AI automation costs €1,500, €3,000 or from €5,000 one-off with us, depending on scope, plus maintenance from €99 a month and the AI providers' fees. Which tier suits you comes down mainly to one criterion: how much recurring, documentable time the process ties up today, and what your time is worth.
How are our pricing tiers structured?
Each tier is a project with a clearly defined scope that we tailor to your case after a short process analysis. The examples in the table show the typical scope:
| Tier | Scope | Price (one-time) | Ongoing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry (Automation Start) | One clearly defined process, e.g. answering standard enquiries | €1,500 | Maintenance from €99/month + provider fees |
| Mid (AI Agent) | AI agent with its own knowledge base for recurring tasks | €3,000 | Maintenance from €99/month + provider fees |
| Extended (Automation System) | Several connected processes, e.g. enquiries, quotes, CRM integration | from €5,000 | Maintenance from €99/month + provider fees |
All prices are final prices; VAT is not shown under § 19 UStG. Usage fees for the AI model are billed to you directly by the provider.
What running costs come on top?
Beyond the one-time fee, you have two recurring line items:
- Maintenance from €99/month: monitoring, updates and small adjustments so the system grows with your processes.
- Tool subscriptions and usage fees: the AI model and any additional tools (for example for email or calendar). You pay these directly to the providers, and the amount depends on volume.
Running costs grow with volume. A business that has 30 enquiries a month answered automatically pays far less than one running hundreds of cases every day.
How do you calculate the payback period?
You only need two numbers: the hours you save per month, and the value of your hour. The rest is basic arithmetic.
Example (invented assumptions): A tradesperson answers 10 standard enquiries a week at 15 minutes each, which is about 10 hours a month. After deducting the time for checking, we assume 8 hours saved. The internal value of an hour is €50.
- Savings: 8 h × €50 = €400/month
- Running costs: €99 maintenance + assumed €50 provider fees = €149/month
- Net benefit: €251/month
- Payback of the mid tier (€3,000): €3,000 ÷ €251 ≈ 12 months
The higher the value of your hour and the more often the process recurs, the shorter the payback period.
The calculation is a template, not a forecast: your own figures may differ considerably. Benefits such as faster replies or fewer errors are not included.
Is your process suitable in the first place?
Automation pays off where work repeats and can be documented. Check the following:
- The process repeats at least weekly
- Inputs and outputs are clearly definable
- You have real examples from day-to-day work (emails, forms, cases)
- Someone is in place to review the output ("human in the loop")
- Your knowledge base is tidy (texts, templates, documents)
- You know what an hour of your time is worth internally
- You know whether personal data is processed (the GDPR then applies)
If a point is missing, a short process analysis comes first. It is part of every project start with us.
What does automation add beyond the costs?
The most important benefit is rarely the direct euro amount but relief in the right places: faster replies to enquiries, fewer routine errors, consistent follow-up.
How such an agent works day to day, and where its limits lie, is explained in What is an AI agent?. If you are still unsure whether AI fits your business, start with the overview in AI for small businesses.
Conclusion
For small businesses, AI automation is a plannable investment: €1,500, €3,000 or from €5,000 one-off, then maintenance from €99 a month plus provider fees. Whether it pays for itself comes down to two numbers: the time you save and the internal value of your hour. You will find details of our offer on the AI & automation page.
If you are not sure where a sensible starting point is, talk to us. We will look at your process together and show you which tier fits.
