The best free AI agents for 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.

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 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.

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.

Companies already on Salesforce that want agents across service, sales and operations.

For companies already running on Salesforce, Agentforce is the most complete enterprise agent platform: deep CRM context, strong governance and agents across service, sales and operations. It's expensive, complex to price, and needs Salesforce expertise to set up well.

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.

Teams building custom voice agents for inbound or outbound calls.

Retell is one of the best voice agent platforms: natural calls, transparent per-minute pricing and deep configurability. It's a build-it-yourself platform, so non-technical owners will want a partner or a ready-made receptionist instead.

Developers who want full control over voice agents.

Vapi gives developers the most control over voice agents, with any model, voice and phone provider. It's built for developers; the costs are a stack of components, and compliance add-ons are pricey.

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.

Large organizations automating complex back-office processes across legacy systems.

UiPath is the heavyweight for automating complex, regulated back-office processes that mix legacy systems, robots and AI agents. It's powerful and well-governed, but expensive and implementation-heavy beyond the entry tier.

Teams running high-volume phone calls who can configure a voice platform.

Bland is a solid developer-oriented voice platform with simple per-minute pricing and higher concurrency on its paid tier. It's less turnkey for non-technical owners than a ready-made receptionist.

Growth and sales teams that want the best lead research and enrichment.

Clay is the strongest tool here for researching and enriching leads, and many sales teams build their outbound on it. It's a power tool for growth teams rather than an agent that runs outreach end to end, and costs climb quickly with actions and data credits.

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.

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.