What agentic AI consulting costs in 2026
Seven of the eight firms we reviewed do not publish a price. These are the best sourced ranges available, the costs that arrive after launch and a way to compare proposals on the cost of each unit of work.
Contents
An agent project has two bills. The first, for designing and building the agents, is what proposals emphasise. The second, for running them every day afterwards, is what decides whether the project pays for itself, and it is the one buyers see least.
Why the price is hard to see
Of the eight firms in our ranking, only OpenLazarus publishes prices1. The rest quote per engagement. Running costs are opaque even inside companies that already use AI: Deloitte's survey of 3,500 senior leaders found that 71% track their total AI inference and API spend, but only 44% track inference cost per unit2. A company that cannot say what one answered ticket or one matched payment costs cannot tell whether an agent is cheaper than the work it replaced.
The build: ranges by stage
The ranges below come from two firms that sell this work and publish their estimates. They are signals, not quotes, and none is specific to one industry.
| Stage or type | Range as published | Typical length | Source type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Readiness assessment | $10,000 to $30,0003 | 2 to 4 weeks | Vendor-published |
| Proof of concept on your data | $25,000 to $75,0003 | 6 to 10 weeks | Vendor-published |
| Production system, data already in place | $75,000 to $300,000 or more3 | 12 to 20 weeks | Vendor-published |
| Simple rule-based agent | $10,000 to $30,000 or more4 | Not stated | Vendor-published |
| Goal-based agent | $40,000 to $150,000 or more4 | Not stated | Vendor-published |
| Multi-agent system | $200,000 to $500,000 or more4 | Not stated | Vendor-published |
SoftTeco breaks a custom agent into phases: research and planning at $5,000 to $15,000, data collection and preparation at $10,000 to $70,000 or more, integration and workflow orchestration at $20,000 to $50,000 or more, testing at $5,000 to $50,000 or more, and deployment and monitoring at $10,000 to $30,0004. The breakdown is useful mainly as a checklist: a proposal that omits one of these phases has either priced it elsewhere or not thought about it.
The run: costs that arrive after launch
Running costs to ask about
- Maintenance and support. Vendor-published ranges run from $5,000 to $20,000 a month for monitoring, retraining and support of a system in production3. SoftTeco puts agent maintenance and scaling at $5,000 to more than $50,000 a year4.
- Infrastructure. White Tree Solutions gives the example of two systems that each cost $50,000 to build, one costing $8,000 a month to run and the other $5003.
- Model usage. Every agent action consumes model tokens. OpenLazarus claims that building on a single model can make ongoing token costs 20 to 95% higher, a figure it does not source5.
- Platform fees. Platform-led offers add a subscription or usage fee for the platform itself.
Cognizant is the one large firm that puts this second bill at the centre of its pitch: it shows total cost of ownership for a process before and after the agentic change6.
One published price list
OpenLazarus publishes its platform costs, which makes it a useful reference point even for buyers who choose another firm.
| Item | Published price |
|---|---|
| Platform plan | Starter $100 a month or Pro $300 a month, each including the same amount in AI credits7 |
| Managed hosting | From $150 a month, movable to your own cloud1 |
| Engineering support | From $4,500 a month, 10 engineering credits a month1 |
| AI usage | 5.5% on credits for any model through its AI router1 |
| AI-Architect consultancy | Per engagement, not published1 |
The architecture engagement, which is where most of the design work happens, is the part it does not price publicly.
What moves the price
- Integration depth. An agent that writes back to the ERP, CRM or finance system costs more to build than one that drafts for a person to copy, and is usually worth more.
- Data readiness. White Tree Solutions calls data preparation the most underestimated cost in almost every AI proposal3.
- Number of agents. Multi-agent systems cost several times a single agent in the vendor ranges above, because coordination and testing grow with each agent.
- Controls. Approval flows, logging and stop procedures take build time; Deloitte runs controls as a separate workstream alongside the build8.
- Where the team sits. Offshore AI consulting day rates run 40 to 60% below US rates, according to White Tree Solutions, though the gap narrows once coordination and rework are counted3.
How to price a first agent
- Count the work today. How many units of the job (invoices, tickets, orders) are done each month, and how many staff hours they take.
- Ask every firm for two numbers. The fixed price of the first phase, and the expected monthly running cost at your volume, split into support, infrastructure, model usage and platform fees.
- Divide. Monthly running cost divided by monthly units gives a cost per unit of work. Compare it with the staff cost per unit today.
- Cap the first phase. A fixed price within the proof-of-concept range above, with a written go or no-go decision at the end.
- Review the unit cost every month after launch. Model prices, volumes and agent behaviour all change; the unit cost shows when.
A first agent is paying for itself when its cost per unit of work, including support and model usage, is below the cost of the same unit done by staff, and the staff hours released are going to work the company values more. If that arithmetic does not hold at the end of the first phase, the right decision is to stop.
Questions buyers ask
How much does it cost to build an AI agent?
Vendor-published estimates range from about $10,000 to $30,000 for a simple rule-based agent to $40,000 to $150,000 or more for a goal-based agent and $200,000 to $500,000 or more for a multi-agent system. Integration with company systems, testing and monitoring are often priced separately.
What does an AI agent cost to run each month?
It depends on volume, the models used and who maintains it. Vendor-published ranges for support after go-live run from $5,000 to $20,000 a month, before model usage. OpenLazarus publishes hosting from $150 a month, engineering support from $4,500 a month and a 5.5% fee on AI credits.
Do agentic AI consulting firms publish their rates?
Among the eight firms in our ranking, only OpenLazarus publishes prices. Accenture, Deloitte, IBM Consulting, Cognizant, EY, Turing and LeewayHertz quote per engagement.
Sources
- Pricing. OpenLazarus. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- The State of AI in the Enterprise. Deloitte US. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- How much does AI consulting cost?. White Tree Solutions, 4 Jun 2026. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- AI agent development cost in 2026: full budget estimates. SoftTeco, 26 Mar 2026. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- AI implementation partner: systems you own. OpenLazarus. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- Build and scale agentic AI. Cognizant. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- Questions about OpenLazarus. OpenLazarus. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- Zora AI: agentic AI digital workers. Deloitte US. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
Updated 8 Nov 2026: First published.