Every tool we compare
55 tools across 11 categories, each with what it is genuinely good at, what it costs you, and the one trade-off you have to accept to choose it.
Category
55 tools in the catalogue
Discord
Free, fast, voice-first chat that scales to very large communities.
no seat cost · free tier
Microsoft Teams
Chat and meetings bundled into Microsoft 365, so the marginal cost is often zero.
$4/seat · free tier
Zulip
Topic-threaded chat designed so asynchronous and distributed teams can catch up quickly.
$6.67/seat · free tier
Slack
The default team chat tool, with the deepest app directory of any.
$8.75/seat · free tier
Mattermost
Open-source, self-hostable team chat built for regulated and air-gapped environments.
$10/seat · free tier
ClickUp
A deliberately maximal tool that absorbs docs, goals, chat and tracking in one licence.
$7/seat · free tier
Linear
Fast, opinionated issue tracking for product and engineering teams that want less process.
$8/seat · free tier
Jira
The configurable standard for engineering issue tracking and enterprise reporting.
$8.6/seat · free tier
Asana
Cross-functional work management that non-engineers will actually adopt.
$10.99/seat · free tier
Monday.com
A visual, spreadsheet-shaped work platform you assemble per department.
$12/seat · free tier
Confluence
Atlassian’s enterprise wiki, strongest when you already run Jira.
$6.4/seat · free tier
Slite
A deliberately small wiki with AI search, built to keep knowledge current.
$8/seat · free tier
Notion
Flexible docs and databases that teams shape into a wiki, a tracker, or both.
$10/seat · free tier
Outline
Fast open-source wiki you can self-host, with excellent search.
$10/seat
Coda
Documents with a real formula and automation layer underneath them.
$12/seat · free tier
Penpot
Open-source, self-hostable design and prototyping built on web standards.
no seat cost · free tier
Canva
Template-driven design that non-designers can use without training.
$10/seat · free tier
Sketch
The native macOS design app, now with a collaborative web layer.
$12/seat
Figma
The browser-based standard for interface design, systems and handoff.
$15/seat · free tier
Framer
Design tool and production website publisher in one product.
$20/seat · free tier
Google Meet
Bundled with Google Workspace, so it usually costs nothing extra.
no seat cost · free tier
Jitsi Meet
Open-source video you can self-host with no per-seat cost.
no seat cost · free tier
Whereby
Browser-only rooms with fixed links, plus an embeddable video API.
$6.99/seat · free tier
Zoom
The reliability benchmark for meetings, webinars and large events.
$15.99/seat · free tier
Livestorm
Browser-based webinar platform with registration and attendee analytics built in.
$99/seat · free tier
Brevo
Send-volume pricing plus SMS, chat and a light CRM, hosted in the EU.
no seat cost · free tier
Kit (ConvertKit)
Creator-focused email with tag-based automation and strong deliverability.
no seat cost · free tier
Klaviyo
Ecommerce lifecycle marketing with revenue attribution per flow.
no seat cost · free tier
Mailchimp
The best-known all-rounder for broadcasts and basic automation.
no seat cost · free tier
Resend
Developer-first email API with React-based templates and a light broadcast layer.
no seat cost · free tier
Pipedrive
Pipeline-first CRM that small sales teams keep up to date because it is quick.
$24/seat
Attio
A data-model-first CRM you shape around how your business actually works.
$34/seat · free tier
Close
CRM with calling, SMS and sequences built in, aimed at outbound teams.
$49/seat
HubSpot
CRM with marketing, support and CMS attached, strong on the free tier.
$90/seat · free tier
Salesforce
The enterprise CRM standard: infinitely configurable, and priced accordingly.
$165/seat
Freshdesk
Full-featured ticketing at roughly half the price of the category leaders.
$15/seat · free tier
Help Scout
Simple, human shared inbox plus docs, priced for small support teams.
$25/seat · free tier
Front
Shared inbox that keeps email feeling like email while adding assignment and SLAs.
$29/seat
Intercom
Messenger-first support with AI resolution and in-product engagement.
$39/seat
Zendesk
The enterprise ticketing standard, with deep SLA and reporting tooling.
$55/seat
Screaming Frog
A desktop crawler that does technical site auditing better than any cloud tool.
no seat cost · free tier
Ubersuggest
A deliberately cheap SEO suite aimed at small businesses and solo marketers.
no seat cost · free tier
Moz Pro
The original SEO suite, still strong on local search and famously readable metrics.
no seat cost · free tier
Ahrefs
The backlink index everyone benchmarks against, plus solid keyword and content tooling.
no seat cost · free tier
Semrush
The broadest toolkit in SEO, stretching into paid search, social and content marketing.
no seat cost · free tier
ActiveCampaign
Serious automation depth at small-business prices, with a light CRM attached.
no seat cost
Braze
Enterprise cross-channel engagement for consumer apps with very large user bases.
no seat cost
Customer.io
Behavioural messaging driven by product events, built for teams with engineers.
no seat cost · free tier
HubSpot Marketing Hub
Marketing automation welded to a CRM, so sales and marketing argue over one contact record.
no seat cost · free tier
Marketo Engage
Adobe’s B2B automation platform, built around lead scoring and long sales cycles.
no seat cost
Google Analytics 4
The free default, now event-based, with BigQuery export and a steep relearning curve.
no seat cost · free tier
Plausible
Lightweight, cookieless web analytics on a single page you can read in ten seconds.
no seat cost · free tier
Fathom Analytics
Privacy-first web analytics with unlimited retention and a fixed, predictable bill.
no seat cost · free tier
Matomo
The full-featured open-source alternative to Google Analytics, self-hostable end to end.
no seat cost · free tier
PostHog
Product analytics, session replay, feature flags and experiments in one open-source platform.
no seat cost · free tier
Prices are unverified estimates — useful for comparing orders of magnitude, not for budgeting. Confirm the current figure with the vendor before you commit to anything.
Questions
About this catalogue
How do you decide which tools make the list?
A tool is listed if a team could credibly run on it today: actively maintained, bought by companies rather than only individuals, and a genuine substitute rather than an adjacent product. We deliberately keep each category small — five real options you can hold in your head beats forty you cannot.
Do vendors pay to appear here?
No. There is no affiliate weighting in the rankings and no paid placement in the listings. We are paid by the optional tracking subscription and by migration engagements.
Why does every tool have cons listed?
Because every tool has them, and a comparison that only lists strengths is an advert. If we cannot name at least two real drawbacks for a tool, we have not researched it well enough to recommend it.
My tool is not listed. What now?
Pick the category it belongs to, or start from the problem instead. The questionnaire is identical either way — naming your current tool only adds a cost comparison against what you already pay.