Small Business Software Statistics 2026

There are 36,207,130 small businesses in the United States.

Nearly 100% of small businesses now report using at least 1 technology platform at work, representing a steady climb from 93% in 2022, to 95% in 2023, 99% in 2024, and maintaining at 99% in both 2025 and 2026.

High-tech adopters—those using 6 or more technology platforms—now make up the largest share of U.S. small businesses at 41%, up 9 points from 2025 and nearly 3 times the 2022 level of 14%.

Key benefits reported by small businesses include the following: 84% agree that technology platforms have helped their businesses operate more efficiently.

In 2025, 74% of all SME employers used technologies or web-based software to sell to customers or to manage the business (up 5 percentage points on 2024 and 13 percentage points on 2023).

Use of technologies or web-based software to sell to customers or manage the business increased with business size, from 72% of micro businesses to 81% of small and 88% of medium-sized businesses.

In terms of what they used it for, SME employers were more likely to use technologies or web-based software for managing the business than for selling to customers online (70% and 29% respectively).

Small (25%) and medium sized (21%) businesses are more likely to have adopted advanced or transformative digital tools compared to micro-enterprises (19%) and the self -employed (14%).

Among SME employers who used technologies or web-based software to sell to customers or manage the business, accountancy software (82%, 80% in 2024) was most commonly used, followed by payroll software (64%, 57% in 2024) and electronic invoicing (62%, as in 2024).

Among SME employers who used technologies or web-based software to sell to customers or manage the business, accountancy software (82%, 80% in 2024) was most commonly used, followed by payroll software (64%, 57% in 2024) and electronic invoicing (62%, as in 2024).

Of those reporting a liability to submit returns for income tax self-assessment, 69% reported using record keeping software (up 4 percentage points on 2024), 57% used paper-based records (as in 2024) and 43% used spreadsheets (down 3 percentage points on 2024).

Most importantly, via the cloud, enterprises have access to more sophisticated applications, for finances/accounting (30.67%), for planning their processes and resources (enterprise resource planning - ERP) (15.88%) and for managing information about their customers (customer relationship management – CRM) (14.72%).

QuickBooks Online Accounting revenue increased 23 percent.

Online Services revenue increased 15 percent driven by money and payroll.

Our 3x3 strategy is hitting its stride, demonstrated by accelerating US growth with 110,000 new customers, including new Melio direct payments customers, and pro-forma 2 revenue growth of 50%.

Average monthly churn (1.14%) 10 remained below pre-pandemic trends, underscoring Xeroʼs durability and the ongoing value customers place in the platform.

According to the survey, 95% of firms adopted automation technologies in the past year, with the top uses of the tech including payroll processing (47%), accounts payable/receivable (46%), and data entry and transaction processing (43%).

The share of small enterprises using ERP software applications was 41.08%, and it was more than one and a half times lower than the percentage recorded for medium (69.93%) and more than 2 times lower than the percentage for large enterprises (88.71%).

The share of small enterprises using CRM applications stood at 24.69% and was 16.39 pp lower than the figure recorded for the use of ERP software.

The adoption of CRM applications among large enterprises (65.43%) was 23.28 pp lower compared to the use of ERP.

In 2025, more than half of EU enterprises (53.47%) used any ERP, CRM, or BI business software (Figure 5).

Among small businesses, the share of enterprises using paid cloud computing services increased in the same time period by 7.48 pp to 49.3% (Figure 3).

Most importantly, via the cloud, enterprises have access to relatively more sophisticated end customer software applications, for finances/accounting (58.16%), for planning their processes and resources (enterprise resource planning - ERP) (30.12%) and for managing information about their customers (customer relationship management – CRM) (27.91%).

In contrast to AI technologies, the most commonly used ICT in 2023 was cloud computing (48%), marking an increase of 3 percentage points from 2021.

