Starting a new professional activity, whether as a self-employed worker or a small company, requires the use of programs with a regular license for commercial use.
Those who want to do things according to the law, instead of buying one or more licenses for the most well-known work programs (like Microsoft Office or Adobe), you can save a lot of money by looking for open source programs, which are not only free to download. and install on as many computers as you want, but they can also be used with a GPL ( General Public License ) valid also for commercial use.
In this list we therefore see the best programs that are free for commercial use and can also be used by companies, small businesses, startups and professionals by VAT number, without limitations.
1) Best free Office program for commercial use : Google Docs or LibreOffice
If you require compatibility with Microsoft Word and Excel, LibreOffice is today the best possible choice, heir to OpenOffice, which includes software equivalent to Word, Excel and Powerpoint, plus three other drawing programs (such as Microsoft Visio), for databases ( like Access) and math formulas.
In case, then, there is a need for a platform to create documents in collaboration, then the best and free choice is Google Docs, the Google suite of web Office applications.
In another article, we looked at the differences between Word and Google Docs.
NOTE: Even if it is not free, small companies could manage activities, projects and organizations with G Suite, which also allows you to create a company mailbox, buy a domain and take advantage of other tools, including the Google Docs suite, with a subscription starting from 4 Euro per user per month.
2) To manage email accounts : Thunderbird or Gmail
If you choose to manage business activities with G Suite, you would get the advantage of being able to use Gmail mailboxes with a custom domain.
Even if it's not a client to install, Gmail has everything to work like Microsoft Outlook.
If, however, you are looking for a free alternative program to Outlook, then you can try Mozilla Thunderbird,
The great advantage of using an e-mail program is the fact that if the office had internet connection problems, the emails would still be available, with all the commercial information still available.
3) Project management : Trello
Trello is an incredible, free application that allows you to create project sheets so that you can follow the activities to be carried out in an orderly way and according to the business organization techniques that you study at university.
Trello uses the Kanban technique, originally created as part of Toyota's ultra-efficient production process, which works like a blackboard where everyone can add notes.
Trello is also useful if used individually, because it can contain all the necessary information to memorize each activity and is a great way to keep projects in order.
The only limitation to the free version is that the free space of the file attachments is only 10 MB.
4) Chat and communication program : Slack
Slack is one of the best online communication tools for companies.
Easy to manage, it allows you to create chat channels and invite participants to share status updates, ideas and even related files.
The program is fully integrated with the Google Docs Office suite and is great for keeping people and employees close together who live and work in different places.
READ ALSO: Tools for working in groups, collaboration apps with chat, video conferencing and project sharing
5) Free accounting : Gnujiko
This is one of the most efficient free programs to manage the accounting of small companies in a complete way, which is also translated into Italian.
For other alternatives, refer to the article on the best free management and accounting programs, personal or for companies.
6) Free billing software .
In another article I have already listed more than 10 free programs to create invoices and manage billing on a professional level.
7) Best backup software : Duplicate Time machine for Windows
Data backup is crucial for the safety of professional activities and a program like Duplicati is ideal for avoiding any possible disaster and loss of important files.
Duplicati is free, open source, secure which encrypts data before backing up and which supports automatic and incremental backup to local drive, file server or cloud service.
8) Antivirus
Although Microsoft has added integrated antivirus on Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 PCs, you may prefer to protect your computer with a free full antivirus.
If you look at the best free antivirus you may find that these are only free for personal use and not for commercial use.
An optimal solution for small businesses and offices is offered by Comodo Internet Security, one of the best free complete protection and security suites for Windows PCs, which includes antimalware and firewalls (Downloading the trial leads to download the free version of this antivirus).
9) Accounting programs
Among the free accounting and financial management programs that I had already presented, we can mention GnuCash .
This kind of software could cost a lot of money if you rely on big names, instead GnuCash is free and usable for professional activities, it has the typical characteristics of a paid, powerful, versatile and free accounting program.
It allows you to manage general accounting, suppliers, bills, taxes, print invoices and is also compatible with the leading program in this sector Quicken and the .qif or .oxf files used by large banks.
10) Other useful programs for companies and professionals :
- GanttProject is an excellent project management tool that becomes a free replacement for Microsoft Project with which it is compatible for importing and exporting .mpp files.
- DRoaster, employee management program
- IPFire, program to transform a computer into a firewall server.
- HMRC Basic PAYE Tools is a payment management software.
