What a custom AI agent really costs
The ranges you’ll find online span two orders of magnitude — because they’re pricing different things. The honest answer: the cost depends on how many workflows the agent covers, how many systems it touches, and how much oversight the work needs. Bardo prices it as a scoped engagement, priced to the outcome — typically a fraction of one loaded salary — and the free 30-minute audit returns a real quote, not a range. The calculators below put your own numbers on the alternatives.
Three scope questions, most of the price
How much work it covers
One workflow (qualify inbound leads) costs less than a connected set (qualify, follow up, book, hand off). Scope is the biggest lever.
How many systems it touches
An agent living in one inbox is simpler than one that reads your CRM, writes to your ledger, and posts to your channels. Integrations add scope.
How much oversight the work needs
Rule-based, high-volume work automates cleanly. Regulated or judgment-heavy steps keep a person in the loop — by design, not as a workaround.
A subscription, a team, or an outcome
| DIY tool subscription | Build it in-house | Installed agent (Bardo) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost shape | Monthly per-seat fees, forever | Engineer salaries, plus hiring and ramp | A scoped engagement, priced to the outcome |
| The hidden cost | Your team's time to build, run, and babysit it | Months before anything works — and you carry the rebuild risk | None hidden — the quote is the number |
| Time to value | Fast to start, slow to actually work | Months to hire, then months to build | Live in 4–8 weeks, then it runs |
| Who does the work | You — it's a tool, not a worker | Your new engineering team | Bardo builds it, installs it, and runs it for you |
| What the ROI hinges on | Whether anyone keeps using it | Whether the build ever ships | Hours of repetitive work displaced, 24/7 — compute it on your numbers below |
Compute it on your numbers
Every figure in these calculators is yours to edit, and nothing is stored. What does the manual status quo cost you? What would covering the work with a hire cost? Put your numbers next to a scoped quote and decide with all three on the table.