PART ONE · AI ADOPTION

AI Adoption Is the New Baseline

AI use among small businesses is broad, habitual, and ​​increasingly paid for as an accepted cost of doing business.

The majority of small businesses in 2026 are using AI in some way; 87% of the small businesses we surveyed use at least one AI tool, with almost half (47%) in their first year of AI use. Most (56%) are using AI every day; similarly, (56%) pay for at least one AI subscription rather than relying on free tools alone.

The shape of the ​AI ​stack tells its own story. ChatGPT appears in 73% of small businesses, more than five times the share of any specialized AI tool. Gemini, Claude, and Copilot land in the middle of the range. Below that, the long tail of purpose-built AI thins out fast. AI marketing tools, chatbots on websites, SEO tools, accounting tools, and sales tools each show up in fewer than 12% of businesses.

​​​Most small business AI today is happening through a single general-purpose chat interface. The owner is the integration layer.

They are copying outputs into their website, their email, their listings, and their proposals. The specialized AI applications that would actually live inside the SMB workflow are still very much missing.

Nearly Half Of All Adopters Are Still In Their First Year

47% of users have been using AI for less than a year. That is a category-defining detail. The owners building habits with AI right now are forming the preferences and provider loyalties that will shape the next decade of small business technology. The window to influence those habits is open today and closing fast.

The Confidence Divide Is The Defining Challenge

On a one-to-ten scale, only 20% of small business owners rate themselves an 8, 9, or 10 in their effective use of AI. 28% sit at three or below. The largest cluster sits in the middle of the scale, where owners are using AI regularly but feel uncertain about whether they are using it well.

Spending More Does Not Solve This

76% of small businesses paying for AI subscriptions still are not highly confident in how they use those tools. Only 24% of paid users reach the high-confidence band. Among free-only users, the share is even lower at 15%. The category has solved the willingness-to-pay problem. It has not solved the confidence problem.

Repetition Is The Real Teacher

Our data reveals a clear pattern: the more frequently an owner uses AI, the more confident they become. Owners who use AI multiple times per day report significantly higher confidence scores than those who use it sporadically.​​ This is the “learning a new skill takes repetition” factor at work. Confidence is not something you purchase with a subscription. It is something you build through daily practice.

Confidence Is Also The Strongest Predictor Of Revenue Impact

Perhaps the most striking finding in this entire study is the direct correlation between an owner’s self-rated AI confidence and their reported revenue growth. Respondents who rated their confidence at 10 out of 10 reported a revenue growth score of 1.1. Those at 4 out of 10 reported a growth score of only 0.2. The confidence gap is a revenue gap. Businessesthat pursue AI mastery are seeing nearly 5x more revenue impact from the same technology available to everyone else

The Barriers Owners Describe Are Practical

30% point to a lack of AI knowledge as their main barrier. 27% say the tools they have tried are not specific enough to their type of business. 19% want pre-packaged solutions rather than building their own configurations from scratch. Notably the adoption barriers point to a need for education and enablement versus any issues with cost or a lack of curiosity.

The confidence divide is a real, measurable gap between what small businesses are doing with AI and what they feel competent doing. Closing that gap is where the next round of AI leadership lies.