30+ Sales Tools for Startups to Build (& Grow) Business in 2025

Launching a startup is a mix of excitement and motivation, challenged by numerous obstacles and uncertainty. Unfortunately, 90% of all startups fail within their first 5 years due to today’s hyper-competitive business environment. 

Equipping your startup and its members with the right tools early on can help you find your place under the sun and be competitive in your market. For the vast majority of startups, sales and marketing tools should be a priority. Sales tools, in particular, can help new businesses target and engage potential customers, creating a solid pipeline right from the get-go. 

Yet, startup companies are unique by nature – their business needs and goals will often differ from those of established firms, meaning so will the tools they require to start growing.

What makes the best startup tools?

Realistically, startup sales teams will have a more limited budget for their software stack, less demand for large-scale functionality, and fewer users working with them. 

But with thousands of options available, how can you ensure you get the best bang for the buck? After all, you want to equip your team with the best sales tools for startups out there, but at the same time – you might not need any of the extra ‘heavy’ features designed for larger businesses just yet. 

Here are the top 3 criteria that all startups should prioritize when choosing their sales tools: 

• free/freemium or special pricing plans/offers for startups
• all-in-one tools to work with multiple sales processes
• tools tailored for smaller (or one-person) teams

Additionally, startups should focus their search on sales tools that provide maximum automation for peak productivity, scalability to accommodate their growth, and accessible integrations for when they decide to grow their stack. 

We did the heavy lifting for you and, with our own criteria in mind, found the best sales tools for startups – both up-and-coming products designed for smaller teams and household names with special plans or offers.

Top 30 best sales tools for startups

Let’s take a quick look at some of the best sales tools for startups to generate more quality leads, maximize productivity, close more deals, and grow their revenue toward long-term profits.

Reply – to automate and scale your sales communications 

A solid sales engagement tool like Reply is an absolute must for each startup to build a reliable pipeline from scratch and start generating customers.  

It’s a true all-in-one platform with a free contact database and email finder for prospecting, AI sales assistant to generate personalized emails and multichannel sequences based on your requirements, plus diverse analytics to track and improve your campaign performance. 

Reply helps you automate and scale business communication of all kinds, which means you can also use it for hiring, marketing/PR, and fundraising.  

You can also apply for the special “Reply for Startups” offer to get up to a 100% discount for your first 3 months (+ a 15% discount afterward) with everything you need to generate leads, connect with investors, build marketing connections, or attract the best talent. 

Alternatives:

• Hunter is a dedicated email outreach platform designed for finding and verifying contact emails and managing your email campaigns. 
• LeadIQ is an all-in-one sales prospecting tool that focuses on finding prospect data and using it to personalize cold outreach.

Sender – for email and SMS marketing automation

Sender is the perfect email and SMS marketing platform for startups that want to enhance their marketing efforts while keeping costs down.

One of Sender’s most attractive features is its generous Free Forever plan. Unlike many other tools, Sender doesn’t impose restrictive plans. You can access all email automation features from the get-go, which allows you to use the platform’s full potential without any worries about hidden costs.

You can set up automated emails, like welcome and abandoned carts, based on user behavior. This lets you send timely and relevant messages to your audience, which boosts engagement and sales.

Creating these emails is a breeze, thanks to its intuitive drag-and-drop email builder and responsive templates. Once your campaigns are up and running, you can monitor them with live reporting and a newsletter heatmap. The insights you gain will help you understand what works and what you need to improve.

Alternatives:

• Mailchimp is a similar email marketing platform that offers robust email automation features but comes at a higher cost.
  
• SendX is another great email marketing tool, but it has limited automation capabilities.

Close – for customer relationship management and automation

Once all the sales processes are set in stone, many startups will eventually need a centralized system to keep track of all their customers, interactions, and operations, in other words – a CRM.  

Close is a sales-centered CRM and data hub for small sales teams. With its promising automation capabilities and intuitive UI, this is definitely the tool for startups looking for a CRM. 

Close also has a special startup offer for all the newly-launched companies that meet certain criteria.

The product also has a free 14-day trial and comes with several perks, including data migration and swift onboarding, to help startups start growing their sales right away.

Alternatives: 

• NetHunt is the ideal CRM tool for sales and marketing teams working with Google Workspace (which also offers a special startup plan). 
• ClickUp is a must-have in your stack for streamlining, managing, and collaborating on numerous sales (and other) projects. 
• Folk is a lightweight CRM system that’s easy to customize with AI. It can even accommodate your fundraising campaigns and keep track of grants and investments.

