AI Adoption in Romania: Where SMEs Stand in 2026
AI adoption in Romania: 5.21% of enterprises used AI in 2025, the lowest share in the EU. Eurostat data, first use cases, costs, GDPR, the AI Act and verified funding.
AI adoption in Romania is still low: in 2025 only 5.21% of enterprises with 10 or more employees used at least one AI technology, the lowest share in the EU against an EU average of 19.95%, according to Eurostat. The share has still more than tripled in two years. Below are the data, the first use cases worth trying, realistic costs, GDPR and AI Act basics, and funding programmes with their status checked on 4 October 2026.
Where does Romania stand on AI adoption, according to Eurostat?
Eurostat counts enterprises with 10 or more employees that use at least one of eight AI technologies, from text analysis and speech recognition to generating text, images and code. The 2025 data come from a survey run in the first months of 2025, and the next update is planned for December 2026. Enterprises with fewer than 10 employees are not in this statistic. We read the figures below from the Eurostat database (dataset isoc_eb_ai, updated June 2026).
| Enterprises using AI, 2025 | Romania | EU |
|---|---|---|
| All enterprises with 10+ employees | 5.21% | 19.95% |
| Small (10–49 employees) | 4.13% | 17.00% |
| Medium (50–249) | 7.79% | 30.36% |
| Large (250+) | 20.75% | 55.03% |
| Year | Romania | EU |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1.38% | 7.65% |
| 2023 | 1.51% | 8.06% |
| 2024 | 3.07% | 13.48% |
| 2025 | 5.21% | 19.95% |
Romania rose from 1.51% in 2023 to 5.21% in 2025, which is 3.45 times. The EU rose 2.5 times, from 8.06% to 19.95%. The ratio between the EU and Romania narrowed from 5.3 to 3.8, but the gap in percentage points widened from 6.6 to 14.7.
The most used technologies in Romania, as a share of all enterprises with 10+ employees, are text analysis (3.57%, EU 11.75%), generating text, speech or code (3.12%, EU 8.76%), speech recognition (2.31%, EU 7.22%) and workflow automation (2.18%, EU 5.35%). Only 0.85% of Romanian enterprises use AI for accounting or finance, against 4.61% in the EU.
Romania's 2026 Digital Decade country report notes limited technology uptake in businesses and recommends using the European Digital Innovation Hubs. Eurostat also shows that 44.34% of enterprises with 10–249 employees had at least a basic level of digital intensity in 2025, against 71.39% in the EU (dataset isoc_e_dii). The EU target for 2030 is that three in four companies use cloud, big data or AI.
Why is AI adoption low in Romania, and why is it rising?
Eurostat publishes reasons for not using AI only at EU level. Among enterprises that had considered AI but did not use it, the most common reasons were lack of expertise (70.89%), unclear legal consequences (52.52%) and data protection concerns (48.83%). We found no Romanian figures by reason. The 2026 Eurobarometer, cited in the Digital Decade report, shows Romanians put lack of training or skills for generative AI first (28%), then privacy (26%) and job losses (26%).
Our reading, not an official figure: many Romanian firms are small, have no in-house IT person and do not know where to start. The rise of the last two years probably comes from chat assistants, which need no integration: you open one in a browser and try it the same day.
What are the first AI use cases for a small business in Romania?
Pick processes with high volume, clear rules and a person who checks the output. Five starting points:
Document processing
Invoices, quotes, contracts and bank statements: a model reads the document and extracts fields (supplier, date, total, VAT) into a table. Check a sample before you rely on the output. For invoices, the result must reach the format RO e-Factura requires: the ANAF guide describes an XML file following EN 16931 and the RO_CIUS rules, and mentions a free Ministry of Finance application for uploads.
Customer email
An assistant drafts replies in Romanian and English from your message history and price list, and a person presses Send. Start with repetitive questions: order status, quotes, opening hours.
Invoicing and reporting
Matching bank statements to invoices, the monthly sales report and overdue-invoice alerts can be automated with simple workflows. Measure time before and after; we explain how to calculate the return in automation ROI for small teams.
RO/EN translation
For documents, keeping the formatting matters. Our guide to translating documents with AI while keeping formatting shows how. For short texts, a subscription to a dedicated translator costs little (see the cost table).
Meeting transcription
A speech-to-text model turns a recording into text with speakers and timestamps. Run locally, the audio never leaves your computer, which simplifies the GDPR discussion: see local AI transcription with Whisper.
What does AI cost a small business, realistically?
We read the prices below from the vendors' pages on 4 October 2026. They exclude tax, except DeepL, which includes VAT. Vendors can change them at any time.
| What you pay for | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Chat assistant, ChatGPT Business (Standard seat) | USD 20 per user per month billed annually, USD 25 monthly | Minimum 2 seats |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot Business | From EUR 15.60 per user per month, paid yearly | Promotion until 31 December 2026, list price EUR 18.20; needs an eligible Microsoft 365 plan; Ireland page, Romanian price may differ |
| DeepL Individual | EUR 7.49 per month billed annually | 300,000 characters a month; Team is EUR 24.99 per user per month with 1,000,000 characters |
| API, document processing | About USD 0.02 per document on Claude Sonnet 5.5, about USD 0.001 on GPT-6 Luna | Assumption: 5,000 input tokens, 1,000 output tokens |
| Automating one workflow (Danube Labs) | EUR 400–1,200 | Indicative, negotiable, agreed in writing |
| AI feasibility study with evaluation set | EUR 1,200–2,500 | Indicative |
| Production AI feature | From EUR 4,000 | Indicative |
The API arithmetic: on Claude Sonnet 5.5 (USD 2 per million input tokens, USD 10 per million output tokens), 5,000 × 2 / 1,000,000 = USD 0.01 plus 1,000 × 10 / 1,000,000 = USD 0.01, so USD 0.02. On GPT-6 Luna (USD 0.10 and 0.50) it comes to USD 0.001. At 1,000 documents a month that is about USD 20 and USD 1, before tax, caching and batch discounts. Romanian text may need more tokens than English, so measure on your own files.
