Best Tools to Start an Online Business With $0

When I started, I had $0 to invest. Not "limited budget" — actually zero. No credit card I was willing to charge, no savings earmarked for business experiments. Just a laptop, a Wi-Fi connection, and a genuine desire to make something work.

So I became obsessive about free tools. Not because I was cheap, but because I had no choice. And what I discovered is that the free tier of most modern platforms is remarkably powerful. You can build a real, revenue-generating online business without spending a single dollar upfront.

Here are the tools I'd use if I were starting from scratch today.

For Your Digital Storefront: MadeThis (Free Tier)

The first thing you need is a place to sell. MadeThis has a free tier that lets you list products, accept payments, and deliver digital files — all without paying a monthly fee. This is a genuinely functional free plan, not a crippled trial. You can publish real products and start earning real money.

I've written a full MadeThis review that covers everything the free plan includes. The short version: it's more than enough to make your first sales. You don't need to upgrade until you're actually making money and want access to more advanced features.

For Creating Digital Products: Canva (Free)

Canva's free tier is shockingly good. You can design ebook covers, workbook templates, social media graphics, and lead magnets without spending anything. The template library is massive, and the drag-and-drop editor is intuitive even if you have zero design experience.

When I created my first PDF guide, I built the entire thing in Canva's free tier. It looked professional. It sold. That was all I needed to know.

For Writing and Drafting Content: ChatGPT (Free Tier)

The free version of ChatGPT is still a powerful writing assistant. I use it to outline blog posts, draft product descriptions, brainstorm niche ideas, and punch up sales copy. You don't need the paid tier to get real value — especially when you're starting out and the volume of content isn't huge yet.

Pair it with your own voice and real experience, and you've got a content engine that costs nothing.

For Email Marketing: MailerLite (Free Up to 1,000 Subscribers)

MailerLite's free plan covers you until you hit 1,000 subscribers. For a brand-new business, that's plenty of runway. You can build signup forms, send broadcast emails, and even set up basic automations — all for free.

Email is the most reliable channel for selling digital products. Social media algorithms change. Email lists are yours. Starting to build it from day one, even with just a handful of subscribers, puts you miles ahead.

For a Website or Blog: Notion (Free) or a Free Subdomain

If you want a simple public-facing presence before you're ready to invest in a custom domain, Notion lets you publish pages for free. It's not perfect for SEO, but it works as a landing page or portfolio to point people toward your store.

Alternatively, some platforms (including MadeThis) give you a subdomain on their platform, which means your store is live without any hosting costs.

For SEO Research: Google Search Console + Ubersuggest (Free)

Ubersuggest has a free tier that gives you keyword ideas and competition data. Google Search Console is completely free and tells you exactly how your site is performing in search. Together, they're enough to guide your content strategy without any paid tools.

For Graphic Assets: Unsplash + Pexels

Free stock photos. High quality. No attribution required for most images. I used these exclusively in my early posts, product pages, and social graphics.

What I'd Skip (At First)

You don't need a premium email tool, a paid scheduling app, a fancy analytics dashboard, or an expensive course creation platform when you're at zero. Those tools add value when you're scaling. At the start, they just add costs to a business that isn't making money yet.

The honest truth is that most people over-invest in tools and under-invest in actually building and shipping something. I made that mistake too. I spent time researching the "perfect" stack instead of just publishing my first product.

The $0 Stack Summary

• Storefront: MadeThis (free tier)
• Design: Canva (free)
• Writing assistant: ChatGPT (free)
• Email: MailerLite (free up to 1K)
• Website: Notion or platform subdomain (free)
• SEO research: Google Search Console + Ubersuggest free tier
• Images: Unsplash + Pexels

This is genuinely everything you need to make your first sale. I'd know — I used a nearly identical stack to make my first $100 online. The tools didn't hold me back. The only thing that could have held me back was waiting for conditions to be perfect.

They never are. Ship something.

Once you're making money — even $50 or $100 — you can start reinvesting in better tools. Check out my post on the best tools for your first $1,000 online for what to upgrade to once revenue is flowing.

If you want to see exactly how MadeThis pricing works and what each tier unlocks, I've broken it all down at /madethis-pricing. Spoiler: the free tier is genuinely useful, and the paid tiers are priced fairly for what you get.

Ready to start? Get your free MadeThis account at madethis.com and launch your first product before you spend a single dollar on anything else.