How Much Does AI Automation Cost? Prices for Danish SMBs
By NoWorkr · Published
How much does AI automation cost? For a Danish SMB, a ready-made AI tool costs a few hundred kroner a month, while a build that takes a whole workflow from end to end starts from $1,500 one-time. If several chains need to be built and maintained on an ongoing basis, it starts from $750/month.
That is the short answer. The long one is about why two quotes for the same job can sit thousands of dollars apart.
The difference is almost never the technology. It is how many systems need to talk to each other, how clean your data is, and whether anyone in the company has decided how the work should actually be done. We take the price drivers one at a time, include the grant, and tell you when to keep your money in the bank.
How much does AI automation cost? The short answer
The price range in the market looks wild because the term covers three different things. Once you know which level you are on, the number makes sense.
| Level | What you get | Typical price | Suited for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ready-made AI tools | A subscription your people use themselves day to day | A few hundred kroner per user per month | Everyone. Start here |
| Scoped build | One workflow on autopilot from end to end | From $1,500 one-time | Most SMBs |
| Ongoing partnership | Several chains built, monitored and extended over the year | From $750/month | Companies with many manual steps |
Level one is the one people forget. A writing assistant or a meeting note-taker costs next to nothing and needs no developer. If it works, you have saved yourself a build. If it does not, you now know exactly where it fell short, and that is the best requirements spec you can get.
Level two is where the numbers from an agency come in. A scoped build means one workflow runs by itself afterwards: the quote, the invoice, the weekly report or the standard enquiry that arrives twenty times a day. With us it starts from $1,500 one-time, and you own the source code and the documentation when we are done.
Level three is for companies with twenty manual steps to tackle, where it makes no sense to write a new agreement for each of them. We call it a partnership, and it starts from $750/month.
What drives the price up, and what brings it down
Two companies ask for the same thing and get two very different quotes. Here is why.
What makes the price bigger
The number of systems. Every system that has to talk to another is a link that must be built and tested. Two systems is a manageable job. Five systems is a project.
Systems without open access. If an important part of your operations runs in a program without an API, the data has to get in and out another way. It can be solved, but it costs both in the build and in maintenance.
Data that lives in a spreadsheet. If the numbers everything else depends on sit in a spreadsheet that an employee maintains by hand, the automation stops there. Either the content moves into a system, or the spreadsheet has to be retired first.
Decision debt. This is the most expensive and most overlooked item. An automation can only follow a rule, and in most companies the rule has never been written down. What counts as a won deal? When can a discount be given without approval? If you cannot say it in one sentence, the first part of the project is getting the decision made, and that time costs money.
Traceability requirements. If every step must be documented for reasons of personal data or audit, logging and approval steps come on top. That is the right thing to pay for, but know it in advance.
What makes the price smaller
Standard systems. If you run on a common Danish accounting program, a well-known CRM and a standard web shop, half the work is done before we start. The connections already exist.
One chain at a time. A build that touches one workflow can be priced at a fixed amount. A build that touches the whole company becomes an estimate, and estimates always come out more expensive than fixed prices.
Cleanup you do yourself. If you tidy your data and your processes first, you do not pay a consultant to do it.
A rule you have written down. If you arrive with the decision ready, the most expensive part of the project disappears.
One-time fee or subscription: what you pay for
This is the question that matters most for the total bill, and it is almost never in the quote.
If you buy a subscription to a platform, you pay for access. When you stop paying, the automation stops running, and you are left with nothing. If you buy a build, you pay for a piece of work, and the result is yours.
We work the second way, because it is the one that makes the time you save permanent. You get source code, documentation and training, and you own all of it. The day we finish, you could stop talking to us for good and everything would still run. That is the whole point behind the way we work.
It also means you should ask every vendor the same thing: is the price a rental or a purchase, and who owns the code afterwards? The answer moves the total bill more than any hourly rate.
How much does AI automation cost to run?
A build is not entirely free to keep. Three items continue, and they should be in the quote.
Model usage. Every time an AI model reads or writes something, it costs a little. For a typical SMB workflow it is a few hundred kroner a month, and you only pay for what is used.
Subscriptions to the tools the chain runs on. That could be an automation platform, a database or a mail service. Most clients already have them.
Maintenance. Systems change. A field moves in the CRM, a vendor updates its API, and someone has to fix the chain. For some it happens once a year, for others every month.
