configuration | Free · paid from $7.53/mo |
| Trello | Kanban boards for lightweight tracking. Free tier, Standard $5/user/mo, Premium $10. | Weak for dependencies | Free · paid from $5/mo |
| Basecamp | All-in-one project hub with to-dos, message boards and chat. Free for one project; Plus $15/user/mo. | No Gantt or advanced reporting | Free · paid from $15/mo |
CRM
| Tool | What the plan includes | Main catch | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| HubSpot CRM | Free CRM with paid Sales Hub tiers. Starter from $15/seat/mo, Professional $90/seat/mo. | Costs escalate fast | Free · paid from $15/mo |
| Attio | Flexible, data-driven CRM that builds itself from your email and calendar. Free plan; Plus $29/user/mo. | Younger product | Free · paid from $29/mo |
Email Marketing
| Tool | What the plan includes | Main catch | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kit (ConvertKit) | Creator-focused newsletters. Free to 10,000 subscribers, Creator from $29/mo. | Plain-text aesthetic | Free · paid from $29/mo |
| MailerLite | Simple email marketing with landing pages and automations. Free up to 1,000 subscribers; Growing Business from $10/mo. | Strict account approval | Free · paid from $10/mo |
| beehiiv | Newsletter platform with growth and ad-network tooling. Free to 2,500 subs, Scale from $99/mo. | Less suited to transactional email | Free · paid from $99/mo |
| Brevo | Email and SMS platform priced per send, not per contact. Free 300 emails/day, Starter from $9/mo. | Template editor is basic | Free · paid from $9/mo |
| Mailchimp | Email marketing platform. Free to 500 contacts, Essentials from $13/mo, Standard from $20/mo. | Price scales with contacts | Free · paid from $13/mo |
Notes & Knowledge
| Tool | What the plan includes | Main catch | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notion | Docs, wiki and databases in one workspace. Free personal, Plus $10/user/mo, Business $15. | Offline support is weak | Free · paid from $10/mo |
| Obsidian | Local-first markdown knowledge base. Free for personal use; Sync $4/mo, Publish $8/mo. | No real-time collaboration | Free · paid from $4/mo |
| Apple Notes | Free notes app bundled with iOS and macOS, with iCloud sync and smart folders. | Apple devices only | Free with Apple devices |
| Craft | Beautiful block-based documents and notes for Apple and web. Free plan; Plus $4.79/mo billed yearly. | Smaller ecosystem than Notion | Free · paid from $4.79/mo |
| Microsoft OneNote | Free-form digital notebook included with Microsoft accounts. Free; more storage with Microsoft 365 from $9.99/mo. | Search and sync can be slow | Free · paid from $9.99/mo |
| Evernote | Long-running note app with strong search and web clipping. Free tier limited; Personal $14.99/mo. | Free tier heavily restricted | Free · paid from $14.99/mo |
VPN
| Tool | What the plan includes | Main catch | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Proton VPN | Swiss privacy-focused VPN with a genuinely free unlimited-data tier. Plus ~$9.99/mo. | Free tier limited to few countries | Free · paid from $9.99/mo |
Password Managers
| Tool | What the plan includes | Main catch | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bitwarden | Open-source password manager. Free unlimited passwords; Premium $10/year, Families $40/year. | UI less polished | Free · paid from $0.83/mo |
| Proton Pass | Privacy-first manager with hide-my-email aliases. Free tier; Plus ~$1.99/mo annual. | Newer product | Free · paid from $1.99/mo |
| Dashlane | Password manager with bundled VPN. Premium $4.99/mo, Friends & Family $7.49/mo. | Free plan is single device | Free · paid from $4.99/mo |
Web Hosting
| Tool | What the plan includes | Main catch | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vercel | Frontend cloud for Next.js and modern frameworks. Hobby free, Pro $20/user/mo. | Bandwidth overages get costly | Free · paid from $20/mo |
| Cloudflare Pages | Static and Workers-backed hosting with unlimited bandwidth on the free plan; Workers Paid $5/mo. | Workers runtime constraints | Free · paid from $5/mo |
| Netlify | Static and serverless hosting with build pipeline. Free tier, Pro $19/member/mo. | Build minute limits | Free plan available |
| Render | Cloud platform for web services, databases and static sites. Free static sites; services from $7/mo. | Free services sleep when idle | Free · paid from $7/mo |
Website Builders
| Tool | What the plan includes | Main catch | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Webflow | Visual development platform with CMS. Site plans from $14/mo, CMS $23/mo. | Steeper learning curve | Free · paid from $14/mo |
| Framer | Design-first website builder with animations and CMS. Free plan; Basic $10/mo billed yearly. | CMS limits on lower plans | Free · paid from $10/mo |
