Best tools to market a SaaS on a small budget

The layers worth paying for

• Privacy friendly analytics

  Lightweight, cookieless page and event analytics. You need funnels and custom events, not heat maps.

• Search Console

  Free and non negotiable. It is the only place you see the queries you actually appear for.

• Email

  One tool that handles both lifecycle mail and a broadcast newsletter, so your list is not split across vendors.

• Landing pages

  If your framework can ship a page in an hour, skip the builder. Buy one only if marketing cannot ship without engineering.

• Social scheduling

  Batch a week of posts in one sitting. The value is consistency, not sophistication.

• Directories and leaderboards

  Permanent, categorised listings that keep sending qualified visitors after the launch spike. Prefer ones with real detail pages, categories and search over pure hype boards.

• Outreach

  A simple sequencing tool with strict volume limits. Fifty personalised mails beat five thousand generic ones and keep your domain reputation intact.

What to cut

Marketing automation suites, SEO platforms with per seat pricing, attribution tools and CRMs are all premature below roughly fifty customers. Their value comes from data volume you do not have.

FAQ

Should I buy an SEO tool?

Not at the start. Search Console plus one cheap keyword lookup covers the decisions you can currently act on.

Is a newsletter worth it before launch?

Yes, if you actually send it. A list you never mail is a liability, because the first send after a year of silence looks like spam.