If you’re thinking about getting help with AI, the first question is usually what it will cost. Prices vary a lot, and many consultancies don’t publish them. Here’s how AI consultancy is typically charged in the UK in 2026, what each option gets you, and what we charge.
The four ways AI consultancy is charged
1. The audit or discovery
Almost every engagement starts with someone looking at how your business works and where AI or automation would help. Some firms charge for this, typically from a few hundred pounds to a few thousand for a small business. Others, including us, do it free and recover the cost if you go ahead.
What matters is what you get at the end. A useful audit gives you a written list of specific opportunities, each with a rough cost and saving, that you could take to anyone. A sales call dressed up as an audit gives you a proposal.
2. A one-off build
One automation, built and handed over for a fixed price. Simple automations, such as filing approved invoices or chasing missing documents, often cost a few days of work. Larger builds that connect several systems or process complex documents cost more. Ask whether the price includes testing on your own data, and what happens when something changes after handover.
3. A monthly retainer
A fixed monthly fee for ongoing work: new automations, improvements, fixes and advice. Retainers range widely. Some consultancies start at around £2,000 a month; others offer smaller plans with a few hours included. A retainer makes sense if you expect to keep finding things to automate, because the second and third automations are usually easier to spot once the first is running.
4. Day rates
Some consultants simply charge by the day or hour. In the UK, AI and automation day rates for small business work commonly sit somewhere between £500 and £1,000+, depending on experience. Day rates are flexible but give you the least certainty about the final bill.
What we charge
We publish our prices because we think you should know them before you talk to us:
- Free automation audit: a short intro call, then up to two hours with our founder going through your systems, and a written report of where the savings are.
- Single project: a fixed quote, based on our standard rate of £145 + VAT an hour. No minimum term.
- Monthly AI Support, Essentials: £459 + VAT a month. Includes our standard automations, new AI tools assessed and set up for you as they arrive, and four hours a month for work specific to your business. Unused hours roll over; 12-month minimum term.
- Monthly AI Support, Growth: £859 + VAT a month, with eight hours and a quarterly review.
Full details are on our pricing page.
Is it worth it?
Only if it saves more than it costs. The simplest test: add up the hours your team spends each week on repetitive work, multiply by a realistic hourly cost, and compare it with the price. A team spending 20 hours a week on admin that could be automated, at £25 an hour, is spending over £20,000 a year on it. Our AI savings calculator does the sums for you, and our guide to whether AI is worth it walks through the test in more detail.
Questions to ask before you sign
- Where will my data go? You should get a clear answer: which AI service, where it’s hosted, and whether it’s used to train the provider’s models. Business AI services are normally covered by a data processing agreement; consumer chatbots are not.
- Will you test it on our real work first? An automation that works on a demo can fail on your documents.
- Who maintains it? Suppliers change invoice layouts and software updates. Find out who fixes things and what it costs.
- Do you understand our systems? Most small businesses run on Microsoft 365. A consultant who doesn’t know it well will take longer and charge you for the learning.
- Can I see prices in writing before work starts? If not, be careful.
The short version
Expect to pay nothing to a few thousand pounds for an audit, a few days’ work for a simple automation, and anything from a few hundred to a few thousand pounds a month for ongoing support. Whoever you choose, start small, insist on testing with your own data, and make sure the savings outweigh the cost.
If you’d like a straight answer for your business, book a free automation audit.