The $7/Month Software Stack for a One-Person Business
A solo business software stack for about $7 a month. The only paid line is business email on your own domain. Everything else runs on a free plan, and each line links to the comparison behind it.
Prices checked Sept 24, 2026 on each vendor's own pricing page (Canva: its pricing page). Software pricing changes — verify current pricing on the vendor's site before you buy.
| Job | Tool and plan | Price | Term or free-plan limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business email | Google Workspace Business Starter | $7/user/month | 1-year commitment, billed monthly. 30 GB pooled storage per user. |
| Email list | Kit Free | $0 | Up to 10,000 subscribers |
| CRM | HubSpot Free CRM | $0 | Up to two users and 1,000 contacts. No credit card required. |
| Invoicing | Wave Starter | $0 | Unlimited estimates, invoices, bills and bookkeeping records. Card payments carry a per-transaction fee. |
| Scheduling | Cal.com Free | $0 | 1 user, unlimited event types and calendars |
| Notes & docs | Notion Free | $0 | Notion describes Free as "for individuals to organize personal projects and life" |
| Automation | Zapier Free | $0 | 100 tasks/month, two-step Zaps |
| Design | Canva Free | $0 | 1.6M+ templates, 5GB of cloud storage |
| Total | One user | $7/month | On Google's 1-year commitment ($84 a year), billed monthly |
Our rule
Upgrade one tool at a time
Free plans have limits. Our rule: upgrade one tool only when its limit costs you real hours, not because a paid plan looks better. We put business email on the paid line because the address on it is the one every client sees.
Caveat
The honest caveat
The $7 is Google's price with a 1-year commitment. Google says that annual plan saves 16% compared with no commitment, so paying month to month costs more. Google was also showing a new-customer offer (50% off for 3 months); the $7 is the price Google's schedule shows after that offer, 'Onwards'. Want it cheaper? Zoho Mail Lite is $1/user/month billed annually; see the business email comparison. On automation, Make Free gives 1,000 credits a month against Zapier Free's 100 tasks; see Zapier vs Make.
The comparisons behind this stack
- Business email on your own domain: which costs least? →
- Best free email marketing tool →
- Best CRM for a one-person business →
- Best free invoicing software →
- Best free scheduling tool →
- Zapier vs Make: free plans compared →
- ChatGPT Plus vs Claude Pro →
Want the next step after this stack? The Solo Operator Software Stack ($9 guide) covers what to pay for at each revenue stage.
No links on this page are affiliate links. SoloVetted has applied to Wave's and HubSpot's affiliate programs (pending). If a link here ever becomes an affiliate link, we'll label it, and the verdict above stays the same.