The SaaS Stack Every Remote Team Under 100 People Needs

Most remote teams have three times more tools than they need. Someone signs up for a free trial, it converts to a paid plan, and suddenly you're paying $15/user/month for a tool that three people use.

After managing IT for dozens of remote teams, I've seen what actually gets used and what collects dust. Here's the stack that works for teams under 100 people, with one primary recommendation per category and alternatives where they make sense.

Communication: Slack

Cost: $8.75/user/month (Pro plan)

Slack is the operating system for remote teams. Everything happens there: conversations, decisions, quick questions, and IT support. The threading model, integrations, and channel structure are purpose-built for async work.

The Pro plan is worth it for the unlimited message history alone. Free Slack loses messages after 90 days, which means you lose institutional knowledge.

Alternative: Microsoft Teams. If you're a Microsoft 365 shop, Teams is included and avoids the extra cost. The interface is clunkier and the threading model isn't as clean, but it works. Don't pay for both.

Skip if: You have fewer than 5 people. At that size, a group chat in iMessage or WhatsApp is fine. Move to Slack once you cross 10 people.

Email and productivity: Google Workspace

Cost: $7.20/user/month (Business Starter) or $14.40/user/month (Business Standard)

Google Workspace gives you email on your company domain, Google Drive for file storage, Google Meet for video calls, and the full Docs/Sheets/Slides suite. For most remote teams, this is the foundation.

Business Starter works for small teams. Upgrade to Business Standard when you need more storage (2TB vs 30GB per user), shared drives, and recording in Google Meet.

Alternative: Microsoft 365. Starts at $6/user/month (Business Basic). If your team is Excel-heavy or you need desktop Office apps, M365 is the right choice. But for most startups, Google Workspace is simpler to administer and better suited to remote collaboration.

Important: Whichever you choose, configure the security settings properly. The defaults aren't good enough.

Identity and SSO: Google Workspace (or Okta at 50+)

Cost: Free (built into Google Workspace) or $2/user/month (Okta SSO)

If you're on Google Workspace, Google can serve as your identity provider for most SaaS apps through SAML or OIDC. This means employees use their Google login to access Slack, Notion, Figma, and other tools. One login, one kill switch.

At 50+ people, or if you need more advanced features like conditional access policies or lifecycle automation, Okta becomes worth the investment.

Alternative: Microsoft Entra ID (included with M365 Business Premium at $22/user/month). If you're in the Microsoft ecosystem, Entra ID is the natural choice.

Why this matters: Without SSO, every tool has its own password. That means more credential reuse, harder offboarding, and no centralized way to revoke access. Setting up SSO and MFA is one of the highest-impact security improvements you can make.

Password management: 1Password

Cost: $7.99/user/month (Business plan)

Every company has shared credentials that can't go through SSO: social media accounts, shared service accounts, API keys, WiFi passwords. 1Password gives you shared vaults for team credentials and individual vaults for personal passwords.

The admin controls are solid. You can see who has access to which vaults, enforce MFA on the 1Password account itself, and revoke access instantly during offboarding.

Alternative: Bitwarden ($4/user/month for Teams). Open source, significantly cheaper, and functionally comparable. The admin interface isn't as polished as 1Password, but it covers the essentials. If budget is a priority, Bitwarden is excellent.

Never acceptable: Sharing passwords in Slack DMs, Google Docs, or spreadsheets. This is one of the most common IT mistakes at startups and it's one of the easiest to fix.

Device management (MDM): Kandji

Cost: ~$6-8/device/month

If your team is Mac-first (most remote startups are), Kandji is the best MDM option for small teams. It's easier to set up than Jamf, includes pre-built security templates, and handles automated app patching.

You need MDM to enforce disk encryption, push OS updates, and have a remote wipe capability for lost or stolen devices. I've written a full step-by-step MDM setup guide if you want the details.

Alternative: Jamf (more powerful but more complex, $8-12/device/month) or Microsoft Intune (best for mixed Mac/Windows environments, included with M365 Business Premium).

When to start: As soon as you have more than 10 devices. Earlier if you handle sensitive data.

HR and people: Rippling

Cost: Starts around $8/user/month (varies by modules)

Rippling combines HR, payroll, benefits, and IT into one platform. The IT automation piece is what makes it stand out: when someone is hired in Rippling, it can automatically provision their Google Workspace account, add them to Slack, and trigger your onboarding workflow.

