7 Non-free Web Apps I Couldn’t Live Without

September 18, 2009 in Technology with 12 Comments

As you might guess from following my blog or Twitter feeds, I’m a big fan of free. I use a number of free web and phone applications to manage my life. However, not everything I use is free. There are a few applications for which I’ve been willing to lay down some cold, hard cash. When I looked at the price tag, I determined the added value was worth the expense.

With that in mind, here are the current apps I’m using that were not free:

Dropbox – This web app syncs all my files across all my computers and then allows me to access the files anywhere there’s an Internet connection. No more worries about whether or not the backup really worked. No more fears of losing music or family pictures. No more complicated migrations when I get a new computer. All my data is available to me all the time. Love this app!

Eventbrite – Until someone develops a free alternative (I’m pulling for you Joshua), Eventbrite is the best solution I’ve found to process registrations for events. If your event is free, so is the service. If you charge a fee, they’ll grab a small percentage. It’s worth it, though, for the integration with PayPal and all the additional functions if offers to communicate with registrants.

Salesforce.com – I played with Highrise and a couple of other free solutions, but Salesforce.com won me over when it comes to a web solution for managing ministry relationships. I’m juggling dozens of conversations each week, and there’s absolutely no way I could keep it all straight if my assistant and I weren’t tracking it all through Salesforce.com. It’s a powerful tool.

Things – This is the newest tool in my arsenal. Until Google improves the task manager in Gmail and in the Google Calendar, Things will probably be my task manager of choice. You’ll only find it for the Mac, and it fully integrates with iCal and Mail. I really like the quick entry feature that can be used in whatever application I have open.

WordPress – Ah…this is a trick. The blogging app is free, but it’s really not. I’ve paid for design, development and hosting to use WordPress. At the end of the day, though, I think I’ve ended up with a better product than when I was using TypePad. Much more flexibility with WordPress, and it’s a lot easier to manage content.

WorldMate – This may be my favorite app for my BlackBerry. Now that I’m traveling more, I rely on it to sync my itineraries with my online calendar and my phone. WorldMate pushes flight status updates directly to my phone. The coolest feature, though, is the ability to just forward email confirmations from airlines, hotels and car rental companies, and then the app automatically translates the confirmations into new itineraries. Can’t imagine traveling without it.

Wufoo – I’ve tried several other options to create online forms including Google’s free form editor, but Wufoo is still the easiest solution around. Any web novice can customize their own forms to add to their website. I’m using several Wufoo forms to make connections with folks on my site. And, it’s the tool I use to collect the answers to the comprehensive survey I offer prior to consulting visits with churches.

If you have a free app you think I should be considering instead of one of these, I’m all ears. And, if you have another app you think I should consider buying, I’d love to hear about it.

12 Responses to “7 Non-free Web Apps I Couldn’t Live Without”

  1. Wayne Cordova September 18, 2009 at 9:18 pm #

    Glad you like “Things”! I love that it has an iPhone App that syncs everything together.

    Have you found a way to sync it with your Blackberry?

  2. vince September 19, 2009 at 9:41 am #

    Wufoo has changed my life. I flippin love it.

  3. Bill September 19, 2009 at 12:03 pm #

    I love Salesforce…and the cool thing is that as a leader of a non profit ministry, I was able to get a free, non profit license – incredible opportunity for ministries. It is a 10k value at no cost to the ministry – Salesforce is the best CRM out there.

    Also, i love dropbox as well.

  4. Darren September 19, 2009 at 4:11 pm #

    For a task manager I use rememberthemilk.com It’s free but worth the subscription to let me sync with my blackberry. I’ve used it for about 2 yrs and keeps things simple yet powerful.

  5. John Jackson September 19, 2009 at 4:12 pm #

    Tony,

    Great post..thanks for serving your tribe!

  6. norm September 20, 2009 at 3:32 pm #

    Things looks amazing!

    But as I cant afford it, does anyone know of a similar free version?

    Good work Tony!

    N

  7. Alan September 20, 2009 at 8:00 pm #

    For forms, I’ve been using icebrrg and love it. Used it for several client sites as well. http://www.icebrrg.com/

  8. Jim Gray September 20, 2009 at 8:40 pm #

    I’m considering investing in salesforce after reading this

  9. Vince September 22, 2009 at 3:45 pm #

    DEVONthink – http://www.devon-technologies.com/products/devonthink/

    Gather and store all that data from articles, sites and docs. Great for people that deliver content.

  10. Danny Ray September 22, 2009 at 4:52 pm #

    Thanks for the ideas. I am checking out Things and Wufoo. Have a good one.

  11. David Terrell September 28, 2009 at 12:03 pm #

    I just wanted to point out that you can get up to 4GB (2 to start, .5 GB for inviting people up to the 4GB) for free on Dropbox. This app is amazing!

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