Use cases
AI assistants for small business: 6 options compared
Choose an assistant around one repeated job and the software that already holds its context. The right option for proposals may be wrong for email, internal knowledge, or desktop automation.
Try this exact task
“Here are my discovery notes. Make the client proposal.”
Try one real job before buying seats for a team. The staged prompt opens as a draft and asks for editable proposal files without promising that the first pass is final.
- Discovery notes
- Offer and pricing
- Past proposal
- Editable DOCX
- Client PDF
- Open questions
Use the complete prompt
Turn my client discovery notes into a proposal. Ask me for the notes, offer, pricing, scope, exclusions, timeline, proof, and a past proposal if I have one. Separate facts from assumptions, flag open questions, and deliver an editable DOCX plus a client-ready PDF.
Six AI assistants compared for small business
Price and fit
| Assistant | Starts at | Strongest fit |
|---|---|---|
| OpenCraft | $0/month | Finished files on demand |
| ChatGPT Business | $40/month minimum | General team work |
| Claude Team | $40/month minimum | Claude and computer workflows |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot | $30/user + M365 plan | Microsoft 365 |
| Gemini in Workspace | $14/user/month | Gmail, Docs, and Drive |
| Notion Agent | $20/user/month | Notion knowledge and workflows |
Prices are current US list prices on August 24, 2026, checked against the vendor pages for OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, Google, and Notion. Annual billing, minimum seats, base plans, included limits, and usage credits can change the real bill.
What each option is actually good at
OpenCraft
Choose it for: occasional research, analysis, and downloadable files with direct model choice.
Catch: no desktop control, schedules, or enterprise administration. An account is required to add credit.
ChatGPT Business
Choose it for: broad hosted work, shared GPTs, files, analysis, and a familiar team workspace.
Catch: two-seat minimum and additional agent credits after eligible included usage.
Claude Team
Choose it for: Claude, Cowork, local file work, connectors, and organization controls.
Catch: two-seat minimum. Cowork work consumes the included allowance faster than ordinary chat.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Choose it for: Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, and tenant-governed company data.
Catch: requires a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan. Copilot Cowork usage is billed through separate credits.
Gemini in Google Workspace
Choose it for: work already centered on Gmail, Drive, Docs, Meet, and Sheets.
Catch: the quoted price is the underlying Workspace plan, not a standalone general-purpose agent.
Notion Agent
Choose it for: company knowledge, databases, and processes already maintained in Notion.
Catch: it is most valuable inside Notion, and additional agent work can use separate credits.
Start with jobs, not a chatbot
A useful assistant produces work
An AI assistant for small business earns its place when it completes a bounded job. Ask it to turn five customer interviews into a decision memo. Give it a sales brief and request a proposal. Attach a CSV and ask for a weekly operating report with a chart. The output has an owner, a format, and a definition of done.
Generic prompting creates generic prose. Start with the decision or artifact you need, then work backward to the inputs. If the job ends in a presentation, use a workflow built for an editable deck. Our guide to an AI pitch deck generator shows what that process looks like.
Test one job before buying the team plan
Give every candidate the same discovery notes, service description, price sheet, and past proposal. Ask for the same editable DOCX and client PDF. Record setup time, missing facts caught, factual corrections, revision count, elapsed time, and total cost. The test is imperfect, but it exposes more than a feature checklist.
Run workflows an owner repeats
Turn lead research into a proposal
Start with a prospect's site, your service menu, past proposal, and discovery notes. Ask the assistant to separate facts from assumptions, identify missing information, and draft a short proposal. The final deliverable should include the problem, scope, exclusions, timeline, evidence, and next step.
Review prices and commitments yourself. The assistant can organize the argument, but it should not invent a case study or decide what you can deliver. Save the approved proposal as the starting point for the next client instead of rebuilding the prompt from memory.
Turn weekly numbers into decisions
Give the assistant exports from the systems you already use. Ask it to calculate changes, flag anomalies, build one clear chart, and write three recommended actions. A retailer might combine weekly sales, inventory, returns, and ad spend. A consultancy might combine leads, pipeline stages, utilization, and unpaid invoices.
| Job | Bring | Get |
|---|---|---|
| Sales proposal | Notes + offer | DOCX + PDF |
| Weekly review | CSV + targets | Chart + memo |
| Customer research | Interviews + reviews | Themes + actions |
| Launch brief | Notes + proof | Plan + deck |
Give the assistant a source packet
Use a compact operating brief
A good source packet beats a clever prompt. Include your objective, audience, constraints, glossary, approved facts, examples, and output format. Add the files that carry the real context. Keep each instruction testable. “Write a two-page proposal for the owner” is useful. “Make it amazing” is not.
