6 free AI tools for small business owners
ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, NotebookLM, Canva and CapCut: what each one can do for your shop or small company, and how far the free plan goes.
Many business owners assume AI is for big companies with an IT team and a budget. That is no longer true. Most popular AI tools have a free plan, work in your own language, and using them is as simple as typing a question, the same way you send a chat message.
This article covers the 6 tools we find most useful for small businesses: shops, restaurants, workshops, and service companies of 5–50 people. For each one you will learn what it does, a concrete example from day-to-day work, and how far the free plan goes.
Before you start: what do you need?
- A phone or computer with an Internet connection. It doesn't need to be powerful.
- A Google (Gmail) account. Most of the tools below let you sign in with it, so there is no new password to remember.
- 15 minutes to experiment. No studying needed. Ask, look at the result, then ask again more precisely.
About "free": every free plan has limits, such as a number of images per day or files you can upload. For everyday writing tasks, the free limits are usually enough. The exact numbers change often, so we don't quote them here. When you hit a limit, the tool tells you, and you can carry on the next day.
1. ChatGPT: an all-round writing assistant
What it's for: replying to customers, writing social media posts, product descriptions and emails, brainstorming promotions, translating.
Example: type "Write a polite message apologising to a customer for a one-day delivery delay and offering 10% off their next order". In under 10 seconds you have a draft to tweak and send.
How far the free plan goes: enough for everyday chatting and writing. Image generation, file uploads and advanced features are limited.
Where: chatgpt.com, or the "ChatGPT" app on your phone (make sure the developer is OpenAI).
ChatGPT is the tool we recommend starting with, so it has its own step-by-step guide.
2. Google Gemini: Google's AI assistant
What it's for: much like ChatGPT (questions, writing), with the added advantage of working with the Google tools many businesses already use: Gmail, Google Drive, Google Docs.
Example: take a photo of a handwritten price list and ask Gemini to "turn this into a clean table". Or send a short voice recording and ask for the key points.
How far the free plan goes: free with a Google account. Usage is capped and resets after a while, and audio or video uploads are limited to short clips.
Where: gemini.google.com or the "Gemini" app. Many Android phones already have it installed.
See our complete Gemini guide, with 5 ready-made prompts.
3. Microsoft Copilot: answers with sources
What it's for: searching the web and summarising what it finds, with links to the sources so you can check them. Good for questions that need current information: regulations, procedures, market trends.
Example: "Summarise the steps to register a small business online, with links to the official sources". Read the summary, then click through to verify.
How far the free plan goes: chatting and web search are free. Sign in with a Microsoft account to keep your history and unlock extras such as image creation. The free version is not built into Word or Excel.
Where: copilot.microsoft.com, the "Copilot" app, or the Copilot button in the Edge browser and Windows.
Step by step: our Microsoft Copilot guide.
Note: for legal, tax or insurance questions, always read the official source or ask your accountant or lawyer. AI can summarise incorrectly or use outdated information.
4. NotebookLM: reads long documents for you
What it's for: you add your own documents (PDFs, Word files, Google Docs, web links) and ask questions about them. NotebookLM answers only from the documents you provide and shows which passage it used, so it makes things up far less often than a general chatbot.
Examples:
- Upload your company rules or staff handbook, then ask "How many days of leave do employees on probation get?".
- Upload a supplier's catalogue, then ask "Compare these 3 models by price and power".
- Generate an audio summary, which sounds like two people discussing your document, to listen to while driving. Many languages are supported.
How far the free plan goes: free with a Google account. You get plenty of notebooks, each holding dozens of documents.
Where: notebooklm.google.com or the "NotebookLM" app. In July 2026 Google renamed NotebookLM Gemini Notebook; it works the same way.
Step by step: our NotebookLM guide.
5. Canva: images, posters and social posts
What it's for: making promotional images, posters, menus, business cards and Facebook covers from thousands of ready-made templates, with drag and drop. Canva's AI features help write ad copy and generate images from a description.
Example: search for a "sale" template, change the text to "20% off this weekend", switch the colours to match your logo, download and post. About 10 minutes, no designer needed.
How far the free plan goes: the free plan has a huge template library and covers basic needs. AI features have a monthly usage limit. Templates and features marked with a crown belong to the paid Pro plan.
Where: canva.com or the "Canva" app.
Step by step: our Canva guide.
6. CapCut: short videos for TikTok and Reels
What it's for: editing videos shot on your phone, adding music, text and effects for TikTok, Facebook Reels and YouTube Shorts.
Example: film 5 short clips of how you bake a cake and stitch them into a 30-second video with background music and captions.
How far the free plan goes: basic editing is free. Recently many AI features, such as automatic subtitles, have been reduced to a handful of free uses and moved mostly to the paid plan, and some exports may carry a watermark. Of the tools on this list, CapCut's free plan has shrunk the most.
Where: the "CapCut" app or capcut.com.
Step by step: our CapCut guide to sales videos.
Quick guide: which tool for which job?
| What you need to do | Tool to try |
|---|---|
| Reply to customers, write posts and emails | ChatGPT or Gemini |
| Find current information online, with sources | Copilot |
| Read and ask questions about long contracts, rules, catalogues | NotebookLM |
| Make promotional images, posters, menus | Canva |
| Make short social media videos | CapCut |
| Translate messages for foreign customers | ChatGPT or Gemini |
3 safety rules for using AI
- Don't share sensitive information. Never paste ID numbers, bank account numbers, passwords, customer lists with phone numbers, or payroll into these tools. If you need help with such a document, replace real details with placeholders like "Customer A" or "Employee B".
- Always read before you send. AI writes fast but sometimes gets numbers or prices wrong, or invents convincing-sounding facts. You are responsible for the final message.
- Beware of fake apps. Only install from the App Store or Google Play and check the developer name (OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Canva, ByteDance). Don't buy "cheap shared AI accounts" from strangers: you risk losing money and exposing your data.
Where to start?
Don't install all 6 at once. A plan for this week:
- Today: open ChatGPT or Gemini and ask it to rewrite a message you are about to send a customer.
- During the week: give the AI one writing task a day that you usually do yourself: a post, a quote, an email.
- At the weekend: look back at how much time you saved. If it helped, try Canva or NotebookLM next.
Ready to start? Read our step-by-step ChatGPT guide for business owners, with prompt templates you can copy and use straight away.
Free plan details checked in October 2026. AI companies change their plans often, so check each tool's official website.