When you are a part of a small business, you always look for any possible chance to save money. Sometimes, business owners and managers buy expensive softwares for office needs but what they don’t know that in most cases they can find a free softwares which is available for unlimited time usage.
These free softwares can replace any of the expensive software that you mostly use for business purposes like operating system, email servers, human resources softwares, word processing programs, graphic design softwares or antivirus program.
In this article, I have gathered some free and open-source alternatives of some expensive softwares out there like Microsoft Office, Windows OS, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Exchange server etc. All these softwares listed here are free to use legally for your business.
So, have a look on SaveDelete’s compilation of 8 best and free open-source softwares for small business. I hope some of these programs would fit your business needs and it can certainly save some serious cash by using them.
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1) OpenOffice : OpenOffice is an open-source alternative to Microsoft Office and other similar software suites. This software is free to download and use. It contains programs like word processing, spreadsheets, presentations and more.It is available in many languages and works on all common operating systems. If you looking for online word processing apps, you can check this link.
2) OpenProj : OpenProj is a open source project management desktop software by Serena Software. It is replacement of Microsoft Project . Speaking of Microsoft Project, OpenProj does everything that Project does. It also adds a few tricks Project hasn’t learned: it works on Windows, Mac, Unix and Linux. And it’s completely free.
3) GNUCash : GnuCash is personal and small-business financial-accounting software, freely licensed under the GNU GPL and available for GNU/Linux, BSD, Solaris, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. It is designed to be easy to use and allows you to track bank accounts, stocks, income and expenses. As quick and intuitive to use as a checkbook register, it is based on professional accounting principles to ensure balanced books and accurate reports. The main features includes double-entry accounting, stock/bond/mutual fund accounts.
4) OrangeHRM : OrangeHRM is a free and open source human resource management software with rich features and easy to use interface. OrangeHRM has users worldwide enjoying a free, stable and highly usable HRM solution. The system is backed by professional support and services as well as a fast growing, receptive and knowledgeable worldwide open source community.
5) Ubuntu : Ubuntu is an open-source and free operating system which is very light and loads quickly than windows platforms. It has all the features which a OS have like chat and email, office apps, Firefox for browsing etc.
6) GIMP : GIMP is a free and open source alternative of Adobe Photoshop. GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It has many capabilities. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, etc. Alternatively, you can check our article for more options of free photo-editing softwares.
7) Zimbra : Zimbra Desktop is a free email and calendar client which runs on any Windows, Apple or Linux desktop computer. It works online and offline and works with any POP or IMAP email account as well as Yahoo! Mail. Zimbra syncs to smartphones (iPhone, BlackBerry) and desktop clients like Outlook and Thunderbird. Zimbra also features archiving and discovery for compliance. Zimbra can be deployed on-premises or as a hosted email solution.
8 ) Clamwin : ClamWin is a free and open source antivirus program for Microsoft Windows 7 / Vista / XP / Me / 2000 / 98 and Windows Server 2008 and 2003. ClamWin Free Antivirus does not include an on-access real-time scanner. You need to manually scan a file in order to detect a virus or spyware. You can also look other best antivirus programs of year 2010 which is totally free to download and use.
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Thanks for this and i use Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx in Windows Vista partition. I mean Dual Boot and i have some problem with my Wireless Internet using on Ubuntu 10.04. I didn’t removed it but i use internet via Windows Vista and i love Ubuntu’s Gadgets and open source widgets. So, i kept it alive in my Dual boot.
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Yeah, I have the same exact setup.. Ubuntu Gadgets rock.
Another piece of open source software I’d recommend is “Sequel Pro”. This is more targeted towards developers, but it’s a great GUI tool for viewing MySQL tables, running queries, triggers, procedures, updating/insert/deleting data, etc. Ironically it’s way superior to the MySQL Workbench tool offered by MySQL.
I also would recommend BaseCamp (the free version) to organize files. It’s good enough for small purposes.
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you should also include PHPlist… it is a free mailing list program. and it is also open source.
I use PHP list myself. I agree it should’ve been in the list
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This list is far from complete. There is a host of other projects you can include here. What about running a server? You can add open source CMSes. Then network management tools, desktop publishing, etc.
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Xampp – This is a quick and easy one file install for PHP/Apache/MySQL. Great for having a intranet on your company servers.
Wordpress – a very popular web site framework. It can be easily installed with Xampp.
Dia – Flowchart software like Visio.
Notepad++ – text editor
This is just a few…
I love to use Xampp my favorite PHP/MySQL server.
