AI Knowledge Library

How Much Should You Charge for AI Services? How to Think About Pricing

By Aaron Isakson, Founder of Dual Income Network · Updated October 23, 2026 · 7 min read

So this is one of the first questions people ask when they start learning how to sell AI: "What do I charge?" And I'll be straight with you, there's no magic number. Anybody who gives you one price for "AI services" isn't really looking at the business in front of them. A missed-call text back for a one-person shop and a full Voice AI, chat and follow-up system for a busy dental office are two completely different jobs.

What I can do is show you how to think about it, so you can have a confident conversation with a business owner and come up with a price that's fair for both of you.

What affects the price of AI services?

1. How in-depth the setup is

A simple setup might be one chat widget with an AI assistant that answers common questions. A deeper setup might include Voice AI on the phone line, Conversation AI across text and social messages, calendar booking, a CRM pipeline, automated follow-up, and review requests, all connected. The more you build, test and connect, the more it's worth.

2. How much of the business's information you have to organize

AI is only as good as what you feed it. Some businesses hand you clean FAQs and a clear process. Others need you to sit down with them, figure out their services, write the answers, and map how leads should be handled. That work has real value.

3. Ongoing support and improvement

Is this a set-it-and-forget-it setup, or are you going to review conversations every month, update the knowledge base, adjust the prompts, and report results? Ongoing care is usually what the monthly fee pays for, and it's what keeps the system working well.

4. Your own costs

Know what you're paying before you quote anything: your platform subscription, AI usage like Voice AI minutes or message credits, phone numbers and texting fees. Many AI features are billed by usage, so busier businesses cost more to run. Build that into your pricing, or agree on how usage will be billed.

5. The value to the business

This is the big one. Ask the owner a few questions. How many calls do you miss in a week? What's a new customer worth to you? How fast do you follow up on leads today? If answering after hours lands them even one or two extra customers a month, the system has a clear value, and your price should be a fair share of that, not just a number for your time.

Common ways AI services are packaged

• Setup fee plus monthly: a one-time fee for building and launching the system, then a monthly fee for hosting, support and improvements. This is the most common model.
• Tiered packages: for example a starter package with chat and missed-call text back, a middle package that adds booking and follow-up, and a full package that adds Voice AI. Tiers make it easy for owners to choose.
• Usage passed through: some providers charge a base monthly fee and bill AI usage, like phone minutes, separately so heavy users pay for what they use.
• Done-with-you: you set it up and train the business owner's team to run it, with a lighter monthly support plan.

How to have the pricing conversation

Here's the approach I teach. Don't lead with price. Lead with the problem. Call the business after hours and see if anyone answers. Look at how long it takes them to reply to a website message. Then sit down with the owner and show them what you found, explain what the AI would do about it, and only then talk about the investment. When the owner already sees the problem, the price becomes a much easier conversation.

And start honest. If a business only needs a chat widget and a missed-call text back, sell them that. You'll earn trust, and trust is what turns into referrals and bigger projects later.

Mistakes to avoid

• Quoting before you understand what the business actually needs.
• Forgetting to include your platform and usage costs.
• Promising results you can't control, like a specific number of new customers.
• Underpricing the ongoing support, which is where most of the long-term value is.

Inside Dual Income Network, we walk members through these conversations step by step, and we use the systems in our own business first so you can speak from experience. Learn more on our Sell AI page, or read how small businesses are using AI right now to spot the opportunities.