There’s no doubt that every small business owner is looking for ways to improve their bottom-line. Many small business expenses come from the software they use throughout their daily activities.
For the modern small business, there is now a choice comparable to expensive software.
The following free and open-source software are exactly that – completely free! Remember, free doesn’t mean that it’s cheap, many of these programs work as good or even better than the paid software.
Open Office Suite
Replaces: Microsoft Office Suite
One of the most popular free alternatives for a heavily used small business program is the Open Office suite.
The OpenOffice suite contains all the same programs as if you were to purchase the same by Microsoft; they even work just as well and have increasingly expanded their compatibility with other systems.
If you factor in licensing, upgrades or buying the complete suite, each computer at your small business could cost you hundreds, even thousands, of dollars over the life of the business – this expense grows as your business does.
Google Docs
Replaces: Microsoft Office Suite (online)
Running software is fine but what happens when a computer crashes or your employees need access when they’re on a business trip? You need to get on the cloud.
Google continues to do an amazing job releasing free online services to facilitate expensive costs encountered by small business; Google docs are one of those which small businesses can find themselves saving quite a bit of money.
Like Open Office and Microsoft Office, Google’s suite of applications offer all the essentials such as spreadsheets, text editors, powerpoint and more. The best part of it all is that it’s online, freely available wherever you may be.
Gimp
Replaces: Adobe Photoshop
Move over Adobe because GIMP is giving you a run for your money. When you need to touch up on photos, create a banner or new graphic for your business, you can now skip out on expensive programs like Photoshop by using GIMP.
Free for all to use, GIMP gives you nearly all the same features as Photoshop which can save you hundreds of dollars per computer.
GIMP is perfect for small businesses that need to bootstrap their way to success. Who can argue with creating free graphics? I know I can’t.
Ubuntu Linux
Replaces: Windows OS
Linux, specifically Ubuntu, is one of the friendliest open-source operating systems available. That’s right, you heard my correctly, instead of spending money on a new operating system or paying for licenses, you can install a free, robust OS on every machine in your office absolutely free.
Let’s say you have 20 PCs in your office – that would cost you nearly $1400 if you were to put Windows 7 on all of them. If you went with Linux, it would cost you $0.
Not only that, but Linux is very safe – one of the safest operating systems actually so all of your data can be stay within the company.
I recommend starting with Ubuntu. It’s the most graphic friendly Linux distribution in which everyone could convert quickly without any hiccups – perfect for a small business.
Firefox or Chrome
Replaces: Internet Explorer
Although Internet Explorer comes packaged with Windows, you still need to buy the box – instead, try using Firefox or Chrome.
An additional benefit comes from the speed, web compliance and regular security updates for all those nasty little bugs that get through IE.
Get everyone on board and within a day, I can guarantee everyone will love either of these over IE.
FreeMind
Replaces: MindJet
I’m a huge fan of mind mapping. If you don’t know, mind mapping is simply visually mapping out all your ideas into a web of some sort.
Instead of spending money on mind mapping software, FreeMind gives it to you for free!
Load it up and start getting all your ideas out, print it, share it with the rest of your office and you’ll see your projects come together quickly.
VLC Player
Replaces: Windows Media Player, Quicktime, Etc
VLC Player is a powerful open-source media player that will quite literally play anything – there’s nothing I’ve encounter that isn’t supported by VLC Player.
Skip buying the “pro” packages of popular media players and stick with VLC. It will save you a bit of money but when scaling up for multiple computers, it can quickly add up.
FileZilla
Replaces: CuteFTP (and others)
If you’re working on the back-end portion of your website, you’re going to need an FTP program.
Filezilla is a free FTP program that will do everything paid FTP programs can do; enough said right?
AVG Free Antivirus
Replaces: McAfee Antivirus
Antivirus can be a major, but essential, cost for small businesses. Not only do you need to buy the program but keep the license running on each of the machines.
Skip these expenses by going with AVG Free Antivirus. AVG does a fantastic job keeping their updates in check, making sure the latest viruses and bugs stay off your system – for free.
Foobar2000
Replaces: Quicktime, iTunes, etc.
Okay, this one is for all those that want to listen to music at work – hey now, we’re not unproductive, we’re uh, listening to motivational speeches, yeah!
Foobar2000 is a highly customizable and open-source alternative to paid media players that handles nearly every digital music format.
Additionally, it’s light weight which means it doesn’t slow down your system unlike some paid system hogs.
Screenr
Replaces: Camtasia Studio
Want to create some screencasts for promotional videos or instructional videos on your website? You don’t need to spend money on programs if you’re keeping it within 5 minutes – that’s what Screenr is for.
Not only can you create a screencast (without downloading software) but share it quickly online.
