SaaS stackcost optimizationSMB

The Compact SaaS Stack: Building an Ops Toolkit Under 10 Apps

mmywork

2026-01-28

11 min read

Consolidate your ops toolkit under 10 apps: lower cost per user, streamline onboarding, and maintain security with a practical 7-app stack.

Stop paying for noise: build an ops toolkit with fewer than 10 apps

Too many subscriptions, fragmented data, slow onboarding and integration gaps are costing SMBs time and money in 2026. If your tool stack looks like a patchwork quilt, this guide shows a pragmatic path to a minimal SaaS stack—one that covers communication, CRM, finance, docs and automation while keeping cost-per-user low, integrations reliable and security enterprise-grade.

Why a compact stack matters in 2026

Late 2025 and early 2026 accelerated two trends that make consolidation urgent for operations teams:

AI-native features are now embedded across core apps (searchable knowledge bases, copilots in email and CRM). That raises the baseline value of each seat and makes redundant point tools less defensible.
Consumption and task-based pricing for automation platforms increased operational costs for organizations that didn’t govern workflows. Many SMBs found automation bills ballooning in Q4–2025.

At the same time, security and privacy expectations ( zero-trust, SSO provisioning, regional data controls) mean you can’t just stitch apps together without an identity and governance plan. The net result: fewer, better-integrated apps win.

Below is a tested, cross-functional stack that keeps the total app count low while covering essential ops functions. Each entry includes approximate pricing (as of Jan 2026), pros/cons, integration notes and scalability guidance.

1) Google Workspace — Communication, email, calendar, docs

Role: Central collaboration platform (email, calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Chat).

Typical pricing (approx): Business Standard ~ $12/user/month; Business Plus ~ $18/user/month (billed annually).

Why choose it: One vendor covers email, real-time docs and identity (SSO + device management), which reduces app sprawl and sync points.

Integration notes: Native integrations with HubSpot, Zapier, Make, and many CRMs. Google Workspace's APIs are widely supported, reducing custom connectors. Use Google Groups + shared drives for onboarding assets.

Scalability: Scales to hundreds of users; storage and admin controls are easy to upgrade. If you later need Microsoft 365 compatibility, add a migration connector instead of swapping core systems. (See our roundup: Review: Collaboration Suites for Department Managers — 2026 Picks.)

2) HubSpot CRM (Free → Starter) — Sales & customer data

Role: Lead and pipeline management, contact database, lightweight automation.

Typical pricing (approx): Free CRM core; Starter Sales Hub from ~$20–30/user/month; paid tiers add automation and reporting.

Why choose it: HubSpot provides a very usable free tier that covers early-stage SMB needs; when you add paid seats you unlock reporting and basic sequence automation. It keeps marketing and sales data in one place.

Integration notes: Native Google Workspace sync (calendar, email logging), built-in Stripe and QuickBooks connectors, and robust Zapier/Make support. HubSpot's inbound data model reduces duplicate contact lists.

Scalability: HubSpot scales well for SMBs moving to mid-market; watch per-seat cost as you add Sales Hub Professional features.

3) QuickBooks Online (US) or Xero (international) — Finance & accounting

Role: Accounting, invoicing, and expense tracking.

Typical pricing (approx): QuickBooks Simple Start ~$30/month; Essentials/Plus $60–$100/month. Xero plans range ~$15–60/month depending on invoice volume.

Why choose it: Both are market leaders for SMB accounting. Choose QuickBooks if you’re US-centric; Xero if you need multi-currency and international payroll add-ons.

Integration notes: Connect to Stripe for payments, HubSpot for customer sync (via connector), and Zapier/Make for bespoke flows. Enable bank feeds and automated reconciliation to reduce manual bookkeeping.

Scalability: Accounting systems scale with transactional volume. Expect admin complexity to grow with customers and payroll needs; at ~50–100 employees you'll likely add an accountant seat or outsourced service.

4) Notion — Knowledge base, SOPs, onboarding templates

Role: Internal docs, runbooks, onboarding playbooks and lightweight project tracking.

Typical pricing (approx): Team plan ~$8–10/user/month.

Why choose it: Notion consolidates SOPs, onboarding templates and product docs into one searchable system. Embeddable pages reduce context-switching between apps.

Integration notes: Sync Google Drive files into Notion, embed HubSpot records via links, and automate page creation with Zapier/Make for new hire onboarding. In 2026 Notion's AI features accelerate SOP authoring.

Scalability: Great for small-to-mid teams. At enterprise scale you may evaluate dedicated knowledge platforms with advanced compliance features.

5) Zapier or Make (tool choice depends on budget) — Automation

Role: Connect systems, move data, trigger actions without custom code.

