Running Free

"I can't believe they're giving this away for free," says John Ettema, owner of Inside-Out Home and Garden, a store in Campbell, California. He's talking about ECongo, a free e-commerce hosting service that he used to add online sales to the business he does at his brick-and-mortar shop. "If you had told me a year ago when I opened my store that I'd be on the Web by now, I would have said you were crazy," Ettema continues.

The explosion of free services available on the Web--ranging from free storefronts like Ettema's to free collaboration software that helps you stay in touch with coworkers and clients--has reduced the economic barrier to using the Internet for business down to, well, nothing.

That's good news for cash-strapped small businesses. Without investing in a network, building an intranet or extranet, or installing any additional software, businesses can maintain group calendars, share files, and even collaborate in real time through chat or document review. Want to dive into e-commerce? Free store-building tools include everything from catalog creators to virtual shopping carts, plus the hosting services you need to put your business on the Web. All you need is a Net connection.

But don't you have to pay the piper sometime? That was the question we kept in mind as we sniffed through four online collaboration suites and a trio of free e-commerce services, as well as speaking to the small-business people who use them. We discovered that free services can only take you so far, but at least they do take you somewhere.