Tools we’d spend our own money on.

AI & Automation

Make

8.4 out of 10

Visual automation with real power — branching, iteration and data mapping

Free (1,000 credits/mo); paid from $9/mo (Core, 10,000 credits), annual billing — verified Aug 2026

Finance & ERP

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

8.4 out of 10

The Microsoft ERP sized — and priced — for small and mid-sized businesses

Essentials $80/user/mo, Premium $110/user/mo (paid yearly); partner-led implementation quoted separately — verified Aug 2026

Reporting

Power BI

8.2 out of 10

Serious business intelligence at an SME-affordable per-seat price

Desktop free (authoring); Pro $14/user/mo, Premium Per User $24/user/mo; Fabric capacities from ~$263/mo — verified Aug 2026

Finance & ERP

Xero

8.2 out of 10

Cloud accounting with unlimited users — the adviser-channel favourite

US plans: Early $25/mo, Growing $55/mo, Established $90/mo — flat per organisation, unlimited users; 30-day trial, no free tier — verified Aug 2026

Marketing

Brevo

8.1 out of 10

Email marketing priced by what you send, not who you store

Free: 300 emails/day with up to 100k contacts stored; Starter from $9/mo (5,000 emails); charges per email sent, not per contact — verified Aug 2026

Marketing

Semrush

8.1 out of 10

The full-suite SEO and competitive research platform

From $139/mo (SEO plan; $117.33/mo annual) to $549/mo (Advanced); limited free account — lineup restructured 2026, verified Aug 2026

Finance & ERP

ERPNext

8.0 out of 10

The open-source ERP whose free tier is the entire product

Free self-hosted (open source, GPL); Frappe Cloud site plans from $5/mo, dedicated servers from $40/mo — verified Aug 2026

AI & Automation

Zapier

8.0 out of 10

The largest app ecosystem in automation, and the easiest on-ramp

Free (100 tasks/mo); paid from $19.99/mo (Professional, from 750 tasks), annual billing — verified Aug 2026

CRM & Sales

Zoho CRM

8.0 out of 10

Deep CRM capability at prices the platform vendors cannot match

Free for 3 users; paid from $14/user/mo (Standard) to $52/user/mo (Ultimate), annual billing — verified Aug 2026 (USD list; Zoho serves local-currency pricing)

Reporting

Looker Studio

7.8 out of 10

Free dashboards with the sharing model of a Google Doc

Free (the full core product); Looker Studio Pro $9/user/project/mo (per Google Cloud project), 30-day trial — verified Aug 2026

Websites

WordPress

7.8 out of 10

The open-source workhorse behind roughly 40% of the web

Software free (open source); realistic running cost from ~$5–30+/mo in hosting, plus paid plugins/themes as needed

Websites

Hostinger

7.7 out of 10

Aggressively priced hosting that outperforms its price tag

Shared hosting from $2.99/mo promotional (48-month term; renews $10.99); cloud from $7.99/mo (renews $25.99) — verified Aug 2026

Websites

Elementor

7.6 out of 10

The page builder that made WordPress visual

Free core builder; Pro from $59/yr (1 site) to $399/yr (Agency, up to 1,000 sites); Elementor One bundle $228/yr — verified Aug 2026, annual-only billing

Finance & ERP

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations

7.4 out of 10

Microsoft’s enterprise ERP for complex, multi-entity organisations

From $210/user/mo (Finance base licence, paid yearly); Finance Premium $300/user/mo incl. Copilot Credits; partner-led implementation quoted separately — verified Aug 2026

Best-in-class password manager for families and business teams

Individual ~$2.99/mo; Teams ~$19.95/mo (10 users); Business ~$7.99/user/mo — researched Aug 2026

Windows gaming handheld for the work-laptop-by-day crowd, with AI upscaling in the pipeline

~$799 — researched Aug 2026

The flexible database-spreadsheet hybrid behind countless SME internal tools

Free tier; Team from ~$20/seat/mo — researched Aug 2026

Wall/desk smart display fronting Alexa+ for calendars, calls and smart-home control

