The first question every business owner asks: "What will this cost me?" And it's the right question, because market quotes are all over the place: the same job gets priced anywhere from $500 to $50,000. Below are real ranges from our US small business projects, what drives the price, and how to estimate payback before you commit.
Prices by project type
Chatbot: from $800, live in 2-3 weeks
A basic chatbot (FAQs, booking, contact capture in one channel like Instagram or your website) runs $800-$1,500. A multi-channel bot with CRM integration, waitlists, and review requests: $1,500-$3,000. Above $3,000 an SMB chatbot is overpriced unless you need an unusual integration.
Process automation: from $1,200, 2-4 weeks
Flows like "inquiry → CRM → notification → follow-up," reminders, onboarding sequences, automated reports. A single process usually runs $1,200-$2,500; a bundle of 3-4 processes, $2,500-$5,000. Built on Make, n8n, or Zapier plus the tools you already use.
AI agent: from $2,500, 3-6 weeks
A system that qualifies leads, carries the conversation, books meetings, and updates the CRM on its own. Pricing runs $2,500-$8,000 depending on the number of tools and channels. Guardrails and a supervised tuning period are always included.
Custom solutions: from $5,000
Anything beyond standard scenarios: internal tools, RAG over your document base, integrations with industry-specific software. Always scoped after an AI Audit, because without mapping your processes any quote is a guess.
$800+
2-3 wks
Chatbot
$1,200+
2-4 wks
Automation
$2,500+
3-6 wks
AI agent
What drives the price
- Number of integrations: every tool (CRM, calendar, payments, phone) adds build and test time
- Number of channels: a website-only bot is cheaper than website + Instagram + SMS + email
- Data readiness: if your client base lives in a notebook, cleanup comes before automation
- Compliance requirements: a HIPAA mindset for healthcare or insurance adds 20-30% to timeline and price
Ongoing costs after launch
A typical SMB stack runs $50-$300/month: automation tool subscriptions (Make or n8n $20-$50, ManyChat $15-$45, CRM $0-$100) and AI model APIs ($20-$100 at normal SMB volumes). We build without vendor lock-in: every account is yours, and you can walk away anytime without losing the system.
How to estimate payback before you start
The formula has two parts. First: weekly manual hours × the hourly rate of whoever does the work × 4.3 weeks. Second: revenue lost to no-shows, slow responses, and forgotten follow-ups. Add them up and compare against the project price.
An example from our case files: a nail studio spent 15 hours a week on bookings (about $1,100/month at an admin rate) and lost $1,800/month to no-shows. A $1,200 chatbot paid for itself in 3 weeks.
If a project doesn't pay back within 3 months on paper, we say so at the AI Audit and suggest a cheaper route. Selling an expensive project that won't return the money costs us more than it costs you: this whole business runs on referrals.
Where to start
The cheapest first step is the $300 AI Audit: an hour mapping your processes, a plan with prices and timelines for your business, and the payback math. If we move into a project together, the $300 applies toward it.