Workbench
Tech tools for non-tech founders 🛠️
An ultimate list of tools to create your Proof-of-Concept or even first MVP without a tech co-founder and any line of code. This section was made especially for startup founders and entrepreneurs as a small cheat sheet with useful tools. Doing this compilation we preferred free services, but the price-to-quality ratio was also highly important. Tools are sorted in each chapter from highly recommended to less. But be sure, if a tool is on this list, it’s already better than hundreds of others in its domain.
Using tools from this list lets you create a Proof-of-Concept or even first MVP in an extremely small budget (up to $500). And it’s not a joke! Use our workbench for free and make your business ideas happen.
Table of content:
01. Market Research
02. Forms & Questionnaires
03. Wireframes / Mockups / Prototyping
04. Hosting / SSL
05. Codeless Websites
- Landing pages
- Complex websites
- Online Stores
- Portfolios
- Blogs
06. Web & Mobile Apps
07. Chatbots
08. Payments
09. Chat services for websites
10. Email Marketing
11. Bonus Resources
Market Research
Google Surveys, [free]
Google Consumer Barometer, [free]
Google Trends, [free]
Facebook Audience Insights, [free]
Forms & Questionnaires
Typeform (super powerful tool to create online forms) [free]
Airtable (collect, keep and process information) [free]
Fieldbook (spreadsheets, as powerful as a databases), [from $10/user/month]
SurveyMonkey (professional questionnaires), [free]
Google Forms (all Google integrations, for sure), [free]
Wireframes / Mockups / Prototyping
InVision (transform static designs into clickable prototypes), [free]
Balsamiq (service available online & by desktop apps), [from $5/month]
Draw.io (complex service in Google Docs style), [free]
Wireframe.cc (super-minimal wireframes tool), [from $16/month]
Hosting / SSL
Name.com (hosting, domains), [from $7/month]
Digital Ocean (hosting, online computing), [from $5/month]
Amazon Web Services (all-in-one), [pay-as-you-go]
Let’s Encrypt (SSL), [free]
Codeless Websites
"websites" is a quite diverse sphere, that's why we separated this directory into several branches: Landing pages (very simple websites), Complex websites, Online Stores, Portfolios, and Blogs.
Landing pages 🛬
Readymag (magazines, photo-stories, presentations, etc), [free]
Caard (simple to use online builder), [from $19/month]
About.me (website-business card), [free]
Instapage (heatmaps, A/B testing, etc), [from $79/month]
KickoffLabs (giveaways, sweepstakes, prod. launches), [from $39/month]
Populr, [free]
Complex websites 📑
Squarespace (business websites, online stores, photo-portfolios, sites of musicians, etc), [from $16/month]
Weebly (websites, eCommerce & marketing), [free]
Wix (photography, events, restaurants, accommodation, online stores, portfolio & CV), [from $5/month]
Ucraft (integrations: business, marketing, analytics, design), [free]
LeadPages (Fb Ads integration, A/B test, etc), [from $37/month]
Webydo (photoshop for websites), [from $90/month]
Sharetribe (online marketplaces), [from $99/month]
Book Like A Boss (scheduling platform to take appointments), [free]
Webflow (flexible templates), [from $15/month]
Heek (build websites by chatting with a bot), [from $7/month]
Wordpress.com (most popular platform ever), [free]
Moonfruit, [from $6/month]
Online Stores 🛒
Shopify (sell from anywhere), [$29/month + (2.9% + 30¢)/transaction]
Shogun (Shopify landing page builder), [from $15/month]
Volusion, (modern templates, 24/7 support), [from 15/month, no transaction fees]
Big Cartel (online stores for makers), [free]
Fik Stores, [free + 3%/transaction]
Smoolis (multilingual, multi-currency), [from $16/month]
LemonStand (supports migrations from other platforms, like shopify, magento, etc), [from $19/month]
OpenCart (open-source eCommerce platform) [free]
Ecwid (POS support, mobile apps, etc.), [free]
3dcart, [from $29/month]
Portfolios 📇
Dunked (15+ templates), [from $12/month]
AllYou (integrations with Vimeo, SoundCloud, Issuu), [from $12/month]
Exposure (mailing list + a lot of content integrations: tweets, fb/insta media, Vimeo/YouTube videos, Google Maps, etc), [from $5/month]
Behance (online platform from Adobe to discover creative works), [free]
Carbonmade (7 templates), [from $6/month]
Blogs 📝
Medium (mainly texts), [free]
Tumblr (texts, audio, video), [free]
Blogger (deep analytics and AdSense integration), [free]
Svbtle (blogging for minimalism lovers), [from $6/month]
Postach.io (blogging platform powered by Evernote), [free]
Postagon (simply pegasus), [free]
Ghost (open source code), [from $29/month]
Web & Mobile Apps
Bubble (web apps), [free]
Dropsource (iOS, Android), [$39/month]
Wix Code (web apps), [from $19/month]
ShoutEm (cross-platform), [from $23/month]
Yapp (mobile apps for conferences, meetings, trainings), [from $399/year]
PencilCase (iOS), [$299/user/year]
BuildFire (iOS, Android, PWA), [from $99/month]
Thunkable (iOS, Android), [from $5/month]
GoNative (Convert web apps -> native mobile apps), [from $590]
Chatbots
StorytellingBot (build bots from mind maps. Telegram & Messenger), [free]
Recime (Slack, Messenger, Twitter, Telegram, WeChat, etc), [free]
Chatfuel (Messenger), [free]
ManyChat (Messenger), [free]
Email Marketing
MailChimp (most popular email automatization tool), [free]
ConvertKit (powerful integrations, rich automatization), [from $29/month]
SendGrid (multipurpose email tool, that not limited only by marketing), [free]
Bonus Resources
Zapier (workflows automatization), [free]
Unsplash (free hi-res pictures for landings), [free]
Biteable (free 5 HD videos per month), [free]
Pexels (free hi-res pictures), [free]
Canva (design logo, banners, social pics, etc.), [free]
Assembly (design for non-designers, iOS), [free]
The Noun Project (over 1M royalty–free icons), [free]
AllTheFreeStock (free images, videos, music), [free]
Fleeq (demos, guides, on-boarding, product presentations), [free]
Rocketium (videomaker for non-designers), [free]
Kuku.io (SMM automatization), [from $7/month]
Upscri.be (Embeddable Lead Generation Forms), [free]
Optimizely (digital experiments), [30-day free trial]
Also for you
If you have any suggestions, ideas, or questions about tools or need any help, feel free to contact us. We will help you, for sure.