Last updated on
September 30, 2025
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13 Best AI Tools for Small Business in 2025

Discover folk - the CRM for people-powered businesses

Small Business B2B teams chase outcomes with limited time and budgets. AI tools now handle repeatable work across sales, support, marketing, HR, and finance so a lean team ships faster and makes fewer errors.

An AI tool for Small Business solves one job end to end with minimal setup. It connects to core systems like email, calendar, chat, and accounting. It automates routine steps, improves data quality, and delivers measurable time savings at an accessible price.

Selection centers on impact. Shorter sales cycles, cleaner data, and consistent follow up come first. Ease of onboarding, integration depth, pricing clarity, security, and vendor momentum complete the criteria.

13 Best AI Tools for Small Business in 2025: Features, Pricing, Rating!

1. folk CRM

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (G2)

Overview

folk is an AI first CRM for small teams. It unifies contacts, email, WhatsApp conversations, and LinkedIn capture in one place to keep pipeline current and searchable. AI Fields enrich records and maintain data quality. AI Sequences draft, schedule, and track outreach for consistent follow up. The folkX Chrome extension saves prospects from the web in a click and enriches them instantly, turning browsing into qualified pipeline.

Pros

  • Fast setup and simple UI for small teams
  • Chrome extension captures from LinkedIn, Gmail, and across the web
  • WhatsApp CRM syncs messages and attaches conversations to contacts and deals
  • AI enrichment and AI fields improve data quality and actionability

Cons

  • Advanced analytics and some enterprise controls newer than larger suites
  • Smaller ecosystem than legacy CRMs, may need Zapier or Make for niche workflows

Pricing

  • Standard: $20 per member per month
  • Premium: $40 per member per month
  • Custom: from $80 per member per month

👉 Try folk CRM for free

2. Grammarly

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (G2)

Overview

Grammarly is an AI writing and communication assistant for sales, support, and ops. It improves clarity and tone in emails, proposals, help-center replies, and internal docs and provides rewrites, autocomplete, snippets, brand tones, and style guides so messages stay on brand across Gmail, Outlook, Chrome, and desktop apps. Useful to standardize client-facing writing when the team is small and deadlines are tight.

Pros

  • Speeds up drafting with strong rewrites and autocomplete
  • Central style guide, brand tones, and snippets for consistent voice
  • Works in tools already adopted by small businesses
  • Admin console with roles, usage insights, and policy controls

Cons

  • Not a knowledge base; needs pairing with docs or CRM notes for source context
  • Over-corrections can appear on legal or technical copy; human review required
  • Offline coverage limited

Pricing

  • Pro: $12 per member per month  $144 per member per year  up to 149 seats
  • Enterprise: custom pricing with SSO, advanced admin, DLP, and audit controls

3. Notion AI

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (G2)

Overview

Workspace for docs, wikis, and SOPs with an AI add on that drafts, summarizes, and restructures content directly inside pages. Small teams capture processes once, turn them into templates, and keep everyone aligned. AI speeds up first drafts, cleans meeting notes, and turns messy bullets into clear action lists. Databases connect docs to owners, deadlines, and status so nothing drifts.

Pros

  • Central hub for playbooks, checklists, and project notes
  • AI helps outline, rewrite, and summarize without switching tools
  • Databases link tasks, owners, and docs for simple governance
  • Templates make onboarding and repeat processes faster

Cons

  • Complex workspaces need conventions to stay tidy
  • Offline editing limited for heavy travel use
  • AI quality improves with good prompts and clean inputs

Pricing

  • Plus: $8 per user per month  $96 per user per year
  • Business: $15 per user per month  $180 per user per year
  • Notion AI add on: $8 per member per month  $96 per member per year on eligible plans

4. Zapier

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (G2)

Overview

Zapier connects the stack so a small team moves data without copy paste. Build multi-step workflows, add AI steps for enrichment or drafting, and route leads or tickets automatically. Copilot helps design and fix automations. Tables and Interfaces keep lightweight data and forms in one place. Agents can handle repeat requests when volume spikes.