Reply Data – for building targeted prospect lists

One more handy tool for startups from Reply is our free B2B database. First and most importantly, our data is not purchased but sourced internally. We have over 100 million contacts, mostly from the US and Europe. You can easily refine your search using 10+ filters and get contact info like names, emails, phone numbers, and LinkedIn profiles.

We regularly verify the data and label the contacts, so you know if an email is safe to use. You can also double-check the data using our validation feature (at an extra cost).

It’s also integrated into our sales platform, so you can do everything in one place, from building lists to scheduling meetings, without leaving your Reply account.

The best part? Reply Data is 100% free to use, with 200 monthly email search credits for trial or Free plan users and 1,000 included in every paid Engagement plan. It’s perfect for small-medium teams with specific target lists.

Alternative: 

• Clearbit is a fantastic lead generation and email finder tool with real-time sales and marketing intelligence capabilities to help startups instantly act on buyer signals, plus it has numerous free features. 

Airtable – for data management and process automation

Sales operations involve a ton of data that has to be accurately stored and easily accessible.  

Airtable is spreadsheets on steroids – besides simply organizing data, sales teams can build and customize their own processes within this tool for a unique knowledge-sharing experience. 

Startups can use Airtable to make their data actionable by structuring, storing, and connecting it the way that works best for them, without the need of any IT knowledge. 

While Airtable doesn’t have a special startup offer, it does have a pretty decent free plan that could be more than enough for smaller teams just starting out their sales journey.  

Alternative: 

• Rows is another great data management tool that seamlessly integrates with other software and social media accounts for an automated data-organizing experience.  

Sendspark – for video sharing and video prospecting

Let’s face it – we are living in a video-centric world. As a result, videos have also become one of the best ways to get your prospect’s attention and stand out from the crowd. Sendspark makes including professional videos in your sales outreach seamless and swift. 

This tool focuses on personalization, allowing you to create hundreds of personalized outreach videos in minutes, using names, company information, value propositions, etc. as variables. 

Ultimately, this tool will help your startup drive engagement and conversions with your email campaigns in Reply thanks to a seamless integration. 

The tool has a free plan (limited to just 30 videos in the library), but new businesses can also apply for the Sendspark for Startups offer to get 50% off the first year.

Alternatives: 

• Vidyard is another prime choice for sales video software that makes it easy to add personalized videos throughout the entire sales cycle – from prospecting to proposals. 
• Loom can also be used for sales outreach with video, but it’s also the go-to tool for creating, sharing, and interacting with videos for internal team and company use.

Calendly – for appointment booking and calendar management

Sales teams thrive on booking meetings with potential customers. It’s one of the last steps of the buyer journey and an excellent opportunity to showcase their product to its fullest. 

Calendly eliminates the back-and-forth emails that booking a sales meeting often involves. 

With Calendly, sales teams can utilize this tool to create and send out scheduling links to their prospects, allowing them to book an appointment with a few clicks.

On top of that, startups will have a designated cloud-based calendar that keeps track of all internal and external meetings, driving collaboration and productivity. 

Calendly’s “Basic” pricing plan is designed for smaller teams and their simpler scheduling needs, allowing startups to create a team-wide calendar and schedule internal meetings for free.   

Alternative: 

• Google Calendar is a fine alternative for teams closely working with other Google tools (docs, sheets, etc.) and is included in most Google Workplace plans. 

tl;dv – for recording calls/meetings and note-taking 

While on the topic of meetings, it’s worth mentioning recording software like tl;dv that ensures all internal and external meetings are effective and nothing important is lost or forgotten. 

With tl;dv, startup sales teams can make the most of their meetings through its recording, transcribing, and summarizing features, while attendees can easily take notes.

Startups can enjoy tl;dv’s forever-free plan that includes a bunch of generous features, including unlimited meeting recordings, AI meeting summaries, unlimited free members, and more. 

Alternatives: 

• Otter.ai is a solid alternative to elevate your meetings. It centers around collaboration by taking notes with AI and sharing vital information with attendees.  
• Fellow is a great alternative for startup sales teams with work that’s data-heavy or those that simply wish to bring notes and visuals to their sales meetings. 

Pitch – for presentations (for sales or funding)

After finding and engaging potential customers, sales teams finally get to the stage where they can properly showcase their products in detail. 

