AI tools for small business: What to use for writing, support, accounting and marketing

Plans, prices and features checked on the official pages on October 23, 2026.

The best AI tools for a small business are the ones attached to a job you already do: an AI assistant such as Claude or Gemini for writing, Intercom’s Fin for customer support, QuickBooks or Xero for accounting, and HubSpot for marketing and a free CRM. Most have a free tier or a trial, so you can start without a budget.

This guide covers seven products, what each is for, what the free tier allows and what the paid plans cost, using only the makers’ own pages as of October 23, 2026.

The short list: One tool per job

Start with the job that eats the most hours, not with the tool that has the most features.

Writing and daily work: Claude and Gemini both have a usable free plan

An AI assistant covers the broadest range of small-business tasks: drafting emails, product descriptions and proposals, summarizing documents, and building simple spreadsheets or slides.

Claude from Anthropic has a Free plan at $0 that includes chat on web, desktop and mobile, web search, file creation, memory, Artifacts, and Claude Design, Slides and Docs. Limits reset on a rolling 5-hour window, and the Free plan is limited to Sonnet and Haiku models. Pro costs $17 a month billed annually ($200 up front) or $20 billed monthly, with at least 5x Free usage per 5-hour window and access to Opus. Max starts at $100 a month. For a group, Team (2 to 150 users) costs $20 per standard seat per month billed annually or $25 monthly, with central billing and admin controls. Anthropic notes that weekly limits apply and that pricing and limits can change.

Gemini from Google has a Free plan with Flash-Lite model access, image generation and editing, Deep Research, Gemini Live, Canvas, Gems and 15 GB of storage. Google AI Plus is EUR 4.99 a month, Google AI Pro is EUR 21.99 a month with Gemini 4 Argon and 4x the free usage limits, and Google AI Ultra starts at EUR 99.99 a month. Google says Gemini limits depend on prompt complexity, features used and conversation length, and reset every 5 hours until a weekly limit is reached.

Gemini also has a small business hub that links Google Business Profile, Google Ads, Workspace and apps such as Canva, Shopify, Wix, Zoho and Xero. The report on the Gemini small business hub covers what it connects and what is still unconfirmed.

If your business already runs on Google, Google Workspace adds Gemini inside the apps. Google lists Business Starter at EUR 6.80 per user per month (30 GB pooled storage, Gemini in Gmail), Standard at EUR 13.60 (2 TB, Gemini in Docs and Meet, appointment booking pages, eSignature) and Plus at EUR 21.10 (5 TB). Prices are excluding tax and billed monthly, and Google shows a limited-time 50% promotion for new customers starting November 6, 2026. Confirm the exact promotional terms at checkout, because the page describes two different introductory offers.

Customer support: Intercom’s Fin charges per resolved conversation

Support is where AI can answer repeat questions around the clock. Intercom sells Fin AI Agent as part of its helpdesk plans, or on its own for teams that already use another helpdesk.

• Essential: $19 per seat per month for new customers, aimed at individuals, startups and small businesses, with Fin included.
• Advanced: $85 per seat per month, adding multiple team inboxes, a workflow builder and a multilingual help center.
• Expert: $132 per seat per month, adding SSO, HIPAA support and SLAs.
• Fin on an existing helpdesk: $0.99 per outcome, with no seat costs.

A 14-day free trial is available with no credit card required. Intercom also lists add-ons such as Copilot at $29 per agent per month. The page shows some inconsistent figures (the Copilot price differs between sections), so check the final price before you buy. Because Fin bills per outcome, cost grows with the number of questions it resolves, so estimate your monthly volume first.

Accounting: QuickBooks and Xero add AI to bookkeeping you already do

Accounting AI mostly means automatic categorization, bank reconciliation and document capture. It saves time on routine entries but does not replace a bookkeeper or accountant.

Prices checked on October 23, 2026. QuickBooks currently shows 50% off for the first three months on paid plans (for example $19 for Simple Start), and Xero shows 90% off the first six months for new US customers, an offer that ends November 2, 2026. QuickBooks calls its AI suite Intuit Intelligence on its pricing page. Xero describes its assistant, JAX, as its AI finance partner but does not say on that page which plans include it; Smart Document Capture and bank reconciliation are listed on all plans. Xero Payroll, powered by Gusto, is a separate add-on at $36 a month plus $6 per employee or contractor.

Marketing: HubSpot’s free tools are the lowest-risk start

HubSpot offers a free CRM for up to 2 users with no credit card required. The free tier includes 300 email sends per calendar month with HubSpot branding, one automated email action and capped lead scoring.

The Starter plan includes 1,000 marketing contacts and email sends of five times your contact tier per month. AI features run on HubSpot Credits: Starter includes 500 per month, extra credits cost $0.010 each and unused credits do not roll over. HubSpot describes a Customer Agent that answers questions across chat, email and forms, and a Data Agent that keeps CRM records updated. The Starter page shows seat prices of $7 and $20 without clearly mapping each to a billing option, so confirm at checkout.

For design and image work, the Gemini hub above lets you upload a brand style and generate visuals that keep it, according to Google. If you plan to run paid ads, the report on ChatGPT ads reaching 89 countries shows how fast that market is moving.

Free tools: What costs nothing before you commit

• Claude Free: chat, web search, file creation, up to 5 projects.
• Gemini Free: Flash-Lite, image generation, Deep Research, 15 GB of storage.
• HubSpot free CRM: 2 users, 300 emails a month.
• QuickBooks Free: 1 user, per its pricing page.
• Intercom: a 14-day trial, not a permanent free plan.

Free plans carry usage caps that vary with demand, so a tool that works for occasional drafting may run out during a busy week.

How to get started without wasting a month

1. List the three tasks that cost you the most time each week.
2. Match each task to one job above and pick one tool per job.
3. Start on the free plan or trial and run it on real work for two weeks.
4. Check any paid plan for per-seat, per-contact and per-resolution charges, and for promotional prices that expire.
5. Write down what the tool may and may not see: customer data, bank data, contracts.
6. Review the output before it goes out. The guide to prompt engineering courses lists free official material for better instructions.

Limits and things to know before you rely on any of it

Promotional prices end, so budget from the regular price. AI answers can be wrong, so financial figures, legal text and customer replies need a human check. Several features on these pages are labeled beta, including parts of the QuickBooks AI suite and the Claude Dashboards feature.

Check where your customer data goes and which plan keeps it out of model training; that depends on the product and plan and is set out in each maker’s own terms. Some organizations have blocked AI assistants outright on work computers, as in the case of Sweden’s Government Offices, so a clear internal rule is worth having even for a team of five.

Common questions