A useful AI estimate names the workflow, source data, integrations and acceptance tests. A price without those boundaries is difficult to compare. This guide explains what our starting scopes cover and what to bring to a scoping call.
Kortex Labs starting prices and scope
| Offer | Starting price | Included scope |
|---|---|---|
| AI Assistant — RAG in 30 Days | $8,000 | Data ingestion, retrieval, cited answers, evaluations, guardrails, chat widget or API, monitoring and handover. About four weeks. |
| AI Product MVP — Idea to Launch | $12,000 | Architecture, backend and frontend, model integration, authentication, billing and the agreed core workflow, deployment and runbook. |
| Data & Automation Engine | $6,000 | Data collection and cleaning, deduplication, scheduling, delivery to a CRM, database or dashboard, summaries and failure alerts. Three to six weeks. |
Want a number tailored to your project instead of these fixed packages? Try the AI project cost calculator.
Fixed scope, fixed price. You work directly with the engineer building the product and own the source code and IP on delivery. Ongoing engineering is available through Fractional AI & Backend Engineer; its retainer is scoped separately.
What changes the estimate?
Source data and permissions
Bring a representative sample, its format and its access rules. Searchable documents, scanned PDFs and changing databases need different ingestion steps. Define who can see each document before designing retrieval.
Integration boundaries
List which system is authoritative and what the application must read or write. An assistant answering from approved documents has a different scope from one that also updates bookings or payments. Access controls, retries and duplicate prevention belong in the estimate.
Acceptance tests and human review
Agree on examples of successful answers, missing information and forbidden actions. Specify when a person must review an output. Avoid a quote that promises accuracy without defining how it will be assessed.
Running costs
Model usage, hosting, storage and third-party services are separate from engineering fees unless the quote explicitly includes them. Estimate requests per month, typical input and output size, data volume and support needs. Do not assume a fixed build price means free operation.
Two example scope decisions
Clinic information assistant: start with approved administrative documents and a staff handoff when a source is missing. Voice transcription, clinical note review and connections to record systems are separate scope decisions. Our voice-first clinical platform experience supports the engineering approach; it is not a claim of regulatory approval or clinical accuracy.
Real estate enquiry workflow: decide whether the first version only captures and assigns enquiries or also qualifies them and updates the CRM. Define required fields, duplicate handling and the failure alert before adding extra channels. Our real estate pipeline experience includes deduplication, CRM delivery and operational alerts.
A checklist for comparing quotes
- Which single workflow is included, and what is explicitly excluded?
- Which data sources and integrations are included?
- What test examples determine acceptance?
- Who owns the code, hosting accounts and deployment credentials?
- Which recurring services will you pay for?
- What documentation and support are included after launch?
Use the software handover checklist to review ownership and operational readiness. Read RAG versus fine-tuning when choosing how the system will use your information.
Get a scoped number
Bring a short workflow description, a non-sensitive data sample and the systems it must connect to. A free strategy call leads to a fixed-scope quote within 24 hours. Do not send patient records, passwords or confidential customer data through the public form.