Agent software spending set to hit $206.5 billion in 2026 as small-business buyers chart a separate path

Gartner now forecasts AI agent software at $206.5 billion this year, a 139% jump from 2025, while a new SBE Council survey finds small businesses spending a median $2,200 a year — and getting time back.

Gartner now expects worldwide spending on AI agent software to reach $206.5 billion in 2026, up from $86.4 billion in 2025 and on track for $376.3 billion in 2027. That’s a 139% jump in a single year, inside a broader AI spending pool the firm puts at $2.59 trillion for 2026, growing 47% overall and nearly 60% in software alone, to $452 billion.

The figure that matters isn’t the headline. It’s who’s writing the checks.

“up to this point, AI spending has primarily been driven by technology companies and hyperscalers,” said John-David Lovelock, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner, in the firm’s May 19 release. “enterprises have yet to really flex their spending potential. That is coming and 2026 will be the inflection year.” The $206.5 billion is concentrated in companies above the $1 billion revenue line, and as CIO Dive noted, those buyers will “primarily purchase AI through their incumbent software provider.” The agent boom, in other words, is largely a renewal cycle wearing a new label.

Underneath that headline sits a different economy. The SBE Council’s 2026 Small Business Technology Use Survey, fielded by TechnoMetrica between February 17 and 23 across 517 small business employers, found 81% calling AI important to their competitiveness and 93% planning continued investment, with 62% increasing it. The median annual spend is $2,200. Owners report saving a median of 5 hours a week; their businesses save 11.5 employee hours. Two-thirds report revenue gains, and 22% report gains above 10%.

“Artificial intelligence and digital platforms are powerful equalizers,” said Karen Kerrigan, SBE Council’s president and CEO. JPMorgan Chase Institute, drawing on Chase Business Banking transaction data from 2019 through 2025, dates the small-business acceleration to 2023, faster than the multi-decade diffusion of electricity.

That’s the structural split. Hyperscaler-tier procurement is funneling agent budgets back through Microsoft, Salesforce, ServiceNow, and Oracle. Smaller operators are stitching their own stacks from model-agnostic, no-code layers like LemonLime. Same technology, two procurement universes, and they aren’t converging yet.

Agent software spending set to hit $206.5 billion in 2026 as small-business buyers chart a separate path

Sources