For small businesses and startups, the selection of Web-based tools available for things like communication, productivity, finance and IT is seemingly limitless, with new products launching left and right each week.

In a recent survey, business app advice startup BestVendor asked 550 startup executives and managers which tools they most preferred for a variety of business-related functions.

Some of the results are not terribly shocking: Google Apps owned the email category, Quickbooks was biggest for accounting, Salesforce for CRM and Dropbox for file storage.

The survey drilled a bit deeper into categories like productivity, development, finance and and design and also included a few "hidden gems" you may not have been familiar with.

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