The best AI tools for business in 2026: a guide by type of work

There’s no single best AI for every business. There’s a best AI for each job: for writing, analysis and research, a general assistant such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Microsoft 365 Copilot; for one person’s tasks, a personal agent such as Muse or Grok Bot; for teams that live in ClickUp or monday.com, the AI built into the platform; and for following up on operations across the ERP, the bank, email and people, an AI that works for the whole company, such as Hey Will.

Full disclosure: I build Will, so I’m not neutral. I used only what the official pages say, and I point out where each product does best. The numbering follows the groups, not a score.

Which AI should you use for everyday work?

The general assistants: they write, summarize, analyze and research, and they already handle multistep tasks.

1. ChatGPT, by OpenAI

ChatGPT has plans for individuals and two for companies: Business, starting at 2 users, and Enterprise. On Business, the team gets shared context, plugins and admin controls, and the data isn’t used to train the models. ChatGPT Work takes a goal, carries it out and asks for approval when it needs to.

• Best for: almost everything, from writing to coding, with Codex.
• What it doesn’t do on its own: know your ERP. Someone has to choose or build a plugin.
• Official page: chatgpt.com/business

2. Claude, by Anthropic

Anthropic presents Claude as a collaborator you can put to work on real tasks: you give it a goal, and it delivers documents, spreadsheets and presentations. It connects to your apps, including through MCP, and can wait for your approval before acting. The Team plan, for 2 to 150 people, doesn’t train models on your content by default.

• Best for: documents, analysis and code, including in Chrome and Microsoft 365.
• What it doesn’t do on its own: connect to your ERP. Someone sets up the connectors.
• Official page: claude.com/product/overview

3. Gemini, by Google

In Google Workspace, Gemini lives inside Gmail, Docs, Sheets and Meet, doesn’t use company data to train models and only searches what each person has access to. With Gemini Enterprise, you can build agents without code and connect them to your company’s systems.

• Best for: companies that already work in Google Workspace.
• What it doesn’t do on its own: reach systems outside Workspace, such as the ERP. For that, someone builds and connects agents in Gemini Enterprise.
• Official page: workspace.google.com/solutions/ai

4. Microsoft 365 Copilot, by Microsoft

Microsoft 365 Copilot Business, aimed at small and midsize businesses, lives inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams, with a chat grounded in your work data and ready-made agents such as Researcher and Analyst. Custom agents are built in Copilot Studio.

• Best for: teams that already live in Microsoft 365.
• What it doesn’t do on its own: work without Microsoft 365. To buy it, you need a qualifying plan.
• Official page: microsoft.com/pt-br/microsoft-365-copilot/business

Is a personal AI agent worth using at work?

Yes, if the work is yours: a personal agent does tasks for you, in your apps. I compared the two in Muse or Grok Bot for work.

5. Muse, by Meta

Meta presents Muse as a personal agent that knows you and your goals in every area of your life. You talk to it in the app or on WhatsApp, and it asks permission before sending messages or buying anything: you allow once, allow always or deny.

• Best for: your own tasks and your life, from your calendar to your shopping.
• What it doesn’t do: the page doesn’t mention teams, ERPs or orders, and Muse is rolling out in the US.
• Official page: ai.meta.com/muse

6. Grok Bot, by SpaceXAI

Grok Bot creates Bots, which the page calls AI coworkers: they log in to your tools, use them the way you do, work in parallel, 24 hours a day, and come back to you when they need approval. A Bot learns a routine by watching you do it once.

• Best for: routines across many tools, with one Bot per function, such as sales and expenses.
• What it doesn’t do: ask for an OK at every step when several Bots work together; in that case, you keep track of their actions.
• Official page: x.ai/bot

Which AI should you use inside ClickUp or monday?

If your work already lives on a platform, that platform’s AI knows the tasks without anyone having to explain them.

7. ClickUp Brain

ClickUp Brain, which ClickUp now calls Brain², sees the tasks, docs and conversations in your workspace, searches apps like Google Drive and Salesforce and switches between GPT, Claude and Gemini, showing each person only what they’re allowed to see. ClickUp presents itself as the software to replace all software.

• Best for: teams that already work in ClickUp.
• What it doesn’t do: the page doesn’t mention ERPs, orders or inventory. See Will or ClickUp Brain?
• Official page: clickup.com/brain

8. monday agents

The agents in monday.com act inside the platform: ready-made agents, like the ones for leads and sales, or agents you build yourself. They use the docs and boards you choose, follow up and call people at any hour, within limits and permissions you set.

• Best for: companies that already work in monday.com and want one agent per process.
• What it doesn’t do: the page doesn’t mention ERPs or orders.
• Official page: monday.com/w/agents

Which AI knows your ERP and does the chasing for your company?

9. Hey Will

Will does the opposite of ClickUp: it works with the systems the company already uses, with no migration and no change to how the company runs. It’s a right hand for the whole company, or for a single team: it does the work and tells you what it did.

It works in your ERP, such as Bling, Omie, Tiny, TOTVS or SAP; in your banks, through Open Finance (regulated by Brazil’s Central Bank); and in your store, CRM, marketplaces, Gmail, WhatsApp and ClickUp. It answers questions about orders, products and inventory with the source, turns every stalled order into a task with a plan, chases the supplier, replies to the customer and updates the system. If a system has a login, Will uses it too, and every action gets a receipt.

• Best for: the running around between the ERP, the bank, the store, email and people.
• What it doesn’t do: it isn’t a general-purpose AI for writing or coding. For that, use a general assistant alongside it.
• Learn more: How Will works. Custom plans for your company: talk to sales.

How do you choose the best AI for your company?

• What’s the job: writing and analysis, or following up across systems and people?
• Where does your team already work? Start with the AI that lives there.
• Does the AI work for one person or for the whole team?
• What does it do on its own, and what goes through you?
• Who connects the AI to your systems and looks after that connection afterward?

And it doesn’t have to be just one: a general assistant can take the writing, and Will can take operations. Claude, Codex and Cursor query Will through MCP, within Will’s permissions. More in what an AI agent is and in Compare.

Sources, checked on September 27, 2026: ChatGPT Business and Pricing (OpenAI); Claude Overview and Pricing (Anthropic); AI tools for business (Google Workspace); Microsoft 365 Copilot Business; Muse and the Meta Newsroom announcement (Meta); Grok Bot (SpaceXAI); ClickUp and ClickUp Brain; monday agents. Product names appear for comparison only, with no partnership.