Resser Solutions

Pricing··7 min read

How Much Should You Pay an AI Development Agency in 2026?

Realistic price ranges by project type and what each line-item actually includes. The buyer's pricing guide.

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How much should you pay an AI development agency? In 2026 the realistic brackets for production-grade work are €10k-€25k for a single feature, €25k-€100k for a multi-feature integration, and €100k+ for sovereign deployments. Anything materially cheaper is either a tool demo or a project shipping without an eval suite.

What you're paying for

  • Discovery week: spec, eval design, cost model, integration map.
  • Prototype sprint: working slice in your environment with eval live.
  • Hardening: cost telemetry, retry, fallback, prompt versioning, runbook.
  • Eval suite running in CI, regression detection on every change.
  • Documentation a new engineer can pick up.

Red flags in quotes

  • Single price quoted the day you meet, before discovery.
  • No eval in the deliverables list.
  • Promises 200+ engineers , that's staff augmentation, not engineering.
  • Hourly billing only, no fixed-fee discovery.
  • Heavy upfront retainer before any deliverable.

FAQ

Frequently asked.

What's a fair hourly rate for AI development in 2026?

Senior AI engineers in EU agencies bill €120-€200/hour. US agencies bill €180-€300/hour. Below €100/hour you're either getting an offshore generalist or paying for someone who hasn't shipped AI to production. We prefer fixed-fee sprints over hourly billing.

Why do US and EU agencies price differently?

US labor costs and customer-acquisition costs are higher. EU agencies often deliver comparable engineering quality at 50-70% of US prices, especially for production work where eval discipline and infrastructure matter more than flashy demos.

Should we expect equity options instead of cash?

Reputable agencies prefer fixed-fee or retainer. Some take equity on a small portion of early-stage builds when timing is right. Anyone leading with equity should be a signal , they may be flooded with low-quality leads.

What does a discovery week typically cost?

Low five figures, fixed price. Output is a 5-10 page spec, eval design, cost-and-timeline model , yours either way. Worth more than the fee on its own to most teams.

Have a project like this? Send the brief.

We reply within one business day with a preliminary scope and a rough budget bracket.

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