18 Best AI Tools for Small Businesses That Save Time and Cut Costs

Limited resources, unlimited hustle. That’s how it feels to run a small business. Compact teams with a dozen responsibilities are always waiting to pick at your schedule. However, small businesses can greatly save their time and channelize their efforts into an output-driven direction by using AI tools. These AI tools can automate their workflow and make their recurring tasks quicker. In this guide, we will introduce you to 18 amazing AI tools that can not only help save your time but also give you professional output quickly!

What Happens if Small Businesses Delay AI Adoption

AI tools have taken the internet by storm. If you are not using them, your competitors will use them to get ahead of you. And that’s not the end of the story. Here’s what really happens:

• Wasted Time on Manual Tasks: AI tools are generally used to automate certain tasks that require manual effort and time. For example, payroll management, attendance tracking, designing, image and video editing. Not upgrading to AI tools will lead to a waste of time on manual tasks.

• Increases the room for errors: Manual tasks are highly prone to errors. But AI is not. Repeated tasks are usually accurate and simplify things rather than cluttering them with manual interference.

• Higher Resource Costs: Hiring photographers, designers, and models can be truly expensive. But AI tools like AI Model Generator ensure that you can reduce such studio-driven costs.

• Limited Insights for Decision-Making: AI-powered tools can give you detailed summaries by tracking trends and statistical data. It can dig up patterns and variations without spending hours. Manual effort in this area will need expertise and dozens of hours.

• Falling behind competitors: Small businesses face tremendous competition from big firms. They capitalize on AI tools, especially when they are free, to reduce their shortcomings. Not adopting this approach will not help to gain an upper hand on your competitors.

Most AI tools offer free trials, along with easy integration options. That being said, let's uncover the most impactful tools that can help your small business.

18 Best AI Tools for Small Businesses

18 Best AI Tools for Creating Design and Impactful Visuals

1. X-Design AI Photo Editor

X-Design AI Photo Editor is a powerful tool that helps to edit and modify your images. It runs on AI algorithms and can easily detect the subject, background, and other elements within the frame. You can tweak it using AI, or you can go to the designer that is built in, and you can modify the image completely.

Key Features of X-Design AI Photo Editor

• Numerous resizing options are ideal for being compliant with product images on e-commerce stores.

• Advanced image editing without needing design skills.

• One-click image retouching allows you to upscale your image.

Additionally, X-Design Image Background Generator is an option you can consider to generate premium-quality images after you remove the image background. You can use this feature for free as a new user!

2. Kittl

Kittl works perfectly for small businesses that are just starting out. It helps to create branding assets quickly, thanks to the pre-made template library. It also helps to modify the existing marketing assets and generate new ones using text-based prompts. 

Key Features of Kittl

• Thousands of customizable templates for your posters and social media postings.

• Web-based tool for ease of accessibility. 

• Text-to-image generation feature, to match the visual ideas in your mind.

3. Canva AI

Canva has set solid benchmarks in the industry for editing and designing. With the help of their AI-powered tools, Canva has enabled users to create marketing copies and templates based on their prompts. You can customize every element of these designs and make your workflow smoother.

Key features of Canva AI

• The Magic Write feature helps to create marketing copy for your posters and flyers.

• The Magic Design feature helps to make customized templates for branding, based on your text prompts.

• Easy team collaboration for editing and approvals.

4. Adobe Express AI

Adobe has trained its Express AI model to simplify image editing. You no longer need to hire professional graphic designers or have advanced design skills. This tool allows you to create prompt-based images and modify them completely within a few clicks.

Key features of Adobe Express AI

• AI background removal and quick image editing tools.

• Template library for marketing assets and ads.

• Mobile-friendly app that is compatible with other devices as well.

5. Looka

Looka helps you create your business logos and marketing assets quickly. It is perfect for small teams that don't have their own logos or branding materials. The tool has intuitive features that allow you to create new logos and brand merchandise as well.

Key features of Looka

• AI-Powered logo creation with the help of your text-based inputs. 

• Creative brand kits including fonts, colors, and design guidelines.

• Download-ready assets without watermarks.

Best AI Tools for Workflow Automation

6. Notion AI

Notion has been an ideal brand for small businesses and solopreneurs. It has a clean and minimal interface that allows you to create and track tasks in a collaborative manner. The AI automation within Notion can summarize text and perform automated tasks without manual intervention.

Key features of Notion AI:

• Create blog outlines and summaries within the tool. All it needs is a prompt or a starting point.

• Draft quick email replies and fix grammar in all your text.

• Create professional templates for your documents and your workflows.

7. ClickUp AI

ClickUp AI may take a step ahead of others with its mind-blowing AI features. To reduce the communication gap between global teams, ClickUp AI translates text in real time. It also creates automated task descriptions and action items to save time.

Key features of ClickUp AI

• Generate detailed SOPs and technical documents quickly.

• Translate text to improve communication with diverse clients and the remote teams as well.

• Get unique ideas by brainstorming them with ClickUp AI.

• Automate your emails and customize your existing documents with the help of pre-made templates.

8. Trello’s Butler AI

Trello is an industry-standard project management software. It is used by teams of all sizes, and it is the best space to start if you are working remotely. It not only keeps your team on the same page but also helps you summarize all your goals and progress through visual data charts.

