"A penny saved is a penny earned." – Benjamin Franklin

Buffer is a social media management platform designed for scheduling, publishing, and analyzing posts across multiple channels. Its free tier supports up to three accounts and ten scheduled posts per channel, making it a practical option for individuals and small teams. With a clean interface and reliable performance, Buffer integrates well with Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and more.

CiviCRM is an open-source, full-service constituent relationship management (CRM) program. It's free to download, install, use, and share.  With a strong API and a supportive community of users and developers, it's an excellent value for nonprofits, SMEs, and freelancers. 

The successor to OpenOffice, LibreOffice is an open-source productivity suite which includes programs for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, databases, graphics, and formula editing. Compatible with Microsoft 365 native file formats, it's available in 120 languages and is available offline. 

Canva is a design platform for creating graphics, presentations, promotional merchandise, and websites. The platform simplifies the design process with a drag-and-drop interface and includes several templates. Add-on features include video editing and an AI copilot.

Pixabay is a user-populated source of photos, illustrations, vector graphics, film footage, stock music and sound effects. The content is free to use without attribution, and can be used commercially, with a few restrictions. 

Full payroll processing software, free for 10 or less payees. Calculates a wide range of deductions, including garnishments. PAYROLL4FREE can integrate with QuickBooks and includes year-end US tax forms. Accommodates both W-2 employees and 1099 contractors.

With a straightforward interface and broad range of .pdf manipulation tools, the online PDF24 Toolbox is a strong alternative to Adobe Acrobat. Also available offline (Windows only) as the PDF24 Creator. 100% free. 

A Canva subsidiary, Pexels is another creator-populated and 100% free source of photos, images, and video. A lot of truly hi-res images, and no attribution required, although it's always appreciated. To stay afloat, Pexels is interspersed with the option to buy comparable work from iStock.  

A very basic bookkeeping program, wave is targeted to those with absolutely no accounting skills. Comprehensive drop-down menus provide a multitude of options for categorizing income and expenses, with the option to create categories when needed. Easy to correct errors, and good proposal, estimate, and invoice production capacity. 

The Zoho CRM Free Edition provides all the essentials necessary for customer relationship management for up to three users, for free (you'll find the button below the paid plans). It has a minimal learning curve and intuitive UX, and organizes leads, deals, and campaigns with a few keystrokes. Excellent API.