Add up the three items before you sign. A vendor who cannot tell you what running it costs a year from now has not worked through the job.
How much does AI automation cost compared with a new hire?
This is the comparison most owners are really making, and it rarely comes out in favour of the hire.
An employee is a salary every month for as long as the person is employed, plus holiday, training and the day they hand in their notice. An automation is built once, runs around the clock and does not quit. It is also dumber: it only does what it was built to do, and it cannot pick up the phone when a customer is angry.
So the right calculation is not employee or machine. It is which of the employee's tasks are pure repetition, and whether they add up to enough to be built away. We typically find 15 hours a week at a client, and it is rarely one task. It is four or five small ones.
If you want to put kroner on your own time before you decide anything, you can run the numbers in our ROI calculator. At Markeity they save 20,000 DKK a month on systems we built once, and more examples are in our client cases.
A grant can cover a large part of the bill
If you run a Danish SMB, the price is not necessarily what you pay yourself.
Key numbers
DKK 250,000
upper limit for a grant from SMV:Digital
$1,500
typical starting point for a scoped build, one-time
15 hours
the manual work we typically find per week at a client
SMV:Digital is the state scheme for digitalisation of small and medium-sized businesses, and it can cover up to DKK 250,000 of a project. Requirements, pools and application rounds are on SMV:Digital's own site, and they change from round to round.
The most important rule is the order: you must apply before the work has started. If you have already paid the invoice, it is too late. We have put the process together in our guide to grants for an AI project, so you can see whether your company is in the target group before you spend time on an application.
When AI automation does not pay off
Here are the three cases where we say no ourselves, and where you should be sceptical if a vendor does not do the same.
The task is too small. If it takes under 3 hours a week and is not critical, the saving is too small to carry a build and the maintenance on top. Buy a ready-made tool, or leave it.
The rule changes every time. If the procedure is negotiated case by case, there is nothing to build. Get the decision made first, or you pay to automate a disagreement.
The process is on its way out. If you are switching ERP next year, or the department is being reorganised, wait. A build on a system that is about to be replaced is money out the window.
An honest no on those three points is the cheapest advice you can get. It is also why we start every engagement with a mapping instead of a quote: we cannot price a job we have not seen.
How to get a realistic number for your own task
You can get close to the price yourself before you talk to anyone. It takes a morning.
- Pick the one task that annoys you most. Not the list of everything. The one that someone does every week and nobody can stand.
- Time it. How many hours a week does it take, and who does them? That number is the whole business case.
- Write down the systems. Which programs does the task touch, from start to finish? The number of systems is the best price indicator there is.
- Write the rule in one sentence. If you can, the task is ready to be built. If you cannot, you have found the first piece of work, and it needs no developer.
- Ask for a fixed number, not an hourly rate. A vendor who has understood the job can give a fixed price on a scoped build. If they cannot, the job is not scoped yet.
With the five answers in hand, any serious vendor can give you a range right away. With us, it typically takes about 3 weeks from audit to launch on the first build, and we work toward measurable ROI within 90 days. If it is not there, we keep working until it is. We have built 53 automations for Danish companies, and the pattern is almost always the same: the first chain is the most expensive, and the third is the one you can really see in the accounts. More on where it typically pays off most is in our guide to AI automation for SMBs.
FAQ
How much does it cost to have an AI agent built?
An AI agent that handles one scoped task in your company is priced as a build, and with us that starts from $1,500 one-time. The price depends on how many systems the agent needs access to and how many exceptions it must be able to handle.
How much does an AI chatbot for customer service cost?
A chatbot that only answers from your own website is cheap and can often be handled with a ready-made tool at a few hundred kroner a month. If it has to look things up in your order system and answer questions about specific cases, it is a build, and then the price of a scoped build applies.
Can I get started with AI automation for free?
Yes, and you should. Free and nearly free AI tools can take the top off the manual work without any development, and they show you where the limit is. Only when you hit that limit is there something to build.
Do I pay an hourly rate or a fixed price?
We give a fixed price on a scoped build, because you need to be able to do the maths on the decision. An hourly rate only makes sense if the task is unclear, and if it is, the next step is a mapping, not a quote.
How quickly does an AI automation pay for itself?
It depends on how many hours the task takes today. We work toward measurable ROI within 90 days on what we build, and if the likely payback time is far in the future, we say so before we send a quote.
Start by timing the task that annoys you most. That number decides whether AI automation is a good investment for you, or whether the answer is to leave it.