Freelancing can feel a bit like wandering through an enchanted forest — full of wonder, opportunity, and… the occasional rogue spreadsheet. Over the past few years, I’ve gathered a toolkit of magical (and practical) apps that make the journey smoother, lighter, and a lot less overwhelming.
Whether you’re just setting out on your freelance adventure or deep in the thicket of client work and admin, these are my top 11 trusty companions for a smoother, more enchanted freelance experience.
Let’s step into the clearing and take a look, shall we?
1. Microsoft OneNote
Okay, I know I’ve been sleeping on this one.
Up until now, I’ve been a solid “pen and paper” girly…and still am for most things if I’m honest (more on that later)..
But writing social content and blog posts by hand is a bit much, even for me.
Enter OneNote, with it’s ability to section content into multiple levels and colour code things for organisational heaven.
Also, I can have multiple notebooks for different topics without costing me a fortune/having nowhere to store them/driving my partner insane with yet another notebook I’ll only half use???
It’s a massive thumbs up for me.
2. 1Password
Every freelancer needs a password manager. It’s that basic. But 1Password is my fav because it just works. With integrations for Safari, Chrome as well as desktop AND mobile apps, it’s everywhere you need to be.
3. Canva
- I know, I know. But Canva is another one that just works. And their content scheduler is the only one my brain likes.
The recent pricing structure changes have left me a little sour, but overall I still love it as “starter” graphics software. Sometimes simple and popular is simple and popular for a reason.
4. Xodo (formerly Eversign)
Honestly, contracts are one of my least favourite parts of freelancing. They’re necessary, but a pain.
Xodo takes care of that. You can upload documents as templates, and then prep them for sending with ease.
The free plan is a little basic, with a sending limit of 3 contracts per month and limited access to other tools, but honestly I’ve not found myself missing anything yet.
5. Rocketbook
Right, so…that whole “pen and paper girly” thing? Yeah…I found a solution to my previous problems with storage/money/partner-taming.
Rocketbook is a reusable notebook.
Now, I was skeptical at first, especially learning which pens it uses. BUT honestly, I tried one and adored it so much my mother bought me one for Christmas (mostly so that she could stop yelling at me for buying more notebooks too…).
It uses Pilot Frixxion pens, and they are erasable. I mean, they’re erasable on paper (kind of…I’ve never had much success but in theory they are?), but a Rocketbook brings it to the next level.
The pages are essentially wipe-clean, and you can leave them up to around 6 months before having to clean them. Sunlight is a known issue though, so buyer beware.
I know there are other products similar on the market – reMarkable is the same concept, I believe, but the Rocketbook app is what sold it for me solidly.
Write what you want, mark the little symbol that are customisable to your preferred destination (there’s a solid range of integrations for this), take a picture via the app and…whoosh. Page delivered, both to your chosen location and to a file viewer in-app so you can use your files even when you don’t have the notebook or your laptop with you.
Its my best friend for note taking…and I do a lot of that 😉
6. Mettle
This one is a matter of preference, but I’ve been banking with Mettle (NatWest) since I started my business in 2022.
I have had exactly one issue since then, and that was a case of PayPal screwing up, and Mettle handled it for me. And when I say “handled”, I mean they sorted the whole thing with minimal input from me, I literally just had to say “oh this went wrong” and they were on it.
The interface is super simple, and I love the Pots feature, which lets me portion up my money into easily viewable pots, so I can save for different things. Right now I have my main account, a pension pot (earning interest!), a contingency fund, a tax pot, an emergency pot, and a “pay yourself please Kiri” pot. There may be a limit of how many you can have, but honestly I feel like it’s high enough that it shouldn’t really cause an issue.
There is a “Mettle+” thing, £4pm, for quotes and invoices, but I don’t use it so I don’t know what that’s like.
Also their cards are black, and I feel super fancy when I pull it out to use 😂
If you want to try them out, open an account here and make a card payment, then use my code TH546 (before 30th June 2025) and we BOTH get £50!!!
7. FreeAgent
Okay, FreeAgent is my BFF.
I am NOT a numbers girl. Accountancy and bookkeeping make me panic.
But with FreeAgent, I enjoy looking after my money, tracking my income and expenses, and managing my invoices.
I do all of my invoicing, quotes and general business finance stuff through the FreeAgent app, and it’s super easy to use.
Setup can be a little confusing if it’s your first time using a bookkeeping app, but honestly it’s easier to use than most of the popular ones.
FreeAgent is available free of charge if you have a Mettle, NatWest, RBS or Ulster Bank business account, or you can subscribe with a permanent 10% discount and a 30-day free trial if you use this link.
Already started your trial? No worries – use the code 4fb0rv4k when you subscribe to grab your discount!
I don’t receive anything for referring you to them. I just really love what they do ❤
8. Clockify
Nearly every freelancer does the ‘paid per hour’ thing at some point or other, and a time tracker is an excellent way to make sure you’re reporting honest figures.
I’ve tried several, and Clockify is the one that really stands out to me. Between the simple-to-use interface for tracking, featuring both timer and manual input modes that you can switch between whenever you feel like it, a robust reporting system (even on the free plan), and plenty of ways to categorise what you’re doing.
It’s a solid choice!
9. Chat GPT
I’d love to say I don’t use AI, but I’d be lying, and we don’t do that.
What we do do is turn off learning for ChatGPT so that anything I do is as protected as I can make it.
The world is leaning more and more towards AI tech, and it’s not all bad. I use it for generating ideas for titles or names, sometimes to reword something if it feels awkward, and getting it to summarise paragraphs is great!
Naturally, we take it with a hefty dose of salt, but the tech is improving all the time, and if you’re not using it in some way at least, you’re probably going to find you’re falling behind a little.
There are a ton of alternatives to ChatGPT, and I’m in the midst of exploring some of them – maybe that’s another blog post down the line when I have a better handle on the options?
10. HMRC
Whilst it would be amazing NOT to have to deal with HMRC at all, sadly it’s unavoidable. What you can do, though, is grab their app. It makes accessing your self-assessment and tax details super easy, and combines with things like Child Benefit (I see you, freelance parents!) and any PAYE work you’ve done so that everything is all in one place.
11. Discord
This list wouldn’t be complete without my absolute favourite app in the world.
Whilst it’s not strictly related to running my business, it is a core component in my day-to-day business life, as I use it from everything from a to-do list to comms with clients to being the platform for a whole service category I offer.
Think of it as an old-skool message forum smushed together with Slack and Teams and Zoom. But free.
Video and audio calls, forum-style channels, real-time text chat, webinar style channels, and the ability to customise the user experience for your audience with upgrades such as bot integration, simplified profiling, and privacy management that lets you group your community with ease (think membership levels!)
If you’d like to learn more, I offer Cybermancy, a Power Hour dedicated to Discord and the incredible ways you can use it to boost your business community.
The Temple Scrolls 
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