How much does an AI consultant cost?

Short answer: for a small business, AI consulting nationally tends to run $100 to $300 an hour, or a fixed project price from a few thousand dollars up. Large firms charge far more. Here's what you're actually paying for, and how to tell whether it's worth it for your business.

(Ranges are from published 2026 pricing guides and local listings, rounded. Your quotes will vary.)

What you're usually paying for

• An assessment. Someone looks at how your business runs and says where AI fits. Sometimes free, often a few hundred to a couple of thousand dollars. Free ones usually end in a sales pitch.
• Building something. A tool, automation or setup for one job. Usually a fixed price, based on how many steps and systems it touches.
• Training. Sessions for your team, usually priced by the half day or full day.
• Ongoing help. Many providers sell a monthly retainer. My way: I finish the work, hand it over, and move on. If something new comes up later, you call me.

How I price

I quote every piece of work at one fixed price, agreed before I start. Most businesses start with a half-day Kickstart: I come to you, start on the quickest win, and send a written plan with a fixed price for each next step. The Kickstart's cost comes off whatever you choose to do next. Then I move on; you own what I built.

Want a number for your situation? Tell me the task and I'll give you a straight quote, fast.

How to tell if it's worth it

Count the hours. If a task eats 3 hours a week, that's about 150 hours a year. A tool that cuts it in half pays for itself quickly at almost any staff cost. If you can't name a task like that, you probably don't need a consultant yet, and I'll tell you so.

Questions people ask

What does an AI consultant actually do? Finds the repetitive work in your business, then either builds a small tool to handle it or trains your team to handle it with AI, and checks that it actually gets used.

Why not just learn ChatGPT myself? You can, and plenty of owners do. What a consultant adds is time: setting it up around your exact work and training your team so it sticks.

Do I have to sign a long contract? No. The Kickstart is a one-time half day, and each next step is its own fixed-price piece of work.

Do you work outside Raleigh? Yes, across the Triangle: Durham, Cary, Apex, Chapel Hill, Wake Forest, Morrisville.