How much does AI automation cost for SMEs?
An honest explanation of what AI automation costs: from an off-the-shelf SaaS tool to custom development. With the four factors that set the price.
- A simple custom AI automation starts at €1,500. SaaS tools like Make or Zapier start cheaper but are less flexible for complex or unique processes.
- Price depends most on the number of systems you connect, the number of steps in the process and how many exceptions the system needs to handle.
- For most SME automations, the payback period is under a year. Calculate how many hours it currently costs per week: that is your starting point.
- Always ask for a fixed price up front. Open-ended projects billed by the hour are rarely necessary for this kind of work.
The price depends on exactly what you want to automate
How to answer the question 'what does AI automation cost' depends on two things: what kind of automation you are looking for, and how you want it built. There are two routes: off-the-shelf SaaS tools and custom development. Both are legitimate choices, but they do not suit every situation equally well. This article explains the difference and gives you the criteria to make the trade-off yourself.
SaaS tools versus custom automation
The choice between a SaaS tool and custom development largely determines your cost and your flexibility. Here are the two routes side by side.
Route 1: SaaS tools (Make, Zapier and similar)
Tools like Make or Zapier let you visually build workflows without code. You connect apps with blocks, set conditions and the tool runs the steps automatically. Monthly costs range from a few tens of euros for simple workloads to a few hundred euros at high volumes or in complex scenarios. The limitation: you depend on the connections the tool offers. If one of your systems has no ready-made connector, or the behavior is not quite what you need, you still need a developer.
Route 2: Custom automation (from €1,500)
Custom development gives you full control over the process. A developer builds exactly what you need: connections the SaaS tool does not have, exception logic that reflects your business process, and a system you can adjust as your business grows. At Delahaye Solutions, a simple custom automation starts at €1,500. That covers the analysis of your process, building and testing the automation, and a handover so you understand how it works.
When to choose which route?
Does your process fit well with what the tool already offers? Choose a SaaS tool. Do you have a unique process, legacy systems or volumes that exceed the tool's limits? Then custom development is cheaper in the long run than workarounds. A good developer helps you make that trade-off up front, without you having to commit straight away.
The payback period
A rule of thumb: if the current manual process costs more than two hours per week and is stable enough to automate, the investment almost always pays back within a year. Calculate the hourly rate of the person doing it now, multiply by the hours per week and by 52. That is what you are currently spending per year. Compare that number with the one-time build cost.
The four factors that drive the price up
Regardless of the route you choose, four factors largely set the price: the number of systems you connect, the number of steps in the process, the amount of exceptions the system must handle and whether an AI component is involved (a language model that processes text or a model that assigns categories). A simple connection from system A to system B, with no exceptions, is the fastest automation to build. Every extra step, every extra system and every extra exception adds build and test time. Only add AI to an automation when the decision is genuinely too complex for fixed rules; for most repetitive tasks, plain logic is faster, cheaper and more reliable.
Frequently asked questions about the cost of AI automation
What does a simple AI automation cost?
Is Make or Zapier cheaper than custom development?
What are the four factors that determine the price?
When is an automation worth the investment?
Can I bundle multiple processes into one project?
Want to know what an automation would cost you?
Book a free call. We look at your process, give you an honest estimate of the cost and payback period, and advise whether custom development or a SaaS tool is the better fit in your case.
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