READ ALSO: Best free open source programs for Windows, commercial software alternatives
Those who want to do things according to the law, instead of buying one or more licenses for the most well-known work programs (like Microsoft Office or Adobe), you can save a lot of money by looking for open source programs, which are not only free to download. and install on as many computers as you want, but they can also be used with a GPL ( General Public License ) valid also for commercial use.
In this list we therefore see the best programs that are free for commercial use and can also be used by companies, small businesses, startups and professionals by VAT number, without limitations.
1) Best free Office program for commercial use : Google Docs or LibreOffice
If you require compatibility with Microsoft Word and Excel, LibreOffice is today the best possible choice, heir to OpenOffice, which includes software equivalent to Word, Excel and Powerpoint, plus three other drawing programs (such as Microsoft Visio), for databases ( like Access) and math formulas.
In case, then, there is a need for a platform to create documents in collaboration, then the best and free choice is Google Docs, the Google suite of web Office applications.
In another article, we looked at the differences between Word and Google Docs.
NOTE: Even if it is not free, small companies could manage activities, projects and organizations with G Suite, which also allows you to create a company mailbox, buy a domain and take advantage of other tools, including the Google Docs suite, with a subscription starting from 4 Euro per user per month.
2) To manage email accounts : Thunderbird or Gmail
If you choose to manage business activities with G Suite, you would get the advantage of being able to use Gmail mailboxes with a custom domain.
Even if it's not a client to install, Gmail has everything to work like Microsoft Outlook.
If, however, you are looking for a free alternative program to Outlook, then you can try Mozilla Thunderbird,
The great advantage of using an e-mail program is the fact that if the office had internet connection problems, the emails would still be available, with all the commercial information still available.
3) Project management : Trello
Trello is an incredible, free application that allows you to create project sheets so that you can follow the activities to be carried out in an orderly way and according to the business organization techniques that you study at university.
Trello uses the Kanban technique, originally created as part of Toyota's ultra-efficient production process, which works like a blackboard where everyone can add notes.
Trello is also useful if used individually, because it can contain all the necessary information to memorize each activity and is a great way to keep projects in order.
The only limitation to the free version is that the free space of the file attachments is only 10 MB.
4) Chat and communication program : Slack
Slack is one of the best online communication tools for companies.
Easy to manage, it allows you to create chat channels and invite participants to share status updates, ideas and even related files.
The program is fully integrated with the Google Docs Office suite and is great for keeping people and employees close together who live and work in different places.
READ ALSO: Tools for working in groups, collaboration apps with chat, video conferencing and project sharing
5) Free accounting : Gnujiko
This is one of the most efficient free programs to manage the accounting of small companies in a complete way, which is also translated into Italian.
For other alternatives, refer to the article on the best free management and accounting programs, personal or for companies.
6) Free billing software .
In another article I have already listed more than 10 free programs to create invoices and manage billing on a professional level.
7) Best backup software : Duplicate Time machine for Windows
Data backup is crucial for the safety of professional activities and a program like Duplicati is ideal for avoiding any possible disaster and loss of important files.
Duplicati is free, open source, secure which encrypts data before backing up and which supports automatic and incremental backup to local drive, file server or cloud service.
8) Antivirus
Although Microsoft has added integrated antivirus on Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 PCs, you may prefer to protect your computer with a free full antivirus.
If you look at the best free antivirus you may find that these are only free for personal use and not for commercial use.
An optimal solution for small businesses and offices is offered by Comodo Internet Security, one of the best free complete protection and security suites for Windows PCs, which includes antimalware and firewalls (Downloading the trial leads to download the free version of this antivirus).
9) Accounting programs
Among the free accounting and financial management programs that I had already presented, we can mention GnuCash .
This kind of software could cost a lot of money if you rely on big names, instead GnuCash is free and usable for professional activities, it has the typical characteristics of a paid, powerful, versatile and free accounting program.
It allows you to manage general accounting, suppliers, bills, taxes, print invoices and is also compatible with the leading program in this sector Quicken and the .qif or .oxf files used by large banks.
10) Other useful programs for companies and professionals :
- GanttProject is an excellent project management tool that becomes a free replacement for Microsoft Project with which it is compatible for importing and exporting .mpp files.
- DRoaster, employee management program
- IPFire, program to transform a computer into a firewall server.
- HMRC Basic PAYE Tools is a payment management software.
READ ALSO: Best free open source programs for Windows, commercial software alternatives
