Nearly 3 in 4 small business owners who use AI (73%) now run their business on more than one AI tool. We surveyed 187 American small business owners who use AI, most of them running a business of one, to find out which tool they reach for when they write an email, design a logo, or plan next quarter’s budget, and why they switch between them.
What came back was a toolbox. ChatGPT was the default for every job we asked about, but owners kept a second or third tool for the work it didn’t do as well, and the ones who handed AI the most tasks got the most time back. Here’s what else they told us.
Key takeaways
- Nearly 3 in 4 small business owners who use AI (73%) run more than one AI tool to run their business.
- Owners who hand AI at least eight of 10 business tasks are six times as likely to report saving six or more hours a week as those who hand it four or fewer tasks (48% vs. 8%).
- Nearly 1 in 3 small business owners (31%) say they’ve used an AI agent, but only about 1 in 3 (32%) can describe what one actually does.
- More than 2 in 5 small business owners (43%) would pay more for one AI tool that did everything well.
- Nearly 3 in 5 of these owners whose business started in the past three years (58%) launched with help from AI.
- 3 in 5 small business owners (60%) say AI saves them at least two hours a week.
- More than 1 in 5 small business owners who use AI (22%) still don’t have a website.
- 3 in 4 small business owners who use AI (76%) are comfortable using AI for their business.
Most owners run their business on more than one AI tool
Few owners set out to build an AI stack. They picked up a second tool the first time the first one fell short, and they kept it.
Nearly 3 in 4 small business owners who use AI (73%) ran more than one AI tool in the past three months, and about 1 in 4 (27%) ran four or more. ChatGPT sat at the center of nearly every toolbox: 82% had used it, and about half (51%) called it the tool they use most. Gemini was the clear runner-up, used by 64% and named the go-to by about 1 in 4 (24%), followed by Claude (29%), Canva AI (24%), Microsoft Copilot (22%), and Meta AI (18%).
Owners weren’t switching for the sake of it. Nearly 2 in 3 of those who run more than one tool (62%) said some tools are better at certain tasks, close to half (46%) said different tools have different personalities or writing styles, nearly 2 in 5 (39%) compared answers across tools to double-check them, and more than 1 in 4 (28%) said they hit usage limits on free plans. That habit grew with the toolbox: 3 in 5 owners using four or more tools (61%) cross-checked answers, more than double the share of those using two or three (26%). Owners with a small team were more likely than solo owners to run several tools (82% vs. 65%).
The payoff showed up in what owners reported. More than half (55%) said using more than one AI tool got them better results than relying on one, rising to 3 in 4 (76%) of those using four or more, versus about 1 in 10 single-tool owners (12%). The juggling still has a cost owners would pay to avoid: more than 2 in 5 (43%) said they would pay more for one AI tool that did everything well, and nearly 3 in 5 of those using four or more tools (59%) agreed. One in 3 owners (33%) went further, saying AI lets their business compete with larger companies, a share that rose to 43% among those using four or more tools and 44% of owners who launched with AI.
Where AI earns its keep, task by task
Ask owners which jobs they hand to AI, and the list is long. The time owners report saving depends on how much of that list they hand over.
Brainstorming topped the list, with nearly 9 in 10 owners (87%) using AI for it, followed by research (80%) and generating images or graphics (73%). Marketing copy (67%), emails (66%), and social media content (64%) weren’t far behind.
At the other end, fewer than half used AI for customer service (47%) or bookkeeping and invoicing (43%), the least of any task. ChatGPT was the top pick for all 10 tasks we asked about, yet it never won more than half of owners for any single one. Its biggest share was brainstorming, at 49%.
Reported time savings tracked with how much owners handed over. Among all owners, AI saved:
- At least two hours a week for 3 in 5 (60%)
- Six or more hours for more than 1 in 4 (29
- Eleven hours or more, a full workday, for more than 1 in 10 (12%)
The gap was wider among owners who used AI for more tasks. Those who used AI for eight or more of the 10 tasks were six times as likely to save a big chunk of time as those who used it for four or fewer: 48% saved six or more hours a week, compared with just 8%. These figures are what owners reported, and show a pattern rather than a guaranteed result.
The tasks where owners most often reported saving time were the ones they were least likely to try. Owners who used AI on their website were more than four times as likely to report saving six or more hours a week as those who didn’t (43% vs. 10%), and customer service (43%) and bookkeeping (41%) followed close behind.
Owners most often said they couldn’t run their business the same without AI tools for generating images (35%), brainstorming (29%), and research (28%).
