Free
tawk.to
A live chat widget you can embed on any website. Chat with visitors in real time, with no monthly fee, ever. It supports multiple agents and a shared inbox.
Works with the agentic website stack: just ask your AI agent to add it.
no catch, honestly
Free tools worth a look
A shortlist of free and low-cost tools we recommend for social and community organisations. Every tool here has a genuinely free tier or is free to eligible organisations.
- Free tiers
- Charity programmes
- No credit card
for everyone
Generalfree tools
Available to any organisation, no registration status required.
Free tier
Zoho Mail & Zoho CRM
Free business email hosting for up to 5 users, plus a capable free-tier CRM to track contacts, leads and outreach. A good starting point before upgrading to Google Workspace.
Free tier
Lark Suite & Meegle
An all-in-one collaboration suite covering messaging, email, docs, spreadsheets, calendar and video calls, free for up to 20 users. Meegle adds project and task management. Well suited to small communities and volunteer teams.
Free tier
Odoo: One App Free
An open-source business suite covering CRM, invoicing, inventory, project management and more. The "One App Free" plan lets you run one module at no cost, with unlimited users.
Free with Canva
Affinity Designer & Photo
Professional alternatives to Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. Affinity is free when you have a Canva account, which makes it ideal for designing materials without an Adobe subscription.
registered charity?
For charities andnonprofits
If your organisation holds registered charity or nonprofit status, you may qualify for these programmes, covering everything from email to enterprise software.
Charities: free
Google Workspace for Nonprofits
Registered charities get Google Workspace (Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Meet) completely free. Apply through Google for Nonprofits. Eligibility varies by country.
Charities: free and discounts
Microsoft for Nonprofits
Charities can get Microsoft 365 free or at a significant discount, plus Azure credits, Dynamics 365, Teams and more. Apply at nonprofits.microsoft.com.
Charities: donations
TechSoup
A global platform where registered charities can get donated and discounted software from hundreds of companies, including Adobe, Cisco and Intuit. Well worth checking.
Charities: credits and discounts
Twilio.org
Twilio's nonprofit programme gives registered charities free credits and discounts on SMS, voice, WhatsApp and email APIs. Useful for outreach, alerts and automating communications at scale.
Charities: free
Canva & Affinity for Nonprofits
Canva Pro is free for registered nonprofits. Your Canva account also unlocks free access to Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo, professional design software with no subscription.
Not sure which tools are right for your organisation? Get in touch: DigiHwy Certainty offers free tech advisory for community organisations. The products and programmes listed here are run by independent third parties, and eligibility, pricing and terms are theirs to set.
keep going
Related guides
Agentic website guide
Build and deploy a free website with Astro, Cloudflare Workers, GitHub and an AI code editor. No coding experience needed.
Read the guideAgentic project management
Run projects in GitHub with boards, issues and milestones, and let coding agents do the admin.
Read the guideEmail deliverability
SPF, DKIM and DMARC in plain words, plus a checklist to keep your organisation's email out of spam.
Read the guideAgentic SEO
Set up Google Analytics and Search Console, then use AI agents for technical SEO and keyword research.
Read the guiderather not do it alone?
DigiHwy Certainty can set it up with you.
We offer free tech advisory for social and community organisations. Tell us what you are trying to do and we will point you at the simplest way to get there.