Four out of ten French very small enterprises or SMEs say they use at least one artificial intelligence solution. That is 14 points more than in 2025 and three times the rate recorded in 2024. The figure comes from the France Num 2026 barometer, the annual survey that Crédoc conducts for the Directorate General for Enterprises (DGE) among several thousand business leaders. Of all VSEs and SMEs surveyed, 19% use paid solutions.

The results were published on 28 September 2026 by France Num and presented in press release no. 1062.

From 13% to 40% in two years

In September 2024, the DGE recorded 13% of companies using AI tools. A year later, the proportion had doubled, to 26%. It reaches 40% in 2026. Among SMEs, the progression is even faster: 16% in 2024, 34% in 2025, 53% this year.

All sectors are accelerating, at very different levels. Digital remains in the lead with 72% of users, ahead of specialised and technical services (60%) and financial activities (46%). Next come building and construction (30%), transport and logistics (29%), agri-food (27%) and agriculture (18%). The gap between the first and last sector is 54 points, but the annual multipliers published in the France Num dossier generally go in the opposite direction to the levels: digital multiplies its rate by 1.4 in one year, agriculture and building by 2. In agriculture, the DGE measured 4% of users in 2024 and 9% in 2025.

Uses, for their part, are concentrated on text and conversation. Content generation (text, voice or image) is cited by 34% of VSEs and SMEs, up 12 points. Next come conversational assistants and chatbots (24%, +10 points), document analysis and classification (13%, +7), task automation (11%, +6), then data analysis, forecasting and resource optimisation (9%, +4). The first two items correspond to what a generalist assistant can do without installation or configuration.

19% pay, almost always a subscription

19% of VSEs and SMEs use paid AI solutions, 32% among SMEs. Relative to the 40% of users, and assuming that all companies that pay are among those that use, slightly less than one user in two puts money into the tool they employ. Among SMEs, the ratio rises to about three in five. The barometer does not publish this direct cross between usage and payment; the ratio is a reconstruction by the editorial team.

The dossier details four expense items: 17% of VSEs and SMEs report subscriptions or licences, 5% training, 3% specific developments and 2% consulting and services. Integration, customisation and support therefore remain marginal. Another indicator points in the same direction: 76% of companies exploit their data to run their business, but they do so with business software (51%) or a spreadsheet (44%), and only 5% with artificial intelligence.

Among the digital priorities declared for 2026-2027, AI collects 18%, one point less than last year, far behind the electronic invoicing reform (39%, +11 points). And 33% of VSEs and SMEs declare having made no digital expenditure in 2025, excluding training and recruitment, i.e. 8 points more in one year.

9,655 responses collected in spring, published in September

The survey was entrusted by the DGE to Crédoc and the Centre Relations Clients. The sample includes 9,655 responding companies: 2,869 SMEs and 6,786 VSEs, including 799 companies without employees. They were interviewed online and by telephone between 23 March and 18 April 2026. The results are representative of the 2024 population of French VSEs and SMEs by size, sector and region. On a reference population of 2.4 million companies, the DGE announces a margin of error of less than 1% at the 95% confidence level.

The fieldwork stopped on 18 April: the 40% describes spring 2026, not the autumn. The sample is also shrinking, after 11,021 respondents in 2025 and 10,125 in 2024. As of 30 September, France Num only offered for download a five-page infographic; the detailed Crédoc report was not there. The sectoral figures and expenditure breakdowns cited here come from the online dossier.

Confidence in digital falls by seven points

71% of business leaders believe that digital brings a real benefit to their company, compared with 78% in 2025 and 79% in 2024. The decline reaches 8 points among VSEs, while SMEs remain at 83%. Agriculture loses 10 points (52%) and transport-logistics as much (60%), while the digital sector gives up only one point, at 90%. The barometer also measures for the first time, according to the DGE, direct exposure to cybersecurity incidents: 39% of VSEs and SMEs declare having suffered at least one in the last twelve months, and 53% of leaders fear losing or having their data hacked.

Asked about the contact they prefer for advice, 41% of leaders cite their chartered accountant, up 23 points, a progression that the France Num dossier links to the electronic invoicing reform. Professional networks of service providers follow at 37%. France Num comes in at 7%, down 7 points, and 18% of VSEs and SMEs declare knowing the scheme.

The Osez l'IA plan targets 50% of VSEs by 2030

On 3 September 2026, the DGE drew up the first anniversary assessment of the "Osez l'IA" plan, launched on 1 July 2025: more than 35,000 companies made aware, 615 AI Ambassadors in 20 regions and local authorities, 88 referenced solution providers, 70 Data AI diagnostics undertaken. The plan displays a target for 2030: an AI adoption rate of 100% of large companies, 80% of SMEs and mid-caps and 50% of VSEs. "Our course for the coming year is clear: move from awareness to action, reach out to companies that still think AI is not for them, and ensure that this transformation benefits everyone," declared that day Anne Le Hénanff, Minister Delegate for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Affairs.

Measured against these targets, the barometer raises a question of instrument. The indicator "uses at least one artificial intelligence solution", as published, records both a company subscription and a free account opened by an employee on a general public assistant, and it can progress by 14 points without a euro changing hands. The dossier does not publish a usage rate specific to VSEs alone, which would allow it to be compared with the 50% target; it gives the overall figure (40%) and SMEs (53%). The diffusion measured this year resembles more an individual and free appropriation of generic tools than a company investment, and that is the gap the government plan says it wants to close.

For a field advisor, France Num activator, chamber of commerce or chartered accountant, the barometer provides a quantified argument: the share of companies judging the effect of AI positive goes from 68% among all users to 84% among the only fraction that pays, according to the France Num dossier; the press release writes 85%. For a software publisher or an integrator, the market described by these figures is that of subscription, far ahead of specific development and consulting.

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