The best AI agents for small business

Small businesses that want one agent to handle customers, marketing and admin.

For a small business, Crevio does the most work with the least setup. It fully covers nine of the ten jobs we track, more than any other agent here, from support and the phone line to marketing and back office, and it starts from a plain-English description of your business rather than a flow you have to build. It asks before consequential actions and keeps a record of what it did. The tradeoffs are usage-based credits, a 2.5% fee on sales you take through it, and a smaller review footprint than the big automation platforms.

Teams on Slack or Teams that want an AI coworker across their existing tools.

Viktor is the best AI employee for a team that already runs on Slack or Teams. It reaches almost any tool, works on a schedule, and has excellent reviews, with no per-seat fees. It doesn't answer your customers on a phone line or run a storefront, and usage-based credits get expensive on long tasks.

Teams that want a top general agent for research, writing and analysis.

Claude is one of the strongest general agents for research, writing, analysis and multi-step knowledge work, with team and enterprise plans. Like ChatGPT, it works when you ask rather than running your business in the background.

Small and mid-size sales teams that want data, outreach and AI in one affordable tool.

Apollo is the best-value sales agent stack for most teams: a big contact database, outreach and AI features at prices a small team can afford. Its AI assists reps more than it replaces them.

Teams that want a capable general agent for research and one-off tasks.

Most businesses already pay for ChatGPT, and its agent mode is a capable, cheap way to hand off research and one-off tasks. It works when you ask rather than running your business in the background, and it doesn't answer your customers or your phone.

Busy owners who want an AI assistant for inbox, calendar, meetings and calls.

Lindy is an excellent AI executive assistant for inbox, calendar, meetings and phone, with top G2 ratings and strong compliance. It's built around your day rather than your customers' journey, so marketing and selling still need other tools.

Solo owners who want cheap, role-based help with inbox, social, leads and phone.

Marblism is the best value here: seven role-based AI employees, including a phone receptionist, for $24 a month on annual billing, with unlimited businesses. Each role is shallower than a specialist tool, and a 50-hour monthly cap limits heavy use.

Businesses already on Zapier that want AI steps across their apps.

If your business already runs on Zapier, its agents are the easiest way to add AI to work across your apps. Setup is approachable and the app catalog is unmatched. Agents still lean on you to design the job, they don't answer phones or run marketing on their own, and costs split between tasks and agent activities.

Small online stores that want an AI agent in their website chat.

Lyro is the easiest and cheapest way for a small store to put an AI agent on its website chat. Setup takes minutes and there's a real free tier. It's a support agent only, and its conversation quotas are small at the entry price.

Businesses with real support volume that want resolutions, not just replies.

Fin is the most proven AI support agent available to smaller teams, with outcome-based pricing that only charges when it resolves something. It does one job, support, and does it well. It won't market, sell or run your back office.

Ecommerce stores that want AI answering order and return questions.

For online stores, Gorgias is the most practical support agent: it knows orders and returns, sits inside a helpdesk made for ecommerce, and publishes its prices. Costs climb because each AI interaction also counts as a ticket.

Small B2B teams testing autonomous outbound without a big contract.

AiSDR is the most accessible autonomous outbound agent: no monthly fee to start and a price per prospect. It's email-first and best for small B2B teams testing AI outbound.

Budget-conscious support teams that want a helpdesk with an AI agent.

Freshdesk is the value pick for teams that want a full helpdesk with an AI agent at lower seat prices than Zendesk. You pay per session whether or not it resolves anything, so watch your resolution rate.

Local service businesses that miss calls on the job.

Goodcall is one of the easiest AI receptionists for a local business, and per-caller pricing makes long calls a non-issue. It's a receptionist, not a full voice platform or business agent.

Solo owners and small businesses that can't always answer the phone.

Rosie is a low-cost AI receptionist for small businesses, with a free trial and plans from $49. Like Goodcall, it handles the phone and nothing else.

Support teams that need a full helpdesk plus AI agents in one place.

Zendesk pairs a full helpdesk with AI agents and per-resolution pricing, which makes it the safest choice for support teams that need ticketing, routing and analytics as much as automation. Seats plus resolutions plus Copilot add up.

Budget-minded teams comfortable with visual automation.

Make is the cheapest serious automation platform with AI agents built in, and its visual builder is powerful. Agents are still in beta, AI steps are billed by tokens, and someone has to design the scenarios.

Sales teams that want AI research, writing and dialing for prospecting.

Regie now offers a low-cost entry to AI prospecting alongside its enterprise packages. Its pricing has changed several times, so confirm current terms before you buy.

Sellers and small teams automating browser and prospecting chores.

Bardeen is a cheap, practical tool for automating repetitive browser and prospecting tasks. It's narrower than a full automation platform and best for individual sellers and small teams.

Businesses that want a website AI agent trained on their own content.

Chatbase is a simple way to put a custom-trained AI agent on your website. It lacks a real helpdesk, and message-credit pricing gets expensive at higher tiers.

Small teams that want custom agents for recurring back-office tasks.

CREAO is a flexible, affordable way to automate recurring back-office work, with a real ongoing free tier. It assumes you already have your stack and customers; it won't answer phones or run marketing for you.

Marketing teams producing lots of on-brand content.

Jasper is a strong choice for on-brand marketing content at scale, especially for marketing teams. It writes the content; publishing, ads and follow-up stay with you or other tools.

Owners who mainly need social media and email content produced for them.

Sintra is an easy, inexpensive content team for social media and email. Its 250 monthly credits run out quickly, its refund terms are narrower than advertised, and Trustpilot withholds its rating over review incentives.

Operators who already pay for Claude or ChatGPT and want a controlled AI workspace.

Squad offers strong controls and a flat price for running AI teammates on your own AI subscription. The true cost is $99 plus a $100 to $200 model subscription, there's no trial, and it doesn't face your customers.

Builders who want a general agent for one-off research and build projects.

Manus is a capable general agent for one-off projects. It doesn't keep working on your business in the background, and its Trustpilot reviews are among the worst here, mostly over billing and support.