I got tired of paying for five different SaaS tools to run my freelance business. So I built my own — and made them all free.
Here's the stack I use now, all browser-based, no sign-up, no subscription:
Invoicing
Invoice Generator — Fill in details, preview, download PDF. That's it. No account needed, no watermarks. Takes about 90 seconds.
Payment Reminder Generator — When clients don't pay (and they won't), this generates the right email for the right stage. Friendly nudge → firm reminder → final demand. Copy, paste, send.
Late Payment Interest Calculator — Under UK law, you can charge 8% + base rate on late commercial invoices. Most freelancers don't know this. This calculator tells you exactly how much.
Tax
Self-Employed Tax Calculator — Income tax, NI, student loan, take-home. Instant breakdown for 2025/26.
Day Rate Calculator — Back-calculates your day rate from target salary, accounting for tax, expenses, sick days, and holidays. Most freelancers undercharge because they don't do this maths.
Business Expense Tracker — localStorage-based. HMRC categories built in. Export to CSV for your tax return. No cloud, no subscription, your data stays on your machine.
Business
Client & Project Tracker — Dashboard with clients, projects, invoices. CSV export. Again, localStorage — your data, your device.
Freelance Contract Generator — UK-compliant contract covering scope, payment terms, IP, and IR35. Fill in the blanks, download.
Cash Flow Forecast — 3/6/12 month view. Bar charts. Gap alerts. Spot the months where you'll be eating beans.
The philosophy
Every tool follows the same rules:
- No sign-up. Ever.
- No data sent anywhere. Everything runs in your browser.
- No subscription. Free means free.
- Actually useful. Built because I needed them, not because they'd look good in a portfolio.
I'm a freelancer in the UK. These tools exist because I got annoyed paying £30/month for an invoicing app that does the same thing a PDF generator can do for free.
The full set is at landolio.com/tools — 25 tools and counting.
What tools have you built to avoid SaaS subscriptions? Would love to hear what others are using.
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