What marketing tools does a small business actually need?
One tool per job, seven jobs, and most of them free until you outgrow a specific limit. A one-person business can run the stack below for about $17 a month; a three-person team that needs shared logins pays about $133 a month at the prices we read on each vendor's own page on 5 November 2026.
The trap is buying a platform for every job before you have the customers to justify it. Pick the job first, then the cheapest tool that does it, then write down the limit that will force an upgrade.
| Job | Our pick | Why this one | What breaks the free plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Be findable | Google Business Profile, plus a one-page site on Carrd | The profile is free; Carrd's custom-domain plan is $19 a year | Carrd free has no custom domain |
| Email your list | MailerLite (or Kit for a big free list) | MailerLite's free plan includes automations; Kit's free plan allows up to 10,000 subscribers | MailerLite: subscriber 251. Kit: your first automated sequence |
| Schedule social posts | Buffer | Priced per channel, so you pay for two or three accounts, not a bundle | A fourth channel, an eleventh queued post on one channel, or a second user |
| Make graphics | Adobe Express | Free plan with 5GB storage and templates | Storage, or wanting more than limited generative AI |
| Track contacts and deals | HubSpot free CRM | Free for up to 2 users and 1,000 contacts | A third user or contact 1,001 |
| Get reviews | Google Business Profile's review link | Google's own link or QR code, no extra tool | Nothing; it stays free |
| Measure | Google Analytics | Free of charge | Nothing at this size |
If you already pay for any of these jobs inside a tool you use, keep it. Our note on how to judge a tool and when to cut one covers that review.
What do small business marketing tools cost in 2026?
Here is what each vendor's pricing page showed on 5 November 2026. Several pages set the currency by location, so where we were shown only a non-US currency we say so and leave the price out rather than convert it. Prices can differ in your country and before tax.
| Tool | Cheapest paid plan | Billing basis | Free plan limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carrd | Pro Standard $19 a year (cheapest plan listing custom domains); Pro Lite $9 a year | Yearly | Pro is needed to publish more than three sites or use a custom domain |
| Squarespace | Page showed rupees only, so no US price here | Monthly or annual | Free for 14 days, then a paid plan |
| Google Business Profile | Free | None | Google calls it a free Business Profile |
| MailerLite | Comfort, 500 subscribers: $12 a month, or $10.80 a month billed yearly | Monthly or yearly | 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month, 2 user seats |
| Kit | Creator, 1,000 subscribers: $390 billed yearly | Monthly or yearly | Up to 10,000 subscribers; no automated email sequences |
| Mailchimp | Page showed rupees only, so no US price here | Per month | 250 contacts |
| Buffer | Essentials: $6 per channel a month, or $5 billed yearly | Per channel, monthly or yearly | 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel at a time, 1 user |
| Adobe Express | Premium US$9.99 a month; Teams US$7.99 a month per licence, 2-seat minimum | Premium monthly; Teams annual, billed monthly | 5GB storage, limited generative AI credits |
| HubSpot | Starter: normally $20 a month per seat | Per seat, monthly or annual | 2 users, 1,000 contacts |
| Google Analytics | Free | None | Google describes the tools as free of charge |
Two discounts were showing when we checked. HubSpot listed Starter at $7 a month per seat with an upfront annual payment, or $10 month to month, for new customers only. Adobe Express Teams showed US$4.99 a month per licence for the first year. Both are promotions, so we price the examples below at the normal rate. Canva's pricing page blocked our automated check, so it isn't in this table; look it up yourself if you prefer it.
How much does a small business marketing stack cost per month?
About $17 a month for one person and about $133 a month for three, using the prices above with yearly billing wherever the page offered it. The jump comes from seats, not features: Adobe Express Teams and HubSpot Starter charge per seat, and Buffer's multi-user Team plan costs twice Essentials per channel.
Example 1: one person, a list under 250 people
- Carrd Pro Standard: $19 a year, or $19 / 12 = $1.58 a month
- Buffer Essentials, 3 channels billed yearly: 3 x $5 = $15 a month (Buffer's own table shows $15)
- MailerLite Free, Adobe Express Free, HubSpot free CRM, Google Business Profile, Google Analytics: $0
- Total: $1.58 + $15 = $16.58 a month, or $19 + (12 x $15) = $199 a year, plus your domain registration, which Carrd doesn't include
When the list passes 250, MailerLite Comfort at 500 subscribers adds $10.80 a month billed yearly. Add Adobe Express Premium at US$9.99 and the total becomes $16.58 + $10.80 + $9.99 = $37.37 a month.
Example 2: three people, everyone needs a login, a list of 1,000
- Carrd Pro Standard: $1.58 a month
- MailerLite Comfort, 1,000 subscribers billed yearly: $17.10 a month (the plan includes 3 user seats)
- Buffer Team, 3 channels billed yearly: 3 x $10 = $30 a month. Essentials allows only 1 user account, so shared posting means Team
- Adobe Express Teams, 3 licences: 3 x US$7.99 = $23.97 a month
- HubSpot Starter, 3 seats at the normal price: 3 x $20 = $60 a month. The free CRM stops at 2 users
- Total: $1.58 + $17.10 + $30 + $23.97 + $60 = $132.65 a month
With the two promotions that were showing (HubSpot at $7 a seat paid annually, Adobe at US$4.99 for year one), the same stack is $1.58 + $17.10 + $30 + $14.97 + $21 = $84.65 a month in the first year. The cheapest saving is often a rule, not a discount: if only one of the three people posts to social, Buffer Essentials at $15 does the job and the total drops by $15.
