The Small Business Guide to AI Agents (2026)

What Grok Bot, Dots, Manus, Lindy and the top open-source agents actually cost, which one fits your work, and how to use them without handing over the keys to your business.

What’s inside

• A 2-minute decision flowchart. Five yes/no questions get you to the right agent.
• Cost per task, not just sticker price. How credit-based pricing turns into dollars for your workload.
• Paid vs self-host break-even worksheet. Find out whether running an open-source agent yourself beats a subscription at your volume.
• A one-page security checklist. Separate accounts, no admin passwords, approval gates, and how malicious messages can hijack an agent.
• Deep profiles of 7 agents. Pricing tiers, limits, best for, watch-outs.
• The 10 open-source projects we left out, and why.

Every price in the guide comes from the vendor’s own page, dated when we wrote it. Third-party figures are labelled. We rank on usefulness, never on commissions. For live prices, see the AI Agents category.

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