The essentials
- The free foundation: Google Analytics 4, Search Console, Google Business Profile, Google Tag Manager, Meta Business Suite, Canva, Looker Studio.
- The paid tools that earn their keep: a social scheduling tool (€10 to €50), email (€0 to €50), rank tracking (€10 to €100), a generative AI (€20).
- The steering layer: a platform bringing together the metrics from all those tools, so the owner looks at one screen and not ten.
- The rule: one tool per need, not three; add a tool when a specific question goes unanswered.
The market holds thousands of marketing tools and adds more every week. A small business needs only about ten, chosen to answer specific needs and, above all, actually used. This 2026 selection sorts the tools into eight families; for each, the free option that is often enough, the paid one that earns its keep and the criterion for choosing. It complements how to choose a digital marketing tool for a small business.
The selection by family
| Family | The free option that suffices | The paid option that earns its keep | Indicative 2026 price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Measurement and data | Google Analytics 4, Search Console, Google Tag Manager | Matomo (self-hosted) for strict GDPR needs, BigQuery for history | €0 to €30 / month |
| SEO | Search Console, Keyword Planner, Screaming Frog (500 URLs), PageSpeed Insights | Rank tracking (Monitorank), an SEO suite for a month (Ahrefs, Semrush) | €10 to €140 / month |
| Local visibility | Google Business Profile, Apple Business Connect, Bing Places | A grid tracking and review management tool | €0 to €50 / month |
| Advertising | Google Ads, Meta Ads Manager, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, Google Ads Editor | A campaign monitoring and alerting tool | Media budget + €0 to €50 |
| Social networks | Meta Business Suite, LinkedIn, TikTok Studio | Multi-network scheduling (Metricool, Swello, Buffer) | €10 to €50 / month |
| Email and relationships | Brevo (300 emails / day), MailerLite | Paid Brevo or Mailchimp, a CRM (HubSpot free, then paid) | €0 to €60 / month |
| Creative | Canva, CapCut, Adobe Express | Canva Pro, Figma, generative AI (ChatGPT, Claude, Midjourney) | €10 to €40 / month |
| Steering and reporting | Looker Studio (with its limits) | An integrated marketing platform (metrics, alerts, action plan) | Subscription |
Measurement and data
GA4 remains the base: free, complete, connected to Google Ads and Search Console. Its difficulty is the setup: key events, consent, readable reports; see setting GA4 up properly from the start. The Search Console gives you the actual queries and rankings. Google Tag Manager places every tag with no developer; see Google Tag Manager. Matomo is the alternative for organisations that want to host their own data or work without consent under an exemption (per the French regulator's configuration); it costs hosting, or a cloud subscription from €20 a month.
SEO
Search Console and the Keyword Planner cover query research and average ranking tracking; Screaming Frog audits 500 URLs free; see Screaming Frog. The first useful paid tool is daily rank tracking (Monitorank, a few euros a month). The Ahrefs and Semrush suites earn their keep for agencies and consultants, or for a month for an audit; see GreenRed vs Semrush, Ahrefs, Moz and HubSpot. For visibility in AI engines, GEO tracking tools are recent and moving fast; the built-in module of a marketing platform saves adding one more.
Advertising
The ad platforms supply their own tools: Google Ads (with Google Ads Editor for bulk work), Meta Ads Manager, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, TikTok Ads Manager. The useful extra tool is one that monitors campaigns and alerts you to drift (cost per conversion, budget exhausted, an ad disapproved), either a marketing platform or Google Ads scripts for the more technical. The mistakes to avoid are in the ten Google Ads mistakes.
Social media, email, creative
- Social media: Meta Business Suite, free, for Facebook and Instagram; a multi-network scheduling tool from three networks or a team upwards; the comparison is in the scheduling tools.
- Email: Brevo (a French vendor, free up to 300 emails a day, CRM included) is the default choice for a French small business; Mailchimp and MailerLite are the alternatives. HubSpot free for the CRM if the sales relationship is structured.
- Creative: Canva for visuals, CapCut for vertical video, a generative AI (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, around €20 a month) for drafts, outlines and rewrites, always to be checked; see the visual creation tools.
Steering: the tool most often missing
Small businesses accumulate the tools above and have nowhere to read them all: the owner opens GA4, Google Ads, Meta, Search Console and the Google listing separately, or stops opening them. Looker Studio lets you assemble a dashboard, at the cost of connectors and maintenance; see Looker Studio. Integrated marketing platforms bring the metrics together, compare them, raise alerts and suggest actions; that is the tool to add when marketing has become a spend nobody reads. The choice is covered in an all-in-one marketing tool: should you centralise everything.
A complete stack for a small business at under €200 a month
| Need | Tool | Monthly cost |
|---|---|---|
| Measurement | GA4 + Search Console + GTM | 0 € |
| Local | Google Business Profile | 0 € |
| SEO | Screaming Frog free + Monitorank | 10 € |
| Social | Metricool or Swello | 20 € |
| Brevo | €0 to €25 | |
| Creative | Canva Pro + generative AI | 30 € |
| Pilotage | An integrated platform | By plan; see GreenRed's pricing |
How GreenRed helps
Rather than juggling several tools, GreenRed's overview brings these metrics together in a single dashboard, compares them over time and tells you which actions come first. You can try it free, with no card, from the Pricing.
Frequently asked questions
Which free marketing tools are enough to start with?
Google Analytics 4, Search Console and Google Tag Manager for measurement; Google Business Profile for local; Meta Business Suite for Facebook and Instagram; Canva and CapCut for creative; the free version of Brevo for email. That foundation covers 80% of a small business's needs without spending a euro.
Should you use one all-in-one tool or several specialist ones?
Specialist tools are better in their field and often free; an all-in-one tool simplifies the reading and the governance. The combination that works: specialist tools to produce, a marketing platform to read and decide. Avoid suites that do everything moderately well.
How much should a small business spend on marketing tools?
Between €50 and €200 a month covers a complete stack (social scheduling, email, rank tracking, creative, steering), excluding the advertising budget. Above that, check every tool is used each week; dormant subscriptions are the first place to save.
Do generative AI tools replace marketing tools?
No, they are added to them: they speed up writing, summarising and creating visuals, but they measure nothing, publish nothing and don't replace the data. Marketing tools are gradually adding AI assistants connected to your data, which is more useful than a general-purpose AI with no context.