Pricing
AI development cost: what to expectRanges, drivers, running costs.
AI development cost depends on scope, data, integrations and accuracy needs. Here are the market ranges, what moves them and how we quote custom AI work.
30 minutes. You leave knowing which 3 processes to automate first and what they cost you today.
Example based on our D2C lead response case
Trusted by companies worldwide
Trusted by companies worldwide: Braffess, Casa Sors, HollaBoo, Laoom, Guardian Development Group
Results
Built, live and measured.
Five industries, same approach: start with the process that costs the most, then measure what changes.
Government contracting
Proposals cut from 60 hours to under one.
A federal contractor bidding on $10M+ contracts could only submit 3–4 proposals a quarter, because each one took about 60 hours to assemble by hand. We built an AI workflow that pulls past performance, checks compliance and formats to spec, so the team now submits 12+ a quarter.
<1 hper proposal, down from ~603xproposal capacity+23%win rateSaaS / Software
85% of support tickets resolved by AI.
A SaaS company with 50,000+ users had its best agents answering the same questions all day, and customers waited two hours for a reply. We built an AI assistant trained on their past tickets that answers instantly and hands complex cases to a person with full context.
1,200+agent hours back every month<5 sfirst response, down from 2 h+45%customer satisfactionInsurance
Claims processed 75% faster.
A regional insurer's adjusters spent 70% of their time on routine claims, so every claim took 15 days. We built an AI that reads the documents and photos, checks the policy and recommends a decision, so adjusters only handle the complex cases.
600+hours back every month99.5%decision accuracy+30%capacity, no new hiresE-commerce / D2C
Every lead contacted in under 20 seconds.
A home goods brand spending $40K a month on ads took 6–12 hours to reply to new leads, so many bought elsewhere. We built an AI system that replies by SMS, email or voice call within 20 seconds, day or night.
+34%conversion rate−28%customer acquisition cost100%of leads contactedLegal services
Manual invoice entry eliminated.
A boutique law firm's paralegals spent a quarter of their time retyping invoices, so billing ran late. We built an AI assistant that reads every invoice, matches it to the right case in Clio and syncs it to QuickBooks.
40+hours back every month99.8%data accuracy50%faster billing cycle
The problem
Why AI development cost varies so much
$10K-$30K
Appscrip's estimate for a basic chatbot or sentiment analysis tool.
25-40%
Digital Fractal's estimate of extra cost in healthcare and finance, due to regulation.
Published estimates span a wide range because "AI" covers everything from a small classifier to a system wired into your whole operation.
- A vague estimate: One average number with no scope behind it.A useful estimate: A figure tied to the steps, systems and decisions you need.
- A vague estimate: Data quality is assumed to be fine.A useful estimate: Your data is checked first, because it shapes the work.
- A vague estimate: Only the build is priced.A useful estimate: Running costs after launch are listed next to the build.
- A vague estimate: Compliance is added as a surprise later.A useful estimate: Regulatory needs are counted from the start.
Price the scope, not the label.
Our data
What AI answers when buyers ask
We asked ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity 10 buyer questions about custom AI development. They named 100 companies, and 80% appeared in only one of the three.
| Criterion | ChatGPT | Gemini | Perplexity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Companies named | 43 | 35 | 46 |
| Sites cited most | hatchworks.com (3 of 10) | vellum.ai and mindstudio.ai (3 of 10) | rtslabs.com and netguru.com (4 of 10) |
Nexum measurement, October 20, 2026, via DataForSEO: 10 buyer questions to each AI, US English, 30 answers in total. 4 companies appeared in all three. Google showed an AI Overview for 9 of the 10 questions.
What you get
Costs people forget to budget
- Monitoring: production systems need watching so errors and drift get caught, as NIST guidance recommends.
- Human review: oversight steps need to be defined and documented, which takes time from your team.
- Model usage: running costs depend on volume, though the price of capable models has fallen sharply, per Stanford's AI Index.
- Maintenance: a system that does not learn from feedback stalls, a barrier MIT's research names as the main one to scaling.
- Security and privacy: guarding against prompt injection and leaks of sensitive data is part of the work, not an extra.
- Talent: in-house builds depend on engineers, and the median software developer wage was $135,980 in 2025, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
How it works
The Payback Loop. Five steps. Each build pays for the next.
We don't start with the AI. We start with the money.
Consulting
First, we find the manual work in your company and how many hours each task eats every week.
Process mapConsulting
Each process gets a dollar figure and a rank by payback. You see what to automate first, and what to leave alone.
AI roadmap, ranked by paybackImplementation
We build the first system on the tools you already use. Nothing new for your team to learn.
A working systemImplementation
Every system is tested end to end before launch. It doesn't go live until it works without errors.
Tested, system liveSupport
The first build pays back fastest, so its savings fund the next one. Back to the map, and we keep every system running.
Monthly support (optional)
↺ Back to Map
Consultancies stop at the roadmap. Freelancers build without one. The loop only works when one team runs all five. You approve each step; we do the work.
FAQ
Questions about AI development cost.
- Market sources put a basic chatbot or sentiment tool around $10,000 to $30,000, and larger systems well above that. The real figure depends on scope, data, integrations and accuracy needs.
- The price follows data quality, model complexity and infrastructure. Clean, well-organized data lowers it, while messy sources that need preparation raise it. A scoped quote beats any average.
- Yes, when the project targets one process with a clear payback instead of a broad platform. Starting narrow keeps the cost down and shows results before you expand. See our custom AI development work.
- Healthcare and finance carry extra requirements for data handling and review. One estimate puts the added implementation cost at 25% to 40%.
- Yes. Model usage, monitoring, maintenance and review all continue after launch. Budget for them next to the build, and compare with AI agent cost.
- MIT's research found that projects with external partners reached deployment about 67% of the time, versus about 33% for internal builds. Weigh that against salaries and your team's capacity. Our hire AI engineers vs agency guide covers the tradeoffs.
- Start from the hours and cost of the manual work it replaces, then compare against build and running costs. Our automation ROI guide shows the method.
Final step
Pick a time. Let's talk.
You leave knowing which processes to automate first and what each one costs you today, whether we work together or not.
You can keep paying for manual work, or find out this week exactly what it costs you.
What happens on the call
Before
You answer 3 quick questions when you book, so we come prepared.
On the call
We find the manual work that costs you most and put a number on it, live.
Decide
An honest read on whether we're the right fit. If we're not, you'll hear it on the call.
Once you book, we look at your site and tools before the call, so the 30 minutes go to your numbers, not introductions.
Prefer to write first? Email us directly: contact@nexumautomations.com