A field guide for owner-operated businesses
What business software costs, and when you need it.
Owner Field Guide is for businesses where the owner still does the admin: usually one to ten people, with no dedicated office, finance, or IT person. It covers everyday business software, such as customer tracking, email, invoicing, and accounting, and it starts from one idea: buy fewer tools, and buy the right tools at the right time.
What you will find here
- What software costs.
List prices; any promotional price, with its length or a note that none is stated; plan limits; and the cost at your team or list size. Every figure carries the date it was checked.
- When you need it.
Sometimes a spreadsheet, an inbox, or a free plan is all a small business needs. Each guide says what would change that, and "not yet" is an answer we give when it is the honest one.
- When switching pays.
Moving tools costs data, time, and months of paying for two. Each guide sets that against what you would save.
The guides
- CRM
What a CRM costs, when a spreadsheet stops being enough, and when switching pays.
How we work
Comparisons are built from what vendors publish: pricing pages, plan pages, help centers, terms, and changelogs. We do not accept payment for placement, we do not claim hands-on testing, and prices are re-checked on a 60-day cycle. Some links are affiliate links, and they are always disclosed.
Read the full method or see who is behind the site.
A small set of free tools is also being built. They will run in your browser with no account and nothing stored.