When you’re just starting out, every dollar matters, and the good news is you can run a service business on free plans while you get going. Here’s the free tier actually worth using in each category, pulled from the comparisons on this site.

This post contains affiliate links. See my Affiliate Disclosure for details.

Where I mention hands-on testing, that reflects my own use of the tool. Everything else is based on researched pricing, features, and publicly available information.

Invoicing & Payments: Wave

Wave is the free option worth using for invoicing — unlimited invoices, estimates, and bookkeeping records at no cost. The catch is bank transactions import manually via CSV rather than syncing automatically, which is a fair trade at $0. See my full invoicing comparison for how it stacks up against QuickBooks and FreshBooks once you’re ready to pay for automatic bank syncing.

Scheduling: Calendly

Calendly’s free plan includes one active event type, calendar sync, and a shareable booking link — enough if you only offer one kind of meeting, like a 30-minute discovery call. Once you need multiple event types, automated reminders, or payment at booking, the paid Standard plan is the next step; its price is listed in my scheduling comparison.

Project Management: Notion or ClickUp

From firsthand use: I run Notion’s free plan myself, and it holds up well for a single user — unlimited pages and blocks, with a 5MB file cap and 7-day version history as the only real limits. ClickUp’s free plan is the other strong option, with unlimited members (useful once you bring on a VA) but a shared 100MB storage cap. Both are covered in my project management comparison.

Email Marketing: Kit

Kit’s free Newsletter plan is unusually generous — up to 10,000 subscribers, unlimited landing pages, forms and broadcasts, and the ability to sell digital products. Email sequences and visual automations start on the paid Creator plan. For a list that’s just getting started, that ceiling is high enough that you may not pay for email marketing for a long while. More detail in my email marketing comparison.

What About a CRM?

Honest answer: there isn’t a genuinely free, full-featured CRM built for service businesses the way there is for invoicing or project management. HoneyBook and Dubsado require a paid plan (or a trial) to get real functionality. 17hats now lists a free CRM plan with unlimited contacts and projects, but it caps you at four invoices per quarter, so it’s a way to test the waters rather than a full replacement. If you’re not sure whether you’re even ready for one yet, my quick gut-check walks through the signs either way.

Your $0/Month Starting Stack

Put together, that’s Wave for invoicing, Calendly for scheduling, Notion or ClickUp for project tracking, and Kit for email — a workable operating system for a service business without a single subscription. These aren’t compromises just because they’re free; they’re a sensible pick at this stage, not just the cheapest one.

FAQ

Will I outgrow these free plans quickly?
It depends on the tool. Calendly’s free plan is the one you’ll likely outgrow first, the moment you need a second event type. Wave, Notion, and Kit’s free tiers can realistically carry a small business for a while, until you need things like automatic bank syncing or email automations.

Should I upgrade all four at once or one at a time?
One at a time, and only when a specific limitation is actually costing you time or money. Upgrading everything preemptively just adds subscriptions you may not need yet.

What’s usually the first thing worth paying for?
Scheduling is a common first upgrade — once you’re offering more than one type of meeting, the paid Calendly plan removes that limit. Everything else can usually wait longer.

Pricing reflects publicly listed rates as of publication and may change — check each provider’s site for current pricing before subscribing.