Businesses built with AI, and the agent gap that remains
A lot of these businesses were built with AI from the start, they used AI to name the company, design the logo, and write their first marketing materials. But ask owners about AI agents, the tool everyone in tech is talking about, and most draw a blank.
Among owners who use AI, nearly 3 in 5 whose business started in the past three years (58%) were launched with help from AI. Founders put it to work on the basics first:
- Creating the logo or branding (60%)
- Market research or validating the idea (56%)
- First marketing materials (52%)
- Business plan (38%)
- Website (38%)
- Pricing (36%)
Half of owners whose business is three years old or younger were very comfortable with AI, compared with 31% of those in business for 11 years or more. Overall, about 3 in 4 owners (76%) were comfortable using AI for their business.
The website is where AI has become routine. More than 1 in 5 small business owners (22%) still didn’t have a website, and the gap tracked with the amount of AI they used. Owners who used just one AI tool were the most likely to go without a website (42%), while only 12% of those using four or more didn’t have a site. Among owners with a site, 45% had used AI to write product or service descriptions, 44% to write or edit copy, 41% to generate images, 28% to improve search rankings, and 16% to build the site itself with an AI website builder.
AI agents are another story. Nearly 1 in 3 owners (31%) said they’d used one, but far fewer could say what one is. When we asked owners to describe an AI agent in their own words, two-thirds (66%) described a chatbot, an assistant, or a search tool, and another 3% weren’t sure. Only about 1 in 3 (32%) described what sets an agent apart: that it takes action or completes tasks on its own, not just answers questions. Even among owners who said they’d used an agent, fewer than 2 in 5 (38%) could describe one accurately. Usage climbed with the toolbox, with more than 2 in 5 owners using four or more tools (45%) having tried one, versus 1 in 10 single-tool owners (10%).
Agent usage climbed with the toolbox. More than 2 in 5 owners (45%) using four or more tools had used an AI agent, while just 10% of single-tool owners had.
Trust, but check the work
Owners were careful with what AI handed back: 67% checked AI’s work rather than trusting it outright, and only about 1 in 10 (12%) worried their business was becoming too dependent on it. About a third (34%) said AI had replaced work they would otherwise have hired someone to do, rising to 46% among owners with a small team.
What this means for small business owners
If there’s one thing to take from all of this, it’s that small business owners aren’t waiting for one perfect AI tool. They’ve built a toolbox: a default for most jobs, a specialist or two for the rest, and a habit of checking the work.
The owners who got the most time back were the ones who handed over the most, including the jobs most people still do by hand, like the website, customer service, and the books.
For an owner still doing everything themselves, the first step isn’t finding the best tool. It’s picking one job, handing it over, and see how much time they report getting back. Our guide to using AI for business growth is a good place to start.
Methodology
This survey was conducted online in September 2026 by Fractl on behalf of Network Solutions. It surveyed 187 American small business owners who use AI tools for their business to explore which tool they reach for, task by task, why they switch between them, how AI figured into starting their business, and how it shows up on their websites. All participants were adults aged 18 or older, owned or operated a business, and had used at least one AI tool for it in the past three months. For this study, a small business was defined as an independently owned business with 50 or fewer employees, including sole proprietors and solopreneurs who operate on their own.
The average age of respondents was 44, and the typical business had been operating for six years with a team of one, the owner. Of those surveyed, 66% were women, 31% were men, and 3% were non-binary. By generation, 10% were baby boomers, 27% were Gen X, 55% were millennials, and 9% were Gen Z. By business size, 57% were solo owners, 30% had 2 to 5 employees, and 13% had 6 to 50. By age of business, 32% had been operating for three years or less, 41% for 4 to 10 years, and 27% for 11 years or more, and 78% had a business website. By sector, the largest groups were retail or eCommerce, health and wellness, and professional services.
Owners who use more than one AI tool are the 73% who used two or more of the listed tools in the past three months, with 46% using two or three and 27% using four or more. Owners who launched with AI are the 27% of all respondents who used AI tools somewhat or extensively when starting their business; among businesses started in the past three years, that share rises to 58%. Another 32% started their business before these tools were available.
Open-ended descriptions of an AI agent were coded by Fractl against the survey’s definition of an agent as an AI that completes multi-step tasks or takes action on its own. Breakdowns for subgroups smaller than 25 respondents are noted as directional. Methodology percentages not totaling 100% are due to rounding. The margin of error is approximately ±7.2 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. All findings are self-reported and do not guarantee results.
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