The Best AI Tools for Small Businesses on a Budget

Enterprise AI tools cost $500-5000/month. Small businesses don't need them. Here's a complete AI stack for under $50/month total.

Customer communication: $0

ChatGPT free tier or Claude free tier — Draft customer emails, create FAQ responses, write product descriptions. You don't need a $49/month AI writing tool when the free chatbots handle 90% of business writing needs.

Tidio free tier — Add a chat widget to your website. The free tier handles basic customer questions automatically. Upgrade only if you're getting 50+ chats/month.

Marketing content: $13/month

Canva Pro ($13/mo) — This single tool replaces a graphic designer for most small business needs. Social media posts, flyers, business cards, presentations, and now AI image generation. The AI features (Magic Write, text-to-image) are included.

Don't buy separate tools for social media graphics, AI writing, and image generation. Canva does all three.

Social media: $0

Use Canva's content planner (included with Pro) for scheduling. Use Claude free tier to draft captions. Use Canva's templates for visuals. That's a complete social media workflow without a separate scheduling tool.

Website: $12-20/month

Durable ($12/mo) generates a complete business website in 30 seconds. For a local service business, this is genuinely all you need. It includes a CRM and invoicing too.

If you need more customization, 10Web ($10/mo) generates a WordPress site with AI. More flexible but requires more setup.

Bookkeeping: $0

Wave is free accounting software. It's not AI-powered, but it works. Don't pay for AI bookkeeping tools when free traditional software does the job.

Email marketing: $0

Mailchimp free tier — Up to 500 contacts and 1000 emails/month. AI subject line suggestions included. This is enough for most small businesses starting out.

Total: $25-33/month

That gives you: professional graphics, social media content, a website, customer chat, email marketing, and AI writing assistance. A year ago, this would have cost $300-500/month across separate tools.

The secret: don't buy specialized AI tools. Use general-purpose tools (Canva, Claude, ChatGPT free) that cover multiple needs. Specialized tools are for when you outgrow the general ones — and most small businesses never do.