TL;DR: The cost of an AI project are anything but fixed, but rather depend on factors like data security, UI complexity, data volume, and accuracy. While initial development can range from €5k (basic chatbot) to €100k+ (local AI, custom ML), remembering also ongoing costs for hosting and usage (especially LLMs) is crucial. AI offers massive efficiency gains and empowers employees to do more, faster – we help you understand the cost of an AI project to leverage this game-changing tech.
Content Overview
“What is the cost of an AI project?” This is often the first question we hear at Dentro when a prospective client comes to us, curious about integrating AI. And honestly, it’s a fair question, but one that’s tough to answer with a single number! Unlike buying a new machine or building the 1,000th website, AI projects are almost always tailored solutions.
AI is a very new and rapidly evolving technology, an most non-tech businesses simply don’t have prior experience with AI project costs, so there’s no benchmark. What we often see, however, is that people underestimate what’s already possible with AI today, and what will be possible in the very near future. Employees, with the right AI tools, will be able to do much more, much faster. It’s incredibly important for businesses to understand the cost of an AI project clearly, so you have a transparent picture of the opportunities ahead – and what to budget for to seize them.
While every project is unique, in this article we want to give you a ballpark idea regarding the cost of an AI project based on common AI use cases we implement for small and medium sized businesses. This isn’t a fixed price list, but it should help you get a realistic expectation about the cost of an AI project.
Understanding the Levers: Why Costs Vary
Before diving into numbers, it’s helpful to quickly understand why AI costs aren’t fixed. It mostly boils down to:
- Complexity: A simple chatbot is different from a system analyzing complex data.
- Data Security: Ultra-secure, local setups (e.g., on your own servers) are significantly more expensive than cloud-based, standard GDPR-compliant solutions.
- Accuracy: A system that needs to be “perfect” (e.g., for legal texts) costs much more to build and maintain than one with some error tolerance.
- User Interface (UI): Does it need a sleek, custom web interface or just a basic integration into existing tools?
- Proprietary Data: If we’re working with thousands of your internal documents or unique data, there’s effort in preparing and integrating it.
- Uncertain aspects: Sometimes, a specific part of a project might be technically very challenging or uncertain. And subsequently influences the cost of an AI project. We might suggest a small, focused test (proof of concept) first to clarify feasibility and costs, which is an upfront investment but reduces overall risk.
Ballpark Costs for Common AI Use Cases
Here are some typical AI projects we work on for clients, along with a general idea of their initial development investment. Remember, these are broad ranges; your specific needs will define the exact figure (in case you need a specific estimation, just schedule a free consultation with us).
Internal AI Assistant for Company Knowledge
- What it does for you: Imagine an intelligent chatbot, similar to the popular ChatGPT, but in addition to that also with knowledge on your company’s own documents. This could include sales manuals, HR policies, technical guides, or project documentation. Employees can instantly ask questions and get accurate answers from your internal knowledge base, saving significant time otherwise spent searching or asking colleagues. It can be integrated with a custom user interface, understand both text and images, and allow for easy self-management of the underlying knowledge database.
- Typical Cost Range: €10,000 – €35,000
- Why the range: This depends on the sheer volume and diversity of your internal documents (text, images, and various formats), the complexity of the user interface design, and how sophisticated the search and dialogue capabilities need to be.
Secure On-Premise AI System for Sensitive Data
- What it does for you: For businesses dealing with highly sensitive data (like a healthcare provider managing patient records or a law firm with client contracts), this involves setting up powerful AI solutions that run entirely within your own IT infrastructure. This means the AI system operates on your company’s servers or a private network, ensuring no sensitive data ever leaves your premises or is sent to third-party clouds. You maintain full control over all data, access, and updates, ensuring maximum security and compliance.
- Typical Cost Range: €30,000 – €100,000+
- Why the range: This category commands a significantly higher initial investment. It involves complex infrastructure setup, careful selection and integration of AI models that can run in a private, offline environment, and deep technical work to ensure complete compatibility and data isolation within your existing IT network. If ran on-premise, you’ll also need to make sure to have the appropriate infrastructure in place, which comes with additional cost.
