Guides

The best AI agents for small business in 2026

A small business can start with an assistant it may already pay for, such as Claude, ChatGPT, Microsoft 365 Copilot or Gemini, which now act in the apps they connect to. For one high-volume job, such as support questions, an agent built for that job works inside the app you already use. We read each maker's own pages on November 8, 2026, and list what each agent does and what it costs.

By Amelia Cardona HernandezUpdated November 8, 2026Sources checked November 8, 20266 min read

How we picked

We chose agents a small business can switch on without a developer, from companies that publish what the agent does and what it costs. Each one takes actions, such as replying, booking or updating a record, beyond answering questions. Conecto is our product. It is listed last, because it supplies the business tools an agent works with.

Give this to your agent

Set up Conecto from https://conecto.chat/SKILL.md, then show me what you can run for our business.

Every tool and what it costs

The list at a glance

Agent	Job	Made by	Starts at
Claude with the Small Business plugin	Books, payroll preparation, leads and proposals	Anthropic	$17 a month on Pro, billed annually²
ChatGPT Business	Work across your apps, with always-on agents	OpenAI	€21 a seat a month, billed annually⁴
Microsoft 365 Copilot	Work inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams	Microsoft	$18 a user a month as an add-on, paid yearly⁵
Gemini in Google Workspace	Work inside Gmail, Docs and Meet	Google	€6.80 a user a month, with a one-year commitment⁶
Fin	Customer support	Intercom	$0.99 per outcome⁷
HubSpot customer agent	Support from your CRM	HubSpot	$0.50 per resolution, on Professional and Enterprise⁹
Shopify Sidekick	Running a Shopify store	Shopify	Included with your Shopify plan¹⁰
Lindy	Follow-ups, leads and admin	Lindy	$49.99 a month for 5,000 credits¹²
Zapier Agents	Work across 9,000+ apps	Zapier	Free for 400 activities a month¹⁴
Conecto	The business tools an agent works in	Conecto	$1.00 of credit, then pay per call¹⁵

ChatGPT and Google showed us euro prices. Their pages may show another currency where you are.

One assistant for many jobs

Claude with the Small Business plugin

Anthropic's Small Business plugin gives Claude ready-to-run workflows that you sign off on. Claude closes the books, forecasts cash, prepares payroll, writes reports and answers every lead with a proposal.¹ It connects to Intuit QuickBooks, HubSpot, Shopify, Stripe, Gusto, Canva and 25 more apps. By default nothing sends or pays without your OK, payroll waits for you to submit it, and Claude files nothing for you.¹ The plugin needs a Pro, Max, Ultra, Team or Enterprise plan,¹⁷ and Pro costs $17 a month billed annually, or $20 billed monthly.² Our list of the best Claude connectors covers the apps Claude can reach.

Good for: an owner who wants one assistant across the books, sales and marketing, with approval on every send.

ChatGPT Business

ChatGPT Business gives a team a shared workspace with company context, plugins and admin controls. Give ChatGPT Work a goal, and it gathers context, makes a plan, does the work and checks in when it needs your approval.³ In eligible markets, Premium seats add dots, always-on agents that keep working between conversations.³ A Standard seat costs €21 a month billed annually and a Premium seat €105, for teams of 2 to 200 people.⁴

Good for: a team that already works in ChatGPT and wants agents that keep going between chats.

Microsoft 365 Copilot

Copilot works inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams, with chat grounded in your work data and prebuilt agents for research and data analysis.⁵ Microsoft 365 Copilot Business, an add-on to a Microsoft 365 plan, was listed from $18 a user a month paid yearly, down from $21. Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot costs $23.50 a user a month, paid yearly.⁵

Good for: a business that runs on Outlook and Teams.

Gemini in Google Workspace

Google Workspace Business Starter includes the Gemini assistant in Gmail and a Gemini chat that doesn't use your company data to train models. Business Standard puts Gemini in Docs and Meet as well.⁶ Starter costs €6.80 a user a month with a one-year commitment, and the Business plans cover up to 300 users.⁶

Good for: a business that runs on Gmail and Google Docs.

