How to choose business management software (for freelance editors and creatives)

Choosing new business management software is a big decision for freelance editors and creatives. Getting it wrong can mean lost time and money that you could have used more productively elsewhere. My seven-point system can help you to choose wisely.

Upcoming projects, workload planning, current schedules, reminders, time tracking, past project analysis, cashflow, accounting, strategy and goals, professional development, professional wins and lessons learned, lead tracking, quotations and proposals, marketing (assorted), version control of templates and documentation, terms and conditions, general client communications, rates and fees, contacts, subcontractee management, product development…

You get the picture.

Freelance editors and creatives need to track a lot of information and data (I’ve previously written about the core business documentation you might need). So it’s important to find a system that works for our particular business makeup and our preferred way of working.

The point of this article isn’t to identify a specific solution that will work for you (the solution would probably be out of date in six months anyway!). Rather, I’m going to draw on my two decades of experience with various options to show you how to choose for yourself, whether you’re reading this article in 2026 or 2036.

First we’ll look at why choosing business management software can be so darn tricky for freelance editors and creatives. Then we’ll look at some common options. Finally, I’ll walk you through my seven-step system for finding a robust system that can support your business into the future.

The freelancer’s business management software problem

From the outside, freelance businesses can seem simple: there’s just one person doing everything, so there’s no possibility of incompatible ways of working or miscommunication between departments.

Well, yes and no.

The very thing that makes big companies more complex overall (different systems in different departments) also allows individual departments to function more effectively. Imagine if a company’s marketing and legal departments had to do their day-to-day work in the same system. It would likely be unwieldy and satisfy nobody. It’s much better at this scale to have systems customized to each individual department’s needs.

But, when you’re a freelancer, every one of your business’s departments is you. The challenge is to find one system (or a small, manageable number of systems) that can do everything, from project tracking and lead management to accounting and professional development planning.

What types of business management software can freelance editors and creatives use?

There is a vast range of options for business management software, but here are some of the more common ones. To find more possibilities, try googling for ‘software similar to [software name]’ or ask your favourite AI chatbot if that’s your thing.

The main categories of business management software for freelance editors and creatives are:

• Spreadsheets: the standard options are Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets. There is also Smartsheet, which adds lots of additional functionality, such as Gantt charts.
• Traditional project management software: examples include Microsoft Project, Wrike and Zoho Projects. You will probably only need one of these if you offer project management or have an exceptionally complex portfolio.
• Mainstream all-in-one work management systems: examples include Asana, ClickUp, Monday.com and Trello (check out my guide to tracking editorial projects on Trello, with free template).
• All-in-one work management systems designed for small and creative businesses: examples include 17Hats, Dubsado and HoneyBook.
• Build-your-own workspaces: examples include Airtable, Coda, Microsoft Access, Notion and Zoho Creator. These tend to advertise themselves as ‘low code’ but in reality they may require considerable computing expertise to move beyond the basics. However, often you can buy templates to get you started (sometimes very fancy, complex ones that are pretty much full software solutions in their own right).

(There are no affiliate links here.)

Bear in mind that very few of these tools will do literally everything (although I’m doing my best to achieve this in Notion!). You will likely need at least one ‘big’ tool out of the ones above plus associated extras (for example, it’s common for freelance editors to use a spreadsheet for their data, Toggl for time tracking and something like Microsoft Word for non-numerical data). You may also need separate accounting software that’s certified with your region’s tax system (for example, Making Tax Digital in the UK). Tools like Zapier can often be used to link different solutions together.

Business management software can get especially complex when you work on large or complex projects. My course Handling Large Editorial Projects, built around my Large Project Mindset framework, explains a huge range of tools, techniques and processes that can take the aggravation out of working on large or complex editorial projects (whether you’re a copyeditor, proofreader or editorial project manager).

A seven-step process for choosing business management software for your freelance business

Since I started my business in 2009, I’ve moved my data four times (from Excel to Microsoft Access to Zoho Creator to Zoho Projects to Notion). Here is the process I’ve developed from my successes and aggravations along the way.

1. Don’t overcomplicate it

If a simple spreadsheet + notes in Word is all you need, stick with it. There is absolutely no point learning an all-singing, all-dancing new system if your current approach is serving you well.