AI for Automated Document Processing & Workflow Triggers
- What it does for you: This frees your team from time-consuming, repetitive tasks by automating workflows that involve documents and data. For example, an AI can automatically extract specific information (such as invoice numbers, line items, dates, or vendor details) from incoming documents like PDFs, emails, or scanned images. This extracted data can then automatically trigger actions or updates in your existing accounting, CRM, or ERP systems, drastically reducing manual data entry, processing errors, and overall lead times.
- Typical Cost Range: €7,000 – €30,000+
- Why the range: Cost depends on the diversity and variability of the document formats you need to process, the number of specific data points to be extracted from each, the overall volume of documents, and the complexity of integrating these automated steps across your various software tools.
Tailored Machine Learning Models for Business Insights
- What it does for you: When standard software or off-the-shelf tools can’t solve your specific business challenges, and you possess valuable, proprietary data (e.g., extensive sales history, unique production data, or detailed customer behavior logs), you could develop custom machine learning models precisely for your needs. These models are built upon your unique data to solve your specific problems, such as predicting sales trends, identifying unusual patterns (anomalies) in operations, or optimizing logistics routes. They are designed for seamless integration into your existing systems and long-term reliability.
- Typical Cost Range: €40,000 – €100,000+
- Why the range: The cost is heavily influenced by the quality and quantity of your specific historical data, the complexity of the business problem to be solved (e.g., how accurate a prediction needs to be), and the sophistication required for the AI model’s development and training. Significant effort often goes into specialized data preparation and iterative refinement. In order to train the models, additional cost for the necessary infrastructure (servers) is also required.
AI-Powered Customer Communication & Service Automation
- What it does for you: Re-imagines your customer service by intelligently automating routine dialogues across various channels while maintaining a natural, human-like character. This can include a smart chatbot on your website that answers common customer inquiries (like “Where is my order?” or “How do I make a return?”) 24/7. It can also involve intelligent email classification and drafting assistance for your support team, or even voicebots that naturally answer phone calls and handle basic requests, seamlessly transferring complex issues to a human agent when needed. The AI handles the routine, allowing your human team to focus on high-value interactions.
- Typical Cost Range: €5,000 – €25,000
- Why the range: Driven by the number of communication channels to integrate (website chat, email, phone), the depth of knowledge the AI needs to handle complex dialogues, and the seamlessness of its integration with your existing customer relationship management (CRM) or customer service software.
Ongoing cost of an AI project
Beyond the initial development, AI solutions, especially those using large language models (LLMs), have ongoing operational costs. These are also cost of an AI project that also need to be taken into account:
- Hosting: A basic cloud server for a web application might be a few Euros per month. But running a powerful LLM on your own server or a dedicated cloud instance can quickly jump to a few Euros per hour of usage.
- Variable Usage Costs: Many AI services, particularly LLMs from providers like OpenAI or Google, charge per request or per “token” (pieces of text). If your AI solution is used frequently, these small charges can add up. It’s like paying for every kilometer you drive your car.
- Maintenance & Updates: Like any software, AI needs care. This includes security updates, performance monitoring, and sometimes changing the underlying AI model as new models become more powerful.
Our Advice: Budget Smart, Think Long-Term
- Start Small, Learn Fast: If you’re new to AI, consider a smaller project (an MVP) first. This allows you to test the waters, see tangible results, and understand the value before making a larger investment.
- Focus on Value: Which AI application will bring the most immediate and measurable benefit to your business? Prioritize that. Any cost of an AI project are easier to justify with reasonable ROI behind it.
- Factor in Ongoing Expenses: Always get a clear picture of both the initial cost of an AI project and the estimated monthly running costs.
AI is no longer a futuristic concept; it’s a practical tool that can transform how businesses operate. By understanding the cost of an AI project, you’ll be much better positioned to plan, budget, and leverage this technology to make your business more efficient, innovative, and ready for the future.
In case you are looking for an individual estimation for the cost of an AI project you have in mind, schedule a free call with us and we’re happy to show you what’s possible – and what it costs 😉