Same thing in reverse for offboarding. Mark someone as terminated in Rippling and it can automatically disable their accounts.

Alternative: Gusto ($40/month base + $6/person/month) for payroll-focused needs, or BambooHR (custom pricing) for HR-focused needs. Neither has Rippling's IT automation, but both are solid for their core functions.

File storage: Google Drive

Cost: Included with Google Workspace

If you're on Google Workspace, you already have Google Drive. Don't pay for a separate file storage tool.

Set up shared drives (available on Business Standard and above) for team-level folders. This is better than individual drives because the files are owned by the organization, not individual employees. When someone leaves, their shared drive files stay put.

Alternative: SharePoint/OneDrive (included with M365). Same logic: if you're in the Microsoft ecosystem, use what's included.

Skip: Dropbox, unless you have a specific workflow that requires it. Paying for Dropbox on top of Google Drive or OneDrive is redundant for most teams.

Project management: Linear or Notion

Cost: Linear: $8/user/month. Notion: $10/user/month (Plus plan).

This is the one category where I recommend two tools for different use cases.

Linear is purpose-built for engineering teams. Issue tracking, sprint planning, and release management. It's fast, opinionated, and developers love it. If you have an engineering team, use Linear for their workflow.

Notion is the everything tool. Documentation, wikis, project boards, meeting notes, and lightweight task management. For non-engineering teams (ops, marketing, product), Notion works well as both a knowledge base and a project management tool.

Alternative: Asana ($10.99/user/month) is a more structured project management tool if Notion feels too free-form. Jira is the enterprise standard for engineering but it's overkill for teams under 100.

Don't: Use four different project management tools across four teams. Pick one or two and standardize.

Video: Google Meet (or Zoom)

Cost: Google Meet is included with Workspace. Zoom: $13.33/user/month (Pro).

If you're on Google Workspace, use Google Meet. It's good enough for most teams and you're already paying for it. The quality is comparable to Zoom for standard meetings.

When to add Zoom: If you host webinars, need breakout rooms, or have team members with unreliable internet (Zoom handles low-bandwidth situations better). Otherwise, save the money.

Endpoint security: Kolide

Cost: Starts around $5/device/month

Kolide (now part of 1Password) monitors endpoint health and blocks non-compliant devices from accessing company resources. It checks things like: is the OS up to date? Is the firewall on? Is the disk encrypted? Is the screen lock enabled?

If a device falls out of compliance, the employee gets a notification in Slack explaining what's wrong and how to fix it. If they don't fix it within a set timeframe, their access is blocked.

Alternative: CrowdStrike Falcon Go ($8.33/device/month) if you want more traditional antivirus/EDR capabilities. For most startups under 100 people, Kolide's compliance-focused approach is more practical than a full EDR solution.

When to start: When you have MDM in place and want to add an additional layer. For most teams, this becomes relevant around 25-50 people.

What you can skip

Dedicated IT ticketing (ServiceNow, Freshdesk for internal IT). A Slack channel works better for teams under 100. Don't add a tool that creates friction.

VPN. If your apps are all SaaS and behind SSO, you probably don't need a VPN. Context-aware access through your identity provider does the same job without the overhead.

Standalone backup tools. Google Workspace and M365 both have retention policies built in. Configure those before paying for a third-party backup service.

Monitoring dashboards. At this scale, you don't need Datadog or New Relic for IT visibility. Your MDM and identity provider give you the data you need.

Any tool that "might be useful someday." If there's no clear, immediate use case, don't buy it. You can always add it later.

How to audit your current stack

If you've been accumulating tools without a plan, here's a simple audit process:

List every tool you pay for. Check your company credit card statements for the last 12 months. Include annual subscriptions that renewed without anyone noticing.
For each tool, ask: Who uses this? How many seats are we paying for vs. how many are active? Is there overlap with another tool? Could we consolidate?
Cut anything with fewer than 50% active seats. If you're paying for 30 Figma seats and 12 people logged in last month, downgrade.
Consolidate overlapping tools. You don't need Slack and Teams. You don't need Asana and Monday and Notion for project management. Pick one, migrate, and cancel the others.
Set a review schedule. Do this quarterly. SaaS creep is a constant force and the only way to fight it is regular review.

If you want help auditing your stack and cleaning it up, that's part of what I do. I review your current tools, identify waste, and help you build a stack that actually makes sense for your team size.