What does AI consulting cost for a small business?

Honest answer up front: for a small business, expect a $600 written audit, then projects at $150/hour with a written not-to-exceed cap, most $500 to $1,000 each. Ongoing advisory is $600 per month with a 3-month minimum.

The rest of this post breaks down where those numbers come from, what drives them up or down, and how to think about it as an owner deciding whether the spend makes sense.

The pricing model that most independent AI consultants use

There are three pricing models in the small-business AI consulting market in 2026:

1. Hourly time-and-materials with a not-to-exceed cap. Standard for independent practices. You pay for hours used, but you cap the total. Predictable, fair on both sides. This is how we price.
2. Fixed-fee per project. Common at AI agencies. Cleaner to budget. Often overpriced relative to the actual hours, because the agency takes the risk of underestimating.
3. Monthly retainer. Common at larger firms. Predictable revenue for the firm. Often a poor deal for the buyer who doesn't have steady AI work month over month.

For most small businesses, time-and-materials with a not-to-exceed cap is the right structure because the work is bursty: a focused implementation, then a quiet period, then another small project as new needs surface.

Real numbers for the core services

These are our own prices, and they're representative of the broader independent AI consulting market in the Portland area.

Free consult

Cost: $0. Most independent consultants offer some version of this. Even if you don't engage further, you'll leave with a clearer sense of where AI fits in your operation and what's not worth bothering with.

Website review

Cost: $149 flat (our price), paid up front. We check your key pages by hand and send a written report within five business days: what's broken, what's costing you calls, and what to fix first. If you book the paid audit within 60 days, the full $149 is credited toward it.

Worth it when: your real worry is your website, not AI.

Written audit

Cost: $600 flat (our price), paid up front. A short written audit like this one runs $300 to $1,500 depending on the practice. A full AI readiness assessment from a consulting firm runs $2,500 to $5,000. You get a working session and a written report with ranked opportunities. The report is yours to keep whether you implement with us, with someone else, or on your own. If you start your first implementation project with us within 60 days of the audit, the full $600 is credited toward it.

Worth it when: you've got vague AI curiosity but no clear sense of what to actually do, or when you want a second opinion on what an internal champion is pushing for.

Single implementation project

Cost: $500 to $1,000 for most projects, at $150/hour with a written not-to-exceed cap. Setting up an AI tool, integrating it with software you already use, writing documentation, training the people who'll use it. Most projects fit in a few hours of work.

Worth it when: you have a specific workflow you want to improve and a clear sense of which one. Common examples: drafting recurring documents, automating intake forms, prepping recurring client deliverables, setting up team-wide AI tool access.

String of small projects

Cost: quoted one project at a time, most $500 to $1,000 each, at $150/hour with a written not-to-exceed cap. An audit ranks the top three opportunities, then we knock them off one at a time. You see value from each before deciding on the next.

Worth it when: you're at an inflection point and want meaningful AI capability built into your operation across multiple workflows.

Ongoing advisory

Cost: $600 per month minimum. 4-hour monthly floor. 3-month minimum commitment.

Worth it when: you've done the initial implementation and want someone to call when new tools come out, when your team has questions, or when something breaks. Not every business needs this. Some find it valuable.

Team training

Cost: Time and materials at $150/hour with a not-to-exceed cap, quoted in advance. Sessions are live and hands-on, in person or on Google Meet. A typical training engagement runs three to six one-hour sessions over a few weeks.

Worth it when: you already have AI tools but your team isn't using them well, or when you want to skip the year of trial and error and start with practical patterns.

What drives the price up

• Compliance overhead. Practices in legal, financial advisory, or other regulated industries require additional setup care (enterprise-tier accounts, written policies). Adds hours to the project.
• Integration complexity. Connecting AI to legacy systems takes longer than connecting it to modern tools.
• Team training depth. A practice with twenty staff needs more training sessions than a practice with two.
• Multi-workflow scope. Five workflows is more work than one.

What drives it down

• Tight scope. One workflow, one tool, one outcome. Easy to estimate, easy to execute.
• Modern existing stack. Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, HubSpot, Notion, Zapier are all easy to integrate with AI. Older custom systems take longer.
• Strong internal champion. Someone on the team who can be the point of contact and handle small day-to-day questions after handoff. Reduces total hours.

How to budget if you're starting from zero

A reasonable first-year plan for a small business with no prior implementation:

• Year one: a $600 audit (credited toward your first implementation project if you start it within 60 days of the audit), then projects at $150/hour with a written not-to-exceed cap, most $500 to $1,000 each. Team training, if you need it, is quoted per series at the same rate.
• Year two and onward: occasional small projects as new needs surface, priced the same way. Ongoing advisory only if you want it, at $600 per month with a 3-month minimum.

For a business doing $500K to $5M in annual revenue, that's a small percentage of one staff member's salary. Whether it pays off depends on whether the implementations actually reduce repetitive work.

How to know if it's overpriced

Three quick gut checks:

1. Is the quote in writing with a not-to-exceed cap? If not, the price can grow on you. Walk away.
2. Does the consultant take software commissions? If yes, the tool they recommend isn't the tool that fits, it's the tool that pays them. Walk away.
3. Does the proposal say what success looks like? If the deliverable is vague, the price is too. Push for specifics before agreeing.

Common questions

Why is AI consulting cheaper than other IT consulting? Because the projects are smaller and more focused. A typical AI implementation is a few hours of work versus weeks or months for a traditional IT project. The unit price per hour is similar; the total spend is lower because the scope is tighter.

Can I get value from AI without consulting at all? Often, yes. Start with ChatGPT or Claude on your team's hardest writing task. Spend two weeks tracking how long it takes to get a draft you'd send. If the answer is meaningful, you can extend the same pattern to other workflows yourself. Consulting accelerates the path and avoids common mistakes, but the underlying tools are accessible enough to start solo.

What if AI isn't the right answer for my business? A good consultant will tell you. We turn down work where the better answer is a process change, different software, or hiring a person. Part of the value of a paid audit is getting that read in writing.

If you want to talk through what makes sense for your specific business, book a free consult or see all our pricing tiers. No pitch.