~$299 — researched Aug 2026

ANC earbuds with Live Translation, heart-rate sensing and hearing-aid capability

~$249 — researched Aug 2026

$599 desktop with an NPU-equipped M4 — the cheapest credible local-AI machine

$599 (16GB base) — researched Aug 2026

The default business ultraportable — Apple Intelligence on-device, all-day battery

From $999 — researched Aug 2026

The default smartwatch — hypertension notifications, sleep scoring, unmatched health platform

From $399 — researched Aug 2026

$49.99 always-listening wearable that summarises your day and extracts to-dos

$49.99 — researched Aug 2026

Open SaaS e-commerce for growing merchants — no transaction fees at any tier

From ~$29-39/mo (Standard) — researched Aug 2026

Full-power no-code app builder for real web applications

Free tier; Starter $29-32/mo — researched Aug 2026

One app to replace them all — tasks, docs, goals and chat for teams

Free tier; Unlimited ~$7-10/seat/mo — researched Aug 2026

Sales-first CRM with built-in calling, SMS and email sequences for SMB sales teams

No free tier (14-day trial); from ~$19-49/user/mo — researched Aug 2026

GTM AI platform — AI copywriting plus sales and marketing workflow automation

Free tier; Starter ~$29-49/mo; Advanced higher — researched Aug 2026

Sub-250g drone with a 1-inch sensor and AI tracking — the prosumer sweet spot

$759+ ($1,099 Fly More Combo) — researched Aug 2026

$199 palm-launch selfie drone with AI subject tracking — the cheapest usable content drone

$199 (from $149 in some bundles) — researched Aug 2026

Pocket gimbal camera with AI subject tracking — the video-marketing camera SMEs actually use

$519 (Creator Combo ~$669) — researched Aug 2026

Edit audio and video by editing the transcript — AI voices, screen recording, podcasting

Free tier; Hobbyist $12/mo, Creator $24/mo — researched Aug 2026

All-in-one ERP for SMBs — books, inventory, payroll and CRM in one subscription

From ~$99-150/user/mo (ERP); Small Business tier lower — researched Aug 2026

Developer-friendly cloud: droplets, managed databases and app platform

Droplets from $4-6/mo; $200 credit for new signups typical — researched Aug 2026

Rival flagship robot vacuum with retractable ProLeap legs that climb ~6cm thresholds

~$999.99 (launched $1,699) — researched Aug 2026

App-controlled edge-lit panels — the fastest way to stop looking like a hostage on sales calls

$129 each — researched Aug 2026

All-in-one desktop teleprompter so founders can read scripts while looking into the lens

$279.99, frequently ~$204-224 on sale — researched Aug 2026

15 LCD macro keys that trigger scenes, apps and automations — pairs with automation content

$149 — researched Aug 2026

AI meeting notetaker — records, transcribes and summarises every call

Free tier; Pro ~$10/seat/mo, Business ~$19/seat/mo — researched Aug 2026

The value-standard electric standing desk for home offices — app presets, solid dual motors

~$400-600, frequent deep sales — researched Aug 2026

Invoicing-first accounting for freelancers and service SMEs

No free tier (trial); Lite from ~$19/mo, frequent promos — researched Aug 2026

Affordable AI-powered CRM + support suite (Freshsales, Freshdesk)

Free tier on Freshsales; paid from ~$9-15/user/mo — researched Aug 2026

128GB-unified-memory mini PC that runs 70B-class local LLMs — the Mac Studio of Windows/Linux AI

~$1,500-2,000 — researched Aug 2026

The original learning home-AI device, redesigned — auto-schedules HVAC and cuts energy bills

~$279 — researched Aug 2026

AI writing assistant for grammar, tone and clarity across every app

Strong free tier; Pro from ~$12/mo (annual); Business per-seat — researched Aug 2026

AI video generation with avatars, video translation and lip-sync

Free tier; Creator from ~$24-29/mo — researched Aug 2026

Fully autonomous self-flying camera — no controller, no pilot skill, AI flight paths

~$499 — researched Aug 2026