What Does AI Actually Cost for a Small Business in 2026?

You've decided AI could help your business. Great. Now you Google "AI for small business" and you're hit with prices ranging from $0 to $15,000 per month. Free tools, $20/month subscriptions, $5,000 agency retainers, enterprise platforms with "contact us for pricing" — it's a mess.

Let's cut through it. Here's what AI actually costs at each level, what you get, and what you don't.

Level 1: Free and Cheap DIY Tools ($0–$50/month)

What's available: ChatGPT free tier, Google Gemini, free chatbot builders, Canva's AI features, basic social media schedulers with AI assist.

What you get: A general-purpose AI assistant you can ask questions and generate text with. Some basic automation features. AI-generated images. Template-based social posts.

What you don't get: Integration with your business systems. Anything that runs automatically without you prompting it. Custom training on your business. A system that knows your customers, your pricing, or your policies.

The real cost: The tools might be free, but your time isn't. Most business owners who go the DIY route spend 5–10 hours per week copying and pasting between ChatGPT and their other tools, formatting outputs, fixing errors, and manually triggering everything. At an effective hourly rate of $50–$100 (which is conservative for a business owner), that's $250–$1,000/week in time cost.

Best for: Business owners who want to experiment, learn what AI can do, and handle occasional one-off tasks. Not a replacement for actual business operations.

Level 2: Subscription AI Tools ($50–$300/month)

What's available: ChatGPT Plus/Team ($20–$30/user/month), Jasper for content ($49–$125/month), Tidio or Intercom AI for chat ($50–$150/month), social media tools like Hootsuite with AI ($99–$249/month), AI email tools ($30–$80/month).

What you get: Better AI models, more features, some degree of customization. A chatbot on your website. AI-assisted content creation. Scheduled social media with AI-generated captions.

What you don't get: True integration between tools. An AI that knows your entire business. Anything that works across channels or departments. Someone to set it up and maintain it.

The real cost: Figure $150–$500/month in subscriptions for a reasonable stack. Plus 5–8 hours per week managing, configuring, and troubleshooting the various tools. Plus the learning curve — most small business owners spend 20–40 hours getting comfortable with these tools before they're productive.

Hidden costs: When one tool updates and breaks your workflow, you're the IT department. When you need two tools to talk to each other, you're the integrator. When something goes wrong at 11 PM, you're the support team.

Best for: Tech-comfortable business owners who enjoy tinkering and have time to manage multiple tools.

Level 3: Freelancers and Consultants ($500–$3,000/month)

What's available: AI consultants who set up tools for you, freelance prompt engineers, automation specialists on Upwork, independent AI developers.

What you get: Someone who knows more than you about AI tools and can set things up. Custom chatbots, automated workflows, content systems. Varies wildly by who you hire.

What you don't get: Reliability (freelancers disappear), ongoing support (most do project work and move on), holistic understanding of your business, or accountability when things break.

The real cost: $1,000–$5,000 for initial setup, plus $500–$3,000/month if you need ongoing management. Quality is a lottery — the freelance AI space is flooded with people who took a weekend course and call themselves experts.

Hidden costs: If your freelancer ghosts you (happens more than you'd think), you're stuck with a system nobody else understands. Rebuilding from scratch costs more than doing it right the first time.

Best for: Businesses with a specific, well-defined project (build me a chatbot) rather than ongoing operational needs.

Level 4: Agencies ($2,000–$10,000+/month)

What's available: Digital marketing agencies offering "AI-powered" services, AI implementation agencies, automation agencies.

What you get: A team. Strategy, implementation, and ongoing management. Regular reporting. Someone to call when things break.

What you don't get (at the lower end): Individual attention. Many agencies serving the small business market are running templated solutions across dozens of clients. Your "custom AI strategy" might be the same playbook they use for everyone.

The real cost: $3,000–$8,000/month is the sweet spot for agencies that actually deliver. Below $2,000/month, you're probably getting an intern managing your account. Setup fees range from $2,000–$15,000.

Hidden costs: Long-term contracts (6–12 months), scope creep charges, and the fact that you're paying for their overhead — office space, account managers, project managers — not just the AI work itself.

Best for: Businesses with $5M+ revenue that need comprehensive marketing and operations support and can justify the cost.

Level 5: Managed AI Service — Stoke ($500/month + $2,000 setup)

This is where we fit, and we built this model specifically because the other options don't work for most small businesses.

What you get: A fully configured AI employee that's integrated into your business systems, trained on your specific information, and running autonomously. It handles customer support, social media, lead follow-up, scheduling, content creation — whatever role you need filled. Setup takes two weeks. After that, it runs with minimal oversight.

What it costs: $2,000 one-time setup fee. $500/month ongoing. First year total: $8,000. Each additional AI employee: $1,000 setup, $500/month.

What makes it different: You're not buying tools and figuring it out yourself. You're not hiring a freelancer and hoping they stick around. You're not paying agency overhead. You're getting a dedicated AI system, built for your business, managed by people who do this all day.

No hidden costs: The $500/month covers hosting, maintenance, updates, and support. No per-message fees, no usage caps, no surprise charges.

So What Should You Spend?

Here's our honest recommendation based on business size:

• Under $250K revenue: Start with free/cheap tools (Level 1–2). Get familiar with AI. When you're ready to stop tinkering, move to a managed service.
• $250K–$2M revenue: Skip the DIY phase. Your time is too valuable. Go with a managed AI service like Stoke. The $500/month pays for itself within the first month through time savings and improved lead capture.
• $2M–$10M revenue: Managed AI for execution, plus consider a fractional marketing strategist or consultant for strategy. Total: $2,000–$4,000/month.
• $10M+ revenue: You can probably afford an agency or in-house hire. But even at this level, AI handles the volume work more efficiently.

The Next Step

If you're in the $250K–$5M range and spending more time managing tools than running your business, let's have a conversation. We'll map out exactly what an AI employee would do for you, what it would cost, and what kind of return you can expect. Thirty minutes, no pitch, just math.