As the name and catchy slogan suggest, Pitch is a tool designed for leveling up your sales presentations to create powerful pitches to drive conversions.

With numerous customizable presentation templates and intuitive design features, small startups can begin creating professional and personalized product demos with ease. 

Startups can add Pitch to their tool stack for free with their Starter plan, which should be sufficient as it allows them to create unlimited presentations with basic features. 

Alternative: 

• Canva is the most popular tool for creating any type of visuals, from product banners to studio-quality presentations; it includes a special startup plan. 
• Storylane is another prime tool used to create effective sales presentations with a stronger emphasis on recording and personalizing product tours and walk-throughs.

Notion – for productivity and knowledge sharing

All successful sales teams have one thing in common – they are masters of collaborating with other teams like marketing and customer success. 

To do that, there has to be a centralized, company-wide wiki that stores and organizes all documents and projects in one place – and that’s exactly what Notion does. 

From departmental updates and KPIs to company-wide processes and projects, Notion is the best way to ensure your startup team members have everything they need to excel in their tasks. 

Notion for Startups gives eligible companies 6 months of free usage with all its core features, including the brand-new AI features that take knowledge sharing to another level.  

Alternative: 

• Slite is a very similar productivity and knowledge hub with a very similar UI. And while there’s no special startup program, there is a pretty sufficient, free pricing plan. 

Waalaxy – for social selling/automation

It’s no secret that LinkedIn is the most popular social platform for B2B professionals, making it also one of the best places to find and engage with potential customers and partners. 

Waalaxy focuses entirely on LinkedIn by helping sales teams extract profile lists from their LinkedIn search, find those contacts’ emails, and create personalized engagement journeys with automated invitations, messages, and emails. 

Startups can use Waalaxy’s free plan that gives access to all the automation LinkedIn features needed to up your social selling game, build meaningful connections, and grow your customer base through this platform. 

Alternatives: 

• Supergrow is another effective social selling tool to have in your stack. It focuses less on outreach and more on engaging content with its AI writing features.
• Inlytics is similar to Supergrow. But rather than helping you create content or engagement messages, it provides detailed analytics to help you tweak and perfect your social selling strategy. 

More helpful extras

Before signing off, it’s worth mentioning the few necessary extras that every sales team will want in their arsenal, regardless of their team size and industry: 

• MailToaster – an email warm-up tool that will help every startup boost their email deliverability and grow a positive email reputation from the ground up.
• ChatGPT – no introduction needed – a must-have tool for writing (emails, messages, content), brainstorming, and research. 
• Zapier – the glue for your tool stack and all your automations, an absolute necessity to tie them all together for a functional workflow. 

How do you know what best business tools for startups you need?

Figuring out which sales and marketing tools for startups are worth your time (and budget) can feel like staring at a massive menu when you’re starving. Everything looks good, but you know you can’t order it all. 

The trick? 

Zeroing in on what will actually help your business grow without overwhelming your team or wallet.

Here’s how to do it right:

1. Start with your sales process

First things first: map out your sales process. 

Literally. 

Grab a notebook, whiteboard, or your favorite workflow tool, and jot down every step your team takes to close a deal. Think about:

• Lead generation → how do you find potential customers?
• Outreach → how do you contact them—email, phone, social media?
• Follow-ups → what keeps the conversation going?
• Closing the deal → how do you seal the deal?
• Post-sale engagement → what happens after the sale?

Once you’ve got this visual, you’ll start seeing gaps or bottlenecks—places where the right tool could speed things up or make life easier.

2. Prioritize your pain points

Let’s get real—what’s driving you nuts right now? Maybe your team spends hours hunting for contact info or bouncing between spreadsheets to track deals. 

List these frustrations. These pain points are your tool-shopping roadmap. For example:

• If tracking leads is chaotic, you might need a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool.
• If follow-ups fall through the cracks, look for email automation.
• If prospecting is a slog, maybe a lead generation tool should top your list.

3. Think about your team

No matter how shiny a tool looks, it’s useless if your team doesn’t—or won’t—use it. Ask yourself:

• Are your salespeople tech-savvy or tech-averse?
• Do they need something simple or customizable?
• Will the tool integrate with what they already use?

For startups, simplicity often wins. You want tools that are intuitive and fit seamlessly into existing workflows.

