How Much Does AI Automation Cost in the UK?

Let's cut through the noise. AI automation pricing in the UK varies wildly — from free DIY tools to £50,000+ enterprise contracts. Here's a straight-talking breakdown of what you actually get at each price point.

The Price Spectrum

DIY / Free Tier (£0 - £50/month)

Tools like Make (formerly Integromat), Zapier free tier, and n8n community edition let you build basic automations yourself.

Best for: Simple linear workflows (trigger → action → done). No AI reasoning, no complex decision-making.

Reality check: The tool is free. Your time isn't. Most DIY attempts either fail, get abandoned, or result in fragile workflows that break constantly. Budget 20-40 hours to learn and build properly.

Simple AI Automation (£75 - £250)

This is our entry point at Agentus DAI — and it's the sweet spot for most small businesses getting started.

What you get:

• 1-3 workflow steps with AI reasoning
• Integration with 2-5 platforms
• Proper error handling
• Documentation
• 30-day support guarantee

Examples: Lead qualification agent, weekly report generator, social content scheduler, email classifier.

ROI timeline: Typically 2-6 weeks.

Full Automation Suite (£500 - £2,000)

Multiple interconnected workflows forming a proper automation system.

What you get:

• 5-15 workflow steps
• Complex AI decision trees
• Multiple platform integrations
• Custom AI agents
• Training and handover
• 60-90 day support

Examples: Full sales pipeline automation, end-to-end content production system, market intelligence platform.

ROI timeline: 1-3 months for full payback.

Enterprise / Custom Development (£2,000 - £20,000+)

Custom AI agent development, proprietary data integration, multi-agent systems.

What you get:

• Custom-built AI agents trained on your data
• Enterprise system integration (SAP, Salesforce, etc.)
• Dedicated implementation team
• Full documentation and training
• Ongoing retainer support

ROI timeline: 3-12 months (but the scale of savings is much larger).

Ongoing Costs to Factor In

AI automation isn't just a one-time build cost. Budget for:

AI API costs: GPT-4, Claude, etc. charge per token. For a small business doing moderate volume, expect £20-200/month depending on usage.

Tool subscriptions: Make, n8n cloud, Zapier Pro — typically £10-100/month depending on automation volume.

Maintenance: Platforms change their APIs, prompts need updating, new use cases emerge. Budget ~10% of build cost per year for maintenance.

Total ongoing for a small suite: £50-300/month.

How to Calculate ROI

Use this simple formula:

Monthly time saved (hours) × hourly rate (£) = Monthly saving
Monthly saving ÷ Build cost = Payback period (months)

Example:

• Lead qualification taking 2 hours/day = 44 hours/month
• Your time (or staff time) valued at £30/hr
• Monthly saving: 44 × £30 = £1,320
• Build cost: £500
• Payback: 2.6 weeks

After payback, that's £1,320/month — £15,840/year — flowing to your bottom line. For £500.

Red Flags to Avoid

🚩 "AI automation" for £25 on Fiverr — You're getting a basic Zapier template with zero AI reasoning. Not what you need.

🚩 No fixed pricing, endless discovery phases — Some agencies will string you along for months. You should know roughly what you're getting within a 15-minute call.

🚩 Black box solutions — You should understand what you've built. Insist on documentation and handover.

🚩 No guarantee — Any reputable automation agency should stand behind their work with a bug-fix guarantee.

Our Pricing Philosophy

At Agentus DAI, we publish our prices. Not ranges that lead to a discovery call — actual prices.

• Starter workflows: from £150
• Growth suite: from £500
• Dominator package: from £2,000
• Enterprise: Custom (but we'll give you a ballpark in the first call)

No hidden fees. No endless "strategy phases" before you see results. Ship fast, prove ROI, then scale.

Ready to find out what your automation would cost? Book a free 15-minute call — no commitment, no pitch deck, just an honest conversation.