About this guide

Contents

1. Who it is for
2. How it is made
3. Ownership
4. Corrections

Lists of "AI tools for small business" tend to run to dozens of entries with a sentence each. This guide reviews fewer tools, compares them on the same published criteria, and says which job each one is for and which it is not.

Who it is for

Owners, general managers, office managers and finance leads at businesses of roughly 5 to 200 people: service firms, trades, clinics, agencies, distributors and shops. We assume there is no IT department and that whoever chooses the tool will also live with it.

How it is made

Every profile is built from the vendor's own published pages, its pricing and plan comparisons, and reputable public research such as the US Census Bureau's business surveys. Each fact carries a source with the date we opened it, and prices are shown in the currency the vendor's page displayed. The criteria are on the methodology page.

We update the main guide at least once a quarter, and sooner when a vendor changes prices or plans. Every page shows when it was last updated.

Ownership

This guide is published by the team behind OpenLazarus, one of the tools reviewed. OpenLazarus is assessed on the same published criteria as every other tool, its limits are stated as plainly, and the situation in which we rank it first is explained on the methodology page. Product names are used only to identify the tools compared; no vendor sponsors or endorses this guide.

Corrections

If a price, a feature or a ranking is wrong, tell us. We check the source, correct the page and record the change.

Further reading

• Guide · Choosing by jobAI tools for small business, organised by job"AI for small business" covers four different kinds of product. Matching the kind to the job is most of the decision, and it rules out most of the mistakes.
• Guide · Getting startedThe first 30 days with AI in a small businessOne job, one number, four weeks. A plan that keeps the first AI project small enough to finish and clear enough to judge.
• Guide · CostWhat AI costs a small business in 2026AI is sold per seat, per task, per credit and per company. The price that matters is the one that matches how your business will actually use it.