What an artificial intelligence system costs an SME. Three bands, from public price lists.
Some providers publish the prices of their artificial intelligence systems. Here are their ranges, collected and reread, without names.
Three bands. Ready-made tools cost from 20-50 euros per user per month up to about 200 euros per month. A tailored system on one process costs 1,500-8,000 euros, plus 200-800 euros a month. Agents and projects across several processes start at 3,500 euros 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 passes through a person.
The monthly fee exists because costs continue after delivery: models paid per use, services on subscription, maintenance. What matters is what it covers and when it starts.
Why price is the question that holds companies back
Among companies that evaluated artificial intelligence and then did not adopt it, 43.0% cite high costs. This is measured by Istat, Imprese e ICT, year 2025, on companies with at least 10 employees. Ahead of costs there is only the lack of skills, at 58.6%.
A cost that holds you back before it is known is often an imagined cost. The ranges below serve to replace imagination with price lists: they are figures the providers themselves chose to publish.
Three price bands, from public price lists
The survey is Itria's: public price lists of five Italian providers selling AI systems to SMEs, collected on 31 August 2026 and reread on 25 September 2026. Only the reread figures are reported, as they are published. The names are left out by choice.
| Band | What it costs | What you buy |
|---|---|---|
| Ready-made toolstwo price lists | No setup fee. From 20-50 euros per user per month for generic tools, up to 199 euros per month for a platform with contact management, WhatsApp and automatic replies. |
One tool the same for everyone, which you configure yourself. It pays off when the process is standard and adapting to the tool is enough. |
| Tailored, one processthree price lists | From 1,500 to 8,000 euros one-off, plus a monthly fee of 200 to 800 euros. |
One process analysed and automated on your tools: for example incoming requests, orders or documents to transcribe. |
| Agents and several processestwo price lists | From 3,500 euros for an assistant in one language, with a basic integration, up to over 50,000 euros. Where the monthly fee is published, it ranges from 500 to 5,000 euros a month. |
Assistants working on your documents, several processes connected to each other, several departments. The price follows the number of processes and systems to connect. |
The bands overlap: the boundary lies in what is built, not in a figure. Three price lists read in August were no longer available in September and were left out; of a fourth, which had changed its offer, only the new figures are used.
What drives the price up
The number of processes. A single process, analysed and automated, almost always sits in the second band. Several processes connected to each other, with handovers from one department to another, lead into the third.
The systems to connect. Every connection with a management system, an archive or a mailbox is real work, and has to be maintained when one of the two systems changes. Ask for the list of connections included in the price.
Languages and channels. The first step of a price list covers one language and a basic integration with the website. Every extra language and channel, such as WhatsApp or the phone, is paid separately.
Human control. A system in which a person approves before sending costs a little more to build, and costs much less when it gets something wrong. It is the principle Itria always follows, written in Ethics.
Why there is a monthly fee, and what it should cover
Because an AI system has costs that continue after delivery. Models are paid per use, services have a subscription, and someone has to step in when a connected system changes or a model changes version. The fee pays for these items, and a serious quote lists them one by one.
One of the price lists reread spreads the build over the fee: 600 euros a month in the first year, 300 in the second, 200 from the third. It is a way of paying for the initial work without a large sum up front. To compare it with a one-off price, it is worth adding up the first three years.
The question to always ask is when it starts. A fee that starts before the system works pays for work not yet delivered.
The price is compared with today's cost
A system is judged against what the process it has to replace costs today, not against another quote. The starting sum is done with three of your own numbers: how many times a month it happens, how many minutes it takes, what an hour of whoever does it costs. The method, with an example, is on the page on what replying by hand costs.
If today's cost is small, even the first band can be too much. If it is large and repeated every month, the second pays for itself, and the number that proves it should be measured before signing.
How Itria prices
Itria does not publish a price list, because every system starts from a measurement of the company. What is public is the way, written in the Terms: «The price is fixed and agreed beforehand. One piece at a time. No day-rate billing, no fee that starts before the system works.»
Before the price comes the measurement: «No work is proposed before looking at where the company loses time or revenue today.» And we take on few clients at a time, because each system is built by one person.
Questions and answers
How much does an artificial intelligence system cost an SME?
From the public price lists of five Italian providers, reread on 25 September 2026, three bands emerge. Ready-made tools cost from 20-50 euros per user per month up to about 200 euros per month. A tailored system on one process costs from 1,500 to 8,000 euros, plus a monthly fee of 200 to 800 euros.
Agents and projects across several processes start at 3,500 euros and go beyond 50,000, with monthly fees of 500 to 5,000 euros where published. The price follows the number of processes and systems to connect.
How much do AI agents cost a company?
In the public price lists reread on 25 September 2026, an assistant in one language with a basic integration starts at 3,500 euros, a tailored agent costs from 5,000 to 20,000 euros, and a project with several processes goes from 15,000 to over 50,000 euros.
The monthly fee, where published, ranges from 500 to 5,000 euros and covers models, services and maintenance. For the same agent, the price rises with languages, channels and systems to connect.
Why does an AI system have a monthly fee?
Because costs continue after delivery. Models are paid per use, services have a subscription, and someone has to step in when a connected system changes or a model changes version.
A serious quote lists the fee's items one by one and says when it starts. A fee that starts before the system works pays for work not yet delivered.
Is a ready-made AI tool or a tailored system better?
It depends on how much the process is yours. A ready-made tool is better when the process is standard and adapting to the tool is enough: it costs little, from 20-50 euros per user per month up to about 200 euros per month.
A tailored system is better when the advantage lies precisely in the way you work, and adapting to a generic tool would mean losing it. In both cases the right comparison is with what the process done by hand costs today.
How do you know whether an AI system pays for itself?
By comparing its price with what the process it replaces costs today. The sum is done with three of your own numbers: how many times a month it happens, how many minutes it takes, what an hour of whoever does it costs.
If today's cost is small, even a ready-made tool can be too much. If it is large and repeats every month, a tailored system pays for itself, and the number that proves it should be measured before signing.
Notes on sources
- Itria's survey of the public price lists of five Italian providers of AI systems for SMEs, collected on 31 August 2026 and reread on 25 September 2026, one page per provider. The figures are reported as published; the names are left out by choice. Excluded: three price lists no longer available in September, the old figures of a fourth that had changed its offer, and pricing guides written by agencies, which sell the same service. This page too is written by someone who sells: that is why it contains only price lists, and no estimate.
- Istat, Imprese e ICT, year 2025, published on 15 December 2025: among companies with at least 10 employees that evaluated AI without adopting it, high costs are cited by 43.0%, lack of skills by 58.6%. Opened and read on 25 September 2026.
- The sentences on how Itria prices are verbatim and come from the Terms, point 7.
First what it costs you today. Then what the system costs.
The first step with Itria is a fifteen-minute video call: we look at where the company loses time or revenue today, and only then do we talk about price, fixed and agreed beforehand. Write us a line about what weighs on you. We take the first step: what a customer sees when they search for you, and what we found there. Even if we end up not working together.