THE SHORT ANSWER
It depends on what you bought. Chatbots, Voice AI and Custom MCP Servers carry a monthly retainer of $250 to $1,200 on top of the build, and process automation maintenance is quoted separately. Custom AI Agents, AI Search Optimization and the monthly plans include maintenance in the monthly fee. Agent-Ready Infrastructure and Local LLM Setup are one-time builds you own.
AI support and maintenance services keep an AI system accurate after launch: monitoring, fixes when connected tools change, content updates as your business changes, and model upgrades. At 360 Automation AI it is priced one of three ways, depending on the service: a monthly retainer on top of a one-time build, a monthly fee that already includes it, or a one-time build you own after handoff.
What ongoing maintenance costs depends on which service you bought.
| Service | One-time cost | Ongoing cost | How maintenance works |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chatbot Development | $3,000 to $7,000 | $250 to $600 per month | Monthly retainer |
| Voice AI | $2,500 to $6,000 | $500 to $1,200 per month | Monthly retainer |
| Custom MCP Servers | $6,000 to $12,000 | $500 to $900 per month | Monthly retainer |
| Business Process Automation | $9,000 to $50,000+ | Quoted separately | Monthly retainer, quoted per build |
| Custom AI Agents | None listed | $2,497 to $7,500 per month | Included in the monthly price |
| AI Search Optimization (AEO/GEO) | Talk to us (restructure) | Pro Package $2,800 to $5,000 per month | Included in the monthly retainer |
| Monthly plans | $3,497 to $9,997 onboarding | $1,497 to $9,997 per month | Company brain maintenance included |
| Agent-Ready Infrastructure | $3,497 to $9,997 | None | You own it. Maintenance through a monthly plan |
| Local LLM Setup | $4,997 | None | 30 days of Slack or email support, then you run it |
AI systems are not set and forget. They work with your business data, your customers and the platforms you connect them to, and all of those change.
The question is not whether maintenance is needed. It is how it gets paid for and who does it. That depends on the service.
Four services have the same two-part price: a one-time build, then a monthly retainer to keep the system working.
Each retainer is itemized on the service page, except Business Process Automation, which is quoted per build. A system may keep running for a while without it, but it is built to be maintained, and skipping maintenance leads to drift, broken connections and lost value.
Chatbot Development costs $3,000 to $7,000 to build and $250 to $600 a month to maintain. The retainer covers secure hosting and infrastructure, performance monitoring and optimization, updates as your business changes, content and response refinements, analytics and reporting, and technical support. If you update your website, adjusting the chatbot is part of the monthly maintenance.
Voice AI costs $2,500 to $6,000 to set up and $500 to $1,200 a month. The monthly service covers reasonable call handling capacity, system monitoring and maintenance, updates as your business changes, performance analytics and reporting, integration maintenance and technical support. When your scheduling software or phone system changes, adjusting the integration is part of the monthly service.
Custom MCP Servers cost $6,000 to $12,000 to build and $500 to $900 a month for hosting and maintenance. That covers secure server hosting and infrastructure, uptime monitoring and alerts, API change tracking and patches when the vendor updates their platform, security monitoring and audit log review, performance optimization and technical support. This retainer matters more than most, because smaller and older platforms often change their APIs with little notice.
Business Process Automation costs $9,000 to $50,000+ to implement. Monthly maintenance is quoted separately for each build. The retainer covers system monitoring and issue resolution, updates when software platforms change, adjustments as business processes evolve, new automation additions as needs arise, performance optimization and technical support. Small changes usually take 1 to 2 weeks. Major process redesigns take 3 to 6 weeks and are scoped with you.
Custom AI Agents, AI Search Optimization and the monthly plans include maintenance in the monthly fee. There is no separate support line item.
Custom AI Agents is a fully managed digital workforce for one flat monthly price: the Department plan at $2,497 a month for up to 3 agents, Workforce at $4,997 for up to 9, and Operations at $7,500 for up to 15.
Every plan includes all AI usage, all model access, all platform integrations and all infrastructure, with 24/7 monitoring and auto-recovery. You can request new workflows or integrations anytime within the agent count of your plan. Standard requests turn around within 48 hours, or the same business day on Workforce and Operations. No API bills, no token counting, no change-order fees.
For comparison, the Department plan costs $29,964 a year for up to 3 digital employees. One customer service or administrative hire 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).
AI Search Optimization (AEO/GEO) starts with a one-time AI-Ready Website Rebuild or Restructure, which is priced on a call. The Pro Package at $2,800 to $5,000 a month adds monthly AI-optimized content (2 to 4 pieces), knowledge graph implementation, AI search monitoring and analytics, voice search optimization, Google Business Profile and Google Maps optimization, and competitive displacement. The Enterprise Package is priced on a call.
Why it is ongoing: AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews change how they choose sources. What earns citations today may not next quarter.