DimDim
Replaces: WebEx or GoToMeeting
Creating online webinars are all the rage in the internet marketing and online business world.
The only problem is that these programs can be expensive and sometimes complicated for the average small business employee.
DimDim is a free alternative to programs such as GoToMeeting and other popular webinar services.
DimDim can easily save you hundreds of dollars each year if your business uses webinars to show clients your products, services or tutorials.
One of the best features of DimDim is that it runs right in your browser so you won’t have to worry about attendees trying to fiddle with plugins and downloaded software.
Resources and websites to find alternatives
The free and open-source alternatives in this post only touch the tip of the iceberg. To find even more programs that replace virtually every program you can imagine, check out some of these great resources:
How much could a small business save?
If you run a small business, free and open-source programs will save you immensely on your bottom line.
If you were to just replace the operating system, antivirus and office suites, you could be saving thousands of dollars each year vs. paying for the software and the licenses.
This adds up tremendously. Imagine if your business explodes and goes up to 50, 100, 200 computers – now do you see how much you can save at your small business?
Keep these pieces of software in mind when you’re starting or running a small business.
Over to you
What are your favorite free or open-source alternatives to paid software? How would you compare them to their counterparts?
Share your thoughts in the comments below.
damn, i just had a computer science assignment about this a few days earlier. You should have published it a few days back.
.-= Peter´s last blog ..10 Useful iPad Apps for Artists =-.
Hi Murray,
Wow, what a great list. Thanks for putting it all together in one place. I use OpenOffice, Gimp, Firefox, and FileZilla all the time. I know I have saved a small fortune with freeware programs. The volunteers who help out when you have a question make the world seem like a friendlier place when you’re first starting out. I spent enough time in corporate America to know that the big guys could learn a lot about customer service from the freeware crowd.
I will have to check out DimDim and ScreenR. My son keep telling me to get on Google Docs.
You didn’t mention WordPress. I would hate to go back to blogging without WP.
Write On!
.-= Tammi Kibler ´s last blog ..Article Marketing- Build Authority -amp Increase Your Influence =-.
Ah! I guess I’m so blinded by it’s daily use that WordPress completely skipped my mind Tammi haha.
I’ve noticed that too – the community behind freeware and open-source projects and be immense. Just look at the support of Ubuntu! Instead of a team getting paid to work on a product then moving on, you now have thousands of very passionate people that live, sleep and breathe their work.
It’s a shame that the bureaucracy of big business restricts many of them from even touching the free stuff. They’re so locked down to paid software that they’ll probably never know the benefits of open-source. However, that’s one great benefit for small businesses – they can do their own thing!
Hi Murray, these are great tips. I’ve not heard of some of these. I do like the sound of Gimp and Screenr. The sound excellent. Thanks for sharing – these will be very useful to me.
.-= Matthew Needham´s last blog ..How to start a business in your spare time =-.
Screenr is definitely worth taking a look at.
I’ve used Camtasia for many projects but when you just need that 5 minute video, Screenr takes the cake. Plus, since you can quickly share it, you don’t have to wait all the time for rendering, uploading and all the other mess.
Perhaps we can see some screencasts in the future Matthew
This is really a very nice list of software titles.
Have you ever considered SSuite Office as a free alternative?
They have a whole bunch of software that is free for download, even for the business owner wanting to save some money.
– {www.ssuitesoft.com}
Can’t say I’ve heard of SSuite but I’ll definitely have to take a look into it – thanks for adding it to the list!
Sweet compilation you got here Murray! I have pretty much used all that you’ve got there but DimDim and Foobar is something new.
I have my preferences when it comes to media player so I’m kind of stuck on the K-Lite Codec Pack which comes with converters as well. Then for anti-virus I like Avast combined with Malwarebytes the FREE version. Both combined combats the cybersphere very well.
K-Lite is awesome, used it in the past quite often. Avast is equally awesome as well
Glad you found some new items on here Thu!
For antivirus solution – AVIRA Free Version
For creating PDF with clickable links – OpenOffice
For surfing the internet – Opera 10 Turbo (Simply Fabulous!)
Foobar2000 consumes about 16MB more RAM than Windows Media Player on my Vista system so I’m sticking with the latter.
AVG needs to trim down the size of their installation and update files. So not bandwidth friendly for those on limited bandwidth internet connection.
Foobar2000 is amazing; I used to run it all the time because you can’t beat such a low ram usage but one thing that bothered me was the organization so I switched back to just organizing everything in folders haha.
Good share on the PDF heads up with OpenOffice – great for people that want to create eBooks – thanks for sharing Udegbunam.
Most free pdf creators can’t compare to OpenOffice @ all. I only wish they had a printer module as well.