"How much does it cost?" is the first thing most owners ask about an AI tool. It is also the hardest thing to find out.
We run a directory of AI tools and DIY bots for small businesses. As of Nov 5, 2026 it has 159 listings: 111 ready-made software tools and 48 DIY setups you build yourself. Each listing has a cost line copied from the maker's page or the source. So we counted them.
A few ground rules first:
- These are the prices the makers show. We didn't get quotes or test plans.
- Prices change often. Treat this as a snapshot, not a price list.
- "Lowest price shown" means the smallest monthly number on the listing. It is not always the plan you'd need.
1. Almost 1 in 3 listings shows no dollar price
Out of 159 listings:
| What the cost line says | Listings |
|---|---|
| Shows a monthly dollar price | 90 |
| Shows another dollar price (per year, per minute, per seat) | 5 |
| Comes with a Grok Bot plan | 12 |
| No dollar price shown (check the maker's site or ask for a quote) | 52 |
| Total | 159 |
52 listings (33%) don't show a dollar price. Many of those want you to book a demo or ask for a quote. That usually means the price depends on your size, so ask for it in writing before the demo ends.
2. For software that shows a monthly price, the middle is $38
61 of the 111 ready-made tools show at least one monthly price. We took the lowest monthly number on each one:
| Lowest monthly price shown | Tools |
|---|---|
| Under $25 | 22 |
| $25 to $99 | 27 |
| $100 to $249 | 8 |
| $250 or more | 4 |
- The middle price was $38 a month. Half were $38 or less, and half were more.
- The lowest was $5 (Buffer, and that is per social channel).
- The highest was $399 (Real Geeks, plus a $500 one-time setup fee).
Some examples. We checked each price on the maker's pricing page on Nov 3, 2026:
| Tool | Job | Price shown |
|---|---|---|
| Jobber | Quotes, crews, invoices | From $29/mo billed yearly ($49 month to month) |
| QuickBooks Online | Bookkeeping | Simple Start $38/mo |
| Calendly | Booking | Free plan, Standard $10/seat/mo billed yearly ($12 monthly) |
| Follow Up Boss | Real estate CRM | From $69/user/mo ($58 billed yearly) |
| Smith.ai | AI receptionist | Free for 25 calls, Pro $150/mo (75 calls) |
| Ruby | Live (human) receptionists | Plans start at $250/mo |
3. Watch for "per user" and "billed yearly"
The number on the pricing page is often not the number on your bill.
- 22 of those 61 tools charge per user, per seat, or per another unit (like per channel or per location). A $15 tool for a team of 6 is $90 a month.
- 31 listings mention yearly billing. Often the big number on the page is the yearly price broken into months. Paying month to month costs more. For example, Acuity Scheduling shows $16/mo billed yearly, or $20 paying monthly.
- 2 listings have a paid setup fee: VoiceController ($100) and Real Geeks ($500).
4. DIY bots look cheap, but add up the parts
Of the 48 DIY setups:
- 21 are built on n8n. The n8n software is free to run on your own server. n8n's own cloud starts at 20 euros a month, billed yearly. Every one of those 21 listings says the other apps it connects to cost extra.
- 5 are built on Zapier. Zapier lists a free plan (two-step Zaps only), and multi-step Zaps start at $19.99/mo billed yearly ($29.99 monthly).
So a DIY bot is rarely just one bill. A missed-call text-back might mean n8n, plus a texting service, plus an AI service. And somebody has to fix it when it breaks.
5. "Free" usually means "free to start"
55 of the 159 cost lines mention the word "free" somewhere. 53 of those 55 also show a price or mention paid plans. Free plans tend to cap something: calls, minutes, credits, or users. Read the limits before you count on it.
What to do with this
- Ask for the real number. If there is no price on the site, ask for the monthly cost for your team size, in writing.
- Multiply by your team. Check if it is per user.
- Check monthly vs. yearly. Know which one you are signing up for.
- For DIY, list every part. Add up the apps before you build.
The full numbers, by industry, are in our Small Business AI Tools in 2026 report. Every listing in the directory links to the maker's page or the source, so you can check the price yourself: browse all the tools. Here is how we pick what goes in. The directory is free to search. The tools in it are not all free, and each one's price comes from its maker.
How we counted: we read the cost line on each of the 159 listings in our directory data on Nov 5, 2026. We kept the counting script, so we can re-run it when the listings change.
Full disclosure: we run BusyWorkBots.
The BusyWorkBots team
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