How Much Does Custom AI Actually Cost for a Small Business?

Ask most agencies what custom AI costs and you get a shrug and a "depends" — followed by a discovery call before anyone will say a number. That's not helpful when you're an owner trying to work out whether this is a €4,000 decision or a €40,000 one.

So here are real bands. These are the prices we publish, and they're a fair guide to what serious done-for-you AI work costs anywhere, not just with us. Use them to sanity-check any quote you're handed.

What actually drives the price

Before the numbers, the thing that moves them: scope and integration, not "how smart the AI is." A tool that answers one type of message is cheap. A tool that reads your scheduling system, updates your CRM, and hands off to a human on edge cases is not — because most of the work is the plumbing between your existing systems, not the AI itself.

So the real question isn't "how much does AI cost" — it's "how many of my systems does this need to touch, and how much has to be built from scratch."

The four bands

Automation Starter — from €3,900. One clear job, automated end to end. An after-hours call-and-text responder that books leads. A quote that goes out the same day instead of three days later. Automated review requests. If you can describe the task in one sentence and it lives mostly in one system, you're in this band. Fastest to go live, easiest to measure.

Build Sprint — from €14,000. A custom build that connects a few systems and handles a real workflow, not just one task. Think intake that flows into your scheduling and your records, with the right handoffs to staff. This is where most "we need something built for how we actually work" projects land.

Project Rescue — from €18,000. For the AI project that stalled — the half-finished build gathering dust from the five reasons projects never ship. We take what exists, work out what's salvageable, and get a narrow, working slice live. Priced higher than a Build Sprint because untangling someone else's unfinished work is harder than starting clean.

Embedded Partner — from €9,000/month. Ongoing. We act as your AI team month to month — building, shipping, and maintaining across several jobs as your needs move. For businesses that have found real value and want a steady pipeline of improvements rather than one-off projects.

How to read these honestly

A few things worth saying plainly:

• "From" means from. A €3,900 starter is a genuine starter. More systems, more edge cases, more custom work moves you up. A good partner tells you before you commit which band you're in and why.
• Cheaper isn't always cheaper. A €3,900 automation that ships and runs beats a €25,000 build that stalls. Match the spend to a job you can actually put live, not to how ambitious it sounds.
• Watch for the "it depends" that never resolves. If nobody will give you a band even after you've explained the job, that's a signal — either they don't know the scope, or the number is uncomfortable.

Where to start

Most owners are better off starting in the Automation Starter band: one job, live fast, a real number to point at. Prove it works, then decide whether a bigger build earns its cost.

If you want a straight read on which band your specific job falls into — and whether it's worth doing at all — our free AI-readiness audit gives you that in a few minutes, without a sales call first.