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 software for office needs but what they don’t know that in most scenarios they can find a free software which is available for unlimited time usage.
These free software can replace any of the expensive software that you mostly use for business purposes like operating system, email servers, human resources software, word processing programs, graphic design software or antivirus program.
In this article, I have gathered some free and open-source alternativesfor expensive software out there like Microsoft Office, Windows OS, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Exchange server, etc. All these software listed here are free to use legally for your business.
So, have a look on SaveDelete’s compilation of 8 best free open-source software 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.
Also See:Best Accounting Software Apps for Small Business
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 multiple programs that are – word processing, spreadsheets, presentations and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common operating systems.
Also See:Online Word Processing Apps
2. OpenProj
OpenProj is an open source project management desktop software by Serena Software. It is the 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 theGNU 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 include 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 an OS have like chat and email, Office apps, Firefox for browsing, etc.
6. GIMP
GIMP is a free and open-source alternative to 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 the free photo editing software.
7. Zimbra
Zimbra Desktop is afree 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 asYahoo! Mail.Zimbra syncs tosmartphones (iPhone,BlackBerry) and desktop clients likeOutlook andThunderbird. Zimbra also featuresarchiving and discovery for compliance. Zimbra can be deployedon-premises or as ahosted 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 scan a file manually to detect a virus or spyware. You can also look other best antivirus programswhich is totally free to download and use.
That’s it for now, we will be updating this post often and adding good open source software to it, do recommend us any software that we may have missed and that should be on the list. We will surely look into it and take action accordingly.