Quick answer
The free tools worth knowing are Canva for quick social posts, Photopea for editing Photoshop files in your browser, Figma for layouts, Google Fonts for typefaces, Coolors for colour palettes, and Unsplash or Pexels for free stock photos. They work best alongside a consistent brand.
You don't need expensive software or a design background to put together decent-looking content for your business. These are the free tools I'd point any small business owner towards if they want to handle the basics themselves, from social posts to simple flyers.
All of them have a genuinely useful free version. Some offer paid upgrades, but you can get a long way without spending anything.
1. Canva: quick social posts and simple graphics
Canva is the easiest place to start. It runs in your browser or as an app, has thousands of templates for social posts, flyers and presentations, and the free plan covers most everyday needs.
Best for: quick social media posts, simple flyers and one-off graphics.
Tip: don't use templates exactly as they come, or your posts will look like everyone else's. Swap in your own brand colours and fonts every time, and stick to a few layouts you reuse.
2. Photopea: Photoshop in your browser
Photopea is a free, browser-based editor that opens and saves proper Photoshop (.PSD) files. It's the closest thing to Photoshop without the subscription.
Best for: editing designer-made files, like a template pack in Photoshop format, and photo touch-ups.
Tip: if a designer gives you editable PSD templates, Photopea lets you update the text and photos without buying any software.
3. Figma: layouts and more precise design
Figma is what many professional designers, me included, use to design websites and layouts. The free plan is generous, and it gives you far more control than template-based tools.
Best for: planning website layouts, designing something more custom, or collaborating with a designer on the same file.
4. Google Fonts: free, professional typefaces
Google Fonts is a free library of hundreds of fonts you can use anywhere, including in print and on your website. Using one or two fonts consistently makes a bigger difference to how professional your business looks than most people expect.
Tip: pick one font for headings and one for body text, and use them on everything.
5. Coolors: colour palettes that work together
Coolors generates colour palettes and lets you lock in colours you like while it suggests ones that go with them. It's a quick way to avoid colours that clash without you realising.
Best for: settling on brand colours, or finding accent colours that go with the ones you already have. Save the exact colour codes so you can reuse them everywhere.
6. Unsplash and Pexels: free stock photos
Both offer free, properly licensed stock photography that can be used commercially, which is a far better option than stretched, low-quality images pulled from a Google search (which you usually don't have the rights to use).
Tip: use stock photos for backgrounds and general mood, but use real photos of your own work, team and premises wherever trust matters. Customers can spot stock photos a mile off.
How to keep DIY design on-brand
Free tools make it easy to create content, but they also make it easy to create inconsistent content. A few rules help:
- Use the same logo file every time, and never stretch it.
- Stick to your set brand colours and fonts, even when a template suggests others.
- Reuse a small set of layouts so your feed looks consistent.
- Leave space. Cramming in too much text is the most common DIY mistake.
- Use real photos of your work wherever possible.
If you're not sure what your brand colours and fonts should be, start with what branding is and why it matters.
When it’s worth getting a designer
These tools are great for the day-to-day, but they work best alongside a proper brand foundation: set colours, set fonts and a logo that's actually yours. Without that, even the best tools produce content that looks a bit generic.
It's usually worth bringing in a designer for the things that set the tone for everything else: your logo and brand identity, your website, and a set of templates you can reuse for months. After that, you can handle day-to-day posts yourself and still look consistent.
That's exactly what my template packs are for: social post and story templates designed in your branding, editable in Canva or Photoshop, so you can keep creating on-brand content yourself. Have a look at what I offer, see some of the social media work I've designed, or ask me a question.