Typical pricing (approx): Zapier: Starter $19–29/month, Teams $50+/month (task-based pricing). Make: similar plans with often lower task costs; n8n is a self-hosted alternative (open-source).

Why choose it: Automations remove repetitive work (e.g., new HubSpot contact → QuickBooks customer → Notion onboarding page). Pick Zapier for highest app coverage; choose Make for complex multi-step orchestration or cost efficiency; use n8n if you need on-prem data privacy.

Integration notes: Automations are the glue—prioritize native app connectors first (HubSpot, QuickBooks, Google Workspace). Use Zapier/Make only for flows native APIs don’t cover to control consumption spending. For teams moving heavy automation on-prem, consider small self-hosted clusters (see Raspberry Pi cluster approaches for low-cost infrastructure).

Scalability: Automation cost is the primary scaling vector: track task volume monthly and move heavy flows to native or self-hosted engines if costs spike.

6) Stripe — Payments and subscription billing

Role: Accept payments, manage subscriptions and refunds.

Typical pricing (approx): Transactional fees (e.g., ~2.9% + $0.30 per card transaction in many markets). No per-user seat.

Why choose it: Stripe is the de facto SMB payments platform with excellent developer APIs and out-of-the-box integrations to QuickBooks and HubSpot.

Integration notes: Use Stripe webhooks → Zapier/Make → QuickBooks or HubSpot to reconcile payments and update customer records. For recurring billing, use Stripe Billing to avoid separate subscription management tools.

Scalability: Scales from one-time payments to enterprise-level subscription billing without adding new apps.

7) 1Password Business (or other password manager) — Security & provisioning

Role: Centralized password vault, credential sharing, SSO integration and secure onboarding/offboarding.

Typical pricing (approx): ~$8–10/user/month for business plans (varies by vendor).

Why choose it: Identity and credential management are non-negotiable for a compact stack — they reduce account sprawl and make offboarding safe. 1Password and alternatives (Bitwarden, LastPass Enterprise) integrate with SSO/SCIM.

Integration notes: Enable SCIM provisioning with Google Workspace or an identity provider (Okta, JumpCloud) to automate user lifecycle. Use conditional access where available to enforce device checks.

Scalability: Essential at any size; reduces manual admin as headcount grows and preserves security posture. See also the governance primer: Stop Cleaning Up After AI: Governance tactics.

Estimated total cost example: 10-user business (annualized, approx)

To make decisions concrete, here’s an illustrative cost comparison for a 10-user team using the recommended stack at conservative pricing.

Google Workspace Business Standard: $12 x 10 x 12 = $1,440/yr
HubSpot Starter (5 paid seats + free seats possible): assume $25 x 5 x 12 = $1,500/yr
QuickBooks Online: $60/mo = $720/yr
Notion Team: $8 x 10 x 12 = $960/yr
Zapier/Make (Team plan): ~$600–1,200/yr (depends on tasks; we use $900 estimate)
Stripe: transactional, assume $1,500/yr in fees (varies widely)
1Password Business: $8 x 10 x 12 = $960/yr

Estimated annual software + fee cost: ~$7,000–7,600/yr for 10 users (not including professional services or payroll). Complexity and automation usage drive the high/low variance.

How this stack removes common ops pain points

Fragmented data: Centralize contact and billing data in HubSpot + QuickBooks and use Google Workspace as the canonical collaboration layer.
Onboarding friction: Use Notion templates + Zapier flows to generate accounts, assign tasks and create calendar events automatically.
Integration gaps: Favor native connectors first; use Zapier/Make for the remainder. Keep an inventory of flows to avoid runaway automation costs.
Security/compliance: SSO, SCIM provisioning, and a password manager enforce secure onboarding/offboarding and audit trails.
Measuring ROI: Track cost-per-user, license utilization, time-saved on automations (estimate hours), and onboarding time reduction.

Step-by-step: How to consolidate to this minimal stack (6-week roadmap)

Audit subscriptions (Week 1): Export billing statements, list active apps, owners, and monthly spend. Flag unused or duplicate apps. (See: How to Audit Your Tool Stack in One Day.)
Map data flows (Week 1–2): Diagram where customer, invoice and document data live today. Identify integration touchpoints and owners. This is a good place to evaluate build vs buy decisions for small micro-apps.
Choose replacements (Week 2): Select the core apps above and identify which paid features are required. Pick an automation tool and a security tool (1Password + SSO). Consult collaboration-suite reviews if you need to choose between major providers.
Pilot migration (Week 3–4): Migrate a single team (sales or ops) first. Move contacts to HubSpot, invoices to QuickBooks and SOPs to Notion. Build automations for common tasks and test offline/edge scenarios (see Edge Sync & Low‑Latency Workflows for field-team lessons).
Measure impact (Week 5): Track license usage, task volume, onboarding time and tickets. Adjust automations and connectors to optimize costs.
Retire and govern (Week 6): Cancel redundant subscriptions, update procurement policy and publish a simple tool governance checklist (owner, purpose, renewal date). Run a subscription spring-clean after retirement to lock in savings (Subscription Spring Cleaning).