However, sometimes we think we wouldn’t benefit from something more complex simply because we’re unaware of the possibilities available to us. If that might be you or you know you’re ready to find a new data ‘home’, read on…

2. Think about security and privacy

It might seem odd to put this step so early in the sequence. However, in the world of AI and cloud computing, being aware of security and privacy issues is more important than ever.

Understand where your data will be stored (in the cloud? on your machine?) and check the company’s privacy and AI policies (I assume you don’t want AI scraping your private and client data!). Also check that the backup facility meets your needs, and think ahead to how you would extract your data from the software entirely if you wanted to move to a different solution in the future.

3. List your requirements

Write out a list of your requirements. If you have a lot, it may help to divide them into must-haves, nice-to-haves and optional extras.

Then begin researching software options that interest you. My overview above will provide you with a starting point, and numerous websites publish reviews comparing two or more similar products (but beware: often the website will own one of the products, so it may be biased!).

If you like having a quantitative element in your decision-making, consider rating each candidate software against your list of requirements. This may not make the decision for you, but it will form a useful numbers-based foundation for your decision-making.

Don’t forget to include cost in this process! It’s enormously demoralizing to find brilliant software and then realize it’s outside your budget. Think about both set-up costs and ongoing costs, and check the price of adding additional users if that’s one of your requirements.

Finally, make yourself a shortlist of the most promising possibilities – perhaps between two and four to keep the process manageable while giving yourself a choice.

4. Get trialling

Most software options offer a free trial period. Make use of this to try out some potential products. Unless you’re in a hurry, you may want to do this sequentially rather than trying out every possibility on your shortlist all at once.

During the trial period, don’t just look at the shiny features the software developer wants you to see. Instead, look at how each piece of software handles the key processes you need to achieve (e.g. adding a new client project, tracking your time or analysing business data). Use your real data where you can (but not live data – keep that in your current system until you’re ready to move, to avoid confusion about which version is the most up to date).

Make sure you get a sense of each product’s technical support during the trial period. As the software will be new to you, you’ll likely have questions anyway. But, even if you don’t, it shouldn’t be too hard to find a reason to ask a question. Even the best product can be rendered frustrating if you can’t get help when you need it.

Finally, look ahead: think long term (or at least middle term). Your business needs might become more complicated in the future. If that’s the case, how easy will it be to bolt on new functionality or add integrations with other systems?

5. Check how you’d migrate your data

(If you have a lot of data to migrate, you might want to do this step earlier – maybe even first.)

Getting set up with a new piece of software is usually pretty quick. But it can get really complicated, really quickly, if you want to bring all your old data with you. I fall into this camp: I always want everything all in one place, so I can analyse trends and changes in my business data over time. So, every time I’ve moved solutions, I’ve spent time (sometimes a painful amount) bringing my old data with me.

Most software has some sort of import tool. However, even then, the data is unlikely to be structured in exactly the same way in both locations. This is a huge deal: based on my experience, I’d estimate that if you want to take your data with you, about 5% of your time will go on learning the new software and about 95% on manhandling and cajoling your old data into it.

6. Listen to your frustrations…

Understand your personality. For example, I know I need customisability. I know a system will grate on me if I can’t tweak it to match my needs, and I’m willing to put in the time to tinker under the hood. You may be OK with something that works straight out of the box and be happy to save yourself the aggravation of learning complex software (and potentially coding).

If you have nagging doubts or frustrations during a trial, listen to them. Don’t argue yourself into choosing a piece of software you think you ‘should’ use but that you might end up hating. If in doubt, it can be best to pay for a couple of months to trial a solution more thoroughly before taking the plunge. Better to waste £30 than spend hours migrating and then deciding six months later that the solution isn’t right for you.

7. … but don’t expect perfection

Understand that compromise is essential. I tried to build the perfect database for my business in Zoho Creator. I loved it but it became a time sink. I’ve since tried several alternatives and at the moment I’m happy as a pig in mud using Notion – but nothing will ever be perfect. In today’s world, there are more and more customizable options, so you may get very close. But it’s important to understand that, at some point, you have to accept that you’ve found the best possible solution. Doing so allows you to move forward with the important stuff, which is actually doing the work you love and that delivers value to your clients.

Why it’s important to spend time choosing the right business management software for your freelance business

It’s worth putting time into finding the right software for your business. Each freelance business is unique and you’re not hampered by bosses and approvals processes, so you may as well find something that will help to make running your business a delight rather than a dread.