💬 Category

Best AI Assistants AI tools for small business (2026)

General-purpose AI assistants are the first AI tool most small businesses should adopt. They draft emails, summarize documents, brainstorm marketing ideas, analyze spreadsheets and answer questions in plain language.

Quick picks

Our editors' starting points in AI Assistants, and who each one suits. Paid placements never appear in this list.

ChatGPT: Suits owners who want one assistant for writing, analysis and images.
Google Gemini: Suits businesses already on Google Workspace that want AI inside Gmail and Docs.
Microsoft Copilot: Suits teams on Microsoft 365, especially heavy Excel and Teams users.
Claude: Suits owners who write long documents or review contracts and want careful output.

AI Apps

ChatGPT

OpenAI

The most widely used general AI assistant for writing, research and analysis.

AI AppAI Assistants

Claude

Anthropic

A careful, high-quality AI assistant for writing, long documents and coding.

AI AppAI Assistants

Google Gemini

Google

Google's AI assistant, built into Gmail, Docs, Sheets and Meet.

AI AppAI Assistants

Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft

AI built into Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams and PowerPoint.

AI AppAI Assistants

Perplexity

Perplexity AI

An AI answer engine that searches the web and cites its sources.

AI AppAI Assistants

Muse for Small Business

Lindy

An AI teammate that works inside your team's Slack.

AI AppAI Assistants

GitHub Repos

LibreChat

A self-hosted team chat app that works with OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and local models.

GitHub RepoAI Assistants★ 46.1k

LobeHub

An open-source AI workspace for chatting with many models and running agents.

GitHub RepoAI Assistants★ 83.4k

Guides

AI Assistants: common questions

Which AI assistant is best for a small business?

ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Microsoft Copilot all handle everyday business writing and analysis well. Pick the one that fits your existing software: Gemini if you live in Google Workspace, Copilot if you use Microsoft 365, and ChatGPT or Claude if you want a standalone assistant with strong writing and reasoning.

Is it safe to put business data into an AI assistant?

Use a business or team plan, which typically excludes your data from model training and adds admin controls. Avoid pasting sensitive customer, health or payment data unless your plan and industry rules allow it, and read each vendor's current data-use policy.

Need help choosing ai assistants tools? Garner Digital Consulting sets up AI for small businesses.