How to use free artificial intelligence tools for business growth

Starting a new business is exciting but can also be tough, especially when trying to stand out from bigger, more established competitors.

The good news is that you don’t need a huge budget or a team of experts to get ahead.

There are plenty of free Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools that could help start-ups work smarter, save time, and reach more customers.

Many small businesses are using AI tools – according to ONS data, more than one in five businesses (21%) are currently using some form of artificial intelligence (AI) technology as of late June 2025.

Furthermore, roughly one in seven (14%) businesses report that they’re planning on adopting at least one form of AI tool in the next three months.

Integrating AI into your small business could streamline marketing strategies or optimise business operations, saving valuable time and boosting overall productivity.

Read on to learn more about how AI could help your start-up grow and discover free artificial intelligence tools for business.

How AI tools could help start-up owners

Small business owners could leverage AI tools to automate repetitive and simplistic tasks, such as:

• data entry
• round-the-clock general customer service
• creating simple visual content designs
• creating written content that is grammatically correct and error-free
• data analysis, offering accurate insights into a business’s performance, audience engagement, and user behaviour.

Using AI could help make your day-to-day tasks easier, giving you more time to focus on the important parts of running your business and making better decisions about what needs to be done first.

This could make it easier to grow your business and accelerate business growth.

AI could also help you see what’s working well and what isn’t, so you can change your plans and get better results.

Another big advantage is that AI can quickly sort through huge amounts of information.

You could use this insight to review sales data, customer reviews and website visits to spot trends and bestsellers. 

You could use AI to identify trending articles, blog posts, videos, or social media posts that align with your business’s niche or target audience, enabling you to keep up with changing industry trends and share relevant content with your audiences.

Before you start using AI, you may want to ensure that your business has the appropriate data protection permissions in place.

AI tools and data protection

Data protection means safeguarding sensitive information, such as your business’s confidential information and customers’ personal details, from unauthorised access, loss, or misuse.

Some AI tools require access to such data to function effectively.

As a UK business, you must handle data protection in line with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK’s version of the General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).

Some AI tools offer privacy controls, such as OpenAI’s opt-out features, to help businesses manage data privacy effectively.

By staying informed about these regulations and implementing robust data protection practices, your business could use AI tools effectively while keeping customer trust.

You should always seek professional or specialist advice before pursuing new ventures for your business.

Free artificial intelligence tools for your business

Many AI tools offer free versions or trials to help get you started, and the tools listed below offer free access to features that could  be useful when starting out.

These may have limitations on how you can use them or the features available, but they are a useful, risk-free way to experiment with different tools to find the right fit for your start-up business.

You may need to pay for additional features or the full version of the tool, so research any pricing plans before committing to purchasing.

Customer support

Chatbot platforms make it easier for businesses to communicate with their customers without the cost of operating a call centre or hiring staff to handle customer contacts.

They perform best for general customer questions, such as opening hours, return policies, and promotions.

• Chatfuel provides round-the-clock customer support chat capabilities, generating automated responses that could help you save time and better focus on other areas of your business
• Tars allows businesses to broadcast messages to multiple users at once, such as new product announcements and offer alerts.

When you’re just starting your business and money is tight, these kinds of tools could help you save costs and make people think more positively about your brand.

Social media posting and analysis

If your small business depends a lot on social media marketing, social media management platforms could be really helpful.

Many of these platforms have built-in AI tools that make them easier to use and help you get better results.

For example:

• Buffer lets you schedule and publish posts to several social media accounts from one place. It also has an AI assistant that can help you come up with new post ideas, rewrite existing posts, and brainstorm content. You can even directly reply to messages, comments, and mentions through Buffer to keep your communication professional
• Hootsuite puts all your social media calendars in one place, making it easier to plan and organise your posts. Its AI features can help you write content for your social media posts, saving you time
• Sociality uses AI to suggest better wording for your posts and helps you track how well your content is doing, so you can improve your chances of getting noticed in a positive way online.

