How much does AI automation cost?
An MVP automation build starts at $6,000–$7,000 and ships in 1–2 weeks. A full automation build runs $15,000–$60,000. Enterprise programmes start at $100,000. ROI is typically inside 3–6 months.
AI-native development cut MVP build cost from $60K to $6K. Same outcome. Fraction of the time.
Project tiers
Three tiers. Fixed prices. No hourly billing.
1–2 weeks · ROI in 2–4 months
MVP Automation
$6,000–$7,000
A working automation on your real data, live in under 2 weeks. One defined workflow, end-to-end, with your real integrations. AI-native development has cut build time 10× — what took $60K in 2023 ships for $6K today.
- ✓Process scoping and workflow design
- ✓Single workflow build (n8n or Make.com)
- ✓Integration with 1–2 existing tools (CRM, Slack, email, etc.)
- ✓Error handling and basic monitoring
- ✓Handoff documentation and walkthrough
Lead routing + CRM enrichment: $6,500 — 10-day build. SaaS startup saved 20 hours/week of manual data entry.
4–10 weeks · ROI in 3–7 months
Full Automation Build
$15,000–$60,000
Multi-workflow automation across a business function — sales ops, customer service, finance, or operations. Handles edge cases, integrates with your full stack, includes monitoring and handoff training.
- ✓3–10 connected workflows
- ✓Custom integrations for tools without native connectors
- ✓AI-native nodes (LLM classification, extraction, generation)
- ✓Error handling, retry logic, dead-letter queues
- ✓Monitoring dashboard and alerting
- ✓Documentation and team training
Contract renewal automation for SaaS company: $42,000 — 8-week build. 3 FTEs reallocated, $180K/year saved.
4–12 months · ROI in 6–12 months
Enterprise Automation Programme
$100,000–$300,000+
Organisation-wide automation infrastructure: workflow platform deployment, custom node development, AI agent orchestration, governance framework, and ongoing engineering retainer.
- ✓Self-hosted n8n infrastructure (queue mode, Redis, PostgreSQL)
- ✓Custom node development for proprietary systems
- ✓AI agent layer (multi-agent orchestration)
- ✓Governance and audit logging framework
- ✓Change management and CoE setup
- ✓Dedicated engineering team (part-time or full-time)
Professional services firm: $180,000 — 10-month engagement. 8 departments automated, $1.4M annual savings.
Real client outcomes
ROI in under 6 months. The math.
SaaS Startup — Lead Routing MVP
Before
1 ops person spending 20 hours/week manually assigning leads in HubSpot and enriching CRM records
After
n8n webhook → enrichment API → lead score → HubSpot assignment → Slack alert to AE
Annual savings
$52,000/year (ops hire avoided; 20 hours/week recaptured at $50/hour)
Build cost / Payback
$6,500
Payback: 3 weeks
E-commerce — Order Operations
Before
2 ops staff manually processing returns, refunds, and fulfilment exceptions — 8 hours/day
After
Shopify webhook → n8n → inventory check → refund decision → customer email → Slack notification
Annual savings
$95,000/year (2 staff reallocated; 400+ hours/month recaptured)
Build cost / Payback
$28,000
Payback: 3.5 months
Professional Services — Client Reporting
Before
Account managers spending 6 hours/week per client pulling data and formatting reports
After
Automated report pipeline: data pull → GPT-4o narrative → PDF generation → scheduled delivery
Annual savings
$220,000/year (11 account managers save 6h/week each at $80/hour)
Build cost / Payback
$42,000
Payback: 2.3 months
The hidden cost trap
Why Zapier becomes expensive as you scale.
Zapier charges per task (every action in a Zap). At low volume it's fine. At 100,000 operations/month, you're paying $449/month vs $40/month for self-hosted n8n doing the same work. At scale, Zapier's pricing model is a tax on your growth.
| Monthly ops | Zapier | Make.com | n8n Cloud | n8n Self-hosted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5,000/month | $49 | $9 | $20 | $30 |
| 20,000/month | $99 | $29 | $50 | $30 |
| 100,000/month | $449 | $97 | $120 | $40 |
| 500,000/month | $2,199 | $499 | $500 | $60 |
| 2M+/month | Enterprise (call) | Enterprise (call) | Enterprise (call) | $80–150 |
Monthly platform costs only. Does not include build or integration cost. Zapier prices from published plans as of mid-2026.
Our model
Fixed-scope. Firm price. No surprises.
Most agencies bill time-and-materials. Every hour is your risk. We scope fixed deliverables with a firm price, agreed before any work starts. If it takes longer than scoped, that's our problem.
Fixed-scope (us)
Time & materials (most agencies)
Our PoC guarantee
We prove ROI in 4 weeks — or we refund the PoC cost.
Our Proof of Concept is a working automation on your real data, live in 2–4 weeks. If the PoC doesn't demonstrate measurable ROI (time saved, error reduced, cost cut), we refund the PoC fee in full. 90% of clients who do a PoC move to a full build within 60 days.
PoC refund applies to projects where we agree on the ROI metric before work starts and the automation performs as designed but the business outcome is not achieved due to factors in our control.
Ready to scope your automation project?
30-minute scoping call. We define deliverables, estimate effort, and give you a firm price. No hourly billing, no scope surprises.