The Short Answer
The honest answer: $5K to $200K+. The useful answer requires understanding what you are actually building. A simple chatbot and a multi-agent enterprise platform are fundamentally different projects with fundamentally different price tags.
Below is the breakdown we share with every client who asks. No inflated ranges to upsell you. No suspiciously low numbers to get you in the door. Just the real costs, based on what we have built and what we have seen other teams charge.
What Drives AI Development Cost
Before looking at specific price tiers, it helps to understand the five factors that move the needle on any AI project budget. Two projects that sound identical on paper can differ by 3-5x in cost depending on these variables.
Complexity of the Problem
A chatbot that answers FAQs from a knowledge base is straightforward. An agent that reads contracts, extracts key clauses, compares them against compliance rules, and flags exceptions is not. The more nuanced the decision-making, the more development time required.
Number of Integrations
Every system your AI connects to -- CRM, ERP, payment processor, email platform, internal database -- adds development time. Each integration requires authentication, data mapping, error handling, and testing. Expect $2K-8K per integration depending on API quality.
Data Quality and Preparation
If your data is clean, structured, and accessible, you save significant time. If your knowledge lives in scattered PDFs, inconsistent spreadsheets, and tribal knowledge in people's heads, expect to budget 15-30% of the project just for data preparation.
Regulatory and Compliance Requirements
Healthcare (HIPAA), finance (SOC 2), and government contracts add compliance layers that increase cost by 20-40%. Audit trails, data residency requirements, encryption standards, and access controls all take time to implement properly.
Team Training and Change Management
The best AI system in the world delivers zero ROI if nobody uses it. Budget 10-20% of project cost for training, documentation, and rollout support. Skip this and you will waste everything you spent on the build.
AI Chatbots
$5,000 - $15,000
This is where most businesses should start. A well-built AI chatbot handles the repetitive conversations that consume your team's time: answering common questions, qualifying leads, booking appointments, and routing complex issues to the right person.
What You Get:
- Conversation design -- scripted flows for your top 20-50 use cases
- LLM integration -- connected to GPT-4, Claude, or Gemini with prompt engineering tuned to your business
- Knowledge base setup -- your FAQs, product info, and policies ingested and searchable
- Channel deployment -- website widget, WhatsApp, or Messenger (pick one to start)
- Basic analytics -- conversation logs, resolution rates, common topics
- Handoff to human -- escalation path when the bot cannot resolve
Timeline
1-3 weeks
Best For
FAQ bots, lead capture, support deflection, appointment booking
Client Example:
A real estate agency paid $8,000 for a WhatsApp chatbot that qualifies incoming leads, answers property questions from their listings database, and books viewings directly into their calendar. Before the bot, their agents spent 3 hours a day fielding the same questions. ROI achieved in 3 months.
AI Agents
$15,000 - $50,000
AI agents go beyond conversation. They take actions. They use tools, access APIs, query databases, make decisions based on business rules, and execute multi-step workflows autonomously. Think of them as digital employees that work 24/7 without breaks or errors.
What You Get:
- Multi-tool orchestration -- the agent can call multiple APIs, query databases, and chain actions together
- Business logic layer -- rules, thresholds, and decision trees specific to your operations
- Database integration -- read and write to your existing systems (CRM, ERP, inventory)
- Error handling and fallbacks -- graceful degradation when things go wrong, with human escalation
- Monitoring dashboard -- real-time visibility into what the agent is doing, what it completed, and what failed
- Audit trail -- complete log of every decision and action for accountability
Timeline
4-8 weeks
Best For
Operations automation, data processing, monitoring, report generation
Client Example:
A logistics company paid $35,000 for a shipment monitoring agent. It tracks containers across 4 carrier APIs, flags delays before they become problems, auto-notifies affected customers, and generates exception reports for the ops team. Saves 20+ hours per week in manual tracking and has caught delivery issues an average of 6 hours faster than the previous manual process.
AI Automation Platforms
$30,000 - $80,000
This tier involves multiple agents working together, complex document processing pipelines, or full workflow automation across departments. These are systems that replace or augment entire business processes, not just individual tasks.
What You Get:
- Multi-agent architecture -- specialized agents collaborating on complex workflows
- Document processing pipelines -- OCR, extraction, classification, and validation at scale
- Workflow automation -- end-to-end process automation with conditional logic and human-in-the-loop gates
- Custom dashboards -- management views, performance metrics, and operational insights
- Role-based access -- different permissions for operators, managers, and admins
- API layer -- your other systems can connect to and trigger the AI platform
Timeline
2-4 months
Best For
Multi-department automation, document processing, compliance workflows
Client Example:
A financial services firm paid $60,000 for a compliance document processing system. It ingests regulatory filings, extracts key data points, cross-references against internal policies, flags discrepancies, and generates audit-ready reports. Reduced review time from 4 hours to 15 minutes per document. The compliance team now processes 10x the volume with the same headcount.
Enterprise AI Solutions
$80,000 - $200,000+
Full-scale AI transformation. This is where you are deploying AI across multiple departments, building custom machine learning models trained on your proprietary data, and fundamentally changing how your organization operates. These projects typically involve a phased rollout over several months.
