What an artificial intelligence system costs an SME. Three bands, from public price lists.
Some suppliers publish the prices of their artificial intelligence systems. Here are their ranges, collected and rechecked, without names.
Three bands. Off-the-shelf tools cost from €20-50 per user per month up to around €200 a month. A tailored system for one process costs €1,500-8,000, plus €200-800 a month. Agents and multi-process projects start at €3,500 and go beyond €50,000.
The price rises with the work, not with the word AI: how many processes, how many systems to connect, how many languages and channels, how much goes through a person.
The monthly fee exists because the costs continue after delivery: models paid for by usage, services on subscription, maintenance. What matters is what it covers and when it starts.
Why price is the question that holds businesses back
Among businesses that considered artificial intelligence and then didn't adopt it, 43.0% cite high costs. That's the figure from Istat, Imprese e ICT, 2025, for businesses with at least 10 employees. Only a lack of skills ranks higher, at 58.6%.
A cost that holds you back before you know what it is is often an imagined cost. The ranges below are there to replace imagination with price lists: they're figures the suppliers themselves chose to publish.
Three price bands, from public price lists
The survey is Itria's own: public price lists from five Italian suppliers selling AI systems to SMEs, collected on 31 August 2026 and rechecked on 25 September 2026. Only the rechecked figures are given, exactly as published. The names are left out on purpose.
| Band | What it costs | What you're buying |
|---|---|---|
| Off-the-shelf toolstwo price lists | No setup fee. From €20-50 per user per month for general tools, up to €199 a month for a platform with contact management, WhatsApp and automatic replies. |
A tool that's the same for everyone and that you set up yourself. It makes sense when the process is standard and you can simply adapt to the tool. |
| Tailored, one processthree price lists | From €1,500 to €8,000 one-off, plus a monthly fee of €200 to €800. |
One process analysed and automated on your own tools: for example incoming enquiries, orders or documents to transcribe. |
| Agents and several processestwo price lists | From €3,500 for an assistant in one language with a basic integration, up to over €50,000. Where the monthly fee is published, it ranges from €500 to €5,000. |
Assistants working on your documents, several linked processes, several departments. The price follows the number of processes and systems to connect. |
The bands overlap: the boundary lies in what gets built, not in a figure. Three price lists read in August could no longer be found in September and were left out; for a fourth, which had changed its offer, only the new figures are used.
What pushes the price up
The number of processes. A single process, analysed and automated, almost always falls in the second band. Several linked processes, with handovers from one department to another, take you into the third.
The systems to connect. Every connection to business software, an archive or an inbox is real work, and needs maintaining when either system changes. Ask for the list of connections included in the price.
Languages and channels. The first tier of a price list covers one language and a basic integration with the website. Every additional language and channel, such as WhatsApp or the phone, is charged separately.
Human oversight. A system where a person approves before sending costs a little more to build, and a lot less when it gets something wrong. It's the principle Itria always follows, set out in Ethics.
Why there's a monthly fee, and what it should cover
Because an AI system has costs that continue after delivery. Models are paid for by usage, services have subscriptions, and someone has to step in when a connected system changes or a model gets a new version. The fee pays for those items, and a serious quote lists them one by one.
One of the price lists we rechecked spreads the build cost across the fee: €600 a month in the first year, €300 in the second, €200 from the third. It's a way of paying for the initial work without a big sum upfront. To compare it with a one-off price, add up the first three years.
The question to always ask is when it starts. A fee that begins before the system works is paying for work not yet delivered.
Compare the price with what things cost you today
A system should be judged against what the process it replaces costs you today, not against another quote. You work out the starting figure with three numbers of your own: how many times a month it happens, how many minutes it takes, and what an hour of the person doing it costs. The method, with an example, is on the page about what answering enquiries by hand costs.
If today's cost is small, even the first band may be too much. If it's large and repeats every month, the second band pays for itself, and the number that proves it should be measured before you sign.
How Itria prices its work
Itria doesn't publish a price list, because every system starts from a measurement of the business. What's public is the approach, set out in the Terms (in Italian): the price is fixed and agreed in advance, one piece at a time, with no billing by the day and no fee that starts before the system works.
Before the price comes the measurement: no work is proposed until we've looked at where the business is losing time or revenue today. And we take on only a few clients at a time, because every system is built by one person.
Questions and answers
How much does an artificial intelligence system cost an SME?
The public price lists of five Italian suppliers, rechecked on 25 September 2026, show three bands. Off-the-shelf tools cost from €20-50 per user per month up to around €200 a month. A tailored system for one process costs €1,500 to €8,000, plus a monthly fee of €200 to €800.
Agents and multi-process projects start at €3,500 and go beyond €50,000, with monthly fees of €500 to €5,000 where published. The price follows the number of processes and systems to connect.
How much do AI agents cost a business?
In the public price lists rechecked on 25 September 2026, an assistant in one language with a basic integration starts at €3,500, a tailored agent costs €5,000 to €20,000, and a multi-process project runs from €15,000 to over €50,000.
The monthly fee, where published, ranges from €500 to €5,000 and covers models, services and maintenance. For the same agent, the price rises with the languages, channels and systems to connect.
Why does an AI system have a monthly fee?
Because the costs continue after delivery. Models are paid for by usage, services have subscriptions, and someone has to step in when a connected system changes or a model gets a new version.
A serious quote lists what the fee covers item by item and says when it starts. A fee that begins before the system works is paying for work not yet delivered.
Is an off-the-shelf AI tool or a tailored system better value?
It depends on how much the process is your own. An off-the-shelf tool makes sense when the process is standard and you can simply adapt to the tool: it's cheap, from €20-50 per user per month up to around €200 a month.
A tailored system makes sense when your edge lies in the way you work, and adapting to a generic tool would mean losing it. Either way, the right comparison is with what the process costs you today, done by hand.
How can you tell whether an AI system pays for itself?
By comparing its price with what the process it replaces costs you today. You work it out with three numbers of your own: how many times a month it happens, how many minutes it takes, and what an hour of the person doing it costs.
If today's cost is small, even an off-the-shelf tool may be too much. If it's large and repeats every month, a tailored system pays for itself, and the number that proves it should be measured before you sign.
Notes on sources
- Itria's survey of the public price lists of five Italian suppliers of AI systems for SMEs, collected on 31 August 2026 and rechecked on 25 September 2026, one page per supplier. The figures are given as published; the names are left out on purpose. Excluded: three price lists no longer available in September, the old figures of a fourth supplier that had changed its offer, and pricing guides written by agencies selling the same service. This page is also written by a seller: that's why it contains only price lists, and no estimates.
- Istat, Imprese e ICT, 2025 (in Italian), published on 15 December 2025: among businesses with at least 10 employees that considered AI without adopting it, 43.0% cite high costs and 58.6% a lack of skills. Opened and read on 25 September 2026.
- The statements on how Itria prices its work come from the Terms (in Italian), point 7, given here as a faithful paraphrase.
First, what things cost you today. Then what the system costs.
The first step with Itria is a fifteen-minute video call: we look at where the business is losing time or revenue today, and only then talk about price, fixed and agreed in advance. Drop us a line about what's slowing you down. We'll make the first move: we'll look at what a customer sees when they search for you, and tell you what we found. Even if we never end up working together.