Agents for one job

Fin, for customer support

Fin answers tickets, emails, live chat, WhatsApp and SMS. It can update other systems and transfer a conversation to your team, and it works with any help desk, including Salesforce and HubSpot.⁷ You pay $0.99 per outcome, such as a resolved question or a handoff you set up, with a minimum of 50 outcomes a month. A conversation passed to your team without an outcome costs nothing.⁷

Good for: a support inbox full of repeat questions.

HubSpot customer agent

HubSpot's customer agent answers questions, takes action in your CRM and hands off to your team with the full context. It also answers inbound phone calls.⁹ It needs HubSpot's Professional or Enterprise edition and runs on HubSpot Credits, at $0.50 per resolution in messaging and $0.50 a minute on the phone.⁹ HubSpot also offers prospecting, data and content agents built on the same CRM data.⁸

Good for: a business that already keeps its customers in HubSpot.

Shopify Sidekick

Sidekick is Shopify's AI assistant for running your store. It can stage storefront changes as a draft, test them with simulated shoppers and show you its recommendation to review.¹⁰ It is included with your Shopify plan, with features and limits that vary by plan, and each staff member uses it within their own admin permissions.¹⁰

Good for: an online store that sells on Shopify.

Lindy, for follow-ups and admin

Lindy plugs into your tools, learns how you work and takes on recurring jobs, such as chasing late invoices, answering leads and following up after client calls.¹¹ You start with $50 of free credits that last 7 days. The Team plan costs $49.99 a month for 5,000 credits.¹²

Good for: an owner buried in email and follow-ups.

Zapier Agents

Zapier Agents work across 9,000+ apps with your company's knowledge, on command or while you sleep.¹³ The free plan runs 400 activities a month, and Agents Pro costs $33.33 a month billed annually, for 1,500 activities.¹⁴

Good for: a business that already automates its work with Zapier.

The tools behind the agent

Conecto

Conecto is our product. It is the set of business tools an agent works in, among them a CRM, an inbox on your business's own subdomain, invoices, bookkeeping and a help desk, with 581 tools in 52 areas behind one MCP server.¹⁵ ChatGPT, Claude and Grok add it as a connector at https://api.conecto.chat/v1/mcp.¹⁶ Reading is free up to 1,000,000 reads a month, and a record change costs $0.01.¹⁵

Good for: a business with no CRM, books or help desk yet, whose assistant should run them. If you already pay for those apps, their own agents and connectors come first.

How to choose

Start with the assistant you already pay for. Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot and Gemini each act in the apps you connect.
Add an agent for one job where the volume is. Support questions go to Fin or HubSpot's customer agent. A Shopify store already has Sidekick.
Keep a person on sends and payments. Claude's plugin waits for your OK by default, and Fin transfers to your team.^1,7
Fill the gaps with tools. When the assistant has no CRM or books to work in, Conecto supplies them.

For the apps each assistant can reach, see the best Claude connectors and ChatGPT connectors.

Questions

What is the best AI agent for a small business?

It depends on where the work piles up. For the back office, Claude's Small Business plugin closes the books, prepares payroll and answers leads.¹ For support, Fin charges per resolved question,⁷ and a Shopify store already includes Sidekick.¹⁰

How much does an AI agent cost a small business?

Zapier Agents has a free plan, Claude Pro costs $17 a month billed annually, and Microsoft 365 Copilot Business starts at $18 a user a month.^14,2,5 Support agents charge per outcome: $0.99 on Fin and $0.50 per resolution on HubSpot.^7,9

Can an AI agent send emails or payments without me?

Claude's Small Business plugin sends and pays nothing without your OK by default.¹ ChatGPT Work checks in when it needs your approval.³

Is my business data used to train the models?

Anthropic says it doesn't train on business data on Team and Enterprise plans by default.¹ OpenAI says ChatGPT Business data is never used for training,³ and Google says Gemini chat in Workspace doesn't use your company data to train models.⁶

Sources

We read these pages on November 8, 2026. Each number in the guide links to the page behind that sentence.

Conecto publishes this guide and sells business tools for AI agents. How we write our guides. To report a mistake, write to hello@conecto.chat.

Written by Amelia Cardona Hernandez, Co-founder of Conecto. LinkedIn