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Freelance designer or small agency (1–3 people): cheapest tool stack

Run a small design studio: client CRM, meeting booking, contracts with e-signature, and a portfolio site.

Prices are official, dated and quoted (latest check 2026-10-18). Change any number and the stacks update. Ranking never depends on affiliate status.

Cheapest$0.00/mo0.0 h/week by handLowest monthly price that covers every category.

Balanced$0.00/mo0.0 h/week by handLowest price + your time (hours × your hourly value).

Most automated$0.00/mo0.0 h/week by handFewest manual hours; price breaks ties.

The three stacks

Cheapest stack

Category	Tool	What it does	$/month	Manual h/week
CRM	Zoho CRM Free Edition	3 users.	$0.00	0.0 h
Meeting scheduling	Setmore Free	Up to 4 users.	$0.00	0.0 h
Contracts & e-signature	BoldSign Essential (free)	25 envelopes a month, no additional users.	$0.00	0.0 h
Portfolio site	Framer Free	Framer subdomain, 1 GB bandwidth.	$0.00	0.0 h
Total			$0.00/mo	0.0 h/week

Balanced stack

Category	Tool	What it does	$/month	Manual h/week
CRM	Zoho CRM Free Edition	3 users.	$0.00	0.0 h
Meeting scheduling	Setmore Free	Up to 4 users.	$0.00	0.0 h
Contracts & e-signature	BoldSign Essential (free)	25 envelopes a month, no additional users.	$0.00	0.0 h
Portfolio site	Framer Free	Framer subdomain, 1 GB bandwidth.	$0.00	0.0 h
Total			$0.00/mo	0.0 h/week

Most automated stack

Category	Tool	What it does	$/month	Manual h/week
CRM	Zoho CRM Free Edition	3 users.	$0.00	0.0 h
Meeting scheduling	Setmore Free	Up to 4 users.	$0.00	0.0 h
Contracts & e-signature	BoldSign Essential (free)	25 envelopes a month, no additional users.	$0.00	0.0 h
Portfolio site	Framer Free	Framer subdomain, 1 GB bandwidth.	$0.00	0.0 h
Total			$0.00/mo	0.0 h/week

Every option, per category

Sorted by price at your numbers. “Doesn’t fit” means a plan limit (users, minutes, subscribers…) is exceeded.

CRM

Tool / plan	$/month	Evidence
Zoho CRM Free Edition	$0.00	Price source Free Edition: US$0, 3 users, forever free; workflow automation, standard reports, APIs (checked 2026-10-18, CRM calculator (crmcost): zoho-crm fact zoho-crm/free) Free US$0 US$0 3 users START NOW Forever free Workflow automation Formula: `0`
HubSpot Free	$0.00	Price source Free: $0/mo, no credit card required, up to 2 users (checked 2026-10-18, CRM calculator (crmcost): hubspot fact hubspot/free); You can add up to 2 users to a free account; Starter plans can add up to 10 paid users; Professional and Enterprise can add more than 10 (checked 2026-10-18, CRM calculator (crmcost): hubspot fact hubspot/free-users) Free No credit card required $0/mo Up to 2 users You can add up to 2 users to a free account. Starter plans can add up to 10 paid users. Professional and Enterprise plans can add more than 10 paid users. Formula: `0`
Capsule Free	$0.00	Price source Free plan: US$0, maximum 2 users, 250 contacts, 1 sales pipeline (checked 2026-10-18, CRM calculator (crmcost): capsule fact capsule/free) US$0 Maximum 2 users. 250 Contacts 1 Sales Pipeline Formula: `0`
HubSpot Starter	$20.00	Price source Starter: $10/mo per seat billed monthly (Limited-time · 50% off) (checked 2026-10-18, CRM calculator (crmcost): hubspot fact hubspot/starter-monthly) Starter Limited-time · 50% off For growing teams $10/mo/seat Formula: `team*10`
Less Annoying CRM One plan	$30.00	Price source One price: $15 per user per month, everything included, plus applicable tax (checked 2026-10-18, CRM calculator (crmcost): less-annoying-crm fact less-annoying-crm/price) Everything included $15 per user per month + applicable tax No tiers. No contracts. Formula: `team*15`

