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Freelancer Toolkit

The tools that come up again and again in our money guides, grouped by the job they do — with a plain note on who each one suits.

Start with the free option in each section unless you already know you need more. Most freelancers don't need paid software until they have regular clients.

Invoicing & accounting

  • Wave — Freelancers who want basic invoicing and bookkeeping without a monthly bill to start.
  • FreshBooks — Service freelancers who bill by the hour or project and want time tracking built in.
  • QuickBooks — Freelancers who expect to hand their books to an accountant who already uses it.
  • Zoho Invoice — Freelancers who want free invoicing without a subscription and don't need full bookkeeping.

Time tracking

  • Toggl Track — Hourly freelancers who want one-click timers on desktop, browser and phone.
  • Clockify — Tracking time for free while you work out whether you need anything more.

Getting paid

  • Wise — Getting paid by clients in other currencies, with the conversion fee shown up front.
  • Payoneer — Receiving payouts from marketplaces and clients that already pay through Payoneer.

Contracts, proposals & client management

  • Bonsai — Solo freelancers who want proposals, contracts and invoices in one place.
  • HoneyBook — Client-facing creatives (photographers, planners, designers) who book and bill clients.

Finding work

  • Upwork — Getting your first paying clients while you build a portfolio and referrals.
  • Fiverr — Selling a clearly defined, fixed-price service ("gig") rather than hourly work.

Selling digital products

  • Gumroad — Selling a first template, ebook or download with no setup and no monthly fee.
  • Etsy — Printables and templates where you want a marketplace to bring the buyers.

Design & productivity

  • Canva — Making templates, social graphics and simple product mockups without design training.
  • Notion — Running your client list, projects and notes in one workspace — and selling templates for it.

Suggest a tool

Using something that deserves a place here, or found one of these isn't what it used to be? Tell us.