Durvy
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4 min read

The freelance tech stack we actually use (2026)

An honest look at the tools we use to run Durvy - the freelance suite for freelancers. By category, with prices and what we'd pick differently.

We get asked all the time what tools we use to run Durvy. We build a freelancer suite, so we use a lot of our own product - but not everything. This is the honest stack, by category, with the alternatives we'd consider if we started over.

The categories

A freelance business needs tools in roughly these eight categories:

  • Invoicing + payments
  • Receipts + expense tracking
  • Time tracking
  • Client relationship management (CRM)
  • Project + task management
  • Contracts + proposals
  • Communication
  • File storage + portfolio

If you have all eight covered well, your back-office runs smoothly. Most freelancers cobble together 5-7 different tools at different prices. Suite tools (us, Bonsai, FreshBooks's higher tiers) consolidate some of these.

What we use

Invoicing + payments

Our tool: Invoicy (part of Durvy). $15/month Pro.

Branded PDF invoices, automated overdue reminders, recurring templates, multi-currency, Stripe Payment Links integration for one-click pay.

If we weren't using ours: FreshBooks Lite ($19/month) for the cleanest invoicing UX, or Wave (free) if budget mattered more than polish.

Receipts + expense tracking

Our tool: Receiptly (part of Durvy). Same Pro plan.

Phone camera → AI extracts merchant, amount, date, currency. Auto-categorizes (Food, Software, Travel, etc.). Tax-ready PDF export at year-end.

If we weren't using ours: Hurdlr ($10-16/month) for the mileage integration, or just snap photos into a Google Drive folder if you're a low-volume freelancer.

Time tracking

Our tool: Timely (part of Durvy Suite). $29/month Suite plan.

Single timer per session (no parallel timer chaos), project-level tagging, billable / non-billable split, monthly effective-hourly-rate reports.

If we weren't using ours: Toggl Track (free tier is generous) or Harvest ($12/month) - both solid, both more feature-heavy than we need.

CRM

Our tool: Clienty (part of Durvy Suite).

Per-client contact log, dormancy alerts, integrated view that pulls invoices, receipts, and time entries per client.

If we weren't using ours: Notion (free) for very-low-volume relationship management, or Folk ($20-100/month) if you have an actual sales pipeline.

Project + task management

Our tool: Linear ($8/user/month).

Issues, projects, cycles. Originally built for engineering teams but works for solo and small-team operations too. The keyboard shortcuts alone are worth the price.

Alternatives we'd consider: Notion (already in the stack, so adding tasks there is free); Todoist for simpler use; Things 3 if you're macOS-only and OK with one-time pricing.

Contracts + proposals

Our tool: PandaDoc ($19/user/month).

Templates, e-signature, payment requests on signed contracts. We use the same MSA template for 90% of new clients.

Alternatives: Bonsai ($25/month) bundles contracts with invoicing - good if you're not committed to a separate invoicing tool; DocuSign for high-volume contract work; Google Docs + a free e-signature service for very-low-volume.

Communication

Our tool: Slack (free), Loom ($12.50/month for unlimited).

Slack for client channels. Loom for async video updates - one of the highest-leverage tools we've adopted.

Alternatives: Discord (free, works great for client comms), Zoom for sync, Linear's built-in comments for project-bounded conversations.

File storage + portfolio

Our tool: Google Drive ($2-10/month), Vercel for production deployments, GitHub for code.

Drive for client deliverables and shared files. Some teams use Notion for portfolios; we don't have a public portfolio.

Alternatives: Dropbox if you prefer their sync UX; iCloud for Mac-only teams; Are.na for design-leaning portfolios.

What we'd pick differently if starting over

A few things we'd skip or downgrade:

  • PandaDoc is overkill if you sign <20 contracts/year. We'd start with Google Docs + a free e-sign service.
  • Linear is amazing but expensive per seat. For a solo freelancer, the Notion-tasks pattern is free and 80% as good.
  • Loom paid is worth it only if you actually use the unlimited tier. The free tier (25 videos) works for most freelancers.

Total stack cost

For a solo freelancer using our stack:

  • Durvy Suite: $29/month (covers invoicing, receipts, time, CRM)
  • Linear: $8/month
  • PandaDoc: $19/month
  • Loom Pro: $12.50/month
  • Google Drive: $2-10/month
  • Total: ~$70-80/month

For comparison, the equivalent without Durvy:

  • FreshBooks: $19/month
  • Hurdlr: $16/month
  • Toggl: $0 (free tier)
  • Folk CRM: $20/month
  • Linear: $8/month
  • PandaDoc: $19/month
  • Loom Pro: $12.50/month
  • Google Drive: $2-10/month
  • Total: ~$95-105/month

The suite-based approach saves ~$25-30/month, mostly by consolidating the freelance-finance tools. The remaining tools (Linear, PandaDoc, Loom, Drive) are best-in-class in their categories - hard to consolidate without losing quality.

What we explicitly don't use

  • HubSpot or Salesforce. Way overkill for any freelance business. Folk or Notion is the right scale.
  • QuickBooks. Heavy double-entry bookkeeping is too much for most freelancers. Cash-basis tracking through Durvy + a yearly CPA review handles 95% of cases.
  • Calendly Premium. The free tier is enough for most freelancers.
  • Mailchimp. If you're emailing fewer than 500 contacts, just use Gmail with a BCC.

TL;DR

  • Eight categories: invoicing, receipts, time, CRM, projects, contracts, communication, files.
  • Our stack: Durvy Suite ($29) + Linear ($8) + PandaDoc ($19) + Loom ($12.50) + Drive (~$5). Total ~$75/month.
  • Equivalent stack without Durvy: ~$100/month and 4 more tools to manage.
  • Things to skip: HubSpot, QuickBooks, Calendly Premium, paid email marketing - until you actually need them.