Plug makes a whole shelf of free tools — a rate calculator, a usage-rights calculator, an invoice generator, contract and email templates. They're genuinely useful, they cost nothing, and you should use them. So this is an honest comparison, not a sales pitch against our own tools.
Free tools are great — at one thing each
A calculator answers "what should I charge?" in seconds. A template gives you a contract to send. An invoice generator makes a clean PDF. Each one nails a single task, instantly, for free. For a one-off — or when you're starting out — that's often all you need.
Where stitching them together breaks down
The gap isn't any single tool. It's the seams between them. Run one real deal across five free tools and here's what actually happens:
- You calculate a rate. Then you re-type it into the contract.
- You fill the contract. Then you re-type the number again into the invoice.
- You send the invoice. Then you track whether it's paid in a spreadsheet.
- A brand asks about usage rights. You go find whichever doc had them.
Nothing carries. Every handoff is manual, and every re-entry is a chance to fat-finger a number or lose the thread. Free tools don't know about each other — so you are the integration.
Free tools vs. one connected system
The honest answer
Use the free tools. Seriously — they're free and they're good. Reach for an all-in-one system at the point where the copy-pasting between tools has quietly become its own chore, and you'd rather the rate, the contract, the invoice, and the payment status just lived on the same deal.
How this works on Plug
Plug Pro is the connective tissue: the rate you set flows into the deal, the contract and license attach to it, the invoice pulls from it, and payment status tracks itself — one login instead of five tabs. The free tools stay free for everyone; Pro is a flat monthly price with zero per-deal fees.
Still weighing it up? Read do creators need a CRM? or browse the free tools first.