How Much Does AI Consulting Cost for a $5M to $50M Company in 2026

By Andreas Pettersson, Founder, Leaders ADAPT

The first question on almost every intro call is the price, and the honest answer is that "AI consulting" is four different products sold under one word. Each has a public price range you can check yourself. This page puts them on one line, explains what moves the number, and shows how we price without putting a figure on the page.

I built an AI company before ChatGPT existed, grew it to 150 people and sold it to Canon. Since then I have been on both sides of this table: the consultant who delivered a roadmap, and the buyer who paid for one nobody owned.

The four shapes and what they cost

1. A one off intensive or audit. A recorded strategy session, a readiness assessment or a roadmap. Hundreds of dollars at the low end, a few thousand for a written assessment with interviews.
2. A cohort programme for the CEO. Eight to twelve weeks with other owners, building on your own company. Low thousands. Peer networks aimed at larger companies run up to $25,000 a year.
3. A fractional AI executive. A senior person inside your leadership team for a set number of hours a week, for months. About $4,000 to $30,000 a month across the published tiers.
4. A full implementation project. Priced per build, usually five to six figures, and usually bought too early.

Published fractional and advisory ranges

These are the figures the providers publish themselves. Open the links.

Two things stand out. The low end of fractional advisory is about $4,000 a month, which is $48,000 a year for a few hours of someone's time. The high end is $30,000 a month, which is close to a full time senior salary for a part time person. Same title on both.

What actually drives the price

Hours. Ask how many hours a month are inside the retainer. A $7,500 retainer with eight hours is a different product from a $7,500 retainer with four days. Most providers will tell you if you ask. Few put it on the page.

Build or advise. Some advisors hand you a roadmap and leave. Others sit with your controller until the monthly report runs by itself. Building costs more per hour and saves you more per month. Decide which one you are buying before you compare prices.

Who does the work. A former operator who has run a company at your size reads your business differently from a consultant who has not. A junior analyst behind a senior name is common at the agency end of the market. Ask who is on the calls.

Company size. A 20 person company and a 200 person company have the same number of CEOs and a very different number of interviews, systems and approvals. Discovery scales with headcount, not revenue.

Vendor independence. An advisor who resells a platform is cheaper up front and more expensive over three years. Ask what they earn from the tools they recommend.

Guarantee. A conditional guarantee (complete the work, and if it does not pay back, you are refunded) costs the provider something, so it shows up in the price. It is usually worth paying for.

Six questions to ask before you sign

1. How many hours a month are inside this fee, and who delivers them?
2. What do I own at day 30 if I stop?
3. Which of your recommendations earn you money from a vendor?
4. Show me one company my size where you did this. What did the CEO stop doing personally?
5. What never goes into an AI tool at my company, in your view, and who writes that rule?
6. What is the exit? How does the engagement end and what does my team run without you?

If a provider cannot answer question 2 and question 6 in one sentence each, keep looking.

How Leaders ADAPT prices, without a figure

We do not publish the fractional fee. Here is how it is built, so you can place it on the table above yourself.

• Discovery is a fixed fee. Four weeks: interviews with each leader, a review of systems and processes, a map of decisions, information flow and bottlenecks, and a written assessment with a ranked list of opportunities. You can stop at day 30. If there is no clear path to return we part ways with nothing owed beyond month one.
• The six month retainer is set on the intro call once we know hours and build scope. Small builds, under about ten hours, happen inside the retainer. Larger builds are scoped separately because they also have to be maintained.
• Licences and subscriptions are yours, in your name, from day one.
• We do not resell any platform.

For a CEO who is not ready for a fractional engagement, the Executive AI Program is eight weeks with a published price on its page and a refund rule on the page. The AI Leadership Mastermind is for the CEO whose board is asking for a strategy; its figure is shared on the fit call.

Three budgets, using only the public ranges

Three ways a $5M to $50M company might spend in the first year, built from the published figures above. These are arithmetic on other people's prices, not quotes.

The CEO goes first. One cohort programme for the CEO in the low thousands, plus the tool subscriptions the team already pays for. Total for the year: under $10,000. Right for a company under $10M where the CEO is the bottleneck and the team is small. The risk is that it stops with the CEO.

Advisory hours. The low fractional tier at about $4,000 a month for twelve months: about $48,000. You get a senior person's judgement a few hours a month and you do the building yourself. Right for a company with a capable operations lead who needs a sounding board. The risk is that advice without hands produces a roadmap and no systems.

Embedded for six months. A fixed discovery fee, then six months in the $7,500 to $15,000 a month band that most of the published fractional tiers cluster in: roughly $50,000 to $100,000 for the year, with training included and small builds inside the retainer. Right for a company of $10M or more where the whole leadership team has to change, not just the CEO. The risk is buying this before the leadership team can run the tools.

In every case, the question that decides whether the money was well spent is the same: what did the CEO stop doing personally, and what runs now that did not run before.

What not to buy first

A large implementation project. A $5M to $50M company that buys a six figure AI build before its leadership team can run the tools gets a system nobody owns. Train the leadership team first, build small inside a retainer, and scope the large build when you know which one you need. That order is slower for the first month and faster for the year. The pattern behind most failures is in why AI projects fail.

AI consulting cost FAQ

How much does an AI consultant cost per hour?

Hourly rates vary too widely by seniority and country to be a useful number, and most engagements for a $5M to $50M company are not sold by the hour anyway. They are sold as a fixed fee intensive, a monthly retainer or a scoped project, and the useful comparison is hours inside the fee, not the headline rate.

What does a fractional chief AI officer cost per month?

Published retainers in 2026 run from about $4,000 a month for a few advisory hours to about $30,000 a month for an embedded operator, with most tiers clustering between $7,500 and $15,000 a month. The spread is explained by hours inside the retainer and by whether the person advises or builds. The providers quoted on this page publish their own figures and are linked.

What is a reasonable first year AI budget for a $10M company?

Three shapes cover most cases. The CEO learns first through a cohort programme, under $10,000 for the year including tools. Advisory hours at the low fractional tier, about $48,000 for the year. An embedded fractional engagement with a fixed discovery fee then six months of retainer, roughly $50,000 to $100,000 using the published ranges. The right one depends on who has to change, the CEO alone or the whole leadership team.

Should a small company pay for an AI implementation project first?

Usually not. A six figure build before the leadership team can run the tools produces a system nobody owns and nobody maintains. The order that holds up is train the leaders, build small inside a retainer, then scope the large build once you know which one you need. It is slower for the first month and faster for the year.

How do I compare two AI consulting proposals?

Put both on the same line with six questions: hours a month inside the fee and who delivers them, what you own at day 30 if you stop, which recommendations earn the provider money from a vendor, one example company your size, what should never go into an AI tool at your company, and how the engagement ends. A proposal that cannot answer the second and the last in one sentence each is not ready.

Does Leaders ADAPT publish its fractional fee?

No. Discovery is a fixed fee for four weeks and the six month retainer is set on the intro call once hours and build scope are known. You can stop at day 30 with nothing owed beyond month one if there is no clear path to return. Licences stay in your name, small builds happen inside the retainer, and no platform is resold.

One thing to do this week

Write down the hours a month you expect from any AI help you are considering, before you look at a single price. Then ask every provider the six questions. The ones who answer quickly are the ones who have done it before.

Which of the four shapes did you assume you needed before reading the ranges?

Not sure which shape? Take the six question self check.