Pros

  • Fast to launch automations that cut admin across CRM, support, and marketing
  • Branching, webhooks, and multi-step logic cover most small-business flows
  • Interfaces and Tables remove the need for a separate forms app or mini database
  • AI steps summarize emails, enrich records, and generate replies at scale

Cons

  • Task-based billing needs monitoring as usage grows
  • Some governance and SSO features sit on higher tiers
  • Complex flows still benefit from a clear internal owner

Pricing

  • Professional: starts at $19.99/month billed annually
  • Team: starts at $69/month billed annually
  • Agents (Pro): $33.33/month billed annually for up to 1,500 activities

5. Canva Magic Studio

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (G2)

Overview

Create on-brand visuals fast. Magic Studio drafts layouts, resizes for every channel, removes backgrounds, expands images, and writes first-pass copy so a small team ships ads, carousels, and docs without a designer on call. Brand Kits lock fonts, colors, and logos. Templates keep output consistent across sales decks, one-pagers, and social.

Pros

  • Fast asset creation for campaigns, decks, and socials
  • Magic Resize, Background Remover, and Expand save hours weekly
  • Brand Kits and templates enforce consistency across the team
  • Works for non-designers; short learning curve

Cons

  • Heavy brand control needs disciplined templates and approvals
  • Advanced photo/illustration work still belongs in pro tools
  • Stock usage requires guidelines to avoid generic looks

Pricing

  • Pro: $119.99 per user per year
  • Teams: $300 per year for the first 5 users, then $60 per additional user per year

6. Loom AI

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (G2)

Overview

Record a quick walkthrough, hit stop, and let AI clean it up. Loom drafts titles, summaries, and chapters, trims silence and filler words, and turns a rough take into a clear explainer. Sales sends short demos that feel personal. Support answers once and reuses the clip. Ops documents a process in minutes. Strong fit for small businesses because async video replaces meetings, speeds replies, and scales know-how without adding headcount.

Pros

  • Faster than live calls for handoffs and customer updates
  • Auto titles, summaries, chapters, and filler-word removal improve clarity
  • Easy sharing in email and chat; viewer insights show who watched
  • Unlimited recording time on paid plans keeps clips natural and complete

Cons

  • Large libraries need simple naming rules to stay tidy
  • Deep edits still require a full video editor
  • Best results on desktop; mobile capture is more limited

Pricing

  • Business: $15 per user per month  $180 per user per year
  • Business + AI: $20 per user per month  $240 per user per year
  • Enterprise: custom

7. Slack AI

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (G2)

Overview

Slack AI keeps work moving in the tool a small team already uses. Ask natural-language questions across channels and DMs, get instant summaries of long threads, and draft replies without leaving the conversation. Recaps turn meetings and busy channels into short, scannable updates, and search answers pull the relevant message instead of a long results list. Strong fit for small businesses because it compresses communication time and reduces context-switching without adding another app!

Pros

  • Thread and channel summaries save hours each week
  • Natural-language search answers the question, not just show hits
  • Draft-reply assistance keeps tone and clarity consistent
  • Works on top of existing Slack channels, no new workflows to learn

Cons

  • Requires a paid Slack plan; add-on cost applies per user
  • Best results when channels and naming conventions are tidy
  • Heavy compliance needs may still require exports and external archiving

Pricing

  • Slack AI add-on: $10 per user per month billed annually, on top of a paid Slack plan
  • Slack Pro or Business+: billed annually per user, price varies by plan

8. Microsoft Copilot for 365

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (G2)

Overview

Copilot lives inside the Microsoft apps a small team already uses. Draft emails in Outlook, summarize meetings in Teams, build first pass decks in PowerPoint, analyze spreadsheets in Excel, and ask questions across files and chats. It fits small businesses because it compresses daily work where it already happens so the team saves time without adding another tool.