4. Test-drive before you commit

Most startup marketing tools offer free trials or demos—use them! Get hands-on, invite your team to test, and see if the tool actually solves your problem. During the trial, ask:

• Does this make our lives easier?
• Is it saving us time or money?
• Are we already seeing better results?

Bonus tip: Set up the trial as if you’re really using the tool. Import data, run campaigns, and test integrations. A shallow trial won’t tell you much.

5. Start small, scale smart

It’s tempting to load up on every tool under the sun, but too many tools can lead to tech clutter and subscription overload. Start with the essentials. As your business grows, you can layer in more sophisticated tools to tackle new challenges.

For example:

• Begin with a CRM and email automation.
• Add analytics tools once you’re tracking meaningful data.
• Introduce sales enablement platforms as your team expands.

6. Keep evaluating your toolkit

The sales landscape (and your startup’s needs) will change. Schedule regular check-ins—maybe every quarter or twice a year—to ask:

• Are these tools still solving the right problems?
• Is there overlap between these marketing tools for startups?
• Do we need to upgrade, downgrade, or replace anything?

This habit ensures your sales stack stays lean, efficient, and effective.

When should you pay for sales toolkit for startups?

Ah, the million-dollar question (or at least the monthly subscription one): When should you actually open your wallet for sales toolkit for startups? The answer isn’t just “when you have the budget” but about timing your investment so it drives real growth. 

Let’s break it down step by step:

1. When free startup marketing tools stop cutting it

Free tools are awesome—until they’re not. Maybe your spreadsheet system is turning into chaos, or your free CRM limits you to 100 contacts (and you’ve already hit 99). That’s your signal.

Look at the gaps in your current setup. Are free tools causing inefficiencies, missed opportunities, or frustration? Track where your process slows down. 

For example, if your team is wasting hours manually tracking deals, paying for a robust CRM can save time and boost productivity.

2. When you can calculate ROI

Paying for a sales tool isn’t an expense—it’s an investment. But only if it delivers value. Before you spend a dime, figure out how the tool will make or save you money.

Ask yourself: How will this tool impact revenue, productivity, or costs? Next, calculate the potential ROI. For example:

• Will automation save your team 10 hours a week? Multiply those hours by your team’s average hourly rate.
• Will it boost your lead-to-deal conversion rate? Estimate how much additional revenue that could bring in.

If the numbers look good, it’s time to buy.

3. When your sales process becomes unmanageable

As your startup grows, your sales process will get more complex. What worked with a few customers might crumble under the weight of dozens or hundreds of prospects.

Look for signs your process is breaking, like leads falling through the cracks, missed follow-ups, and inconsistent data across the best business tools for startups.

As your next step, identify the bottleneck and match it to the right tool. For example:

• Struggling to keep up with follow-ups? Look for email automation.
• Leads slipping away? Invest in a CRM to centralize and track them.

4. When you need to scale quickly

If you’re in growth mode—hiring more salespeople, ramping up outreach, or targeting new markets—manual processes won’t keep up.

Anticipate your needs. Don’t wait for chaos to hit before upgrading your tools.

To do everything right, choose tools that support scalability. For example, a CRM that can handle 500 leads today but expand to 5,000 tomorrow. Or an analytics tool that grows in complexity as you start tracking more metrics.

5. When you’re losing deals

If you notice deals slipping away at key points in your pipeline, it might be a sign you need better support tools. Analyze your pipeline to find where the drop-offs happen. 

Are you struggling to engage prospects? Losing them in the follow-up stage?

After you’ve got all the answers, try to match the tool to the problem. For instance:

• If you’re losing deals during follow-ups, an email tracking tool can help you see who’s engaging and who’s not.
• If you’re losing deals during demos, a sales enablement tool can help your team present better.

6. When your team needs a productivity boost

Overworked sales teams can’t perform at their best. If your team is drowning in admin tasks or bouncing between too many tools, it’s time to invest.

Start by asking your team where they’re spending (or wasting) most of their time. Is it data entry, lead research, or scheduling meetings?

Choose the best business tools for startups that automate or simplify these tasks. For example:

• Data entry? Get a CRM that syncs automatically.
• Lead research? Invest in a prospecting tool.
• Scheduling? A calendar automation tool can save hours.

7. When the price is right

Sometimes, paying for a tool makes sense purely because it’s a good deal. 

If a tool you’ve been eyeing is offering discounts or deals (like annual plans or startup pricing), it’s worth considering.