Compared to SMBs with declining revenue, growing SMBs are twice as likely to have an integrated tech stack (66% vs 32%), dodging the problems of siloed data and inefficiencies common to having many standalone applications.

Use of artificial intelligence Nearly half of firms (46%) reported that their business or its employees currently use AI, while an additional 15% planned to begin using it in the next 12 months.

2/3 of U.S. small businesses (66%) now use AI, up 8 points from 2025 (58%) and nearly 3 times the share using it in 2023 (23%).

The rate of expected use within these sectors also did not undergo any statistically significant changes: As of May 3, 2026, the AI use rates in the Information (39.7%) and Finance and Insurance (33.9%) sectors were both higher than the national rate (19.8%) but neither reported significant shifts since December.

Less than 20% of firms with four or fewer employees reported using AI.

For example, 37% of firms with at least 250 employees reported using AI in their business operations.

In 2025, 17% of small enterprises, 30.36% of medium enterprises and 55.03% of large enterprises used AI.

AI is used by 34% of SME employers that use any technology or web-based software (49% of medium-sized, 40% of small, and 32% of micro enterprises), the fourth most common software after booking software, Customer Relationship Management ( CRM ), and human resources ( HR ) systems.

Overall, 39% of surveyed businesses indicate they employ an Artificial Intelligence (AI) application in their core business activities or products, up from 26% in 2024.

In a recent survey, 76% of small businesses said they are currently using artificial intelligence, and the results have been overwhelmingly positive.

Just 7% of AI users had fully integrated AI into their business.

The most common tasks for which businesses reported using AI are writing or marketing (83%), followed by individual productivity (61%) and planning or analysis (51%).

While the vast majority of firms that use AI experienced no change in their labor costs because of AI, 71% said its use led to increased productivity, 39% noted improved quality of goods and services, and 31% reported higher sales.

For AI users, the top challenges were accuracy (46%) and adapting tools to meet business needs (43%).

For firms that plan to use AI in the next 12 months, the top challenges were finding tools to meet business needs (54%) and the time required to implement or train employees on AI (37%).

Only 14% of small businesses are fully integrating AI into core operations, suggesting many are still in early stages of adoption.

Of all those using AI, many said they have faced challenges such as concerns about data privacy and security (50%), a lack of technical expertise (49%), and difficulty choosing the right AI tools (48%).

Fewer than 1 in 10 (8%) small businesses are taking a home-grown approach to developing their own AI Instead, nearly 2/3 (64%) either mostly or entirely rely on externally developed AI tools, while 3 in 10 (28%) report taking a balanced approach to using both external tools and relying on in-house development.

Today, 75% of SMBs are at least experimenting with AI, with growing businesses leading in adoption (83%).

Further, 46% of respondents report using AI daily, nearly double the rate of daily AI use among small businesses (28%), demonstrating a technical prowess that can help accountants better serve their clients.

More than half (55%) plan to increase tech spending, while only 5% expect cuts, reflecting how closely technology investments are tied to business outcomes.

Adoption of AI and automation is growing, with 36% planning to increase spending to streamline workflows, reduce manual tasks, and enhance overall productivity.

Execution remains a challenge, with limited internal technical expertise (26%), rising technology costs (15%), and economic uncertainty (15%) cited as top barriers.

The median monthly AI spend for businesses paying for AI is $250, making the technology accessible to businesses of all sizes.

Around 2 in 5 (41%) are using free AI tools.

Maintenance costs represent the biggest challenge (40%), including for example, software costs or fees for technical maintenance services.

On average, firms are using 8 different apps for core operations, leading to a host of challenges, including high total subscription costs (44%), integration difficulties (41%), time-consuming data entry (41%), and staff training burdens (33%).

This shapes their purchase decisions: 81% of SMB leaders say they would spend more on technology from trusted vendors.

The share of applicants that sought financing at online fintech lenders has increased over the last five years, from 17% in the 2020 survey to 29% in the 2025 survey.