PRICING
Most 'AI' quotes are not the same product. The four real offers, what a quote is actually funding, and what to get in writing before anything gets built.
The way this usually gets asked: you called three shops. One sent a chatbot widget. One sent a login to a do-it-yourself agent builder. One wanted a discovery workshop and a six-week "implementation." All three used the word AI. None of the quotes described the same job.
That gap isn't always a scam, and it isn't always about quality. A lot of it is something the quote never says out loud: what you're buying isn't "AI." It's a specific offer — a widget, a toolkit, a build that ends at launch, or someone who builds the workflow and then runs it. Until you can tell those apart, four wildly different numbers (or four equally vague "let's hop on a call") stay confusing. Once you can, they become useful.
This page stays quiet on dollars on purpose. We quote the job, not a plan. What you can get in writing is the shape of the work.
Most of what gets sold as an AI employee sits in one of these four buckets. The labels on the sales page will be fancier. The work is not.
A box in the corner. It answers a few questions from a script, takes a name, and emails an inbox. Setup is fast. Someone on your team still has to read that inbox, call the person back, and do the follow-up.
What you get: a presence after hours that is better than a form nobody checks until Monday.
What you don't get: a workflow that runs without you. The widget is a front door. The job is still on your plate.
This is a legitimate choice if you want first contact covered and you already have someone who works the leads. It is not an employee. Calling it one is how the quotes start to lie.
A login, a prompt box, and a promise that you can "build any workflow." You (or someone you hire) connect the tools, write the instructions, test the edge cases, and keep it from drifting when a form field changes or a vendor updates an API.
What you get: flexibility, and a lower starting price than paying someone else to own it.
What you don't get: the hours back. You traded one job for another job — systems admin for a tool that breaks in small ways every month. For a shop that already has an operations person who likes this work, that can be fine. For an owner who wanted the work off their plate, it is the opposite of the hire.
They interview you, they build something, they demo it, they hand you a login and a PDF. Month two is your problem. When a lead comes in with a weird job type, or your scheduler changes, or the voice no longer sounds like you, you open a change request or you live with it.
What you get: a custom-looking system without you wiring it yourself.
What you don't get: someone on the hook after week one. Launch is a date. An employee is a cadence. If the quote is silent about who runs it every week, you are buying a project, not a hire.
Two workflows, named in writing before anything is built. They are built around how you already work — your phone, your follow-ups, your voice — not around a product tour. After setup, they run the workflows. You get a weekly note: what went out, what is waiting. During setup you approve so it learns how you talk. Then it runs.
What you get: the job leaving your plate.
What you don't get: a dashboard you are expected to live in, or a toolkit you are expected to maintain. If you wanted to become the operator, the DIY bucket is cheaper in attention as well as money. This bucket is for people who wanted the work gone.
That last offer is what we mean by an AI employee. The other three can still be the right buy. They are not the same buy.
Two shops can sound identical on a call and deliver different jobs. The difference is usually not the model and not the logo. It is what the fee is paying for after the demo.
The setup. Naming the workflows, learning how your shop actually runs, writing the voice, wiring the tools you already use, and sitting with you while you approve the first stretch of output. This is real work. A quote that skips it is either guessing or planning to make you do it.
The weekly run. Someone has to watch what went out, catch the odd case, and send you the note. If that someone is you, the quote was for software. If that someone is them, the quote is for a hire.
The coordination around the work. A salesperson, an account manager, a project manager, and a builder is a different cost basis than one person who heard the mess and then built it. Neither is automatically worse. You should know which one you are funding. Coordination feels like service on the call. It shows up later as slower changes and a thicker quote for the same two workflows.
The leftover on your plate. Every offer above leaves something with you. A widget leaves the follow-up. A DIY agent leaves the maintenance. A launch-and-leave build leaves the exceptions. A run-it hire still leaves the calls that need a human — pricing a messy job, promising a date you might miss, anything that is a judgment only you should make. A honest quote names that leftover. A sales quote implies there is none.
They will use the same words. Automation. Agent. Inbox. Voice. After hours. The sorting question is not "do you use AI." Everyone will say yes.
Ask what happens in week six, when nobody is on a kickoff call.
Ask who writes the first messages, and who approves them. During setup, you should. After that, if you are still in the tool every day, the work did not leave.
Ask what they will not take. A shop that can take anything can name nothing. The useful answer is specific: these two jobs, in this shape, and here is what stays yours. We wrote about the hiring version of this in how to choose who builds and runs your AI workflows.
Not a vibe. Not a slide. The agreement.
The two workflows, named. Not "we'll automate your front office." After-hours missed calls, or quiet quotes, or review asks — named the way you say them. If they cannot write the jobs down before they build, they are going to discover the jobs while they bill.
What "done" means for setup. You approved a stretch of real output in your voice. The tools you already use are the ones it talks to. You know how to stop it. Setup is not a login.
What the weekly run includes. Who sends the note. What the note contains. What happens when something looks wrong. What you are expected to do, and what you are not.
What stays your call. Pricing a job, promising a time window, anything that spends trust. If that list is empty, they have not thought about your business. If that list is "everything," they are selling a draft you will rewrite forever.
How you leave. Your data, your transcripts, your list of what ran. A hire you cannot fire is a subscription with better branding.
None of this requires a lawyer. It requires the other side to be specific. Vague answers here are the whole quote.
Use this when the sales pages start to blur.
| Offer | What you walk away with | What stays on your plate | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chat widget | A box that catches after-hours questions | Working every lead yourself | Shops that already have someone on follow-up |
| DIY agent | A toolkit and a login | Building it, watching it, fixing it | Owners who like systems and have the hours |
| Build-and-leave | A custom setup at launch | Running it from week two | Teams with an operator already on staff |
| Build-and-run | Named workflows and a weekly cadence | The judgments only you should make | Owners who want the job gone, not a new tool |
The row that matches how you actually work is the offer. The row that matches the brochure is the one that will disappoint you in month two.
If you want the comparison against a person — hours, not a menu — that is a different question, and we answered it in whether an AI employee is worth it for a small local service business.
Quotes vary because the product varies. A widget, a toolkit, a project, and a hire can all wear the same word. Separate the offer from the overhead, get the two workflows in writing, and ask who is on the hook in week six.
If you want that conversation on your shop, not in the abstract, name the job. Twenty minutes. We will tell you if we can take it — and if one of the other three rows is the honest fit, we will say that too.
Founder of Revauri. Builds and runs AI employees for local service businesses — the jobs you'd otherwise hire a person to do.