OpenCraft can keep the research and resulting artifacts in one continuous thread. You can start the work from the OpenCraft workspace and inspect available model capabilities in the model directory.
Treat sources as inputs, not decoration
Ask the assistant to attach every material claim to a supplied source or mark it as an assumption. Check links and calculations before the work leaves your business. NIST's 2024 generative AI profile calls out confident falsehoods as a core risk, including invented logic and citations.
“generate and confidently present erroneous or false content”
NIST Generative AI Profile, 2024
Choose models by task
Route work deliberately
No model wins every job. One model may extract tables cleanly, another may write tighter copy, and another may reason better over a long source packet. Image, video, and code generation need different capabilities again. Compare context limits, input support, tool use, and price before you standardize on a model.
OpenCraft lets you switch among models in the same conversation. That makes a simple pattern possible. Use a fast, lower-cost model for extraction. Move to a stronger reasoning model for the decision. Use a generation model only when the artifact requires it.
Keep the context in one thread
Copying results between unrelated chats drops source history and makes review harder. Keep the original brief, corrections, chosen direction, and final files together. When you switch models, tell the new model what is fixed, what remains open, and what it must verify.
If you are comparing workspace approaches, read the Claude Cowork alternative analysis and the Claude Cowork pricing guide.
Install controls before you scale
Set review gates
The U.S. Small Business Administration recommends human review and warns against feeding sensitive or proprietary information into AI tools without appropriate safeguards. Put that advice into the workflow. Name the person who approves financial figures, legal language, customer claims, and publication.
- Remove passwords, keys, and unnecessary personal data.
- Lock approved numbers and contract language before editing.
- Require links for external claims and recalculate important math.
- Keep the source file and compare it with the final artifact.
- Record the model, cost, reviewer, and final decision.
Measure output, not message count
Track minutes to an approved deliverable, revision count, factual corrections, and cost per completed workflow. Compare those numbers with your old process. If quality falls or review time grows, stop. The assistant is not saving time if you spend the afternoon repairing confident errors.
Start with one weekly workflow. Make it boring and repeatable. Then browse the other OpenCraft use cases for the next job worth standardizing.
Sources
- AI for small business U.S. Small Business Administration
- Generative Artificial Intelligence Profile National Institute of Standards and Technology
- ChatGPT Business pricing OpenAI
- Choose a Claude plan Anthropic
- Microsoft 365 Copilot pricing Microsoft
- Google Workspace pricing Google
- Notion pricing Notion
Frequently asked questions
What can an AI assistant do for a small business?
It can research a market, summarize customer feedback, draft proposals, analyze operating data, prepare reports, and turn a brief into documents or slides. Give it source material and a concrete deliverable instead of asking it to help with everything.
What is the best AI assistant for a small business?
There is no universal winner. OpenCraft fits occasional research and finished files without a monthly seat. ChatGPT is a broad hosted assistant. Claude fits Claude-native and local computer workflows. Microsoft 365 Copilot, Gemini in Workspace, and Notion Agent fit businesses already operating in those ecosystems.
How can a small business start using AI?
Pick one repeated, low-risk workflow such as turning meeting notes into a client recap. Define the inputs, expected output, reviewer, and success measure. Run it several times before adding another workflow.
Is it safe to put business data into an AI assistant?
Treat every service as an outside system. Check its data policy, remove credentials and unnecessary personal information, restrict sensitive uploads, and review outputs. Do not paste secrets, regulated records, or confidential client data without an approved process.
Can AI replace a small-business employee?
AI can reduce the time spent on bounded tasks, but it does not own the result. A person still needs to supply context, approve claims, handle exceptions, and remain accountable for financial, legal, personnel, and customer decisions.
How much does an AI assistant for small business cost?
Pricing ranges from monthly seats to usage-based billing. Compare the cost of a completed workflow, not the headline subscription. Model calls, web research, images, video, and file generation can have different costs.