Key features of Trello’s Butler AI

• Create automations for all repeated tasks.

• Add more intuitive options to the kanban boards.

• External app integrations with tools like Slack and Email.

• Schedule your automations and let the tool present them when necessary.

9. Airtable AI

Airtable AI is a simple and subtle AI tool that becomes your helping hand when you want to analyze data. It can combine spreadsheets and databases to extract patterns and trends in real time. You don't need to know coding skills to do that. Plus, it can also flag anomalies in the data to cut down on manual errors.

Key features of Airtable AI

• Create tables and data sets with the help of prompts.

• Edit these in real time without needing to export them.

• Fill missing and flag inaccurate data in huge data sets.

• Summarize long documentation for teams that are always on a packed schedule.

10. Zapier AI

Workflow automations become faster and smoother with Zapier AI. You just need to explain your desired workflow to Zapier AI, and it creates the custom workflow with ease. Numerous integration options are available within this tool, such as ChatGPT, Slack, and Outlook.

Key Features of Zapier AI

• Smart prompts replace manual coding.

• You can experiment with all the automations and check bugs on the go.

• Upload your data and ask Zapier AI to generate hidden data patterns. This helps to create new business strategies.

• Complex workflows can be created with a single prompt.

Best AI tools to Simplify Marketing and Content Creation

11. Jasper AI

Jasper AI is made for digital teams. It helps you generate blog posts, ad copies, and email campaigns. It has a set of pre-made templates that can be picked and used for your next advertising campaigns, without spending countless hours on brainstorming.

Key features of Jasper AI:

• Pre-built templates for ad copies.

• Free-form writing with command-driven content creation.

• Generate unique, watermark-free images from text prompts

• Write in 30+ languages with adjustable voice styles.

12. Copy.ai

For teams that do not have marketing experts, this tool can be your ally. Copy.ai can create marketing copies based on prompts. It helps you to build several types of blogs and documentation with ease. 

Key Features of Copy.ai

• Can generate blogs and ad copies in more than 20 languages.

• Includes editing and text rewriting tools to polish marketing assets.

• Brainstorm new content ideas that resonate with your audience.

• Collaborate with team members to work together on blogs.

13. Writesonic

Writesonic is another fantastic tool that is a must-have for marketing teams. Small businesses can benefit from it by getting AI-written articles that sound human. It also helps to build SEO strategies for your business by analyzing current patterns in the industry and how you can capitalize on the opportunities.

Key features of Writesonic:

• Write compelling blogs and articles for your websites.

• Creates an on-page SEO strategy to rank on SERP.

• Analyzes current competitors’ SEO strategies and suggests the best patterns.

• Compare the traffic of specific web pages..

14. Pictory AI

For teams looking to capitalize on video-oriented content. Pictory AI could be a golden find! It helps you to generate videos from text-based prompts. You can not only generate these videos, but also edit certain sections that need to be tweaked according to your use case.

Key features of Pictory AI:

• Advanced AI video editor for all sorts of video formats.

• Generate videos through multiple input formats such as Text, image, and URL.

• Get an AI voice for your video using the AI Voice Generator.

• High-quality screen recording service.

15. Lumen5

Lumen5 is a great tool to create social media content. You can convert any text, blog, article, or PDF to make a video out of it. With proper descriptions, you can create upload-ready videos in seconds.

Key features of Lumen5

• Library of templates for different industries.

• Drag-and-drop video editing for non-experts.

• Automated captions and resizing for social platforms of your choice..

Best AI Tools to Streamline Customer Support

16. Tidio AI

Businesses mostly outsource customer support, and it costs them a fortune. Small businesses tend to hire customer support executives to deal with this task. But with Tidio AI, you can automate these queries and answer them in whichever language your customers speak.

Key features of Tidio AI

• Customers’ queries are handled quickly with the AI chatbot.

• Integration within your webpages and applications is easy.

• Automated responses for frequently asked queries.

• Analysis of customer responses and post-resolution stats.

17. Intercom Fin AI

Intercom Fin AI is another alternative to manage customer support through an AI tool. It can handle complex queries rather than answering pre-stored questions. Intercom Fin AI answers in natural languages and is popular for handling queries with the best possible solution.

Key features of Intercom Fin AI:

• Support is available in multiple languages for overseas customers.

• Capability to comprehend the exact query, even if it is not structured according to the pre-stored data set.

• Automatic ticket creation for queries that need expert resolution.

• Integration and redirection are available towards the knowledge base.

18. HubSpot Chatspot

Chatspot is a revolutionary tool by HubSpot. It can answer queries, suggest solutions, and help people to do more than just chat, like adding contacts, creating data charts, and analyzing patterns.

Key features of HubSpot Chatspot:

• Automates follow-ups, lead capture, and qualification.

• Personalized customer interactions.

• Reporting and analytics are built into HubSpot.

Final Word

Small businesses have many constraints. To function at their fullest, these teams need to leverage AI tools. Most AI-powered softwares helps with design, marketing, research, and customer support automation. And all of these aspects are important in a business. You must leverage some of these tools and create an improved workflow. X-Design, for example, has a complete suite of AI tools that help to edit and modify the visual appearance of your images and videos. Using this tool would save dozens of hours of the designing team and cut down the expenditure as well.