Which free plan limit will you hit first?
Usually the email list or the CRM user count, so plan for those two first. This table turns each limit into the moment you will feel it.
| Tool | Free limit | When you hit it (example) | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| MailerLite | 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month | A weekly newsletter to 250 people is about 4 x 250 = 1,000 emails a month, so the subscriber cap comes first | Clean out people who never open before you pay; then Comfort |
| Kit | No automated sequences | The day you want a welcome series for new subscribers | Stay free if you only send broadcasts |
| Buffer | 3 channels, 10 queued posts per channel, 1 user | Batch-writing a month of posts for one account, or adding a fourth account | Pay only for the channels that bring enquiries |
| HubSpot | 2 users, 1,000 contacts | Hiring a third person who handles customers | Give the third person a seat only if they work the pipeline |
| Carrd | No custom domain | Day one, if you want yourname.com | Pro Standard at $19 a year |
| Adobe Express | 5GB storage | Storing lots of video | Delete old drafts; then Premium |
Write these limits in a note with the date you checked. Vendors change free plans, and it is cheaper to read the pricing page once a quarter than to find out from a paused campaign. Mailchimp's page, for example, says sending is paused if you go over the contact or email limit.
How do you get reviews without a review tool?
Free, through your Google Business Profile, as long as your business qualifies. Google's tips on getting more reviews say you can ask customers to visit a Google link or scan a QR code, and that offering incentives such as discounts in exchange for reviews is strictly prohibited. Skip paid review-gating tools until a free link stops being enough.
Check eligibility before you build around it. Google's Business Profile guidelines say a rented mailing address you don't operate from, a virtual office, isn't eligible, and a co-working desk qualifies only with signage, staff and customers received there during business hours. An online-only B2B firm may get more from testimonials on its own site; our sibling guide on collecting testimonials and reviews has the ask.
Where do lead finding and CRM fit?
If you sell to other businesses, the expensive part is rarely scheduling posts. It is finding the next customers and following up. A free CRM plus a weekly routine, like the one in our weekly marketing system for founders, covers most teams of one to five.
When that routine is the bottleneck, an agent can replace several rows of the table. Siela's built-in CRM holds contacts and companies with a visual pipeline, email sequences and open and click tracking, and its Lead Finder adds leads with the reason each was picked. It has no plans or seats: new accounts get $10 of free credit once, then you add credit as you need it. Our comparison of AI marketing agents for small business sets it next to other options.
This week: list the seven jobs, write which tool you use for each today and what it costs, then cancel any tool doing a job another one already covers. For the email side, our sibling guide to email marketing for a small business covers what to send once the tool is set up.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best marketing tool for a small business?
There isn't one tool that does every job well. Start with the job that brings customers in for your type of business: a Google Business Profile for local services, an email list for repeat buyers, or a CRM and outreach routine for B2B. Add the next tool only when a free limit blocks work you are already doing every week.
What free marketing tools should a small business use?
As checked on 5 November 2026, Google Business Profile and Google Analytics are free, HubSpot's CRM is free for 2 users and 1,000 contacts, MailerLite is free to 250 subscribers, Kit is free to 10,000 subscribers without automated sequences, Buffer is free for 3 channels, and Adobe Express has a free plan with 5GB of storage.
Is yearly billing worth it for a small business?
Only for tools you are sure you will keep for a year. Buffer's yearly price works out about two months cheaper and MailerLite's about 10% cheaper, but you pay up front. Try a tool monthly for one or two months first, then switch the ones you use every week to yearly billing.
Do I need a marketing platform or separate apps?
Separate apps are cheaper at the start because most have free plans sized for small businesses. A single platform starts to make sense when moving contacts between apps takes real time each week, or when several people need the same records. Price the platform against your actual stack total, not the vendor's list of features.
How much should a small business spend on marketing software?
Our worked examples came to about $17 a month for one person and about $133 a month for three people at normal prices. Treat the software as the small part of the budget. The time you spend writing, posting and following up costs more than any of these subscriptions, so pick tools that save that time.
Sources
- Buffer: Pricing (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Buffer: Pricing (machine-readable version) (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- MailerLite: Pricing (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Kit: Pricing and plans (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Mailchimp: Marketing pricing (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Carrd: Go Pro (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Squarespace: Pricing (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- HubSpot: CRM pricing (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Adobe Express: Pricing (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Google: Business Profile (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Google Business Profile Help: Tips to get more reviews (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Google Business Profile Help: Guidelines for representing your business (checked 5 Nov 2026)
- Google Marketing Platform: Analytics (checked 5 Nov 2026)