Journal · Field note

What an AI agent costs to build.

The price follows the workflow, not the model. Here is how we price one, and when you get a fixed price.

By Nihal Choudhary, founder23 Sept 20262 min read3 Sources

People ask this first, and they are right to. An AI agent is a program with one job. It reads and decides one small thing.

Then it waits for a person before anything leaves the building. The model inside it is the cheap part.

1
It reads
2
It decides 1 small thing
3
A person approves itA person signs

What sets the price

The price follows the workflow around the agent. Where does the work come in? Which systems does it touch? Who approves it, and on what screen?

A clean workflow with 1 input and 1 approval is a small build. A workflow that reads scanned pages across 4 years of records is a large one.

A small build
  • A clean workflow
  • 1 input and 1 approval
A large build
  • Scanned pages to read
  • 4 years of records

On a quoting engine we built for a precision shop in North America, the agent itself was the smaller part.

The work was reading 332 pages of the shop's old quotes and its own registers, so its figures came from the shop's own history.

332Pages of old quotes and registers readFor a quoting engine at a precision shop in North America.

How we price it

It starts with a 30 minute call. We listen to the workflow and say whether a system fits. You get a fixed price within a day, everything included.

Tools

How many it connects to.

Data

How much it reads.

Checks

How many steps your team checks.

30 minThe call

Does a system fit?

In a dayA fixed price

Everything included

from $500The build

Priced once

MonthlyA person stays

Runs and improves it

Builds start at $500. We price once, after the call, so the number rests on your workflow and not on a guess.

What it costs to run

Running cost is the model calls plus the server, and both scale with volume. We log the cost of every run from day 1, so you see the bill per run first.

Model calls

They scale with volume.

The server

It scales with volume too.

A cost log per run

Built in from the first day.

Where it runs

It runs on servers you own, in your accounts. If we part ways, the system stays with you and keeps working. You never pay to move it out.

The first step is a 30 minute call. You get a fixed price within a day, and builds start at $500.