What AI actually costs in a $1M–$50M business
An honest breakdown of what we charge, what the model providers charge, and what your real all-in cost looks like in year one.
Founders ask us this constantly. The honest answer is 'depends on what you build', but that's a cop-out. Here's the math, broken out, no marketing fluff.
Build cost: one-off
For a $1M–$10M business, expect $20k–$60k for a single, well-scoped build (one agent, one workflow, fully integrated, fully tested). For a $10M–$50M business with multiple integrations and higher stakes, expect $60k–$180k for a multi-system build over 90 days.
If someone is quoting you $4k for an AI build, they're either selling a Zapier with a chatbot strapped on, or they don't know what they're doing. Walk away.
Run cost: monthly
Two parts: model usage + maintenance.
Model usage scales with volume. For a typical missed-call agent at a trades business doing 200 calls a week, expect $80–$300/month in model costs. For a CX agent at a DTC brand handling 5,000 tickets a month, $400–$1,500/month.
Maintenance — keeping it running, fixing things when models change, evolving it as your business changes — is the part most agencies pretend doesn't exist. We charge $3–$8k/month depending on tier. If you skip this, the system rots in 6 months and you're back where you started.
Year-one all-in
For a typical $5M services business getting 2 systems built and run for a year, expect $60k–$140k all-in. The honest version of the ROI math is: it should pay back inside the first year on revenue or recovered hours, or we shouldn't have taken the engagement.
If a system can't pay itself back inside year one, we shouldn't have built it.
What inflates the number
- Voice agents are 2–4x more expensive than text agents to run. Use them only where calls are the leak.
- Real-time integrations (sub-100ms) cost more than batch (15-min cycles). Use real-time only where you need it.
- Self-hosted models cost less per call but more in setup. Worth it past a certain volume; not worth it under it.
Our pricing, in plain English
We have three tiers. Starter: $20k build + $3k/mo run. Growth: $60k build + $5k/mo run. Scale: custom. They're on the /services page. There is no 'contact us for pricing' game.