PricingHow much does business automation cost?
8 minute read
Updated
Our workflows start at $299 setup, because every one starts from a build we have already tested, plus a small running cost in your own accounts. Automation is the least expensive of the four things we build, which is why it is often the right place to start.
The catch is not the price, it is the pricing shape. Most automation tools charge by the task, and a task is a single step. A workflow that looks like one action to you is often twenty steps to the tool, so the bill grows faster than the work does.
Below is what decides where your own project sits, and a calculator to price it.
Per task pricing, and why it catches people out
Almost every automation tool sells a monthly allowance of tasks. The trap is the word task. Moving one new customer from a form into your CRM, sending a welcome email and notifying your team is not one task, it is three or four, and a real workflow with conditions can be twenty.
So a plan advertising 2,000 tasks a month might cover a hundred customers, not two thousand. That is not a scam, it is a unit nobody explains, and it is the most common reason an automation bill arrives higher than expected.
Before you compare tools, work out your steps per customer, then multiply. The cheapest plan on paper is often not the cheapest for your volume.
Where a built workflow starts making sense
Subscription tools are excellent and most businesses should start there. We will say that plainly even though we build the alternative.
The point where it changes is usually one of three. Your task count has grown until the subscription costs more than a build would. Or the tool cannot do the specific thing you need and you are holding three tools together with tape. Or the workflow has become important enough that nobody can afford it failing quietly on a Sunday.
A built workflow, typically self hosted, removes the per task meter and puts the running cost on a server instead, and a server does not care how many steps you run through it.
What moves the price of a build
Automation is the most predictable thing to quote in this category, because most of the work is visible before anyone starts.
- How many systems it connects. Two is a morning. Six that each want the data in a different shape is a project.
- Whether those systems have a proper way in. A modern tool with a good interface is straightforward. An old system with no way in is where estimates go wrong.
- How messy your data is. Two systems disagreeing about what a customer is called costs more to reconcile than the automation itself.
- What happens when a step fails. A workflow that stops silently is cheap to build and expensive to own.
- Who hosts it. Self hosting removes the per task cost, but somebody has to keep the server alive.
The cheapest way to find out what you need
Before paying anyone, write one process down end to end, every step, including the ones you do without thinking. Most people are surprised by the length of their own list.
Then count how many times a week it runs and roughly how long it takes. That gives you the hours you would be buying back, which is the only number that decides whether any of this is worth doing.
If the answer is under an hour a week, do not automate it yet. Automate the thing that eats a morning.
Price calculator
Price your own automation in two minutes
Pick a starting point, switch on what your business needs, and see one fixed price and a delivery date as you go. Nothing is charged until you order.
How we handle it
Our fixed builds are priced on the page, and you can price anything beyond them yourself in our calculator. Fixed scope, fixed price, and a call first if you would rather talk it through.
We build in your own n8n, on whichever setup costs you least at your volume, which means no per step meter and the workflow stays yours. If a subscription tool would do your job for less, we will name the tool on the call.
Still not sure which applies to you?
Fifteen minutes on a call is usually enough to settle it, and we will tell you if the answer is something we do not sell.
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A free 15-minute call. We look at where your week goes, show you what would take the most off it, and you see exactly what it costs before you decide.