"It depends" is technically true and completely unhelpful. Here's what AI automation actually costs, what moves the price, and what you get at each level.
For a single automated workflow — one clear task, one or two tool integrations — expect to start around $400. For a multi-step AI agent that handles branching logic across several tools, budget from $1,200. Anything involving multiple connected agents or complex system integration moves into custom-quoted territory, usually after a scoping call.
These aren't teaser numbers — they're our actual starting packages, fixed-scope, agreed before any work begins.
Four things matter far more than the label on the package:
Starter Automation ($400): one automated workflow, up to 2 tool integrations, roughly a 1-week delivery, 2 weeks of post-launch support. Good fit for a single, well-defined manual task.
Growth Automation ($1,200): one AI agent with multi-step logic, up to 5 integrations, 2-3 week delivery, 30 days of post-launch support. This is the right tier once a task involves a decision, not just a data move.
Custom / Enterprise: multiple connected agents, custom integrations, security review, and a dedicated timeline with SLA. Priced after a scoping call, because at this scale the variables are genuinely project-specific.
Sometimes, yes — and we'll tell you that honestly on the discovery call if that's the case. If it's a single, simple trigger-action workflow with low stakes if it breaks, a free tier of Zapier or Make might genuinely be enough.
Where a built solution earns its cost is error handling (what happens when the API is down, or the data's malformed), integration complexity (connecting tools that don't talk to each other cleanly), and the actual hours it takes to design, test, and debug a multi-step agent — time that's easy to underestimate until you're three weekends into it.
The flip side rarely gets talked about: manual workflows aren't free, they're just paid for in hours instead of an invoice. A task that takes 15 minutes and happens 10 times a day is over 2 hours of someone's day, every day, indefinitely. That cost doesn't show up on a balance sheet, but it's real — and unlike a one-time build cost, it never stops accruing.
The fastest way to get a real quote instead of a range is the free 30-minute discovery call — we scope the actual workflow and give you a fixed price, no obligation. We've done exactly this for our own lead-intake process, so we can walk you through a real example, not just a hypothetical.