Three advanced strategies for cost control and scalability

1) Move heavy automation to native APIs or self-hosted flows

High-volume automations are the fastest way to spike monthly bills. Move predictable, high-frequency flows to native platform automations (HubSpot workflows, QuickBooks automations) or to self-hosted n8n to cut task costs. Small self-hosted clusters (even Raspberry Pi-based) are a practical option for teams that want control (Raspberry Pi cluster approaches).

2) Use role-based seat allocation

Not every employee needs a paid HubSpot or Notion seat. Allocate seats by role: full seats for revenue-generating teams, shared or view-only access for others. Monitor utilization monthly and reassign seats before renewing licenses.

3) Enforce an integration approval process

Prevent duplicate connectors and zombie automations by requiring an "integration request" that documents data fields, owners and estimated task volume. Approve flows that provide measurable business value. For practical checks on integrations and hosted tunnels, see the field toolkit reviews.

Mini case study (anonymized): How a 12-person ops team cut tools 14 → 7 and reclaimed $1,200/month

Composite case based on client engagements in late 2025. A 12-person operations-led services firm had 14 paid apps: two CRMs, separate document sharing, duplicate automation tools and multiple finance connectors. We executed the 6-week roadmap. Results after 90 days:

Tools reduced from 14 to 7
Annual SaaS spend fell by ~$14,400 (~$1,200/month)
Average new hire onboarding time fell from 8 days to 5 days (templates + automations)
Support tickets about account access dropped 70% after SCIM provisioning and password manager deployment

Takeaway: consolidation plus disciplined automation governance delivered measurable savings and faster operations.

“Consolidation isn’t about using fewer tools for the sake of it. It’s about using the right tools, well-integrated, so teams move faster and budgets are predictable.” — mywork.cloud Ops Advisory

Trade-offs to be explicit about

Vendor lock-in: Choosing one platform to do multiple jobs increases dependency. Mitigate with exportable data formats and documented migration paths.
Feature depth: A consolidated app may not match the depth of a niche specialist (e.g., specialized billing platforms). Use integrations when best-of-breed is necessary.
Automation costs: Pay attention to per-task charges. Consolidation reduces overhead but heavy automation can still outpace savings.

KPIs to track after consolidation

Software spend per user per month (target: stable or decreasing year-over-year)
License utilization rate (goal: >75% active use for paid seats)
Average onboarding time (target: reduce 20–40% in 90 days)
Automation task volume and cost per task (monitor monthly)
Security incidents related to access (target: 0 unauthorized access events)

Future-facing notes — what to watch in 2026

AI copilots: Look for copilots that can summarize email threads, draft SOPs from meeting notes, and suggest automations. These features change the calculus for retaining smaller point tools. (See ongoing tooling reviews for continual-learning and model ops.)
Privacy-first alternatives: Expect more SMBs to select self-hosted automations (n8n) or privacy-focused vendors for regulated data.
Bundled stacks from vendors: In late 2025 vendors started offering bundled packages tailored to SMBs (email+CRM+invoicing). Evaluate bundles when they lower cost and maintain interoperability.

Final checklist before you consolidate

Do you have an up-to-date inventory of apps, owners and spend?
Can you map where each data type (contacts, invoices, docs) is created and stored?
Have you prioritized 3–5 must-have integrations and documented acceptable substitutes?
Is there one person accountable for automation governance and license management?
Do you have a rollback or migration plan for critical systems?

Actionable takeaways

Start with a single collaboration platform (Google Workspace or Microsoft 365) to collapse email, docs and identity.
Standardize on one CRM with a usable free or low-cost tier (HubSpot) and connect finance to it.
Limit automation tools—use native automation where possible, and track task volumes to control costs.
Invest in identity (SSO + provisioning) and password management; they repay security and admin time quickly. Read more on identity as the center of zero-trust here: Identity is the Center of Zero Trust.

Ready to build your compact ops stack?

If you want a tailored recommendation, our free 30-minute stack audit at mywork.cloud evaluates your current subscriptions, flags consolidation opportunities and produces a 6-week migration plan with estimated savings. Reduce noise, lower cost-per-user and get a scalable ops stack that lasts into 2027. Book a session and follow the audit checklist: How to Audit Your Tool Stack in One Day.

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