Name: AI Engagement Pricing Index 2026
Creator: AI-Native Agency
Published: 2026-05-20
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

What AI consulting actually costs in 2026. Anonymised pricing data across 60+ engagements by vendor type, workflow category, and region. The transparency that makes procurement faster and easier.

Methodology

Data compiled from 64 anonymised AI implementation engagements completed Q4 2025 through Q2 2026. Sources: public RFP responses, anonymised quotes shared by buyers, published case studies, vendor-confirmed price lists. All prices in USD.

Scope: single-workflow AI implementations (not multi-workflow transformations). Year-1 outlay = Discovery + Build + 6 months Run (or equivalent). Excludes infrastructure / cloud costs.

Pricing by vendor type (median, US)

AI-native agency (n=23)

Discovery: $8,500 ($6,000-$12,000)
Build: $50,000 ($30,000-$80,000)
Run: $7,000/mo ($4,000-$12,000/mo)
Year-1 outlay: $93,500 median ($60k-$170k range)

Large consulting firm (Deloitte, Accenture, McKinsey, BCG) (n=11)

Discovery: $150,000 ($80k-$300k)
Build: $650,000 ($350k-$1.2M)
Run: $25,000/mo ($15k-$50k/mo)
Year-1 outlay: $950,000 median ($550k-$2M range)

Off-the-shelf AI SaaS (Cresta, Decagon, etc.) (n=14)

Setup: $5,000 ($2k-$15k)
Subscription: $4,500/mo ($2k-$10k/mo)
Year-1 outlay: $59,000 median ($25k-$135k)

Platform vendor (Scale AI, Palantir Foundry, Glean) (n=8)

Discovery/POC: $75,000 ($30k-$150k)
Implementation: $250,000 ($150k-$500k)
License (annual): $200,000 ($100k-$500k/year)
Year-1 outlay: $525,000 median ($280k-$1.2M range)

Freelance / solo AI engineer (n=8)

Discovery: $5,000-$10,000 (often skipped)
Build: $40,000-$80,000 (rate × duration)
Run: $3,000-$8,000/mo
Year-1 outlay: $60,000 median ($40k-$120k)
Caveat: rarely ships with an operating model — you build that yourself.

Pricing by region

UAE engagements run at ~30-40% premium over US for the same vendor type. Reasons: DIFC / ADGM commercial overhead, bilingual delivery requirements, often higher integration complexity with proprietary government / family-office systems.

EU engagements run at ~15-25% discount over US for AI-native agencies (lower cost structure). Large consulting firms charge similar rates in EU and US.

Asia-Pacific engagements vary widely by sub-region; we don't have enough anonymised data points to publish reliable medians for Q2 2026.

Pricing by workflow category

Customer service automation: $60k-$120k year 1 (mid-market)
Document processing: $80k-$180k year 1 (regulated industries push higher)
Sales / revenue ops: $70k-$140k year 1
Compliance review: $100k-$220k year 1 (audit-grade work)
Contract review: $90k-$180k year 1 (legal premium)
Field service / dispatch: $80k-$160k year 1
Knowledge management: $70k-$130k year 1

What drives price within a vendor type

For a given vendor type, the 3-5× price spread (e.g., $30k vs $80k for Build) is usually explained by:

Integration depth: number of systems integrated, custom APIs vs. standard.
Compliance scope: regulated industries add 30-60% to baseline.
Volume: high-volume workflows (10k+ cases/month) need more careful instrumentation.
Data sensitivity: PHI / PCI / NPI add 25-40% to baseline.
UI/UX scope: reviewer queue + dashboard + customer-facing UI multiplies.

How to use this index

If you're evaluating proposals: compare against the relevant vendor-type median. Proposals 30%+ above the median should come with explicit justification (regulated data, complex integration, unusual scope). Proposals 30%+ below the median often cut corners on operating model, audit log, or eval harness — verify what's actually in the SOW.