What is SaaS? SaaS offers applications as well as infrastructure and platforms to users. (source) Software as a Service (SaaS) is the subscription-based delivery of applications through a cloud model. It has quickly gained popularity due to the low cost of entry. For a nominal fee per user, organizations of all sizes can quickly and easily deploy a wide range of applications. Although some concerns still exist, many have found that the benefits far outweigh the costs in most circumstances. Today, an app that can cost hundreds of dollars can be used for a fraction of the price. For those who are interested in building SaaS platforms, there have also been a number of success stories in this regard. More information: What is PaaS? Here is the list of PaaS providers. 17 must-have IaaS companies that benefit your business. 1. Salesforce Price: Starting at $25/month Salesforce was one of the first companies to deploy their applications in the cloud. Although today it is one in a sea of many, the brand has endured and remains a dominant link between companies and customers. Their strength lies in customer relationship management (CRM) and the move to SaaS was significant. In the past, CRM was expensive and generally available on an enterprise scale due to the cost and complexity of implementation. Thanks to the SaaS model, Salesforce is available to anyone for an impressive entry price of just $25. 2. Donor Price: Payment Processing Fees + 1.5% Platform Fees Donorbox is a powerful donations platform for nonprofits. profit from all over the world. Nonprofits can easily accept one-time or recurring payments on the go. They can accept monthly, quarterly or even yearly recurring donations in a jiffy. The 3 ways nonprofits can accept donations with Donorbox are through donation forms, a fundraising page, or a donation button that can be easily embedded on any website. Its crowdfunding and text-to-give features add a cherry to the cake for all nonprofits looking to raise money. 3. Low Price: From $0 (small teams); Standard Package: Starting at $6.67/month The name Slack quickly came to mind, as it is the communication app that Team WHSR uses. Surprisingly, this nifty tool is available for free. You can use it as long as you want at no cost, although there are some limitations. Its strength lies in the workspaces it allows users to create. In essence, you can partition spaces and assign users to each of those spaces as needed. Think of it like having pre-built meeting rooms where everyone is always present, as long as they’re online. Perfect for small teams and even better for the modern office that encourages remote work or work from home. You can even make voice and video calls with it. 4. Dropbox Price: Starting at $0; Plus Plan $9.99/month Dropbox is one of the most popular cloud storage services around. Part of the reason for its popularity is that it caters to individual users as well as organizations. The key difference lies in the collaborative tools that the business plans come with. In addition to cloud file storage, Dropbox also lets you send files, sync with local folders, watermark documents, and more. Business users can designate administrators who can define file permissions, just like on a local network. 5. Zendesk Price: Starting at $5/month Zendesk is a name that has become synonymous with customer support around the world. It’s an example of a SaaS implementation that offers a fairly generic service, but with great customization options to support a variety of businesses. It doesn’t matter if you have a web hosting company, eCommerce store, or even a business blog – Zendesk can support anything. Includes vital customer support channels like phone, email, social media, online ticketing and more. Best of all, you can quickly and easily expand the service as needed. There is no business too big or small for them. 6. HubSpot Price: Starting at $40/mo HubSpot is similar to Zendesk, except it has a broader front end of capabilities. Where Zendesk used the SaaS model to primarily provide support, HubSpot expands further to become a more complete solution. This means that it integrates many functions. The areas they cover include marketing, CRM and sales, customer support, and lately even a content management system. Each of these areas can be purchased as stand-alone apps. Alternatively, you can also opt for a combo pack. All of this comes at a price, though, and with a $40 starting tag, you might start to feel a little pinch. 7. Google G Suite Price: Starting at $6/month Google is a name you either love or hate, but there’s no denying that it makes some really cool stuff. One of the things they’ve done well is implement a set of SaaS-based business tools. G-Suite includes several applications and utilities that make business life easier. It includes Gmail, Calendar, Hangouts, Google Drive, Sheets, Docs, Forms, Slides, Sites, Vault, and several other apps. The commercial version has quite a few more advantages compared to the free version of those apps most of us are familiar with. These apps are 100% cloud-based and only require a browser with an internet connection to use. There is no desktop version. 