The Digital Owner

For people building real businesses online

AI & Tools

The AI Tools Small Business Owners Actually Pay For

Surveys show small businesses are using AI widely but spending carefully. Here is what the data says, and how to decide what deserves a subscription.

By The Digital Owner staff · 6 min

There is no shortage of AI tools. There is a shortage of AI tools worth paying for every month.

If you run a small online business, every subscription is a cost against margin. So it helps to know what other owners are actually doing, not what tool makers say they should do. Several surveys from 2024 and 2025 give a clear picture.

Use is common. Spending is modest.

In June 2025, Axios reported on a U.S. Bank survey of 1,000 small businesses, defined as companies with $25 million or less in annual revenue and 99 or fewer employees. It found 36% were already using generative AI, and another 21% expected to start within the year.

The spending figure is the interesting part. Among those using generative AI, 68% said they spent less than $50 a month on AI services. Axios noted that most small business use sits in free or entry-level tiers.

A smaller survey points the same way. Goldman Sachs' 10,000 Small Businesses program surveyed 239 participants in June 2024, with Babson College. Among businesses using AI, 33% paid nothing for it, 46% paid $500 or less a year, and 20% paid more than $500 a year.

Among small businesses using generative AI, 68% spent less than $50 a month on AI services.

Which tools they choose

The Goldman Sachs survey asked which AI tools small businesses use. OpenAI's ChatGPT led at 87%. QuickBooks from Intuit came second at 26%, and Google's Gemini third at 24%.

That lines up with wider data. Pew Research Center reported in June 2025 that 34% of U.S. adults had used ChatGPT, roughly double the share in 2023. Among working adults in Pew's survey, 28% said they had used it for tasks at work, up from 20% a year earlier.

The pattern is simple. Most owners start with one general assistant. Specialist tools come later, if at all.

What the paid tiers cost

Prices change, so check before you buy. As of this writing, Anthropic lists Claude Pro at $20 a month billed monthly, or $17 a month with an annual plan. Its Max plan starts at $100 a month for heavier use.

Midjourney, the image generator, lists four plans: Basic at $10, Standard at $30, Pro at $60 and Mega at $120 a month, with a 20% discount for paying yearly.

These figures matter because they show how quickly costs stack. One assistant and one image tool can sit comfortably under the $50 a month most small businesses report. Add a video tool, a transcription tool and a writing tool, and you are well past it.

Owners are worried about the right things

The Goldman Sachs survey also asked about concerns. Large majorities said they were somewhat or very concerned about privacy of business information (85%), cybersecurity (85%) and privacy of customer information (81%).

A 2025 report from Service Direct found that for sole proprietors, the biggest challenges were keeping up with AI developments (36%) and budget to pay for AI tools (31%).

Both concerns are reasonable. Before you paste customer data into a tool, read its data policy. Before you add a subscription, decide how you will measure whether it paid off.

A simple test for any AI subscription

Here is a practical way to decide what earns a place in your stack.

Start with one general assistant. The data suggests most owners get most of the value here. Learn it well before adding anything else.

Pay only for a specific job. A tool should replace a task you already do or a cost you already pay. If you cannot name the task, you do not need the tool.

Run a 30-day check. At the end of the first month, ask whether it saved time you would otherwise have spent, or produced work you would otherwise have paid for. If not, cancel.

Watch the data. Use business accounts where available, and keep sensitive customer information out of tools that do not clearly protect it.

Review every quarter. AI pricing and features move fast. A tool you needed six months ago may now be covered by the one you already pay for.

Where the money is better spent

Low spending on AI is not the same as low value. A $20 assistant that saves a few hours a week can be one of the best returns in a small business.

The risk runs the other way. Tool costs creep. A free trial becomes a monthly charge. A second tool overlaps with the first. Within a year, a business can be paying for several services that do roughly the same thing.

Keep a simple list of every AI subscription, its monthly cost, and the one job it does. If two tools share a job, keep the better one. If a tool has no job, cancel it.

The bottom line

The owners who get the most from AI are not the ones with the most subscriptions. They are the ones who picked a small number of tools, learned them properly, and tied each one to a real job in the business.

The surveys suggest most small businesses are being careful. That is not a lack of ambition. It is good management.

Sources