What an AI agent actually costs.
There are three real price tiers, and they solve three different problems. Most consultancy content quotes $25k-$500k ranges aimed at enterprise. That's almost never the right number for an SMB.
An AI feature inside a SaaS tool you already use. Notion AI, HubSpot Breeze, Gmail "Help me write."
- Lowest commitment
- Works inside one app only
- You're paying GPT-4 markup of ~250x
- Doesn't shrink your hours, makes existing work slightly faster
A pre-built agent that solves one specific high-value workflow. Fixed scope, fixed price, shipped fast.
- Pays back in 3-12 weeks at SMB hourly value
- You own the agent + the config
- Crosses tools (Gmail + CRM + calendar)
- Best ROI tier for 5-100 person teams
An agent or system built bespoke by a consultancy or fractional team. Discovery, build, ship, maintain.
- For non-standard workflows or regulated data
- 4-12 weeks to ship
- Long maintenance tail
- Best for enterprise or 100+ person teams
Most "what does AI cost" content is wildly miscalibrated for an SMB. Distrya quotes $5k-$20k. Appinventiv quotes $50k-$500k. Forbes quotes "it depends." None of these are wrong, but none of them are useful, because they're mixing three completely different tiers into one range.
Tier 1: the SaaS wrapper ($20-$99/mo)
This is what most people think of when they think "AI for my business." You bolt an AI feature onto a tool you already pay for. Notion AI, HubSpot Breeze, Salesforce Einstein, Gmail "Help me write," ChatGPT for Teams.
The price is low because the vendor is reselling someone else's foundation model (GPT-4, Claude, Gemini) with a thin app layer on top. The actual GPT-4 cost behind a $99/mo subscription is roughly $0.40/month. You're paying for the integration, the UI, and the brand.
Tier 1 is useful when: (a) the work you want to AI-up is happening inside one specific app, AND (b) you only need it to assist, not act on its own. If you draft a lot of docs in Notion, Notion AI is fine. If you need the AI to cross tools (read inbox, update CRM, schedule meetings), Tier 1 won't help.
Tier 2: productized agents ($2,995-$4,995 once)
This is the tier almost nobody talks about because it didn't really exist before 2024. A productized agent is a pre-built specialist that solves one specific workflow. Fixed scope, fixed price, shipped in 7 days. You own the agent and the config after delivery.
The five workflows Alchmy productizes:
- Inbox Triage ($2,995): reads incoming email, categorizes, drafts replies in your voice. Saves a founder 8-15 hours/week.
- CRM Data Hygiene Sprint ($2,495): enriches and de-dupes your existing CRM data without rebuying from Apollo.
- Proposal Drafter ($3,995): drafts proposals or quotes from your standard templates. Agencies report 20+ hour proposals becoming 2-hour reviews.
- Meeting Notes to CRM ($4,995): joins calls, transcribes, summarizes, pushes action items into CRM. Sales managers stop chasing reps for updates.
- AI Receptionist ($4,995 setup + $497/mo): answers inbound calls, books appointments, texts confirmations. Dental, contractor, salon, professional services.
The math: a 5-person team where the owner makes $75/hour worth of time, recovering 10 hours/week, pays back a $4,995 agent in 6.6 weeks. After that, it's pure profit forever (minus ~$50-100/mo in API costs).
Tier 3: custom builds ($25k+)
This is where most enterprise consulting content lives. Custom builds are the right answer when:
- Your workflow doesn't match any productized SKU on the market
- You're handling regulated data (healthcare, legal, finance) that needs special handling
- You need the agent to integrate with bespoke internal systems
- You're a 100+ person team where one workflow touches dozens of people and edge cases
The price range is $25k-$500k once + 10-20% annually in maintenance. The right consultancy for this tier is rarely the cheapest one. Most SMBs should NOT start here. Start at Tier 2 and graduate to Tier 3 only when a productized agent provably doesn't solve the workflow.
How to pick your tier
Three questions:
1. Does the work happen inside ONE app? → Tier 1 SaaS wrapper.
2. Does the work happen across multiple apps, AND does the workflow look roughly like one of the 5 productized agents above? → Tier 2 productized.
3. Is the workflow weird, regulated, or organization-spanning? → Tier 3 custom.
Most SMBs land in Tier 2. The audit on this site walks your week with you for free and outputs a ranked list of which tier matches each leak.
Five workflows we've productized: Inbox Triage, Proposal Drafter, Meeting Notes to CRM, CRM Data Hygiene Sprint, AI Receptionist. Each one is a fixed-scope build with a fixed price, shipped in 7 days, with a 30-day money-back guarantee if it doesn't hit the calculator math.