Small Business Software Statistics
Last updated: 2026-10-28 · 10 sourced statistics
There is no official count of how many small businesses use invoicing, accounting or payment software, so the most reliable picture comes from a few government surveys of technology adoption. In the Federal Reserve Banks' 2025 Small Business Credit Survey, 46% of US employer firms said the business or its employees used AI for work, most often for writing or marketing, but only 7% of those users had fully integrated it. The Census Bureau's narrower measure put AI use at 19.8% of US businesses in spring 2026. In the EU, Eurostat's 2025 survey found 49% of small enterprises bought cloud computing services and 41% used ERP software. This page collects those figures, explains why they differ, and notes what the official data does not cover.
Key takeaways
- 46% of US small employer firms used AI at work in the 2025 Fed survey; 49% of those users were still experimenting and 7% had fully integrated it.
- On the Census Bureau's stricter measure, 19.8% of US businesses used AI in the two weeks to 3 May 2026, rising to 37% of firms with 250 or more employees.
- Among small firms using AI, 83% used it for writing or marketing and 38% for administrative business functions.
- In the EU in 2025, 49.3% of small enterprises (10 to 49 staff) bought cloud computing services, 41.1% used ERP software and 17.0% used AI, against 55.0% AI use at large enterprises.
At a glance.
Every figure on this page in one table, each linked to its named source. Scroll down for the full context behind each number.
| Figure | What it measures | Source | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 46% | 46% of US small employer firms said the business or its employees were using AI for work at the time of the 2025 Small Business Credit Survey; 15% planned to start within 12 months and 33% had no plans (N=5,248). | Federal Reserve Banks, Small Business Credit Survey: 2026 Report on Employer Firms | 2026 |
| 7% | Of small employer firms using AI, 49% were experimenting (testing tools or running pilots), 44% had partially integrated it into some business processes and 7% had fully integrated it. | Federal Reserve Banks, Small Business Credit Survey: 2026 Report on Employer Firms | 2026 |
| 83% | Writing or marketing was the most common use of AI among small employer firms that use it (83%), followed by individual productivity (61%), planning or analysis (51%) and administrative business functions (38%). | Federal Reserve Banks, Small Business Credit Survey: 2026 Report on Employer Firms | 2026 |
| 46% | Accuracy (46%) and finding or adapting tools to meet business needs (43%) were the most common AI challenges reported by small employer firms already using AI. | Federal Reserve Banks, Small Business Credit Survey: 2026 Report on Employer Firms | 2026 |
| 56% | Among small employer firms with no plans to use AI, 56% said AI is not applicable to their business and 30% said they prefer not to use it. | Federal Reserve Banks, Small Business Credit Survey: 2026 Report on Employer Firms | 2026 |
| 19.8% | 19.8% of US businesses reported using AI in any business function in the two weeks to 3 May 2026, compared with 37% of firms with 250 or more employees and less than 20% of firms with four or fewer employees. | US Census Bureau, Business Trends and Outlook Survey (America Counts story, May 2026) | 2026 |
| 7.6% | Under the Census Bureau's earlier question (AI used in producing goods or services), 7.6% of businesses used AI between September 2024 and August 2025: 8.2% of firms with fewer than five employees and 11.4% of firms with more than 250. | SBA Office of Advocacy, Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business (February 2026), citing the Census BTOS | 2026 |
| 17.0% | 17.0% of small EU enterprises (10 to 49 employees) used at least one AI technology in 2025, compared with 19.95% of all enterprises with 10 or more employees and 55.0% of large enterprises (250 or more). | Eurostat, Use of artificial intelligence in enterprises (isoc_eb_ai) | 2025 |
| 49.3% | 49.3% of small EU enterprises (10 to 49 employees) bought cloud computing services in 2025, close to the 52.7% rate for all enterprises with 10 or more employees. | Eurostat, Cloud computing services by size class of enterprise (isoc_cicce_use) | 2025 |
| 41.1% | 41.1% of small EU enterprises used enterprise resource planning (ERP) software to share information between functions such as accounting, planning and sales in 2025, up from 38.0% in 2023 and 17.5% in 2010. | Eurostat, Integration of internal processes (isoc_eb_iip) | 2025 |
The statistics
46% of US small employer firms said the business or its employees were using AI for work at the time of the 2025 Small Business Credit Survey; 15% planned to start within 12 months and 33% had no plans (N=5,248).
Source:Federal Reserve Banks, Small Business Credit Survey: 2026 Report on Employer Firms2026
Of small employer firms using AI, 49% were experimenting (testing tools or running pilots), 44% had partially integrated it into some business processes and 7% had fully integrated it.
Source:Federal Reserve Banks, Small Business Credit Survey: 2026 Report on Employer Firms2026
Writing or marketing was the most common use of AI among small employer firms that use it (83%), followed by individual productivity (61%), planning or analysis (51%) and administrative business functions (38%).
Source:Federal Reserve Banks, Small Business Credit Survey: 2026 Report on Employer Firms2026
Accuracy (46%) and finding or adapting tools to meet business needs (43%) were the most common AI challenges reported by small employer firms already using AI.
Source:Federal Reserve Banks, Small Business Credit Survey: 2026 Report on Employer Firms2026
Among small employer firms with no plans to use AI, 56% said AI is not applicable to their business and 30% said they prefer not to use it.
Source:Federal Reserve Banks, Small Business Credit Survey: 2026 Report on Employer Firms2026
19.8% of US businesses reported using AI in any business function in the two weeks to 3 May 2026, compared with 37% of firms with 250 or more employees and less than 20% of firms with four or fewer employees.
