Priced around outcomes, not seats
Three clear ways to engage — a fixed-rate sprint, a milestone build, and a managed run retainer — so cost tracks the value an agent delivers, not the hours we log.
- Flat-rate readiness sprint
- Fixed price per build milestone
- Managed run retainers
- No markup on model or cloud spend
Three ways to work with us
Pick the entry point that matches where you are. Most teams sprint, build one workflow, then move to a retainer as trust compounds.
Agent Readiness Sprint
A flat-rate, two-week engagement that maps your workflows, scores them for ROI, and returns a costed build plan. Fixed price, no surprises.
Milestone Build
We design, build, and integrate a production agent at a fixed price per milestone. You approve scope and cost before each phase begins.
Managed Run Retainer
Once an agent is live, a monthly retainer covers monitoring, tuning, governance, and fleet expansion as your trust and volume grow.
What actually drives cost
Two agent projects that sound identical can differ by an order of magnitude in price. The variable isn't how clever the model is — it's how many systems the agent has to touch, how high the stakes are when it acts, and how strict your compliance perimeter has to be.
We're transparent about these levers from the first call, so you can dial scope up or down deliberately instead of discovering the cost after the fact.
- Number of workflows and the volume they run at
- Integrations: how many systems, and how messy their APIs are
- Risk level — approval gates and audit depth on high-stakes actions
- Deployment perimeter: shared cloud, your VPC, or fully air-gapped
How spend unfolds
A measured ramp — you commit more only as the numbers prove out.
Sprint
A fixed-fee Readiness Sprint returns a prioritized roadmap and a hard cost estimate for the first build.
Build
We ship the first workflow at a fixed price per milestone, billed as each phase is approved and delivered.
Run
A predictable monthly retainer keeps the live agent monitored, governed, and improving.
Scale
New workflows are added as their own milestones, so the fleet grows on the same transparent terms.
Hourly shops vs. our model
Why fixed-scope pricing protects you on an agent project.
| Typical hourly agency | Automatic.co | |
|---|---|---|
| Unit of billing | Hours logged | Approved milestones & outcomes |
| Scope changes | Open-ended add-ons | Re-scoped as a new fixed milestone |
| Model & cloud spend | Marked up and rebilled | Billed direct to you, zero markup |
| Starting commitment | Large retainer up front | A two-week flat-rate sprint |
| Cost visibility | Revealed in the invoice | Quoted before each phase begins |
Frequently asked questions
Do you publish fixed list prices?
Not for builds. Agent work scales with the number of workflows, the systems they touch, and your compliance perimeter. We do offer a flat-rate Agent Readiness Sprint so you can start small and see exact numbers before committing to a build.
Is there a minimum engagement?
The smallest way to work with us is a two-week Readiness Sprint. From there most teams move into a milestone build for a single high-leverage workflow, then a managed run retainer once it's live. You're never locked into the whole path up front.
Who pays for the model tokens and infrastructure?
You do, billed directly through your own cloud or model accounts so there's no markup and full transparency. We architect for cost — caching, model routing, and right-sizing — and report token spend alongside outcomes.
How do you handle scope changes mid-build?
Builds are milestone-based with a fixed price per milestone. New workflows or integrations are scoped as their own milestones rather than buried in an open-ended hourly bill, so you always approve cost before work starts.
Get a real number, not a range.
Start with a flat-rate Readiness Sprint and walk away with a costed plan for your first agent — whether or not you build it with us.