Compare the deal to your needs and budget. Don’t buy just because it’s cheap—buy because it’s a good value. Make sure the deal aligns with your growth stage. A heavily discounted enterprise tool is still a waste if it’s too advanced for your current needs.

8. When you’re ready to commit

Finally, the right time to pay for a tool is when you’re confident it’s the right tool. That means you’ve tested it, your team likes it, and it fits your workflow. 

Use the trial as if you’ve already paid for the tool. Load in real data, run campaigns, and stress-test its features. If it holds up, go ahead and swipe the card.

How can you switch tools without messing things up?

Switching sales and marketing tools for startups can feel like swapping engines on a moving car. You know it’ll be better once it’s done, but the process? Stressful. The good news: you can make the switch smoothly if you plan ahead and take it step by step. Let’s walk through how to do it right.

Start with a plan (not a panic)

First, don’t rush. Even if your current tool is driving you nuts, switching without a game plan will create more chaos. Start by defining why you’re switching and what you need from the new tool. Be specific. For example:

• Are you upgrading because your team outgrew your current CRM?
• Are you switching to save time with better automation?
• Do you need more robust reporting to track your pipeline?

Having a clear “why” keeps you focused and helps your team understand the benefits.

Take it one piece at a time

The biggest mistake? Trying to move everything all at once. Instead, think of your switch like moving to a new house—you don’t pack, move, and unpack in a single afternoon. Start small:

• Example: If you’re switching CRMs, begin with a single sales team or region. Import just their data, run some test workflows, and get feedback. Once it’s working smoothly, roll it out to the rest of the team.

This phased approach helps you catch issues early without disrupting your entire process.

P.S. A few more mistakes to avoid is here:

Clean up before you move

Switching tools is a golden opportunity to declutter. Over time, your data (and workflows) can get messy—duplicates, outdated info, unnecessary steps. Before importing everything into your shiny new tool, take time to clean house.

• Example: If you’re moving lead data to a new CRM, review your contact list first. Remove old or inactive leads, merge duplicates, and organize by stage or priority.

Clean data makes the transition smoother and ensures you’re starting fresh without carrying over bad habits.

Communicate with your team (constantly)

Even the best tool won’t help if your team doesn’t know how to use it—or worse, resists the change. Switching tools can feel disruptive, so involve your team early and often.

• Share the “why” behind the switch: Maybe the new tool will save them hours each week or make tracking deals easier.
• Provide training: Run hands-on sessions or offer tutorials before the go-live date. Some vendors even provide onboarding help—use it!
• Stay open to feedback: If your team flags issues or struggles, address them quickly. Their input is key to making the transition work.

Test + test + test

Before fully committing, run your new tool through its paces. Set up a “sandbox” environment or use a small-scale pilot to test real scenarios. For example:

• If you’re switching to a new email automation tool, set up a test campaign with a small list of prospects.
• If you’re moving to a new sales enablement platform, upload sample content and run a mock pitch with your team.

Testing lets you troubleshoot hiccups—like missing integrations or confusing workflows—before the whole team gets involved.

Make the transition gradual

Think of switching your sales toolkit for startups as more of a relay race than a sprint. While you’re setting up the new tool, keep the old one running to avoid downtime. Gradually shift tasks over, and once everything’s working smoothly, phase out the old system.

• Example: If you’re switching from one CRM to another, let your team finish existing deals in the old system while starting new leads in the new one. This overlap period reduces disruptions and keeps your pipeline flowing.

Monitor and adjust

Once the switch is complete, don’t just set it and forget it. Check in with your team regularly to see how the new tool is working. Are they hitting roadblocks? Is the tool delivering the promised benefits?

• Example: If the new tool was supposed to improve response times but hasn’t, dig into why. Maybe there’s a feature your team hasn’t fully adopted or an integration that needs tweaking.

Tweaks and adjustments are normal—expect a learning curve and keep improving as you go.

Over to you 

Now that you’ve gotten an idea of what to look for with some top-notch examples, it’s time to start building your very own sales tool stack for your startup. 

And, as you’ve discovered, numerous amazing sales tools for startups have dedicated startup offers or completely free plans, so take advantage of that! In the startup phase, it’s crucial to channel your resources in the right direction and handpick the most relevant sales tools from the get-go. 

It may very well be the difference between a startup thriving and becoming a unicorn, and becoming part of the gruesome statistic we mentioned at the start. 

Hopefully, this guide helped you get inspiration and ideas on how to best equip your sales team no matter how bumpy the road ahead may be.