AI Agent Implementation Budget: Three Engagement Models
Three engagement models
The pricing page presents three engagement models. The choice depends on the task, the data and the infrastructure requirements.
- Ready-made subagent
- Launch price: from $1,500*
- Revision terms: $150/hour
- Ready-made agent
- Launch price: from $6,000*
- Revision terms: $300/hour
- Custom development
- Launch price: defined for each project
- Revision terms: per project
- The stated price covers the implementation work. The client pays separately for any required infrastructure and subscriptions, with support available for selection and assessment.
A subagent performs one function inside an existing process — for example, sorts incoming emails or compiles the minutes of a meeting. The launch includes installation on your computer, basic configuration for the task, the passport and the work journal. An agent leads an independent scenario from the task to a verifiable artifact and includes integration with sources, team training and 30 days of support. Custom development is a project from scratch: assessment, architecture, development, integration, documentation.
What is included in the launch price
Regardless of the format, every launch includes three base components:
- The agent passport. Eight fields are documented: task, input, process, output, limits, permissions, environment and verification. It is the agreement that defines the agent's role and limits.
- The work journal. Every stage is recorded: inputs, decisions, sources. The result is traceable back to the source data.
- Human control. Each stage remains visible, and ambiguous decisions pause for confirmation.
Local deployment is a separate option: the environment and data flows are defined for the task, including any required external connections.
The implementation price therefore covers more than software. It is configuration for your data, control rules and documentation by which the team can work without the developer.
How to estimate payback honestly
Before launch, define the result criterion. The task, input data, expected artifact, acceptance criteria, limits, and decision-maker provide the basis for pricing.
A working payback estimate is arithmetic on your process, not a promise:
1. How many hours a week the process currently takes from the employees. 2. What part of the work is typical and can be handed to the agent. 3. How much one hour of this work costs the company. 4. After what time the savings cover the launch price and the revisions.
It is important to separate the calculation from the forecast: the calculation is your arithmetic, the forecast is a hypothesis that must be confirmed after the first launch. The project principle directly excludes unconfirmed promises of payback.
Conditions for Implementation Payback
A realistic payback estimate starts with clear operating conditions. Begin with an assessment or demo when:
- The process is not yet stabilised: the rules and exceptions change every week.
- There is no input data: the agent works on materials, not on guesses.
- Every decision requires expertise, and a human will have to redo the agent's work anyway.
- The task is one-off — for it a chat or manual work is cheaper.
An assessment or demo clarifies the process before a purchase decision.
Where to start
The demo launch is free: first review the agent's result in a demonstration scenario, then decide whether to proceed. Then the route is simple: choose an agent or a subagent in the catalog, define the result criteria following the method, discuss the environment and access following the security principles — and only then agree on the price.
Adapted from the article: agentseffect.com.