Find out more about how social media could help your small business.

Read our helpful guides on the benefits of social media platforms for your business:

• Twitter
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• YouTube
• TikTok

Content generation and optimisation

Using AI tools to create visual and written content could save you budget instead of hiring a designer, and allow you to create as needed.

• Canva is a design tool that includes an AI image generator for creating high-quality pictures, as well as tools for designing graphics and writing content using AI
• ChatGPT is a handy tool for research, brainstorming ideas, and writing content. It can help small business owners draft emails, write blog posts, or brainstorm marketing ideas
• Jasper AI is another platform that uses AI to create marketing copy, blog posts, social media content, and images. It includes templates, lets you adjust the writing style to match your brand, helps with SEO, and makes it easy to work with your team
• Grammarly is a free grammar and spell checker with AI-powered writing suggestions for emails, documents, and social media posts
• Copy.ai has a free tool for generating marketing copy, blog ideas, and product descriptions
• Bing Image Creator (powered by DALL-E) is a free AI tool for creating images from text prompts
• Lumen5 is a video creation platform powered by AI that lets you create video content in minutes.

Email marketing automation

Email marketing platforms could help small businesses easily create and send customised emails to their customers using ready-made templates. 

These tools make it simple to manage all your marketing emails in one place.

You can also organise your customers into groups based on how they interact with your emails. 

For example, people who buy from you often could be grouped together and receive weekly updates about new products that match their interests.

These platforms also let you personalise emails using customer details, like sending special offers on their birthdays.

• Mailchimp lets you sort your email lists by things like age or buying history. It also has over 20 AI tools to help you write emails, organise customer groups, and even predict what your customers might want
• Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) offers tools for sending emails and text messages to customers and includes features for SMS marketing.

Read our guide on email marketing tips.

Sales and CRM automation

CRM (customer relationship management) tools can help small businesses manage a large amount of customer information and contact details in one place.

• HubSpot gives you a clear overview of each customer and helps you understand what they like and how they behave. You can easily record sales, track your progress, and manage your sales pipeline. HubSpot also has an AI assistant that can answer questions, create marketing reports, and help with content creation.

Productivity

Running a small business often involves handling a lot of administrative work and managing different tools, which could take up valuable time.

AI tools for workflow and task automation can handle some of these routine jobs, so you have more time to focus on the important parts of your business. 

Here are some popular free AI-powered platforms that could help you organise tasks.

• Zapier has a free plan that lets you automate up to 100 tasks per month between different apps and services using AI-powered workflows
• Notion has a free plan with AI features for note-taking, task management, and team collaboration
• Asana allows you to organise, track, and manage your work more efficiently – its AI suggests which tasks to prioritise to manage workflow and improve efficiency
• Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Gmail) includes built-in AI-powered tools like Smart Compose, Smart Reply, and Explore in Sheets.

Here’s a handy table of all the free tools we’ve mentioned and their uses:

Tips for integrating AI tools into your business

With so many AI tools for businesses available, deciding which ones could benefit your small business may feel overwhelming.

Here are a few tips that could help.

Think about what your business really needs

Different AI tools suit different businesses, so you may want to start by figuring out what your small business actually needs.

For example, an online food shop might benefit from a tool like HubSpot, which tracks customer behaviour, but an art retail business could find more value in social media-focused AI tools like Buffer.

Start small

Using too many AI tools at once could be overwhelming and create more tasks than they handle.
You may want to only focus on one or two tools.

Take the time to learn how they work and how they could help your business before adding more.

Make sure it’s worth the cost

If you’re thinking about upgrading and paying for an AI tool, check if it’s actually helping your business.

Look at how much it costs versus how much it helps you, so you know you’re making a good investment.

Keep up to date with the latest AI tools

AI constantly changes, so it can be worth watching for new tools and updates that might help your business.

You could do this by following AI blogs, joining business groups, or attending events about AI.