All four monthly plans include company brain maintenance in the monthly fee: we keep your knowledge base current as your business changes. Each plan also sets a response time on change requests, and Team, Growth and Enterprise include business processes automated every month.
| Plan | Monthly | One-time onboarding | Change requests | Strategy and support |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foundation | $1,497 | $3,497 | 48-hour response on standard requests | Monthly strategy call |
| Team | $2,899 promotional ($3,600 from Q2 2027) | $4,997 | Response within 24 business hours | Dedicated project manager in Slack |
| Growth | $4,997 | $4,997 | Same business day | Monthly AI strategy call |
| Enterprise | $9,997 | $9,997 ($12,499 from Q2 2027) | Same business day, priority queue | Monthly Strategic AI Consultation |
Every plan has a 6-month minimum. Paying 12 months upfront saves 15% on the monthly retainer.
Two services have no recurring fee. You pay once, we hand it off, and you own and run the system.
Agent-Ready Infrastructure is a one-time build: Starter at $3,497, Professional at $4,997 or Enterprise at $9,997 (rising to $12,499 in Q2 2027). Every build ends with a live demonstration and a comprehensive runbook. At handoff we train your team on maintenance and document everything, so the infrastructure is yours.
Agent-Ready Infrastructure has no maintenance retainer of its own. If you want us to keep your company brain current after handoff, subscribe to one of the monthly plans: company brain maintenance is included in all four. Otherwise your team maintains it using the runbook and training from the handoff.
Local LLM Setup is a one-time $4,997 engagement with 30 days of Slack or email support for questions about what we built. After that, you run the system yourself using the written runbook we deliver: restart procedures, model update instructions, troubleshooting steps and operator guidance in plain language. There is no licensing fee and no upgrade contract.
If you later need help with something specific, such as a new integration, a multi-user rollout or performance tuning, we scope it as a separate engagement rather than selling a monthly retainer.
The line items repeat across our monthly retainers, so here they are in one place.
Strategy calls are part of Custom AI Agents and the Foundation, Growth and Enterprise plans, not the standalone service retainers.
What a service retainer generally does not cover: major new builds. A second chatbot, a Voice AI agent on top of a chatbot, or a new automation workflow is a new one-time engagement. The retainer maintains what is already there. Custom AI Agents and the Team, Growth and Enterprise plans are different: they include set amounts of new work in the monthly price.
On a monthly plan or Custom AI Agents, maintenance is in the monthly fee. On a one-time build, the retainer is itemized on the service page. On Agent-Ready Infrastructure, there is no recurring fee: add a monthly plan if you want us to maintain your company brain. On Local LLM Setup, you run it yourself after the 30-day support window.
For most small and mid-sized businesses, the simplest budget is a monthly plan rather than adding up separate retainers. The Foundation plan costs $1,497 a month plus a $3,497 one-time onboarding fee, with a 6-month minimum. It includes one fully managed AI agent, the Agent-Ready Infrastructure Starter Build as onboarding, and company brain maintenance in the monthly fee.
For more than one agent, the Custom AI Agents Department plan at $2,497 a month covers up to 3 fully managed digital employees with everything included.
If you bought a one-time build and want it maintained, the monthly retainer on that service page is the published price. For Business Process Automation, it is quoted for your build.
A few things to think through before you choose a retainer or a no-subscription option.
Every 360 Automation AI service publishes how it is maintained and what that costs.
Contact 360 Automation AI for a recommendation that fits what you already run, or what you plan to deploy next.
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Book a free 30-minute call. We look at your setup and tell you what it would cost and return.
BOOK A CALLIt depends on the service. Chatbot Development, Voice AI, Custom MCP Servers and Business Process Automation each have a monthly retainer on top of the one-time build. Custom AI Agents, AI Search Optimization and the monthly plans include maintenance in the monthly fee. Agent-Ready Infrastructure and Local LLM Setup are one-time builds with no recurring fee. Company brain maintenance for Agent-Ready Infrastructure is available through the monthly plans.
You can add the monthly retainer for that service: $250 to $600 for a chatbot, $500 to $1,200 for Voice AI, $500 to $900 for a Custom MCP Server, or a retainer quoted for your build for Business Process Automation. For Agent-Ready Infrastructure, maintenance comes through a monthly plan. For Local LLM Setup, extra work is scoped as needed.
Performance monitoring, content and configuration updates as your business changes, integration maintenance when connected platforms update, optimization based on what works in production, and technical support. The exact list for each service is on its service page.
Local LLM Setup includes 30 days of Slack or email support for questions about what we built. After that you run the system yourself with the written runbook, which covers restarts, model updates and troubleshooting. There is no licensing fee or upgrade contract.
Yes. Foundation, Team, Growth and Enterprise all include company brain maintenance, so your knowledge base stays current as your business changes. Each plan also sets a response time on change requests, from 48 hours on Foundation to the same business day on Growth and Enterprise.
Book a free 30-minute call. We look at what your team needs and tell you honestly what fits.