AI tools for small business: a sensible shortlist by job

Which tools help with writing, images and meeting notes?

This list is grouped by job, not ranked. We have not tested each product hands-on. What each one does comes from the vendor's own documentation, linked beside it.

• Writing emails. Google says its Help me write feature in Gmail can generate a new draft or refine your text on eligible plans. Microsoft says Copilot in Outlook drafts emails and replies and adjusts tone and length.
• General drafting. Chat assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Copilot can draft posts, product descriptions and letters from your notes.
• Images. Many design apps now generate or edit images. Use them for simple graphics. Do not present a generated picture as a photo of your real work.
• Meeting notes. Microsoft says recap in Teams provides AI-generated notes and follow-up tasks with a Teams Premium or Copilot licence.

Google's own page warns that these features may suggest inaccurate information. Treat every output as a draft.

Which tools help with phones, chat, bookkeeping and websites?

Again, grouped by job and not ranked.

• Phone. AI call answering picks up missed calls, takes messages and passes on urgent ones. Our guide to AI receptionists for small business covers what to check.
• Chat and messages. Website chat and inbox tools can suggest replies. ServiceM8's AI page, for example, describes reply suggestions and email and SMS writing help inside its job management app for trades.
• Bookkeeping helpers. Accounting software is adding assistants. Xero says its JAX assistant is designed to automate routine tasks such as bank reconciliations and data entry. Check what is available on your plan. You remain responsible for your records, so keep your bookkeeper or accountant involved.
• Website building. AI can speed up a first draft of pages and layouts. It does not decide what your customers need to know. See our AI websites service for how we approach that.

You can browse more options by category in our tools directory.

Do you already pay for AI you are not using?

Quite possibly. The government's business.gov.au AI guide advises checking what you already own, because many email, customer, accounting and design tools now include AI features.

Before buying anything new, spend half an hour on this:

• List the software you pay for each month.
• Open each one's settings or help pages and search for 'AI' or 'assistant'.
• Note which features are included in your current plan and which need an upgrade.
• Try the included ones on a real task.

Built-in features have two advantages. Your data stays in a system you have already chosen to trust, and your staff do not need to learn a new app.

They have limits too. A built-in helper only knows what is in that one system. If your job needs information from several places, you may need something more, or a person.

What is the difference between a free plan, a trial and a paid plan?

They sound similar and behave very differently.

• A free plan is ongoing. You can keep using it without paying, usually with limits on features or how often you can use it.
• A free trial is temporary. You get paid features for a set period, then you pay or lose access. Some trials ask for a card and start billing automatically.
• A paid plan removes limits and often adds business controls, such as admin settings and data options.

One vendor can offer more than one of these. At the time of writing, ServiceM8's AI page listed both a free plan with a cap on daily AI uses and a separate 14 day free trial that it says needs no credit card. That is an example of the pattern, not a recommendation.

Before you start a trial, write the end date in your calendar. Check whether the free version uses your content to train AI models. The ACSC notes this can depend on your settings or subscription type.

How do you choose between similar tools?

Start with the job and one way to judge success. 'Reply to quote requests within the hour' is a job. 'Use AI' is not.

Then ask the questions in the Australian Cyber Security Centre's AI checklist for small business:

• What data does the tool collect, and where is it stored?
• Who owns the data, my business or the vendor?
• Will my data be used to train AI models?
• How will I fact-check the output?
• Does the vendor show a commitment to security?
• What do I do if something goes wrong?

Add three practical ones of your own. Does it connect to the software I already use? Can a non-technical person on my team run it? Can I export my data and leave?

If two tools are close, pick the one your staff will actually open. A modest tool used daily beats a clever one nobody logs in to.

A worked example: a cafe that caters

This is an illustration with invented details, not a client result.

For example, a cafe owner who also takes catering orders could list her subscriptions and find five that mention AI: email, accounting, a design app, a chat assistant and a social scheduling tool. Three were trials that rolled into paid plans.

She writes down the jobs she actually needs: replying to catering enquiries, writing the weekly specials post and chasing unpaid invoices. Then she matches them.

• Catering replies: the drafting feature already in her email.
• Specials post: the chat assistant, using her own menu notes.
• Invoice reminders: the reminder feature already in her accounting software, which is a simple rule and not AI at all.

The design app's AI and the scheduling tool are not doing a job she needs, so she cancels both. She ends up with fewer tools, each tied to a task, and one person who checks the output.

How do you stop subscription creep?

Subscription creep is when small monthly charges pile up for tools nobody uses. AI makes it worse because many products now sell AI as an add-on per user.

A few habits keep it in check:

• One job, one tool. If two tools draft emails, keep one.
• One owner. Name the person responsible for each subscription.
• Calendar every trial end date on the day you sign up.
• Review your card or bank statement every quarter. Cancel anything unused for a month.
• Check per-user charges. You may not need an AI licence for every staff member.
• Prefer monthly billing until a tool has earned its place.

When should you not buy at all? When the task happens rarely, when a saved template would do, or when the tool needs customer information you should not share. The OAIC recommends, as best practice, keeping personal information out of publicly available AI tools.

If you would like help matching tools to tasks, our AI automation service starts with your workflow.

Common questions