A small-business automation typically costs a one-time build fee — for us, $1,249 to $4,999 for most workflows, set by how many steps and systems it connects — plus running costs for the services it uses, which are paid on your own accounts.
Most of this industry answers "it depends" and asks for a call. It does depend, but on a short list of things you can see in advance, so here they are with the prices attached.
Fixed scope, fixed price, and a 100% money-back guarantee for 7 days after handover.
You have a process that eats hours every week, you suspect it could be automated, and every vendor wants a discovery call before naming a figure. Without a number you cannot tell whether this is a $1,000 decision or a $15,000 one, so the process stays manual for another quarter.
Three things, in this order. How many systems it connects: two systems in one direction is the cheapest shape, every extra system or a two-way sync adds to it. How many steps and decisions sit between trigger and result. And whether it needs judgement from an AI model rather than fixed rules. That is why our workflow builds are priced in three fixed bands: Simple $1,499 (3–8 steps, 1–2 connected services), Standard $2,999 (8–15 steps, 2–3 services) and Complex $4,999 (15–25 steps, 3–5 services). An email sequence is $1,249; an AI chatbot trained on your site is $2,499; a custom AI agent starts at $5,999.
The build is one-time and covers the work, the handover and 60 days of fixes. Anything metered is never in that price: the AI model, texting, email sending, data lookups and card fees are pass-through, billed on your own accounts at cost, and for most small workflows they come to a few dollars a month. Then you choose where it runs: on your own automation account at no charge from us, hosted and kept working by us under Hosting & Upkeep at $79/mo per automation, or fully watched and adapted under Managed Automation from $799/mo.
Ask four questions. Is the price fixed, or hourly with no ceiling? Does it run on your accounts, or theirs? Which costs are monthly, and are the usage costs marked up? What happens if it does not work? A fair quote answers all four in writing. Ours: fixed price, your accounts, usage at cost, and a 100% money-back guarantee for 7 days from handover — the full fee, not prorated.
For us, a workflow build is $1,499, $2,999 or $4,999 depending on its size — Simple (3–8 steps), Standard (8–15) or Complex (15–25). It then runs either on your own n8n account at no charge from us, or hosted by us at $79/mo per automation. Usage costs such as AI calls are billed on your own accounts at cost.
Usually because the work is sold by the hour against a scope nobody wrote down, so the price is not known in advance. We price fixed bands instead and scope the band in a free audit, which means you know the number before you commit and the risk of the job running long sits with us, not you.
Only if you want one. The build is one-time. You can run it on your own account, pay $79/mo per automation for us to host it and keep it working, or take Managed Automation from $799/mo for ongoing changes and monitoring. Metered usage — AI, email, texting — is always on your own accounts.
Every build carries a 100% money-back guarantee for 7 days from handover: the full fee, not prorated. After that, 60 days of fixes are included in the price.
Thirty minutes, no charge. You leave with a written list of what is worth automating, what is not, and roughly what each would cost — and that list is yours whether you hire us or not.