8. Qualifying Price: Free evaluation; personalized plan Apty is a digital adoption platform that helps companies optimize their business processes. Successful digital adoption involves guiding people through critical new software applications and proactively nudging them to complete new processes. Apty, in particular, combines the power of on-screen guidance with the time-saving automation of proactive process compliance. Managers can use Apty to maximize their employees’ use of web-based applications in their daily work. Employees at leading companies like Hitachi, Mary Kay, Delta Airlines, and Boeing use Apty to learn web-based applications and excel at their jobs. Remember, the problem isn’t the software, it’s how you use it. 9. DocuSign Price: Starting at $10/month With much of the world going digital, it should come as no surprise that even your signature can go digital. However, for this to work there needs to be a security element. DocuSign offers that with its electronic signature platform. It allows users to store and use their signatures for easy use anywhere, anytime. While this may seem a bit crazy to implement as a solution, it can be ideal for companies that require a lot of signatures. In that context, a lot of time can be saved. Abuse of the SaaS model? Absolutely not. Innovation, indeed. 10. Lumens5 Price: Starting at $19/month Those not born into the Internet age will well remember the nightmarish prices that video creation software manufacturers used to charge. SaaS has also allowed these prices to drop significantly and Lumen5 is a good example of this. In fact, the advantages here are twofold. Not only are you saving on the cost of the app, but now you can create videos on a very basic machine. All you need is a Lumen5 subscription and a fast internet connection. Everything else is done on their machines. It also packs in a bunch of nifty features like automated video creation and workflow. To offer features like this, it incorporates another relatively newer concept: AI. 11. Visme Price: From $0; Standard Plan $14/month For anyone who owns a website, blog, or just needs some eye-catching images, Visme is your solution. Instead of needing a bunch of different apps and tools, Visme offers an all-in-one package in a SaaS model. You can create almost any type of content with a Visme subscription. These range from social media content and blog posts to even presentations. Best of all, it’s easy to use and, in a pinch, anyone can do the graphics. No more need to pay design fees! All-inclusive content helps you get started quickly, and each subscription includes access to a host of templates, widgets, media, icons, photos, and even flowcharts. 12. Canva Price: Starting at $0; Pro Plan $9.95/month Canva (read our full review here) is similar to Visme, and while it’s not as expensive on the paid plans, it does have some shortcomings. Still, this SaaS app is one that can help small business owners or social media managers immensely. From creating business cards to designing social media posts, Canva has a template for just about everything. Although there are some freebies, it charges for the nicest graphics and images in its library, regardless of whether you’re a free or Pro user. Just like using site builders like Weebly and Wix, getting started is easy—just choose a template, customize it or just modify it a bit, then you can decide what to do with it. You can also produce content in a wide variety of resolutions, good enough for professional printing. 13. Squibler Price: Starting at $9.99/month For the budding writer, Squibbler is a SaaS app that helps you build the story you want to tell. Deployable as an app on multiple devices, Squibbler helps you type faster by providing pre-existing schemas. You can also organize your ‘thoughts’ well thanks to the app’s ability to simply drag and drop parts of your storyboard. Squibler includes a correction feature that not only works with spelling, but can even help remove the passive voice. 14. Cisco WebEx Price: $0; Starter Plan $13.50/mo WebEx is typically more recognized for business use, though not many seem to know that it has a free option that’s also good for individual use. A Cisco company, it offers a range of communication applications delivered using the SaaS model. WebEx features include video and conferencing, online training management, remote support management, and more. In fact, having used it before, I can attest to the flexibility WebEx can offer organizations of almost any size, if used correctly. 15. Buffer Price: Starting at $15/month Buffer is a social media management platform that you can use to level up your social marketing. It is based on two key areas: publication and analysis. Unfortunately, these features are priced separately, making their full use more expensive than various competitors like HootSuite. However, it is effective and easy to use. Overall, I’d say it leans more towards business use, given the number of social accounts you can integrate (even on the cheapest plan) and the number of posts you can schedule. SaaS like Buffer are so popular that some have been known to resell for significant amounts. For example, NinjaOutreach on Flippa is targeting a selling price of $3 million! 16. MailChimp Price: Starting at $0; Essential Plan $9.99/mo Bloggers, eCommerce site owners: In fact, most website owners have probably heard of MailChimp. Email marketing has become one of the greatest weapons in the modern website’s arsenal and MailChimp is quite simply a champion at this. Today it has a community of over 14 million users who take advantage of many features. This includes multi-channel marketing capabilities, CRM, surveys, custom email branding, templates, and much more. MailChimp Pro, on the other hand, requires a flat fee of $199.00 (USD) and this allows users to access a set of advanced features that you can add to any MailChimp account. 17. Box Price: Starting at $5/month Although this is a bugbox as a collaboration tool, it is actually a very complete workflow management app. Once again, a product of this magnitude delivered on top of the SaaS model allows you to have rock-bottom prices starting as low as $5/month. Features included with Box include document sharing and collaboration, content management, real-time document discussions, and more. With workflow automation, you can use Box to streamline various departments like marketing, administration, human resources, and more.
