Straight answer
How much does it cost to add AI to a small business?
Two costs: the AI tools you pay for every month, and the setup that points them at your real work. The tools are about $20 to $30 a month per person (September 2026 prices). The setup is where the real money goes, so know what you are buying before you pay for it.
Part one: the tools
- ChatGPT, Claude and Grok each sell a personal plan in the $20 to $30 a month range. Check each company’s own pricing page, because plans change.
- Most owners need one tool, not three. Pick one, use it for a month and see whether it earns its fee.
- Turn on the privacy setting that keeps your business documents out of model training before you paste any customer information.
Part two: the setup
A tool on its own saves little. The time comes back when it is connected to your email, calendar and files and told how you do your job. You can do that yourself if you have the hours. If you want it done for you, ours are fixed prices, written down before you pay:
- Decision Session, $450. One question answered in writing within 2 business days.
- AI Time Audit, $750. A written plan within 5 business days that ranks the fixes with prices.
- Team AI Setup, $3,000 for up to 10 people, live in 2 weeks.
- Custom AI Agents, $1,000 for each of our first 5 clients who agree to a short case study we may publish, then $2,000, one agent for one job, working on your real work in about 4 weeks.
- Monthly AI Care, $750 a month, optional, to keep what we built working as the tools change.
Any other integration or build: $3,000, $6,000 or $9,000, same terms.
How to keep the cost down
- Start with one job, the one that costs you the most hours a week.
- Ask for a price in writing before work starts, and for what “working” means in a test you can check.
- Prefer a payment that is split, with the larger part due only when the work passes its test.
- Ask what happens if it does not work. Ours: Not worth $750? Say so within 14 days of getting the plan: full refund.
Know your question? Decision Session. Don't know where AI fits? AI Time Audit.