Source:US Census Bureau, Business Trends and Outlook Survey (America Counts story, May 2026)2026
Under the Census Bureau's earlier question (AI used in producing goods or services), 7.6% of businesses used AI between September 2024 and August 2025: 8.2% of firms with fewer than five employees and 11.4% of firms with more than 250.
17.0% of small EU enterprises (10 to 49 employees) used at least one AI technology in 2025, compared with 19.95% of all enterprises with 10 or more employees and 55.0% of large enterprises (250 or more).
Source:Eurostat, Use of artificial intelligence in enterprises (isoc_eb_ai)2025
49.3% of small EU enterprises (10 to 49 employees) bought cloud computing services in 2025, close to the 52.7% rate for all enterprises with 10 or more employees.
Source:Eurostat, Cloud computing services by size class of enterprise (isoc_cicce_use)2025
41.1% of small EU enterprises used enterprise resource planning (ERP) software to share information between functions such as accounting, planning and sales in 2025, up from 38.0% in 2023 and 17.5% in 2010.
Source:Eurostat, Integration of internal processes (isoc_eb_iip)2025
When these numbers don't apply
Aggregate statistics hide a lot. Read these caveats before quoting a figure as if it describes your specific situation.
- Official statistics on small business software are thin. Government surveys track a few categories (AI, cloud computing, ERP) rather than invoicing, accounting or payment apps, so this page cannot tell you what share of small businesses use a given type of business app.
- AI adoption figures depend heavily on the question. The Fed survey asks whether the business or any employee uses AI for work, including AI features inside software already in use; the Census Bureau's Business Trends and Outlook Survey asks whether the business used AI in any business function in the last two weeks. That is why one shows 46% and the other about 20%.
- The Census Bureau changed its AI question in November 2025 (from use in producing goods or services to use in any business function), so the SBA Office of Advocacy's 7.6% figure for September 2024 to August 2025 is not comparable with the 2026 rate.
- The Fed survey is a weighted convenience sample of US employer firms with 1 to 499 employees; its AI questions were an optional module answered by about 81% of respondents. It excludes owner-only businesses.
- Eurostat figures cover EU enterprises with 10 or more employees, so micro businesses and the self-employed are not included; "small" means 10 to 49 employees.
- We do not cite vendor market-size forecasts or software-company surveys here, because their samples are customers or panels of the vendor and their figures are often only in paid reports.
How we compiled this data
Reviewed 2026-10-28. US figures come from the Federal Reserve Banks' Small Business Credit Survey: 2026 Report on Employer Firms (2025 survey, optional AI module; chart values read with layout-preserving PDF text extraction), the Census Bureau's May 2026 America Counts story on Business Trends and Outlook Survey AI data (period ending 3 May 2026), and the SBA Office of Advocacy's February 2026 FAQ. EU figures were queried from Eurostat's dissemination API for the EU27 aggregate by size class (datasets isoc_eb_ai, isoc_cicce_use and isoc_eb_iip; 2025 survey year). We also looked for the Census Annual Business Survey technology module, but its published adoption tables are for data year 2018 and too old to include. Earlier versions of this page cited a global SaaS spending forecast from a newsroom homepage, vendor invoice-processing cost claims, an e-invoicing savings range from a consultancy homepage, Same Day ACH growth and a vendor late-payment correlation; all were removed because they were untraceable on the linked page or measure something other than small business software use.
We hand-collected each figure from its original publisher rather than recycling secondary round-ups, cross-checked the headline numbers against the source documents in 2026-10-28, and link every statistic to the report it came from so you can verify it yourself. Where a publisher issues annual updates, we cite the report edition and flag the year inline.
Frequently asked questions
What percentage of small businesses use AI?
It depends on the question. 46% of US small employer firms said the business or its employees used AI for work in the Federal Reserve Banks' 2025 survey, which counts AI features inside existing software. The Census Bureau's stricter measure found 19.8% of US businesses used AI in any business function in the two weeks to 3 May 2026.
What do small businesses use AI for?
Among small employer firms that use AI, 83% use it for writing or marketing, 61% for individual productivity, 51% for planning or analysis and 38% for administrative business functions (Federal Reserve Banks, 2025 survey).
Are small businesses fully using AI yet?
Mostly not. Of small employer firms using AI, 49% were still experimenting and 44% had integrated it into some processes; only 7% had fully integrated it. Accuracy (46%) and finding the right tools (43%) were the most common challenges.
How many small businesses use cloud software?
There is no current US official figure. In the EU, 49.3% of small enterprises with 10 to 49 employees bought cloud computing services in 2025 (Eurostat), close to the 52.7% rate for all enterprises with 10 or more staff.
Do larger businesses adopt software faster than small ones?
For AI, yes. 55.0% of large EU enterprises used AI in 2025 against 17.0% of small ones, and in the US 37% of firms with 250 or more employees used AI in spring 2026 compared with less than 20% of firms with four or fewer.
Why don't some small businesses plan to use AI?
Among US small employer firms with no plans to use AI, 56% said it is not applicable to their business and 30% said they prefer not to use it (Federal Reserve Banks, 2025 survey).
Put these figures to use
- Invoicing hub: Guides on creating, numbering, sending and tracking invoices.
- How to choose invoice software: a 6-step evaluation: Work out which features you need and test a shortlist before you commit.
- Calculating ROI on automation for small businesses: Measure minutes saved, price your time and count every cost, with worked examples.
- Cost of manual invoice processing: a seller's worked model: What it costs to create, send, chase and record invoices by hand, with every input stated.
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