THE SHORT ANSWER
Professional AI automation is not just for large companies. 360 Automation AI's Foundation plan starts at $1,497 per month plus a one-time $3,497 onboarding fee. Standalone projects like a website chatbot and Voice AI cost $2,500 to $7,000 as one-time builds with modest ongoing fees.
Professional AI is not just for large companies. These are the starting points 360 Automation AI offers small businesses, from lowest upfront cost to highest.
| Option | Upfront | Ongoing | Good fit if |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT Workspace Pilot | $1,250 | 2 ChatGPT Business seats, bought from OpenAI | You want to try AI with a small team before a bigger commitment |
| Voice AI | $2,500 to $6,000 | $500 to $1,200 per month | You miss calls or answer the same questions all day |
| Strategic AI Roadmap | $3,000 | None | You want a plan before you build anything |
| Chatbot Development | $3,000 to $7,000 | $250 to $600 per month | Your website gets questions after hours |
| Agent-Ready Infrastructure | $3,497 to $9,997 | None | You want the foundation every later AI project builds on |
| Foundation plan | $3,497 onboarding | $1,497 per month | You want one fully managed AI agent |
| Local LLM Setup | $4,997 plus your hardware | None | You spend $800 or more a month on AI APIs or need data kept in house |
| Team plan | $4,997 onboarding | $2,899 per month ($3,600 from Q2 2027) | You want ChatGPT Business set up and managed for up to 20 employees |
| Custom AI Agents | None listed | From $2,497 per month | You think about AI as headcount |
The Agent-Ready Infrastructure Enterprise Build moves to $12,499 in Q2 2027.
Monthly plans and Custom AI Agents include ongoing optimization in the monthly price. Chatbot Development and Voice AI include it through their monthly retainer. Agent-Ready Infrastructure and Local LLM Setup are one-time builds you own, and maintenance for Agent-Ready Infrastructure comes through a monthly plan.
The barrier to professional AI is lower than most business owners assume.
The old model meant hiring data scientists, building custom systems and spending months on implementation. The current model is a managed service: 360 Automation AI handles the build, the integration and the training, and on monthly plans the ongoing optimization too. You work with the result, not the machinery.
That is what makes professional AI practical for a home services company, a real estate firm or a wholesale distributor. You do not need an IT department. You need a partner who has done this for businesses like yours.
The Foundation plan costs $1,497 a month plus a one-time $3,497 onboarding fee. It is built for businesses starting with one fully managed AI agent before expanding.
The onboarding fee covers the Agent-Ready Infrastructure Starter Build, delivered in 2 weeks: 3 discovery interviews to capture your business context, a company brain built from up to 30 of your documents, spreadsheets and process notes, up to 5 of your existing platforms (CRM, email, scheduling, accounting, marketing) connected via Model Context Protocol, and up to 3 of your core processes documented and made AI-ready.
The monthly retainer covers the agent and everything around it: one named, job-described, deployed AI agent; model access, connections to your software, a dedicated agent inbox, continuous monitoring and automatic recovery; company brain maintenance; a monthly strategy call; and a 48-hour response on standard change requests. No separate API bills, no token counting, no per-connector fees.
The plan has a 6-month minimum, then runs month-to-month with 30 days notice to cancel. Paying 12 months upfront saves 15%, bringing the recurring cost to $15,269 for the year (a savings of $2,695) plus the one-time onboarding fee.
If you think about AI in headcount terms, the Custom AI Agents Department plan costs $2,497 a month for up to 3 fully managed digital employees.
One full-time customer service or administrative employee costs about $64,000 to $69,000 a year in salary and benefits (BLS median pay: $44,770 for customer service representatives and $48,310 for secretaries and administrative assistants, with employer benefits averaging about 30% of total compensation in private industry). The Department plan costs $29,964 a year for up to 3 named, job-described digital employees that run 24 hours a day, without sick days, turnover or retraining costs. On the Department plan, agents go live in about 4 weeks, and most clients see ROI within 3 to 6 months.
If a monthly plan is not the right first step, you can start with one project, see the results, and decide whether to expand.
The right comparison is not AI versus software. It is AI versus doing the work by hand.
| Task | By hand | With AI |
|---|---|---|
| Answering calls and scheduling | A receptionist costs about $54,000 a year in salary and benefits and works set hours | Voice AI: $2,500 to $6,000 setup, then $500 to $1,200 a month, answering 24/7 |
| Answering routine customer questions | 15 hours a week of staff time is about $1,500 a month at $25 an hour | A chatbot: $3,000 to $7,000 build, then $250 to $600 a month |
| Customer service or admin work | One full-time hire costs about $64,000 to $69,000 a year | Custom AI Agents Department plan: $29,964 a year for up to 3 digital employees |
| One managed AI agent | About $69,000 a year for an administrative assistant | Foundation plan: $21,461 in the first year with onboarding, then $17,964 a year |
Receptionist cost uses BLS median pay of $38,010, with employer benefits averaging about 30% of total compensation. Voice AI answers every call, including after hours and during busy periods, and qualifies leads before they reach your team.
For scale: $1,497 a month is about what 60 hours of staff time costs at $25 an hour fully loaded, or roughly 14 hours a week.
The cost of not automating is not zero. It grows every month your competitors move faster than you.
Businesses running Voice AI are capturing leads at 2 AM that your phone is not answering. Businesses running chatbots are converting website visitors your team has no time to follow up with. Businesses investing in AI Search Optimization (AEO/GEO) are showing up in AI-generated answers when your customers search for what you sell.
None of these are enterprise-only advantages. They are available to any small business that decides to start.
360 Automation AI helps small businesses find the highest-return starting point within their budget and scale from there.
Start with a free discovery call to walk through your operations, find your biggest time and cost leaks, and get a realistic picture of what AI would return for your business. Or view the Plans page for what each monthly plan includes.
Want a real answer for your business?
Book a free 30-minute call. We look at your setup and tell you what it would cost and return.
BOOK A CALLThe lowest entry point is the ChatGPT Workspace Pilot at $1,250 one-time, plus 2 ChatGPT Business seats bought from OpenAI. Voice AI starts at $2,500 to set up and a website chatbot starts at $3,000 to build. For a monthly plan, Foundation is $1,497 per month plus a one-time $3,497 onboarding fee, with a 6-month minimum. For AI as headcount, the Custom AI Agents Department plan is $2,497 per month for up to 3 managed digital employees.
For the tasks AI handles well, yes. The Custom AI Agents Department plan costs $29,964 a year for up to 3 managed digital employees, compared with about $64,000 to $69,000 a year in salary and benefits for one customer service or administrative employee. AI does not replace everything a person does, but for high-volume repetitive work it usually costs less once deployed.
Not for the AI agents we run. Model access, platform connections, infrastructure, monitoring and ongoing improvements are in the flat monthly retainer on every plan and Custom AI Agents plan. On plans with an AI workspace, seats are covered and usage-based agent features inside the workspace are billed separately.
We work with home services, manufacturing, distribution and wholesale, restaurants and food service, real estate, insurance, retail and e-commerce, marketing, and professional services, including law and accounting firms. If your business handles inbound inquiries, books appointments or runs repeatable processes, there is almost always a high-return automation available. A free discovery call is the fastest way to find it.
Monthly plans convert to month-to-month after the 6-month minimum, with 30 days notice to cancel. There is no lock-in after the first 6 months. The minimum gives time to deliver the onboarding build and get your AI running smoothly.
Book a free 30-minute call. We look at what your team needs and tell you honestly what fits.