How it works · BYOK pricing
You own it. You control the costs.
One-time fee for the build. Direct billing for the AI. Full ownership of everything in between. Here is the whole engagement, from first call to handoff — and the math that makes it work.
The journey
First call to full ownership, in four moves.
The detailed five-phase version
lives at /our-process.
01
First call
30 minutes · Free
No pitch deck. We map your operations on the call, find the friction, and tell you whether automation actually earns its keep in your business. If there is no fit, we say so and you keep the notes.
02
Audit
Week 1
We interview your team, map the real workflows, and rank every automation opportunity by payback. You get the ranked roadmap whether or not we build — it is a deliverable, not a sales document.
03
Build
Weeks 2–4
We design, construct, and test your system on open-source tools — workflows, AI agents, integrations — with demos along the way. Tested against every edge case before it touches production.
04
Ownership
Day 30 →
Credentials, infrastructure, documentation, training — all transferred to you. The system runs on your accounts and your API keys. We are available afterward; we are not required.
The pricing model
Three components. Complete transparency.
No retainer. No subscription.
No markup on AI usage.
/ ONE-TIME FEE
Build
We design and build your custom AI system from scratch. You pay once and own it forever.
- Discovery and requirements
- Custom system design
- Integration with your tools
- Testing and QA
- Training and documentation
/ YOUR INFRASTRUCTURE
Run
The system runs on open-source tools under your own accounts. Hosting costs are yours, at cost — typically a few dollars a month.
- Self-hosted or your cloud
- Monitoring and alerting included
- Your credentials, your access
- No per-seat fees
- No platform subscription
/ PAID DIRECT
AI costs
Bring your own keys. You pay OpenAI or Anthropic directly at their published rates — we never sit in the middle of the bill.
- Your own provider account
- Published API rates, no markup
- Full cost visibility
- Switch providers anytime
- Usually $30–$150 per month
The economics
Break-even in week ten.
Based on a typical build vs.
a part-time ops coordinator.
$7,500
/ UPFRONT, ONE-TIME
The build fee. The only big number in the model — and the last invoice from us.
$30–$150/mo
/ ONGOING
Paid direct to the model provider at published rates. No retainer, no subscription.
$36,400
/ YEAR-ONE RETURN
Recovered labor after break-even — which arrives around week ten.
- One-time build fee
- $7,500
- Monthly cost after launch
- $30 – $150, paid to the AI provider
- Hours returned per week
- 23+
- Break-even point
- ≈ Week 10
- Year-one return
- $36,400 in recovered labor
The deliverable
Real software, on your server.
Not a dashboard login we control —
an instance you own.
A lead-qualification workflow on self-hosted n8n — the kind of build that ships in week one.
Why BYOK
Why bring your own keys.
Most agencies mark up AI usage
2–5×. We never touch the bill.
/ 01
Transparency
Your bill shows real usage at published rates. No hidden fees, no bundled charges, no 2–5× agency markup.
/ 02
Savings
Most agencies resell AI access at a margin. Direct billing typically saves thousands per year on the same usage.
/ 03
Control
Your API keys, your accounts. Change providers, revoke access, or set spending limits anytime — without asking us.
/ 04
Ownership
The system is yours outright. If we disappeared tomorrow, everything keeps running exactly as it did yesterday.
Questions
Questions about BYOK pricing
What does BYOK mean?
Bring Your Own Keys. You create your own accounts with AI providers like OpenAI or Anthropic and pay them directly at published rates. We build the system; you own the AI access. No middleman markup, no bundled billing.
What does the $7,500 cover?
The full engagement: discovery and audit, system design, the build itself, integrations, testing, deployment, team training, and documentation. It is the only large number in the model.
What do I pay after launch?
Usually $30–$150 per month, paid directly to the AI model provider for actual usage, plus a few dollars of hosting on your own infrastructure. No retainer, no subscription, no per-seat fees.
When does it pay for itself?
Most clients break even around week ten. With 23+ hours per week returned to the team, the typical year-one return is $36,400 in recovered labor — against a one-time $7,500 build.
Is getting API keys hard?
It takes about five minutes and we walk you through it: create a free account with the provider, generate a key in their API settings, and paste it into your system. No technical skills required.
What if I want help after the handoff?
Support plans are available — from email support to fully managed monitoring — but they are optional. Because you own the system, you are never locked into us to keep it running.
Where we go from here
Start with a call.
Thirty minutes, no pitch deck. We map your operations, find the friction, and show you where automation actually earns its keep. If there's no fit, we'll say so.
No subscription.
No lock-in.
No surprise invoices.