Typical price ranges
| Project | Typical range | Typical timeline from approved scope |
|---|---|---|
| Workflow automation Zapier, Make, or n8n flows that move data between the tools you already use. | $1,200 to $4,000 | 1 week |
| Business process automation Approvals, onboarding, invoicing, or order handling run end to end without copy and paste. | $4,000 to $12,000 | 2 to 4 weeks |
| AI-powered automation Automations that read emails and documents, decide, and hand off to people when needed. | $8,000 to $20,000 | 3 to 5 weeks |
| Enterprise automation Many systems, departments, approvals, and audit trails, with monitoring. | $24,000 to $60,000 | 6 to 8 weeks |
| Industrial automation software Software that connects machines, sensors, and plant systems to your business data. | $32,000 to $80,000+ | 2 to 3 months |
The timeline starts once the scope is approved and we have what we need from you.
What moves the price
- Number of steps and systems
- Exceptions and approvals
- AI or document reading
- Volume and monitoring needs
How Much Does Business Process Automation Cost?
Here is a clear breakdown, so you can budget and judge quotes.
The three levels of spending
Level 1: Do it yourself with off-the-shelf tools.
- Cost: $0 to $300 a month for tools such as n8n, Make or Zapier, plus your own time
- Best for: simple workflows between popular apps, like sending form entries to a spreadsheet and a chat channel
- Limits: your time is the real cost, and complex or critical workflows can be fragile
Level 2: A professionally built single workflow.
- Cost: about $1,200 to $12,000, depending on steps and integrations
- Best for: a clear, valuable process, such as lead handling, invoice processing or onboarding
- What you get: design, build, testing, error handling, documentation and a handover
Level 3: A broader automation program.
- Cost: about $8,000 to $60,000 and up
- Best for: several connected processes, custom tools, dashboards and AI features
- What you get: process mapping, multiple workflows, integrations, monitoring, training and support
What drives the price
Number of steps and branches. A five-step flow is simple. A flow with many conditions, exceptions and approvals takes much longer to build and test.
Number of systems. Each connected app is an integration. Popular tools with ready connectors are cheaper than old or custom systems with poor documentation.
Data quality. Messy, inconsistent data takes extra work. Cleaning it is often the hidden cost.
AI components. Reading documents, classifying messages, drafting replies and answering questions add design, testing and usage costs.
Reliability needs. Business-critical workflows need error handling, retries, alerts and monitoring. That adds cost and prevents expensive silent failures.
Compliance and security. Handling personal, financial or health data adds review, access controls and logging.
Custom interfaces. Dashboards, approval screens or small internal apps cost more than workflows alone.
Example price ranges
These are illustrative market ranges. Your quote depends on the details above.
| Automation | Typical build cost |
|---|---|
| Form to CRM (customer relationship management system), email and notification | $1,200 to $4,000 |
| Lead scoring, routing and follow-up sequence | $1,200 to $4,000 |
| Invoice data extraction into accounting | $4,000 to $12,000 |
| AI assistant answering support questions, with handoff | $4,000 to $12,000 |
| Employee onboarding across HR, IT and accounts | $4,000 to $12,000 |
| Weekly multi-source reporting with AI summary | $2,500 to $8,000 |
| Multi-step operations automation across several systems | $8,000 to $20,000 |
Running costs
Automation has monthly costs after the build.
Include these in your return calculation.
Key points
- Workflow platform: $0 to $200 or more a month, depending on volume
- AI usage fees: usually $10 to $300 a month for small and mid-size volumes
- Hosting, if you run a self-hosted tool: $10 to $100 a month
- Maintenance: fixes and updates as tools and processes change, about 15 to 25 percent of the build cost per year
- Monitoring: someone must check the alerts and review results
How to estimate the return
A simple approach:
Example: a workflow that saves 8 hours a week at $25 an hour saves $10,400 a year. If it costs $5,000 to build and $600 a year to run, payback is under 7 months. See our guide to measuring AI automation ROI.
Key points
- Hours saved per week × hourly cost × 52 gives you the yearly time saving.
- Add the value of fewer errors and of any revenue gained.
- Subtract running costs.
- Divide the build cost by the monthly benefit to see the payback period.
How to keep the cost down
Start with one process, not ten. Fix the process first. Automating a messy process creates a faster mess.. Prepare your data before the project starts. Use standard tools where possible, before building custom. Keep a human in the loop for decisions that need judgment, which reduces the complexity of the build. Be clear about the rules, including exceptions. Unclear rules are the biggest cause of extra work.. Ask for a fixed price on a well-defined first workflow
What a good quote includes
A clear quote for an automation project lists:
If two quotes differ a lot, compare these lists first. The cheaper one often leaves out error handling, testing or documentation, which is where silent failures come from.
Key points
- The process in plain steps, so you can check it matches reality
- Every system and account involved, and who owns each connection
- Exceptions and edge cases it handles, and those it sends to a person
- Error handling: what happens when a step fails, and who gets the alert
- Testing: how it will be checked with real examples before going live
- Documentation and handover, so you are not stuck if the builder disappears
- A support window after launch for fixes
- Who pays for tools and usage fees, and the expected monthly amount
A worked example
Take a service business that receives 60 inquiries a month by web form. Today, someone copies each inquiry into a spreadsheet, emails the lead, books a call and chases for a reply after three days. That takes about 12 minutes per inquiry, so around 12 hours a month.
An automation can save the entry in the CRM, send a personal-looking reply with a booking link, create a task for the owner and send a reminder if nobody replies in three days. A build like this usually lands in the $1,200 to $4,000 range, with a few dollars a month in tool costs. At $30 an hour, the 12 hours saved are worth $360 a month, and faster replies often win more jobs than the time saving alone. Payback on the time saving is under a year, and quicker if one extra job a month comes from faster follow-up.
The same logic shows when not to automate. Ten inquiries a month and a founder who enjoys the personal touch is not a good case.
Red flags in an automation quote
A single price with no list of steps or systems. No mention of error handling or monitoring. No plan for what happens when a tool changes. "Fully automated, no human needed" for anything important. No documentation or handover. Heavy lock-in to the vendor's own account
What automation costs with DECHY
Our automation prices follow the levels above. A single workflow costs $1,200 to $4,000. A business process automated across several systems costs $4,000 to $12,000. Automations that use AI to read, sort or draft content cost $8,000 to $20,000. Enterprise programs cost $24,000 to $60,000.
Every build includes process mapping, error handling, alerts, testing and a short guide for your team. Tool subscriptions and AI usage fees are paid to the providers. We estimate them with you and help you choose plans that fit your volume.
We often start with one workflow that pays back quickly. That proves the approach and funds the next step. If you want ongoing improvements, our care plans start at $100 a month.
Try the cost estimator for a range in a few minutes. Or describe the process you want to automate, and we will tell you which level it falls into.
Next step
Tell us what you'd like to automate. We'll give you a realistic range, show the likely payback and build it with proper monitoring. Talk to DECHY.