Pricing guide · updated 23 October 2026
AI automation agency pricing: what agencies charge in 2026.
Agencies that publish their prices charge $400 to $5,000 for a single workflow, $5,000 to $25,000 for an AI agent or a set of connected workflows, and $25,000 to $150,000 or more for multi-agent and enterprise systems. Support retainers run about $200 to $2,000 a month; a dedicated team starts around $10,000 a month. Tool costs come on top, typically $20 to $500 a month for a small business. The figures below come from the pricing pages of 13 agencies, checked on 23 October 2026, and ours.
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The short answer
| What you buy | Published range | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| One workflow (lead routing, follow-up, a report) | $400–$5,000, one-off | BULDRR $400–$1,200; Airtective $799–$1,999; TwoCore $1,500–$5,000 |
| One AI agent (support, lead follow-up, booking) | $5,000–$15,000 | SuperDupr $5,000–$10,000 for a single-purpose agent, $8,000–$15,000 for a sales or support agent |
| Several connected workflows | $5,000–$25,000 | Goodspeed $5,000 for up to 4 workflows; AgixTech $8,000–$20,000; Automaly from £10,000 |
| Multi-agent or enterprise system | $25,000–$150,000+ | SuperDupr $25,000–$50,000+; LuMay pilot $25K–$75K; AgixTech $30,000–$150,000+ |
| Support and changes after launch | $200–$2,000 a month | Automaly from £250; Agentic Marketing Pro $300–$1,500; TwoCore $500–$1,500 |
| A dedicated automation team | from $10,000 a month | Goodspeed from $10,000; LuMay $35K–$75K for an engineering pod |
Each figure is from the agency's own site on 23 October 2026. Where an agency writes "$" without naming the currency, we show it as written.
Compare our prices with the ones in this guide
From $2,500 for one automation or agent, a fixed quote for a full system, monthly plans from $1,500. A free 30-minute call turns your task list into a fixed price.
What 14 agencies publish
Most AI automation agencies quote only after a call. These are the ones that put numbers on their own site. We list what each page says, not what a third-party ranking says about it, and we are on the list, marked as such.
| Agency | Model | Published price | What the page says is included |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI Strike Force (us) | Fixed price per project, optional monthly plan | From $2,500 per agent or automation; full system on a fixed quote; monthly plan from $1,500 | Written scope before work starts, accounts in your name, 4 to 8 weeks for a full system, fixed at no cost if it does not work as agreed |
| Agentic Marketing Pro | Paid pilot, then monthly management | Pilot $1,500–$4,000 for one workflow; $300–$1,500 a month | First agent live within 14 days, written acceptance tests, platform and model costs passed through at cost |
| AgixTech | Project ranges | Focused projects $8,000–$20,000; enterprise agentic systems $30,000–$150,000+ | Inclusions not listed |
| Airtective | Fixed price per build, no retainer | One workflow $799–$1,999; several workflows from about $2,499 | Free audit first; built on n8n, Make or Zapier, owned by the client |
| Automaly | Paid assessment, then project or retainer | Assessment £5,000; projects from £10,000; support from £250 a month | Assessment fee credited against the build, refunded if fewer than five worthwhile opportunities are found |
| AY Automate | Embedded engineer | From $60,000 a year | An automation engineer placed in your team in 2 to 4 weeks, with a 90-day replacement guarantee |
| BULDRR | Tiers, then retainer | Starter $400–$1,200; Growth $1,500–$4,500; Scale $1,200–$8,000 a month | Starter covers 1 to 3 apps with 2 weeks of fixes; third-party costs passed through without markup |
| Goodspeed | Fixed package, then monthly team | $5,000 fixed; ongoing team from $10,000 a month | Workshop, up to 4 production workflows, training and documentation; n8n and hosting billed by the vendors |
| LuMay | Sprints, pilots and per-agent plans | Discovery $10K–$15K; pilot $25K–$75K; voice agents from $249 a month | Aimed at the upper mid-market; model usage included within published volumes |
| Ryven | Fixed quote per project | One n8n workflow $1,000–$5,000; larger systems $5,000–$15,000 | Simple flows in 2 to 5 days, complex builds in 1 to 3 weeks |
| SuperDupr | Fixed scope, then monthly support | Agents $5,000–$15,000; workflow automation $10,000–$25,000; multi-agent $25,000–$50,000+; support $200–$2,000 a month | Vendor usage billed in the client's name |
| The AI Automation Agency | Fast-track, retainer, weekly support | Support £87 a week, billed monthly; other plans on a call | Prices exclude tax |
| TwoCore | Fixed price per workflow, optional retainer | $1,500–$5,000 per workflow; $500–$1,500 a month | Live in 2 to 4 weeks, 30 days of fixes after launch; cancel the retainer with 30 days notice and keep what was built |
| XRAY | Hourly blocks or a design sprint | $250 an hour, in blocks of 4, 10 or 20 hours ($1,000 to $5,000); design sprint $15,000 | Matched with an engineer within 48 hours |
Checked on each linked page on 23 October 2026. Prices change; confirm on the agency's site before you compare.
The six ways agencies price
- Fixed price per workflow or project. You know the cost before work starts, and the agency carries the risk of underestimating. Best for a defined job. Check what counts as a change request.
- Paid discovery, credited later. Automaly charges £5,000 for an assessment and credits it against the build; LuMay sells a discovery sprint. Worth it for a large project, too much for one workflow.
- Setup plus monthly retainer. A build fee, then a monthly fee for support, changes and new automations. Ask how many hours or requests the retainer covers and what happens to the build if you stop.
- Hourly or day rate. XRAY publishes $250 an hour, sold in blocks of 4 to 20 hours. Fair for advice and small changes, risky for a build because the total is open.
