Teams with less than 50 people should aim for a 35% participation rate in voluntary team-building. But what if you have 10 team members? That’s maybe three people. Shouldn’t it be easier to grab up a few more?
The answer is making it easy for them and cost-effective for you. Today, we’re sharing a whole lineup of free or affordable team-building tools for small businesses and startups. Keep scrolling for async-friendly picks, recognition-focused ideas, cheap team-building tools for Slack, and more.
Why small businesses need different team-building tools
There’s no shame in being put off by the price of enterprise solutions. They’re not for you! A whole HR department manages these tools, making them accessible for hundreds of people at a time. Small businesses often have a one-person HR department, if that.
There’s no shortage of options for tiny teams; they just may not be as prominently promoted. Here’s what small businesses require:
- Per-person pricing. Large teams can get a great deal spending hundreds per month on a tool. Small ones, not as often. With the per-user model, they only pay for what they need.
- Small, daily moments. Big teams are obsessed with overall engagement and capturing wider sentiment. Small teams truly are more about vibes and daily rhythms. Fewer calendar invites, and more spontaneous connection.
- Less admin. These tools should be as easy to install and manage as they are to use. Smaller teams shouldn’t need to fuss with comprehensive reporting and finicky settings. The basics will suffice!
11 Free or affordable team-building tools for small businesses
The benefit of team-building for small groups is that when something fails, it’s more obvious. You can cross it off the list immediately without having wasted too much money, or any at all.
Slack-native and low-cost
1. HeyTaco for team appreciation
Coming in hot is our very own HeyTaco. More teams use it daily, doubling competing tools’ usage rates. The gamification and collaborative rewards features take peer praise even further into bonding territory. The accessible, frictionless recognition is also a springboard for celebrations and rituals galore.
Start it for free and scale it only to what you need.
2. Workflow Builder for automated icebreakers
In the Slack-native, set-it-and-forget-it category is Workflow Builder. You can automate icebreakers or trivia for particular days and see what catches on and becomes ritual. This is also good for quick polls that don’t require leaving the flow of work.
3. Huddles for spontaneous, casual connection
Voice or voice with video, Slack Huddles let team members have the kind of informal interaction we take for granted on site. Have a quick meeting of the minds or convey something that’s better spoken or shown than written.
Ready to make appreciation an everyday habit?
Try HeyTaco free for 30 days. No credit card required.
Try HeyTaco freeVisual boards for free
4. Appreciation walls on Trello
Scan the template gallery for a board perfect for gratitude and appreciation. Whether or not you’re already using Trello for productivity and projects, your team can post kudos, spotlight a win, or share more about themselves.
5. Whiteboard games on FigJam
Love brainstorming on FigJam? They also offer a host of game templates for a quick stress-busting activity. Play Jeopardy, go on a team scavenger hunt, or write your own Wiki pages. Many games and team-building templates here are free!
Async-friendly fun
6. Async Excel competitions
When looking for the most affordable team-building tools, small businesses can’t go wrong with the software they already use. Spreadsheet-based Battleship, Bingo, or pixel art competitions provide a brief, passive break for asynchronous employees. Using Excel may mean there’s not as much context switching as other activities.
7. Trivia plugins for a brain break
Use free versions of apps like QuizBreaker in Slack or Teams to build quick rituals without money. Try Quizado for dedicated, non-chat-native trivia sessions or even tournaments.
8. Wordle or emoji game channels
If everyone enjoys noodling over today’s NYT offerings, give it its own channel. If team members don’t have many common interests, try daily emoji stories. It keeps people updated, puzzle-style. For example, you can play Guess the Ticket:
🪳🔎🧐🧑🏻💻😤☕️💡🥳
(Answer: There was a bug. I found it. It took much time to debug. I almost lost my temper. Then I powered back up with coffee. Debugged. Let’s party.)
Building belonging via video
9. Loom for show-and-tell
Keep meetings on topic and on agenda. Make some of the connection-building stuff async and unobtrusive with videos. Team members can record weekly Loom clips for the week’s “assignment,” whether that’s an office tour, pet introduction, or classic show and tell.
10. Gather for a virtual office when feeling isolated
Gather and similar virtual team-building tools for small teams create a digital workspace where collaboration's finer moments don’t have to be strictly written. Fewer fragmented conversations, customizable features, and spontaneous connection. Ideal for teams making a fully remote transition or those who just really dig its retro 16-bit video game appearance.
11. Kahoot to increase input during meetings
If more interaction is on the agenda, Kahoot’s free tier lets you use it during meetings. Do a quick poll, offer an icebreaker, or even host a quiz competition. Activities like this are a good introduction to prodding higher participation, as well as inspiring deeper discussions.
Under-$50 stack examples for a full culture loop
You don’t have to try ‘em all. Identify your goals and keep it under $50 a month. Here are some example combinations, who they’re for, and what they help achieve.
| The Team | The Stack | The Results |
|---|---|---|
| Async, remote-first. Lots of siloed and individual work. Getting them in meetings is difficult. Connecting in general is even tougher. | HeyTaco Classic: $3 a month per user for daily, async appreciation.Loom: Free version allows each user 25 videos. Do desk tours, office views, or knowledge sharing.FigJam: Use the free version for a standing biweekly Pictionary ritual or something else from the template gallery. | Daily praise or gratitude improves morale and engagement. Video builds familiarity and offers an alternative communication method. Something low-stakes and game-oriented a few times a month for casual connection. |
| “We’re new here and have never done this before.” A brand-new team wants to build culture, but doesn’t know where to begin. (Also, what budget? Ha ha.) | Everything free from the Slack stack, plus a watercooler channel for casual stuff like your daily Wordle score. HeyTaco free trial to start making recognition a habit ASAP. | Workflow Builder and Huddles acclimate people to collaborating and communicating in their new chat environment. Watercooler channels and HeyTaco help introduce rituals and see what kind of culture everyone is gravitating toward. |
| A hybrid or remote team that’s game for anything. Meetings are currently feeling scattered. They genuinely want novel, structured ways to connect and collab. | Gather: It’s free or cheap to build a very small virtual office where people can do a few hours of coworking a week.Kahoot: Use the free tier to retain control of how far off-topic the meeting goes.HeyTaco: Keeping record of recognition leads to weekly wins celebrated in chat. Try a leaderboard competition where the biggest giver chooses the next free tool, game, or plugin. | A team that feels that they’re enjoying more of an office culture. Meetings are still active, and recognition makes everyone’s work feel seen. Gather helps busy, isolated remote employees focus while staying linked to coworkers. |
Start for free today.
Here’s what every pro who has built a favorable workplace culture (some single-handedly!) can tell you: they had to experiment. On teams with 70, 80, or 100+, it can take time to see how tools and activities are landing. Not to mention locating and implementing replacements.
Small teams have an advantage. Interest is easily observed. You can test two to four affordable team-building tools for small businesses this very week and know what has a fighting chance by the next.
Don’t be afraid to start with HeyTaco!
"I love how HeyTaco helps bring teams together. I've worked with a lot of organizations that want to build strong team support, but my current one is the only one that uses HeyTaco, and I've never been part of a closer team."
- HeyTaco User, Marketing and Advertising
