Fixed-price AI pilots, side by side.
14 fixed-price AI pilots, proofs of concept and discovery sprints from 13 firms, ours included. What each costs, how long it takes, what is running at the end, and what happens to the fee. Every figure was read on the vendor’s own page on 10 October 2026.
Shortest first.
Ordered by duration, so the order is not ours to choose. Our two offers are shaded.
| Firm and offer | Published price | Duration | What you have at the end | After the pilot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Context StudiosPrototyping Sprint | €4,500 excl. VAT | 2 days | An interactive prototype built in a two-day workshop. | Not stated on the page. |
| Digital ScientistsProof in 5 Days | $20,000 fixed | 5 days | A working functional prototype and a technical summary that says what is real and what is mocked. | $8K credit toward a production build if you sign within 14 days. You own everything built. |
| DataNorth AIAI Design Sprint | €9,000 ($9,900 in the US) | 1 week | A prototype you can test, from a facilitated five-day sprint, plus a roadmap. | Not stated on the page. |
| GigabitAI Transformation Sprint | $25,000 fixed | 2 weeks | A pilot deployed against your own data, an ROI model and a costed build plan. It is a pilot, not the production build. | The $25,000 credits toward a Gigabit Agents build if you go ahead. |
| Outright MentalAI Capability Sprint | $9,500 fixed | 2 weeks | One workflow automated or augmented on your stack, a measured before-and-after, and a go or no-go recommendation. | Not stated on the page. |
| ArchitechTransformation Blueprint | From CAD $9,900 plus tax | 2 weeks | A document: the agreed outcomes and the plan for the build that follows. No software. | No fee if the agreed acceptance criteria are missed. The build is priced once the plan exists. |
| AFSolutionsGenAI Fast-Track | $14,950 per workflow or agent | 15 working days | One AI workflow or agent deployed in your AWS account, with infrastructure as code. | Not stated on the page. |
| GigabitAI Quick Win Sprint | $8,000 fixed | 3 weeks | One workflow scoped, built and deployed, integrated with up to 3 tools. | 30 days of light support. |
| GeekyAntsAI Discovery Sprint | $25,000 fixed fee | 3–4 weeks | A document: a decision-ready roadmap. No software. | A separately priced pilot programme begins only after it. |
| WorkWise SolutionsComprehensive Discovery Sprint | $30,000 | 3–4 weeks | An assessment, a governance framework and a hands-on pilot on your own workflows. | The fee credits toward the engagement that follows within 90 days, capped at half of that fee. |
| NetguruAI Pod Pilot | From €60k | 4–6 weeks | A production-ready AI system for one use case. | A one-week €12k Discovery Sprint comes first; its cost is credited if you continue. |
| SpotDevCustom Agents | £20,000 | Typically 4–8 weeks | A custom AI agent designed, built and deployed to production, integrated with your systems. | 60 days of post-launch support. |
| AloaProof of Concept | $20K–$30K | 6–8 weeks | A working prototype, a technical feasibility report and a risk assessment. | 30 days of support after delivery. |
| Main & MachineAI Implementation Sprint | $18,000–$60,000 | 4 to 12 weeks | One working system inside your existing tools, with testing, documentation and training. | If a scoped workflow is not live within 90 days, they keep building at no charge. |
Prices and durations are as each firm published them on 10 October 2026, in the currency shown; the last two columns summarise the same page. They change, so follow the link before relying on a figure. Offers that name a duration but no price are not listed. Gigabit figures are our published prices. If a row about your firm is out of date, email hello@gigabit.agency and we will correct it.
Four questions that separate these offers.
Price and weeks are the easy columns. These decide whether two offers are even the same purchase.
What is running at the end, and where?
The same price buys four different things here: a system in production, a pilot on your own data, a prototype in the vendor's environment, or a document. Ask which, and ask whether it runs on your accounts or theirs.
Is the price a number, a range or a “from”?
A single figure is a commitment. A range or a “from” price is settled after scoping, so ask what would put you at the top of it, and get the final figure in writing before work starts.
What happens to the fee if you carry on?
Some vendors credit the pilot fee toward the build, in full or in part, sometimes only inside a time window. Others treat the pilot as a separate purchase. Neither is wrong, but it changes what the pilot really costs.
What happens if it does not work?
Two offers in this table carry a guarantee: one refunds the fee if agreed criteria are missed, one keeps building at no charge until the workflow is live. Most, ours included, do not. Ask what you are left with if the answer is no.
When the Sprint is the right purchase, and when it is not.
You do not yet know which workflow to build
The $25,000 covers workflow mapping, an ROI model, a pilot on your data and a costed build plan. You are paying for the decision as much as for the pilot. What the two weeks contain.
You already know the one workflow
Then the diagnostic is money you do not need to spend. Our AI Quick Win Sprint is $8,000 for 3 weeks, and two offers above automate a single workflow for under $15,000.
You need a plan to take to a board, not software
A blueprint or discovery sprint is the honest purchase, and two firms above sell exactly that. If you want to check your own readiness first, the AI Readiness Assessment is free.
A fixed price only protects you if the scope is fixed too. Before you sign any of these, ours included, get three things in writing: what will be running at the end, on whose accounts, and what the next stage costs.
AI pilot prices, plainly
How much does an AI pilot or proof of concept cost?
Published fixed prices we read on 10 October 2026 run from €4,500 for a two-day prototype to “from €60k” for a four-to-six-week production pilot. Most sit between about $8,000 and $30,000 for one to eight weeks of work. Gigabit's AI Transformation Sprint is $25,000 for 2 weeks and its AI Quick Win Sprint is $8,000 for 3 weeks.
How long does an AI pilot take?
Among the published offers on this page, from two days to twelve weeks. Prototype sprints run two days to a week. Offers that end in something deployed on your own systems start at two weeks. The longest are ranges that depend on scope.
What is the difference between an AI pilot, a proof of concept and a prototype?
Vendors use the words loosely, so read what is delivered. A prototype or proof of concept shows that the idea can work, often in the vendor's environment with some parts mocked. A pilot runs against your real data or inside your own systems. A discovery sprint may end in a document with no software at all. Four of the offers here end in a prototype and two in a document.
Does the pilot fee count toward the full build?
Sometimes. On this page, Gigabit credits the $25,000 Sprint fee toward a Gigabit Agents build, one vendor credits $8K of a $20,000 sprint if you sign within 14 days, one credits a discovery sprint if you continue, and one credits its fee up to half the price of the follow-on work. The rest do not mention a credit on the page we read.
Which agencies take an AI idea to a working pilot in two weeks?
Of the offers here with a published price, three run two weeks: Gigabit's AI Transformation Sprint ($25,000, a pilot deployed on your data plus a costed build plan), Outright Mental's AI Capability Sprint ($9,500, one workflow on your stack), and Architech's Transformation Blueprint (from CAD $9,900, a plan with no software). Shorter offers end in a prototype.
Why is it hard to find published AI pilot prices?
Many firms state a duration and the words “fixed price” without giving the figure, because the number is set after a scoping call. We left those out of the table, since there is nothing to compare until you have spoken to them.
See a pilot run on your data before you commit to the build.
$25,000, 2 weeks, and the fee credits toward the build it scopes.