What does a private AI assistant on company documents cost to build and run?

What are the build fees?

The build is priced in two steps. You know the price of step 1 before you start, your fixed build price is in your Hundred Questions report, and you can stop after step 1.

The price goes up if your documents live in more than one system, include scanned pages or tables, need different access for different people, automatic updates, or more than one language.

Step 1 is a real test, not a sales demo. If it shows the idea is not right for your documents, stop there. Read more on Hundred Questions.

Who pays for the AI usage?

You do, directly. The assistant runs on AI services, and each answer uses a small amount. Those charges are billed to your own accounts, for example OpenRouter or AWS.

• At cost. We add no markup to AI usage.
• You see the bill. It comes straight from the provider to you, so there is nothing hidden in our invoice.
• You own the accounts. Your documents stay in accounts you own.

How should you think about running cost?

Do not start from the monthly bill. A monthly bill means little until you know what it bought. A bill that looks large may cover a great many answers. A small one may cover almost none.

Measure cost per answer instead: the AI bill divided by the number of answers given in the same period. That one number lets you compare assistants, spot a problem early, and forecast what more use would cost.

That is one real data point, from an AI assistant for an education company in a regulated industry. It is not a price list. Your cost per answer depends on your documents and your questions. In plain words: each question is sent to the AI together with the passages of your documents that might answer it. Longer passages cost more to send, so an assistant that works from long documents costs more per answer than one that works from short ones.

How do you work out your own cost per answer?

1. Pick a period. A week or a month of real use, or a test run.
2. Read the AI bill from your own account for exactly that period.
3. Count the answers the assistant gave in the same period.
4. Divide the bill by the answers. That is your cost per answer.
5. Repeat when your documents or questions change, because the number will move.

Because the accounts are yours, steps 2 and 3 take minutes. If you want help, the free AI Cost-per-Task Check walks through it. To check answer quality on your own documents first, there is a free company documents question pack.

How we measured

• The $2.52 is the cost our AI provider reported for successful replies, not an estimate.
• We divided it by the 684 answers the AI gave in the same period, which gives about $0.004 each. There were 716 replies in total, 684 by the AI.
• It is one assistant on one set of documents.
• Your cost will differ. Treat it as an example of the method, not a promise.

What other costs should you ask about?

The fees above do not cover everything, and any quote should say what it leaves out. Ask about:

• Your staff time. Someone on your side gathers the documents and writes the real questions, and answers follow-up questions. We do not put a price on your time, but plan for it.
• Support. Whether you want it at all. It is optional, and the price is given on the call.
• Changes later. What happens when your documents change or you want to add more.
• Testing. Whether testing on your own documents is included. It is part of ours. See how to test an AI assistant before you buy.