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Transparent budget planning

AI Project Costs

AI Project Costs: Plan Your Budget with Confidence

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Transparent cost components

Consulting, pilot, operations, enablement

Model usage at cost

Billed to your own account

Clear budget planning

Step by step, fully in control

|AI Project| Costs

How much does AI cost? The four cost components

Four components make up the budget of an AI project. You commission one step at a time and stay in full control of your budget.

Consulting & strategy

Readiness assessment, roadmap, business case and governance. One-off.

EU AI Act compliance

Development & integration

Pilot, connection to ERP, CRM and DMS, and testing. One-off per use case.

Automate processes with AI

Operations

Hosting, model usage, monitoring and improvement. Recurring.

Sovereign AI with open-source models

Enablement

Training, AI champions and AI policy. One-off plus refreshers.

AI training for companies

Running costs: model usage and hosting

AI projects are easy to plan when cost components and benefits are transparent from the start. This page is part of our AI consulting for mid-sized companies.

Running costs depend on three factors: the number of cases processed, the size of the model used and the length of the text per request.

  • Enterprise models in the EU cloud: pay-per-use, billed directly to your own account at cost
  • Open-source models on your own hardware: predictable fixed costs for servers and operations
  • Monitoring: budget limits and cost reports are set up from day one

What drives the effort of your AI project

  • Consulting & strategy: the number of business units involved and how clearly goals and processes are already described
  • Development & integration: data quality and structure, the number of connected systems and the scope of approval steps
  • Operations: case volume, the chosen model and the hosting option
  • Enablement: the number of teams, the chosen formats and the scope of the prompt library

Many projects start with a compact preliminary project, a proof of concept with your real data. It demonstrates the value before larger budgets are approved. We give you a reliable budget range for your project after the intro call, in writing and before any commitment.

Weighing costs against benefits

A solid business case compares project costs with the full cost of today's manual handling: gross salary, employer contributions and a share of overheads. Quality gains and faster response times come on top. Many automations pay for themselves within a few months.

Method and example calculation: Calculate the AI business case.

Typewriter with the words Artificial Intelligence

Funding for companies in Germany

Small and medium-sized companies based in Germany can reduce consulting costs through public programmes. The federal BAFA programme subsidises strategic consulting on topics such as digitalisation and AI; the application is submitted before the contract is signed. Several federal states offer additional programmes for digitalisation projects.

We check which programmes fit your company and support you with the application.

Status: 15 September 2026

Planning your AI budget in four stages

  1. 01

    Stage 1 · Clarity

    Readiness assessment at a fixed price.

  2. 02

    Stage 2 · Proof

    Pilot with a measurable goal and your real data.

  3. 03

    Stage 3 · Impact

    Rollout, funded by the value proven in the pilot.

  4. 04

    Stage 4 · Operations

    Ongoing improvement with fixed budget limits and transparent cost reports.

Frequently asked questions about AI costs

How much does AI consulting cost?

The entry point, a readiness assessment, is available at a fixed price. Further modules are planned on that basis.

How much does an AI pilot cost?

A pilot with real data and connection to one system is priced by scope. We give you the range after the readiness assessment.

What running costs should we expect?

Model usage on a pay-per-use basis or fixed costs for your own servers, plus operations and improvement. We set budget limits from the start.

Is funding available?

Companies based in Germany can use federal and state programmes for strategic consulting. We check the options with you.

Is AI worthwhile for smaller companies?

Yes. Clearly defined processes such as receipt capture or email classification quickly show measurable value.

Get a clear cost estimate

In a short call we outline the right starting point for your company and the budget it requires.

Request a cost estimate