What do GDPR and the AI Act mean for you?
If a prompt contains personal data (names, emails, personal ID numbers, health data), your company is the controller. You need a legal basis, a data processing agreement with the AI provider, and a check of where data is processed and what safeguards cover transfers outside the EEA. Keep customer data out of free personal accounts, and on business plans read what the vendor says about training on your content. EDPB Opinion 28/2024 of 18 December 2024 explains how GDPR applies to AI models. For sensitive data, ask a GDPR specialist.
On the AI Act, most small firms are deployers. The basic duties: AI literacy for staff, no banned practices, labels for deepfakes and unreviewed public-interest text, and a notice on chatbots. High-risk rules, for example hiring or credit scoring, were postponed to 2 December 2027. In Romania, ANCOM cannot yet sanction until a national law exists. The details, with sources, are in our AI Act guide for small businesses.
What funding exists for SME digitalisation in Romania?
This is the status checked on 4 October 2026, on official sites or the text of the act:
- PNRR, Digitalising SMEs (grant up to EUR 100,000): Order 606/2026, published in the Official Gazette on 4 May 2026, sets payment of aid by 31 August 2026. Status: ended, no longer a source for new firms.
- Centru Regional Programme, Action 2.2, Call 2: the guide was in public consultation from 28 April to 20 May 2026. ADR Centru announced an allocation of EUR 14,113,032 and de minimis aid of EUR 15,000–200,000 per firm, for micro, small and medium enterprises in the region (Alba, Brașov, Covasna, Harghita, Mureș, Sibiu). Eligible activities include subscription licences, AI solutions, e-invoicing, a digital maturity audit and training. Status: we could not confirm that submissions have opened; check the ADR page.
- București-Ilfov Regional Programme, Action 1.7: on 28 September 2026 ADR București-Ilfov announced a consultation with businesses to define the action on advanced digital transformation of SMEs. Status: no applicant guide exists. The press has mentioned amounts (about EUR 25 million, grants of EUR 25,000–200,000), which we could not find in an official document.
- European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH): the Commission's catalogue lists regional hubs in Romania, for example Wallachia eHub for South Muntenia and București-Ilfov. The Digital Decade report recommends using them to raise digital maturity. Check which services they offer and on what terms.
We could not verify other programmes, such as Start-Up Nation, on an official site today, so we do not include them.
How do you start in 30 days?
- Pick a process with volume, for example over 100 documents a month, and measure the current time.
- Collect 30–50 real examples with the correct result. This is your evaluation set.
- Test 2–3 models on the set and compare quality and cost.
- Have a person check the results and log the errors.
- Check GDPR and the AI Act notices, then decide: an off-the-shelf tool or an integration built for you.
How can Danube Labs help?
Danube Labs is a Bucharest studio that builds AI systems and automations for small teams. We usually start with a feasibility study and an evaluation set, so you see on your own data what works before you pay for integration. See AI systems or book a free intro call.
Frequently asked questions
- How many companies in Romania use artificial intelligence?
- According to Eurostat, 5.21% of Romanian enterprises with at least 10 employees used an AI technology in 2025, the lowest share in the EU against an EU average of 19.95%. By size class Romania has 4.13% of small, 7.79% of medium and 20.75% of large enterprises. Enterprises with fewer than 10 employees are not included in the statistic.
- What can AI automate in a small business?
- The best starting points are processes with volume and clear rules: extracting fields from invoices and contracts, drafting email replies, matching bank statements to invoices, monthly reports, RO/EN translation and meeting transcription. A person should check the output, especially for financial or legal documents, before it goes any further.
- How much does AI cost a small business?
- A chat assistant costs around USD 20–25 per user per month before tax. Processing one document through an API can cost from about USD 0.001 to about USD 0.02 depending on the model, assuming 5,000 input and 1,000 output tokens. A custom integration at Danube Labs starts from EUR 400 for a single simple workflow.
- Can I use ChatGPT with customer data?
- It depends on the plan and the contract. With personal data you need a legal basis, a processing agreement with the vendor and a check of transfers outside the EEA. Avoid free personal accounts and read the terms on model training. This is not legal advice; for sensitive data, such as health or HR data, ask a GDPR specialist.
- Is there EU funding for AI in SMEs?
- On 4 October 2026 the PNRR SME digitalisation scheme had ended for payments. The Centru Regional Programme is preparing Call 2 of Action 2.2, with EUR 15,000–200,000 per firm, and București-Ilfov is consulting firms on Action 1.7, with no guide yet. Always check the regional agency's site before you apply.
- What does the AI Act ask of a small company?
- If you only use AI tools, you must support staff AI literacy, avoid banned practices and label deepfakes and unreviewed public-interest text. If you run a chatbot on your site, you must say it is an AI. The rules for high-risk uses apply from 2 December 2027.