What You Get:
- Custom ML models -- trained on your data for domain-specific predictions and classifications
- Multi-department deployment -- AI integrated into sales, operations, finance, and customer service
- Data infrastructure -- pipelines, warehousing, and governance to support ongoing AI operations
- Advanced security -- SOC 2 compliance, encryption at rest and in transit, penetration testing
- Training program -- comprehensive onboarding for all user groups, including executive dashboards
- Ongoing optimization -- model retraining, performance tuning, and feature expansion
Timeline
3-6+ months
Best For
Large organizations, industry-specific AI, competitive differentiation
When This Tier Makes Sense:
You need this level when off-the-shelf LLMs cannot solve your problem alone, when you have proprietary data that gives you a competitive advantage, or when you are operating at a scale where even small efficiency gains translate to millions in savings. Most businesses do not start here -- they graduate to it after proving ROI at lower tiers.
Quick Reference: Cost at a Glance
| Tier | Cost Range | Timeline | Typical ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI Chatbots | $5K - $15K | 1-3 weeks | 2-4 months |
| AI Agents | $15K - $50K | 4-8 weeks | 3-6 months |
| Automation Platforms | $30K - $80K | 2-4 months | 4-8 months |
| Enterprise Solutions | $80K - $200K+ | 3-6+ months | 6-12 months |
Hidden Costs Most Vendors Will Not Mention
The build cost is only part of the picture. If someone quotes you a flat number and never mentions ongoing costs, that is a red flag. Here is what else you should budget for.
LLM API Costs
$50 - $2,000+/monthEvery call to OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google costs money. A chatbot handling 1,000 conversations per month might cost $50-200 in API fees. An agent processing thousands of documents could run $500-2,000+. Prices have dropped significantly since 2024, but they are not zero. Your vendor should model this for you before you build.
Hosting and Infrastructure
$50 - $500+/monthYour AI system needs to run somewhere. Simple chatbots can run on $50/month infrastructure. Complex platforms with databases, queues, and monitoring will run $200-500+. If you need GPU compute for custom models, budget $500-3,000+ per month.
Ongoing Maintenance
15-25% of build cost annuallyAI systems are not "set and forget." LLM providers change their APIs. Your business processes evolve. New edge cases surface. Budget 15-25% of the initial build cost per year for maintenance, updates, and improvements. On a $30K project, that is $4,500-7,500 annually.
Data Preparation
$2,000 - $15,000 (one-time)If your knowledge base, product catalog, or documentation needs cleaning, structuring, or migrating before the AI can use it, that is a separate line item. Some vendors bake this into the project cost. Others do not. Ask.
Training and Onboarding
$1,000 - $5,000Your team needs to learn how to use the system, how to handle edge cases, and how to provide feedback that improves it over time. Budget for workshops, documentation, and ongoing support -- especially in the first 90 days.
How to Reduce Costs Without Cutting Corners
You do not have to spend $100K to get meaningful results from AI. Here are four strategies that reduce cost without sacrificing quality.
1. Start with an MVP
Do not build the full vision on day one. Identify your single highest-impact use case and build that first. Prove ROI. Then expand. A $10K MVP that delivers measurable results in 4 weeks is infinitely more valuable than a $60K project that takes 5 months and might miss the mark.
Cost savings: 40-60% compared to a full build, with ROI proven before committing the remaining budget.
2. Use Existing LLM APIs Instead of Custom Models
In 2026, off-the-shelf models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google handle 90% of business use cases. Training a custom model costs $50K-500K and is only worth it if you have truly proprietary data that general models cannot handle. For most businesses, smart prompt engineering and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) get you 95% of the way there at a fraction of the cost.
Cost savings: $30K-400K by avoiding unnecessary custom model training.
3. Get the Scope Right Before You Build
The most expensive mistake in AI development is building the wrong thing. A proper discovery phase (1-2 weeks, $2K-5K) maps your workflows, identifies the highest-value automation targets, and defines clear success metrics. This small upfront investment prevents $20K-50K in rework.
Cost savings: 30-50% by avoiding scope creep and rework.
4. Choose the Right Partner (Not the Cheapest One)
A $5K quote from an inexperienced developer often turns into a $20K project after failed iterations, missed deadlines, and eventual rebuild. An experienced team that charges $15K but delivers a working system in 3 weeks will save you money in the long run. Look for teams that ask hard questions during discovery, not ones that say "yes" to everything.
Cost savings: Varies, but we have seen clients save $10K-30K by choosing quality over the lowest bid.
Our Pricing Approach
We believe in three things when it comes to pricing:
Transparency
You get a detailed breakdown of every line item before any work begins. No hidden fees. No surprise invoices. If the scope changes, we discuss cost implications before proceeding.
Milestone-Based Payments
You pay as we deliver, not all upfront. Typical milestones: discovery complete, MVP delivered, integrations done, training finished. If we do not deliver, you do not pay for that phase.
Free Discovery Call
We spend 30-45 minutes understanding your problem, give you an honest assessment of what it would take to solve it, and provide a ballpark estimate -- before you commit a single dollar. If AI is not the right solution for your problem, we will tell you that too.
Get a Free Project Estimate
Tell us what you want to build. We will give you an honest estimate in 24 hours -- no commitment, no sales pitch.
Get Your Free EstimateMost clients get their estimate within a few hours