5 Free marketing tools every solo founder should know

Christina Queeny
May 8
2 min read

As a solo founder or a entrepreneur with a lean team, you’re often doing everything like sales, support, content, marketing… sometimes all in the same day. And while marketing is key to getting visibility & building trust, it can also be exhausting when you’re working with limited time, energy, & money.

Luckily, there are some solid, completely free tools that can help simplify things. These are tools I’ve personally used or shared with early-stage founders who need results.

1) Canva

Canva is a great tool for non-designers who need to create social posts, flyers, pitch decks, or simple PDFs.

You can start from templates & tweak them to match your brand.
It also lets you save brand colors, fonts, and even schedule posts (limited but helpful).
The free version has more than enough to get started.

Whether you're making a testimonial post or designing your service brochure, Canva makes the process smoother.

2) Buffer

Buffer lets you write and schedule posts in advance, so you don’t have to post manually every day.

The free plan allows you to manage up to 3 social accounts.
You can line up 10 posts per platform at a time—enough for a week’s worth of content.
The interface is clean, and it helps you stay consistent.

It’s especially useful when you’re batch-creating content and want to free up mental space for the rest of your business.

3) MailerLite

If you're thinking of sending newsletters or setting up a welcome email for new leads, MailerLite is a beginner-friendly email tool.

The free plan supports 1,000 subscribers and up to 12,000 monthly emails.
It includes landing pages, forms, and simple automations.
No unnecessary clutter—just clean, functional tools.

You can build trust over time with a simple email list even if it starts with just 10 people.

4) Pallyy

Instagram requires constant micro-decisions like hashtags, layout, captions. Pallyy is one of those tools not many talk about, but it makes your life easier.