| Wix | Drag-and-drop builder with app market. Light $17/mo, Core $29/mo, Business $36/mo. | Cannot change template later | Free · paid from $17/mo |
AI Assistants
| Tool | What the plan includes | Main catch | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | OpenAI's assistant. Free tier, Plus $20/mo, Team $25-30/user/mo. | Usage caps on top models | Free · paid from $20/mo |
| Claude | Anthropic's assistant, strong at long documents and code. Free tier, Pro $20/mo, Max from $100/mo. | Fewer plugins | Free · paid from $20/mo |
| Google Gemini | Google's assistant integrated with Workspace. Free tier; Google AI Pro $19.99/mo. | Inconsistent answer quality | Free · paid from $19.99/mo |
| Perplexity | Answer engine with live citations. Free tier, Pro $20/mo. | Weaker at long-form drafting | Free · paid from $20/mo |
| Microsoft Copilot | Microsoft's AI assistant built into Windows, Edge and Microsoft 365. Free; Copilot Pro $20/mo. | Best features need Microsoft 365 | Free · paid from $20/mo |
Video Editing
| Tool | What the plan includes | Main catch | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| DaVinci Resolve | Editing, colour, Fairlight audio and VFX. Free version; Studio one-time $295. | Demanding hardware | Free · Studio $295 one-time |
| CapCut | Free social-first editor with auto captions. Pro from $7.99/mo. | Limited pro colour tools | Free · paid from $7.99/mo |
| Clipchamp | Browser video editor from Microsoft with templates and stock media. Free plan; Premium $11.99/mo. | Basic for advanced editing | Free · paid from $11.99/mo |
Team Chat & Meetings
| Tool | What the plan includes | Main catch | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slack | Channel-based team chat with huge app ecosystem. Free plan (90-day history), Pro $8.75/user/mo. | Free plan hides history after 90 days | Free · paid from $8.75/mo |
| Zoom | Video meetings and webinars. Free 40-minute meetings; Pro from $13.33/user/mo. | Free meetings capped at 40 minutes | Free · paid from $13.33/mo |
| Google Meet | Browser-based video meetings. Free 60-minute group calls; included in Google Workspace from $7/user/mo. | Fewer webinar features | Free · paid from $7/mo |
| Microsoft Teams | Chat, meetings and file sharing inside Microsoft 365. Free tier; Essentials $4/user/mo. | Heavier and slower than rivals | Free · paid from $4/mo |
| Discord | Free voice, video and text communities. Nitro $9.99/mo is optional and cosmetic. | Weak business admin tools | Free · paid from $9.99/mo |
| Google Chat | Team messaging included with Google Workspace from $7/user/mo; free for personal accounts. | Fewer integrations than Slack | Free · paid from $7/mo |
Writing & Grammar
| Tool | What the plan includes | Main catch | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grammarly | Grammar, tone and clarity checker that works across browsers and apps. Free plan; Pro is $12/mo billed yearly. | Best rewrites are Pro-only | Free · paid from $12/mo |
| LanguageTool | Multilingual grammar and style checker supporting 30+ languages. Free plan; Premium from $4.99/mo. | Fewer tone suggestions | Free · paid from $4.99/mo |
| QuillBot | Paraphrasing tool with grammar checker, summarizer and citation generator. Free plan; Premium $8.33/mo billed yearly. | Grammar checks lighter than Grammarly | Free · paid from $8.33/mo |
| ProWritingAid | In-depth style editor built for long-form and fiction writers. Free plan; Premium $10/mo billed yearly. | Busy interface | Free · paid from $10/mo |
Online Whiteboards
| Tool | What the plan includes | Main catch | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miro | Infinite online whiteboard with templates for workshops, diagrams and planning. Free plan with 3 boards; Starter $8/user/mo. | Free plan capped at 3 editable boards | Free · paid from $8/mo |
| FigJam | Figma's whiteboard for brainstorming and diagramming alongside design files. Free plan; Professional $3/user/mo. | Fewer advanced diagram features | Free · paid from $3/mo |
| Excalidraw | Open-source hand-drawn style whiteboard that runs in the browser. Free; Excalidraw+ $6/user/mo. | Limited templates | Free · paid from $6/mo |
| Mural | Visual collaboration whiteboard focused on facilitated workshops. Free plan; Team+ $9.99/user/mo. | Smaller template community | Free · paid from $9.99/mo |
Screen Recording
| Tool | What the plan includes | Main catch | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| OBS Studio | Free open-source recording and live-streaming software for Windows, Mac and Linux. | Steep learning curve | Free plan available |
| Loom | Async screen and camera recording with instant share links. Free plan with 5-minute videos; Business $15/user/mo billed yearly. | Free videos capped at 5 minutes | Free · paid from $15/mo |
| ScreenPal | Simple screen recorder and editor popular in education. Free plan; Deluxe $3/mo billed yearly. | Watermark on free plan | Free · paid from $3/mo |