You have read about what AI agents can do, and you have seen the time savings and the ROI potential. The practical question is what one actually costs. This guide breaks down our pricing, explains what you get at each level, compares it with the alternatives, and gives you a clear picture of what an AI agent investment looks like for a UK small business.
We try to be straightforward about pricing. There are no hidden fees, no vague "contact us for pricing" pages, and no surprise invoices. Every project starts with a fixed quote you approve before any build work begins.
The four entry points
We offer four ways to start with AI automation, designed for different stages of readiness and business size:
AI Health Check: £295 fixed*
This is the lowest-risk way to explore automation. It is a 60-minute process-mapping session where we walk through your business admin, identify the tasks that waste the most time and money, and produce two things:
- Two quick-win automations. Small, practical automations installed during the session itself, such as an automated enquiry response, a calendar check, or a follow-up template. These are not full AI agents, but they give you an immediate taste of what automation looks like in practice.
- A written roadmap. A clear document showing which workflows are worth automating first, estimated time savings, and the recommended next step. You keep this whether or not you proceed with a build.
The Health Check is designed for business owners who are curious but not ready to commit. It costs less than a day of most consultants' time, and you walk away with tangible value regardless.
Spark tier: £750 one-off*
This is where most businesses start their AI agent journey. The Spark tier gives you:
- One AI agent with up to two workflows
- Two integrations (e.g. email + calendar, or WhatsApp + CRM)
- A 14-day build, tested in a sandbox before launch
- 30 days of post-launch support and a Loom walkthrough video
- Full documentation so you can manage the agent without us
Typical use cases: Automated enquiry responses, appointment booking with reminders, basic invoice chasing, or review collection. The kind of workflow where one pattern repeats and an agent can handle it end-to-end.
Who it is for: Sole traders and small businesses with one clear admin headache. You want to test AI automation on a real workflow, see real results, and decide whether to expand.
Typical ROI: Most Spark clients recover the build cost within the first month through time savings or additional bookings. A plumber who books 3 extra jobs per month at £250 each earns back £750 in the first 30 days.
RISE tier: £1,500 one-off*
The RISE tier is for businesses that are ready to automate more of their operations. It includes:
- Up to 3 AI agents across 5 workflows
- Multiple integrations: CRM + calendar + email + invoicing + messaging
- 6-week build with staged delivery (you see progress at each milestone)
- 90 days of post-launch support including a live training session
- Monthly performance report for the first 3 months
Typical use cases: Enquiry handling + booking + invoicing combined. Or booking + reminders + review collection. Multiple workflows working together across your business.
Who it is for: Businesses with 5+ employees or high enquiry volumes that need multiple processes automated. You have already seen what automation can do (perhaps from a Spark build) and want to scale.
Typical ROI: RISE clients typically save 15 to 25 hours per week across their automated workflows. At a conservative £25 per hour for the owner's time, that is £375 to £625 per week in recovered capacity, or £1,500 to £2,500 per month.
Phoenix tier: £2,000 one-off*
Phoenix is our most complete AI build, for businesses that want a full multi-agent operation delivered as a single project. It includes:
- Custom multi-agent operations, with as many agents as your business needs
- Full build, optimisation and new workflow development in one scope
- Monitoring, maintenance and fixes set up for you to run
- Quarterly strategy sessions included during the build handover
- Priority support with same-day response
Who it is for: Growing businesses where automation is a core part of operations and they want the full system built, paid for once, and owned outright. We cap Phoenix at 3 concurrent builds to ensure quality, because this is a one-person studio, not a factory.
*All AI prices are one-off and exclude credit charges from AI providers (e.g. model tokens, platform usage), billed at cost.
What usage costs are there after the build?
The build fee covers design, development and handover, paid once. After that, the only recurring costs are the tools the agent uses, and those are billed at cost by the provider:
- AI model tokens: The AI models that power the agent (GPT-4o-mini, Claude Haiku) are pay-per-use. For most small-business automations, this runs between £20 and £60 per month. We set hard cost caps so you never get a surprise bill.
- Software subscriptions: Any tools the agent connects to (CRM, invoicing, scheduling) are tools you already pay for. The agent does not add new subscription costs, because it works with what you have.
- Hosting and infrastructure: The automation platform (typically n8n) runs on a small server or cloud instance. We can host this for you or set it up on your own infrastructure. Hosting costs are typically £10 to £30 per month.
Total usage cost for a typical Spark or RISE build: £30 to £90 per month, paid directly to the providers and separate from your one-off build price. Compare that to a part-time admin assistant at £800 to £1,200 per month and the maths is clear.
AI agents vs the alternatives
Here is how AI agent automation compares to the other ways you could solve the same problems:
Hiring a part-time admin assistant
A part-time admin assistant in the UK costs roughly £10 to £15 per hour. At 20 hours per week, that is £800 to £1,200 per month, plus employer costs, training, management and the inevitable sick days. An AI agent works 24/7, never takes a day off, and costs £30 to £90 per month to run. The agent does not replace a good admin person for complex, judgement-heavy tasks. But for the repetitive 80%, which is enquiry routing, appointment booking, invoice chasing and review collection, it handles the work at a fraction of the cost.
Using off-the-shelf automation tools
Tools like Zapier, Make and HubSpot Workflows can automate simple task sequences. They are useful for straightforward triggers: "When a form is submitted, add to CRM." But they struggle with anything that requires reading a message, understanding context, making a judgement, or handling a conversation. AI agents fill the gap between simple automation (which tools like Zapier handle well) and complex, judgement-based workflows (which previously required a human).
Building it yourself
You could learn n8n, watch YouTube tutorials, and try to build the agent yourself. Some technically minded business owners do. The cost is your time, typically 20 to 40 hours of learning and building, plus ongoing maintenance. Unless you enjoy the technical side, that time is better spent winning jobs. We build these for a living, so you only need to build one.
The fixed-quote model
Every project begins with a fixed quote. Here is how it works:
- Free audit. We map your workflows, identify the highest-impact automation, and estimate the ROI. This takes 30 to 60 minutes and costs you nothing.
- Blueprint and quote. We produce a workflow diagram, an ROI estimate, and a fixed price based on the number of agents, workflows and integrations. The price is agreed before any build work starts.
- Build and launch. The agent is built in a sandbox, tested with your real tools, and launched with training and documentation.
- No surprises. If you want to add workflows later, we quote those separately. You are never locked into anything, and you own the workflows forever.
We also set cost caps on AI model usage. This means your monthly running costs are predictable. If the agent starts processing more messages than expected, we adjust the model or the workflow to keep costs within the agreed range, rather than sending you a bigger bill.
How to decide which tier is right
A quick decision framework:
- You are curious but not ready to commit: Start with the AI Health Check at £295. You get immediate value and a clear roadmap.
- You have one clear admin headache: Go Spark. One agent, two workflows, fast results, low risk.
- You need multiple processes automated: Go RISE. Three agents, five workflows, staged delivery, ongoing support.
- Automation is a core part of your growth plan: Go Phoenix. Ongoing partnership, continuous optimisation, priority support.
Still not sure? Book your free audit and we will help you figure out the right starting point. There is no pressure and no obligation.