As always a great list! I hadn’t heard of most of these. Thanks for sharing them!
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this is really useful article..
Yogesh, I tried out OrangeHRM before and found it to be a bit odd since you have to install it on a local web server. We ended up going with a paid (cheap) service called EffortlessHR.com
GIMP is just great for photo editing. It can do so much and has a great community that creates plugins for it as well.
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If you need a desktop publishing solution, check out Scribus.
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Open Office is great. I’ll have to look into that GnuCash, it sounds pretty interesting.
very helpful article. thank you for sharing
nice info. I agree with your article
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I’m already using most of the software this list. But I didn’t know Open Proj. I’m trying it right now – looks promising.
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I like this list, had never heard of OpenProj, but I’m excited to try it out. Some that i use for my personal businesses are
SimpleInvoices (for client Quotes, Invoices, Receipts, and Billing) found at http://www.simpleinvoices.org
The other one I use as a great Cash Register software is PHP-Point-of-Sale, it can be found at http://www.phppointofsale.com/
Hope you all find these useful as well.
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http://www.lemonpos.org is a better POS system in my opinion.
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These are all good applications, but they are found wanting compared to the paid versions. There is a reason why these are free and the others aren’t. Except for Ubuntu. Love it.
Still, these are good enough for people who want everything for free.
OK that makes a lot of sense to me dude. WOw
Lou
http://www.post-anonymously.at.tc
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I would have included Open Fire and Spark. It’s a great inter company chat client/server to easily communicate internally. It also has support for voice calls if typing isn’t your thing.
“Openfire is a real time collaboration (RTC) server licensed under the Open Source GPL. It uses the only widely adopted open protocol for instant messaging, XMPP (also called Jabber). Openfire is incredibly easy to setup and administer, but offers rock-solid security and performance.”
Great article. Thanks!
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Redmine is a great project management system that runs on Ruby on Rails. It’s very flexible, and is even better for software related companies. Go open source!
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All the above open source softwares are nice but openoffice and Ubuntu are on the top of my list.
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Hi Yogesh,
I am using Ubuntu, Open office and OrangeHRM for my business.I will try Gunu cash as well , thanks for your list.
This Article is very useful, thanks for sharing
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nice info,thanks
ZImbra is the one software that never i heard before from the list above, I will absolutely try this before I migrate from Thunderbird.
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You should also have a look at SSuite Office for a free office suite. They have a whole range of office suites that are free for download.
Their software also doesn’t need to run on Java or .NET, like MS Office and so many open source office suites, so it makes their software very small, efficient, and easy to use.
You may try these links for more info:
http://www.ssuitesoft.com/index.htm
or
http://www.ssuitesoft.com/ssuiteexcalibur.htm
or
http://ssuite5element.webs.com/thefifthelement.htm
.
Open office is one of the best office software for small business, I think it is the second best after Microsoft office.
Let me also add TeamLab to this list: http://teamlab.com
This is a 100% free open-source platform for intra-company project management, collaboration and instant messaging. A free alternative to such services as Basecamp, CentralDesktop or activeCollab.
I am using Open Office as an alternative to Microsoft Word and it’s great!
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I am using Ubuntu and Open Office from this list. Good round-up
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Wonderful round-up! I am using Ubuntu out of you list but I might be using others in this article also
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openbravo and sugarforge might be useful to add to the list as well.
I use Open Office myself, it’s a great free alternative to Microsoft Office
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what about notepad ++.
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There is one more free software for recording the minutes of a meeting. Its simple, useful and just perfect.
http://www.minutesofmeeting.net/mom/
Thanks
Aparna
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Hi,
I would say http://www.HRStop.com is also one of the most important free resources for HR Management System.
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I find your tips very useful, but I’d like to add to your list an open-source ERP. It’s license free, customizable and very easy to use. OpenERP is a comprehensive suite of business applications and has a modular approach which allows customers to start with one application and then add other modules as they go.
Also, the cool part is that OpenERP works together with its partners and community to improve the product and offer professional services. To check out the line of products available, follow this link:http://bit.ly/9NjbMA.
Ubuntu and openoffice are my fav ones !
Free with lots of features and userfriendly
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Like you I also like open source software. Because the authors of these apps are not looking for money. They just try to present something creative to us. We should also support Linux.
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open office is much a powerful competitor to Microsoft office soon it will replace it. at all open source program is usually very good program and high quality performance
I have used orange HRM myself its a terrible software with lots and lots of bugs.
But Open office and Ubuntu are my personal favourites…