Pros

  • Email drafting and rewriting in Outlook with tone controls
  • Meeting and chat summaries in Teams for faster catch ups
  • Excel analysis that suggests formulas, flags trends, and explains results
  • Works with existing Microsoft security and admin policies

Cons

  • Requires eligible Microsoft 365 licenses for each user
  • Quality depends on clean files and solid meeting hygiene
  • Change management needed so the team actually adopts it

Pricing

  • Copilot for Microsoft 365: $30 per user per month billed annually
  • Requires Microsoft 365 Business Standard or Business Premium for each seat

9. ClickUp Brain

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (G2)

Overview

ClickUp Brain works inside tasks, docs, and chat to draft updates, summarize threads, create subtasks, and answer questions about work already stored in ClickUp, which fits small businesses because one workspace runs projects and knowledge while AI removes handoff friction so a lean team ships faster without adding tools.

Pros

  • Drafts task updates, comments, and doc sections in context
  • Summarizes long threads and meetings into clear action lists
  • Converts notes into subtasks with owners and due dates
  • Lives where planning, writing, and tracking already happen

Cons

  • Best results require clean task names and clear assignees
  • Complex workflows still need simple internal conventions
  • External knowledge bases require links back to ClickUp docs

Pricing

  • Unlimited plan: $7 per user per month billed annually
  • Business plan: $12 per user per month billed annually
  • Brain add on: $5 per user per month billed annually on eligible plans

10. Typeform

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (G2)

Overview

Typeform turns lead capture into short, conversational flows with AI that drafts questions, scores answers, and routes submissions to the right place, which fits small businesses because completion rates rise and qualification happens automatically without babysitting yet another tool.

Pros

  • Conversational UX lifts completion on cold and paid traffic
  • AI question drafts, logic, and scoring save setup time
  • Conditional routing prioritizes sales follow up
  • Native handoffs to CRM, email, and spreadsheets keep ops simple

Cons

  • Heavy customization can slow pages if embeds aren’t optimized
  • Complex branching still benefits from a clear flowchart first
  • Response limits apply by plan, monitor usage during campaigns

Pricing

  • Basic: $25 per month billed annually
  • Plus: $50 per month billed annually
  • Business: $83 per month billed annually
  • Enterprise: custom pricing

11. Airtable

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (G2)

Overview

Airtable turns spreadsheets into a shared ops database with AI that summarizes records, classifies text, extracts fields, and drafts content inside the same tables and interfaces, which fits small businesses because one place handles projects, requests, and simple apps without hiring a developer or juggling extra tools.

Pros

  • Tables, forms, and interfaces cover projects, CRM-lite, inventory, and intake
  • AI fields summarize, categorize, extract, and generate text in context
  • Automations move data between tools and cut copy-paste
  • Views and permissions keep client work separate while reporting stays simple

Cons

  • Complex schemas need a clear owner and naming rules
  • Heavy analytics still require a BI tool
  • Record limits and automation quotas matter as usage grows

Pricing

  • Team: $20 per user per month billed annually
  • Business: $45 per user per month billed annually
  • Enterprise Scale: custom pricing
  • AI usage: monthly AI credits included on paid plans; allotments scale by tier

12. Gemini for Google Workspace

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (G2)

Overview

Gemini lives inside Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Meet, and Chat to draft, summarize, analyze, and pull answers from Drive, which fits small businesses because it speeds daily work in tools already used so the team saves time without adding another app.

Pros

  • Drafts and rewrites in Gmail and Docs with tone controls
  • Meet summaries, action items, and translation reduce post-call admin
  • Sheets helps structure, classify, and analyze data with natural-language prompts
  • Works with existing Workspace security and admin policies

Cons

  • Requires eligible Workspace licenses for each user
  • Output quality depends on clean files and meeting hygiene
  • Adoption needs simple internal guidelines so teams actually use it

Pricing

  • Included with eligible Google Workspace Business and Enterprise plans; no separate Gemini add-on required
  • Billing: per user, per month, charged annually at the underlying Workspace plan rate (regional pricing varies)

13. Descript

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (G2

Overview

Descript turns recordings into editable transcripts so a small team cuts, cleans, and ships videos fast with AI that removes filler words, shortens silences, enhances audio, and offers voice clone for quick pick ups, which fits small businesses because one person produces demos, tutorials, and social clips without a full post production stack.