- A dedicated team or an embedded engineer. From $10,000 a month (Goodspeed) to $60,000 a year for a placed engineer (AY Automate). For companies with a long backlog of work, not for a first project.
- Pay per result. Common for lead follow-up and booking: a share of revenue or a fee per booked call. We compare those offers in our AI appointment setter guide.
The tool costs you pay on top
An agency fee buys the build. The tools it runs on bill you every month, and good agencies put those accounts in your name. Here is what the common ones cost, from each vendor's own pricing page on 23 October 2026.
| Tool | What it does | Published price |
|---|---|---|
| n8n Cloud | Runs the workflows | Starter €20 a month for 2,500 executions, Pro €50 for 10,000 (billed yearly); free if you host the Community Edition yourself |
| Zapier | Runs the workflows | Free for 100 tasks; Professional $19.99 a month billed yearly ($29.99 monthly) for 750 tasks |
| GoHighLevel | CRM, funnels, calendar, messaging | Starter $97, Unlimited $297, Founder $497 a month |
| OpenAI API | The model behind an AI agent | gpt-5-mini $0.25 per million input tokens and $2.00 per million output; gpt-5.4 $2.50 and $15.00 |
| Retell AI | Voice for an AI phone agent | $0.07 to $0.31 per minute, phone number $10 a month |
| Vapi | Voice for an AI phone agent | $0.05 per minute hosting, plus speech, model, voice and phone line at provider cost |
| WhatsApp Business API | WhatsApp messages | 1,000 free service messages a month per number, then per message at country rates (see our WhatsApp pricing guide) |
Vendor prices on 23 October 2026. TwoCore estimates running costs at $20 to $150 a month for a typical workflow; an AI phone agent at small-business volume runs about $200 to $500 a month.
A first-year budget, worked out
Take a service business with ten people that wants new leads answered on WhatsApp within a minute, qualified with four questions and booked into a calendar, with the CRM updated. That is one AI agent and two workflows.
| Line | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Build (one agent, two workflows) | $2,500 | $15,000 |
| CRM and calendar (GoHighLevel Starter, or a CRM you already pay for) | $0 | $1,164 a year |
| WhatsApp messages, model usage and hosting | $240 a year | $1,800 a year |
| Support retainer (optional) | $0 | $6,000 a year |
| First-year total | about $2,740 | about $24,000 |
An illustration built from the published ranges above, not a quote. The low column is a fixed-price build with no retainer; the high column is an agency at the top of the agent range with a $500 monthly retainer.
The gap between the two columns is mostly the build fee and the retainer, not the tools. That is why the scope document matters more than the hourly rate: two agencies can quote the same job ten times apart because they priced different jobs.
What to check in a quote
- Whose name the accounts are in. The CRM, the WhatsApp number, the n8n instance and the model keys should be yours. SuperDupr, for example, bills vendor usage in the client's name.
- Whether tool costs are marked up. BULDRR and Agentic Marketing Pro say they pass them through at cost; ask anyone who does not say.
- How long fixes are included after launch. TwoCore includes 30 days; BULDRR's entry tier includes 2 weeks.
- What "done" means. Agentic Marketing Pro writes acceptance tests before the build; ask for the same, in writing.
- What happens if you stop paying the retainer. TwoCore says you keep what was built. Anything else is a lock-in.
- Whether a paid discovery is credited against the build, as Automaly does.
Our prices
One AI agent or automation starts at $2,500, fixed before we start. A full system (agents, CRM, calendar and follow-up working together) is a fixed quote and takes 4 to 8 weeks. A monthly plan to run, measure and extend it starts at $1,500 a month, and is optional. Tool costs are paid to the vendors, on accounts in your name. If what we build does not work as agreed, we fix it at no cost. The breakdown by type of agent is in our AI agent pricing guide, and the agencies themselves are compared in best AI automation agencies.
Questions, answered.
How much does an AI automation agency cost?
From the agencies that publish prices: $400 to $5,000 for one workflow, $5,000 to $25,000 for an AI agent or several connected workflows, and $25,000 to $150,000 or more for multi-agent and enterprise systems. With us, from $2,500, fixed before we start.
How much is an AI automation agency retainer per month?
Support retainers published by agencies run from about $200 to $2,000 a month (Automaly from £250, Agentic Marketing Pro $300 to $1,500, TwoCore $500 to $1,500). A dedicated team starts around $10,000 a month. Ours starts at $1,500 a month and is optional.
Why do most AI agencies not publish prices?
Because scope varies a lot between clients, and a price on the page invites comparison before the agency has explained the value. That is a choice, not a rule: the 14 agencies above publish numbers, and the work they describe is the same kind of work.
What costs come on top of the agency fee?
The tools: workflow hosting (n8n Cloud from €20 a month, or a server), the CRM, model usage (cents per conversation for a support agent), voice minutes for a phone agent ($0.07 to $0.31 a minute on Retell) and WhatsApp message fees. TwoCore puts a typical workflow at $20 to $150 a month to run.
Is a freelancer cheaper than an agency?
Usually per hour, not always per project, and the difference is in who maintains the work afterwards. We compare both, with published rates, in [AI automation agency vs freelancer](/ai-agency-vs-freelancer).
How long does an AI automation project take?
From the published timelines: 2 to 5 days for a simple workflow (Ryven), 14 days to a first live agent (Agentic Marketing Pro), 2 to 4 weeks for a workflow build (TwoCore), and 4 to 8 weeks for a full system with us.
Should I pay for a discovery phase?
For a project above $10,000, a paid discovery that is credited against the build is reasonable. For one workflow, no: a written scope after a free call is enough.
How do I compare two quotes?
Put them on the same scope: the same workflows, the same channels, the same integrations, the same support period. Then compare the total for the first year, including tools and retainer, not the build fee alone.
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