Meeting scheduling

Tool / plan	$/month	h/week	Evidence
Setmore Free	$0.00	0.0 h	Price source Free: up to 4 users, $0 (checked 2026-10-18, Booking calculator (schedulecost): setmore fact setmore/free) Start Free Up to 4 users $0 USD user / month Formula: `0`
Email back and forth	$0.00	1.0 h	No tool to buy.
Calendly Standard	$24.00	0.0 h	Price source Billed monthly: Standard $12, Teams $20 per seat per month (checked 2026-10-18, Booking calculator (schedulecost): calendly fact calendly/monthly); Standard: $10 per seat per month billed yearly (checked 2026-10-18, Booking calculator (schedulecost): calendly fact calendly/standard-yearly) Standard Add Notetaker & Callie $12 /seat/mo Teams Add Notetaker & Callie $20 /seat/mo Standard Add Notetaker & Callie $10 /seat/mo Formula: `team*iff(annual,10,12)`
Cal.com Teams	$32.00	0.0 h	Price source Billed monthly: Teams $16, Organizations $37 per user per month (checked 2026-10-18, Booking calculator (schedulecost): cal-com fact cal/monthly) Teams YEARLY $16 per user/month Organizations YEARLY $37 per user/month Formula: `team*16`
Cal.com Free	doesn’t fit		Price source Free forever for 1 user (checked 2026-10-18, Booking calculator (schedulecost): cal-com fact cal/free) *Free forever Free features: 1 user Formula: `0`

Contracts & e-signature

Tool / plan	$/month	h/week	Evidence
BoldSign Essential (free)	$0.00	0.0 h	Price source Essential (free): 25 envelopes a month, no additional users (checked 2026-10-17, SignCost: boldsign fact 0) 25 envelopes/month No additional users Formula: `0`
PandaDoc Free	$0.00	0.0 h	Price source Free: $0 for you and your team, 5 documents a month (shared) (checked 2026-10-17, SignCost: pandadoc fact 0) $0 USD for you and your team Create 5 documents per month 5/month shared limit Formula: `0`
Print and scan	$0.00	0.2 h	No tool to buy.
PandaDoc Starter	$70.00	0.0 h	Price source Monthly billing: Starter $35, Business $65 per seat (checked 2026-10-17, SignCost: pandadoc fact 3) $35 USD Seat cost per month $65 USD Seat cost per month Formula: `team*iff(annual,19,35)`
SignWell Free	doesn’t fit		Price source Free: 1 sender, 3 documents a month (checked 2026-10-17, SignCost: signwell fact 0) Limited to 1 sender 3 Documents a Month Formula: `0`

Portfolio site

Tool / plan	$/month	Evidence
Framer Free No custom domain on Free.	$0.00	Price source Basic: $10 per month in the page's yearly-billing view, free custom domain, 50 GB bandwidth (checked 2026-10-18, Website builder calculator (buildercost): framer fact framer/basic) Basic Creative personal sites $10 per month Free custom domain 2× credits first month 2 CMS collections 50 GB bandwidth Formula: `0`
Carrd Pro Standard	$1.58	Price source Pro Standard: $19 per year, 10 sites, Custom Domain URLs, forms, widgets, embeds (checked 2026-10-18, Website builder calculator (buildercost): carrd fact carrd/standard) Pro Standard Next Previous $19 / year 10 Sites Custom Domain URLs Formula: `19/12`
Framer Basic (yearly view)	$10.00	Price source Basic: $10 per month in the page's yearly-billing view, free custom domain, 50 GB bandwidth (checked 2026-10-18, Website builder calculator (buildercost): framer fact framer/basic) Basic Creative personal sites $10 per month Free custom domain 2× credits first month 2 CMS collections 50 GB bandwidth Formula: `10`
Squarespace Basic	$19.00	Price source Basic: $19/month billed monthly (checked 2026-10-18, Website builder calculator (buildercost): squarespace fact squarespace/basic-monthly); Basic: $12/month billed annually, online store transaction fee 2% (checked 2026-10-18, Website builder calculator (buildercost): squarespace fact squarespace/basic-yearly) Basic Create your own custom website and get discovered online. $19 /mo Basic Create your own custom website and get discovered online. $12 /mo Online store transaction fee of 2% Formula: `iff(annual,12,19)`
Webflow Basic (monthly)	$25.00	Price source Basic: $25/month billed monthly (checked 2026-10-18, Website builder calculator (buildercost): webflow fact webflow/basic-monthly) Basic For simple sites that don't need a CMS. $25/mo billed monthly Formula: `iff(annual,15,25)`

Not covered (yet)

Invoicing and project management tools: no verified price data yet.
Design software licences.

Affiliate disclosure: links marked “affiliate” may earn Built & Stuck a commission at no extra cost to you. They are chosen after the ranking is computed and never affect it. Manual-hours figures are estimates from the assumptions above, not measurements.

Questions

What is the cheapest CRM for a 2-person studio?

Zoho CRM Free (3 users) and HubSpot Free (2 users) are $0; paid seats start around $10–15 per user.

Do I need paid e-signature for a few contracts a month?

No: BoldSign's free plan covers 25 envelopes a month for one sender.

Do affiliate links change the ranking?

No. The ranking only uses price, manual hours and your hourly value. Some tools have a marked affiliate link; the calculation never reads it.