Paying per AI agent: why that does not add up for an SME

With a price per agent, every new task becomes a new calculation.

This article explains how those prices are built up, where it pinches, and what a fixed price per company changes.

What does an AI agent cost per month?

Broadly, providers charge in three ways.

Model	What you pay	Example amounts
Per agent	A fixed amount per agent per month	€150 – 500 per "AI employee" in the Netherlands; sales agents from $900 to well over $5,000 a month
Per outcome	An amount per handled question or conversation	$0.50 to $1.50 per resolved customer question, often with a minimum
Per user	A licence per employee, with AI added	Tens to hundreds of dollars per user per month

The amounts come from public price overviews of 2026 (see the sources at the end). They change fast. Look above all at the way of charging, because that decides how your bill grows.

Where does a price per agent pinch?

You start counting instead of automating. Every new task is a new line on the invoice. So you start with the task that pays most and leave the rest. And it is precisely the rest (the forwarding, the summarising, the retyping) that costs the most hours added together.

You get separate agents that do not know each other. One agent for the mailbox, one for the invoices, one for the customer questions, often from different suppliers. They do not talk to each other and not to your accounting package. The retyping shifts from your people to connecting tools.

A price per outcome is hard to budget. If you pay per handled question, your bill rises in your busiest month. That is exactly the month in which you want no surprises.

Why does that not suit an SME?

SMEs are short of hands above all. In a survey of 553 business owners, two in five said the staff shortage holds back growth; among companies with 11 to 25 employees it was 52 percent. Almost one in three owners works overtime themselves to fill the gaps.

Anyone who works like that has no use for one clever agent for one task. They need a crew that takes over the work around it: the invoices, the reminders, the requests, the reports. Then you do not have to hire anyone extra, and the people you already have do the work you hired them for again.

What is the difference with a fixed price per company?

At Altramano you pay one fixed price a month, based on your number of employees. Not per agent, not per automation and not per user. That includes 80 AI agents that are ready to use, and 150 templates for single tasks. You switch on as many as you want.

Three things that change because of that:

• You automate the small tasks too. A task that costs half an hour a week, you simply switch on. No new line appears on your invoice.
• The agents work in your own systems. They use the same integrations with your accounting package, your mailbox and your calendar. What one agent sets up, the next one picks up.
• You know in advance what it costs. AI usage is in the price, up to a ceiling well above normal use. You see your usage in your own environment, and you get a message before you come close.

Unlimited here refers to the number of agents, not to usage. That is deliberate: a limit you can see and know in advance is fairer than a bill that grows afterwards.

What do you look for when comparing AI agents?

• Does the agent work in your packages? Ask which integrations there are with your accounting, your mailbox and your calendar. An agent that only produces text leaves the retyping with you.
• Is there an approval step? With everything that concerns money and customers, a person should look first.
• How does the price grow? Work out what you pay for ten tasks instead of one, and in your busiest month instead of an average one.
• Where is your data? Ask whether there is a separate environment and in which country.

Want to see which agents there are? They are listed per department on the page about AI agents.