Pros

  • Edit by text to trim mistakes and tighten takes
  • Studio Sound, eye contact correction, and green screen lift production quality
  • Auto captions and brand presets keep assets consistent
  • Screen recorder plus multitrack timeline covers demos, podcasts, and clips

Cons

  • Advanced color grading and complex VFX still require a pro editor
  • Long projects benefit from strict naming and version control
  • Voice clone needs clear consent and brand policy

Pricing

  • Hobbyist: $24 per user per month
  • Creator: $35 per user per month
  • Enterprise: custom pricing

13 Best AI Tools for Small Business: Quick Recap!

Tool Tool type Rating Starting price*
folk CRM AI CRM designed for small businesses, agencies, startup founders ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ $20/user/mo (annual)
Grammarly AI writing assistant for teams ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ $12/user/mo (annual)
Notion AI AI for docs, wikis, SOPs ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ $8/user/mo (Plus) + $8 AI add-on
Zapier AI automation and orchestration ⭐⭐⭐⭐ $19.99/mo (Professional, annual)
Canva Magic Studio AI design for marketing assets ⭐⭐⭐⭐ $119.99/user/yr (Pro)
Loom AI AI video messaging and explainers ⭐⭐⭐⭐ $15/user/mo (Business, annual)
Slack AI AI summaries, answers, drafting in Slack ⭐⭐⭐⭐ $10/user/mo add-on (annual)
Microsoft Copilot for 365 AI inside Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel ⭐⭐⭐⭐ $30/user/mo (annual)
ClickUp Brain AI for tasks, docs, projects ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ $7/user/mo (Unlimited, annual) + $5 add-on
Typeform AI forms and lead capture ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ $25/mo (Basic, annual)
Airtable AI ops database and lightweight apps ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ $20/user/mo (Team, annual)
Gemini for Google Workspace AI in Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Meet ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Included with eligible plans
Descript AI video editing for marketing and support ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ $12/user/mo (Creator, annual)

* Annual billing where applicable. All prices in USD.

👉 Try folk CRM for free

Conclusion

Small businesses need fast setup, clean data, clear pricing, and automation that saves hours across sales and ops. AI tools now address these needs directly and drive measurable growth.

For CRM, folk is the best fit. Contacts, messages, and pipeline stay in one place, while AI fields and sequences keep data accurate and outreach consistent.

Round out the stack with a few focused picks: Canva Magic Studio for on brand visuals, Loom AI for reusable video explainers, Slack AI for summaries and quick answers, and Zapier to route data across tools without copy paste. Lightweight, integrated, and built for lean teams.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best AI CRM for small business?

folk. It centralizes contacts, messages, and pipeline, then uses AI fields and sequences to keep data clean and outreach consistent. Setup stays light, pricing is simple, and the Chrome extension captures prospects in a click. Ideal for small B2B teams that need results fast.

How should a small business choose AI tools?

Start with impact on revenue and hours saved. Prioritize fast setup, native integrations with email and calendar, clear annual pricing, and strong data controls. Add tools that solve one job end to end, not suites you will not use.

Do AI tools replace headcount or support a lean team?

They support the team. AI drafts, summarizes, enriches, and routes. Humans decide, build relationships, and close deals. The right mix reduces admin and raises consistency without adding seats.

What budget makes sense for a lean AI stack?

Plan a core CRM plus three to five focused tools. Most start between $50 and $150 per user per month on annual billing depending on categories like automation, forms, docs, and video. Track usage and consolidate overlapping features to keep costs predictable.

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