StartupAlternatives

Hand-picked software. Zero algorithms.

Discover the best alternatives to popular startups & software

112 of the tools startups actually pay for, each with a hand-checked list of what you can use instead — 414 alternatives in total.

The directory
Invoicing & Accounting · 4 tools

QuickBooks

Accounting for small business.

Design & Whiteboards · 5 tools

Figma

Collaborative interface design.

Scheduling · 6 tools

Calendly

Automated scheduling.

AI Coding Agents · 10 tools

Cursor

AI-first code editor built on VS Code.

Design & Whiteboards · 4 tools

Miro

Online collaborative whiteboard.

Business Intelligence & Data · 8 tools

Tableau

Enterprise data visualisation platform.

Cloud File Storage · 6 tools

Dropbox

File sync + cloud storage.

Video & Calls · 10 tools

Descript

Edit audio + video like a doc.

Video & Calls · 3 tools

Google Meet

Video calls baked into Google Workspace.

Analytics · 10 tools

Plausible

Lightweight, privacy-friendly web analytics.

Notes & Knowledge · 8 tools

Notion

Notes, docs, wikis, databases.

Project Management · 5 tools

Linear

Issue tracking the world has finally been waiting for.

Creative & Design · 10 tools

Canva

Design anything with templates.

Business Intelligence & Data · 6 tools

Metabase

Open-source BI for anyone.

Newsletters & Email · 6 tools

Mailchimp

Email marketing for small businesses, now owned by Intuit.

Analytics · 4 tools

Hotjar

Heatmaps, session replays and feedback.

Database & Backend · 5 tools

Firebase

Google's app backend platform.

Calendars & Tasks · 5 tools

Google Calendar

Google's calendar bundled with Workspace.

Hosting & Deployment · 6 tools

Heroku

The original PaaS for apps.

SEO & Keyword Research · 4 tools

Semrush

Marketing visibility and SEO platform.

Database & Backend · 5 tools

Supabase

Open-source Firebase alternative.

AI Assistants · 5 tools

Claude (Anthropic)

Anthropic's AI assistant.

Hosting & Deployment · 6 tools

AWS

Amazon's cloud platform.

Customer Support · 6 tools

Zendesk

Enterprise customer service suite.

Auth & Identity · 8 tools

Auth0

Identity-as-a-service from Okta.

Workflow Automation · 10 tools

Zapier

Connect 7,000+ apps without code.

AI Assistants · 6 tools

ChatGPT

OpenAI's flagship chat assistant.

No-Code Databases · 8 tools

Airtable

Cloud database that feels like a spreadsheet.

Code & Git Hosting · 3 tools

GitLab

DevOps platform.

Transactional Email · 6 tools

Resend

Email API for developers with great DX.

Design & Whiteboards · 5 tools

Lucidchart

Online diagram + flowchart tool.

Headless CMS · 8 tools

WordPress

The web's most popular CMS.

Domains & DNS · 4 tools

GoDaddy

Domains, hosting and websites.

Newsletters & Email · 5 tools

Substack

Publish a paid newsletter with the Substack social layer.

Developer Documentation · 6 tools

Confluence

Atlassian's team knowledge base.

Customer Support · 5 tools

Help Scout

Shared inbox and knowledge base.

Status Pages & Uptime · 5 tools

PagerDuty

On-call + incident response.

Hosting & Deployment · 6 tools

DigitalOcean

Developer-friendly cloud infrastructure.

Hosting & Deployment · 4 tools

Netlify

Frontend cloud for the Jamstack.

AI App Builders · 10 tools

Lovable

Build apps by chatting with AI.

Proposals & E-sign · 6 tools

DocuSign

Electronic signature platform.

SEO & Keyword Research · 5 tools

Ahrefs

SEO and backlink analysis suite.

CRM & Sales · 4 tools

Salesforce

Enterprise CRM and platform.

Monitoring & Logs · 6 tools

Datadog

Observability for the cloud age.

HR, Payroll & Hiring · 6 tools

Gusto

Payroll, benefits and HR for SMBs.

Project Management · 4 tools

Monday.com

Work OS with colourful boards.

Domains & DNS · 4 tools

Cloudflare

Internet edge, CDN and DNS.

E-commerce · 4 tools

WooCommerce

E-commerce plugin for WordPress.

48 of 112
Startup Alternatives — Alternatives to the tools you love