Our picks

Best ai assistants tools for UK small businesses (2026)

We compared 5 ai assistants tools using prices and plan details checked on each provider's own page on 2026-10-14. We haven't been paid for any placement; see how we make money.

Quick picks

Best free starting point: ChatGPT. ChatGPT has a free plan: Unlimited everyday text chats, subject to abuse safeguards. Web search, file and image uploads, data analysis, image creation and 500 MB Library storage, each with its own usage limits. Ads may appear on the free plan in some countries.
Best priced in pounds: Microsoft 365 Copilot. Microsoft 365 Copilot publishes UK prices: £13.80 (Copilot Business, per user a month, paid yearly, excl. VAT (offer)), so there are no exchange-rate surprises.
Cheapest dollar-priced paid plan: Gemini (Google AI plans). Gemini (Google AI plans) starts at $4.99 (Google AI Plus, per month).

All ai assistants tools compared

Tool	Cheapest paid plan	Free plan	Best for
ChatGPT	Not published	Yes	Day-to-day drafting: customer replies, quotes, job adverts, social posts and summaries.
Claude	$20 (Pro, per month)	Yes	Reading contracts, tenders and policies and turning them into plain-English summaries; longer written drafts.
Gemini (Google AI plans)	$4.99 (Google AI Plus, per month)	Yes	Businesses already on Google Workspace or Gmail who want AI inside the tools they use.
Microsoft 365 Copilot	£13.80 (Copilot Business, per user a month, paid yearly, excl. VAT (offer))	No	Businesses that already live in Outlook, Word, Excel and Teams.
Perplexity	$17 (Pro, per month, billed annually)	Yes	Quick research with sources, such as supplier comparisons, regulations to look up, or local market questions.

ChatGPT

A general AI assistant for drafting emails, quotes, policies and posts, summarising documents and answering questions.

Price: Free plan available. Paid plans (Go, Plus, Business, Enterprise) are priced per user per month; see the pricing page for current amounts.
Watch out for: Check everything before it goes to a customer; it can state wrong facts confidently. Keep customer personal data out.
UK notes: Works in the UK. Ask for British English and UK context (VAT, HMRC) in your prompt.

Claude

An AI assistant that is good with long documents, careful writing and summaries.

Price: Free plan: $0. Pro: $20 a month or $200 a year. Max: $100 or $200 a month.
Watch out for: Free usage can run out during a heavy session; it resets after five hours.
UK notes: Prices are in US dollars.

Gemini (Google AI plans)

Google's AI assistant, in its own app and built into Gmail, Docs and other Google apps on paid plans.

Price: Free: $0 with a Google Account. Google AI Plus: $4.99 a month. Google AI Pro: $19.99 a month. Ultra from $99.99 a month.
Watch out for: Usage limits are described as multiples of the free plan, not fixed numbers. Our check showed US-dollar prices; the provider may show pounds to UK visitors.
UK notes: Available in the UK. Our check showed US-dollar prices; the provider may show pounds to UK visitors.

Microsoft 365 Copilot

AI built into Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams for businesses on Microsoft 365.

Price: Microsoft 365 Copilot Business: from £13.80 per user a month (offer; normally from £16.10), paid yearly. Business Standard with Copilot: £18.10. Business Premium with Copilot: £24.60. Prices exclude VAT.
Watch out for: Annual subscriptions auto-renew. The lower Copilot Business price was shown as an offer when we checked.
UK notes: UK prices in pounds, excluding VAT.

Perplexity

An AI search tool that answers questions with links to the sources it used.

Price: Free to sign up. Pro: US$17 a month billed annually. Max: US$167 a month billed annually.
Watch out for: Always open the cited sources before relying on an answer.
UK notes: Prices are shown in US dollars.

How to choose

Start with a free plan or trial if there is one, and test it on a real job.
Prefer pound pricing if you want a predictable monthly cost.
Check what counts towards limits (calls, minutes, seats, contacts or credits) before comparing headline prices.

Head-to-head comparisons

Sources

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