AI Consulting for Small & Mid-Sized Businesses
Fixed prices from $500 to $25,000. A first working AI system in two weeks for $1,500 to $3,500. No discovery phases, no hourly billing, no strategy decks that never become software.
Why Is AI Consulting Different for a Small Business?
The consulting model built for enterprises fails at SMB scale. A $100,000 engagement that starts with a quarter of discovery makes sense when the client has 5,000 employees. It makes no sense when the client is a 12-person firm whose actual problem is that quoting, follow-ups, and reporting eat 15 hours a week.
Small and mid-sized businesses need the opposite shape: a named workflow, a fixed price, a working system, and a measured result, then a decision about whether to do the next one. That is how every engagement here is structured. It is also why we publish our prices, which most consulting firms will not do.
2 weeks
From first call to a working AI system with the Starter Install
~2 hours
Of your time for a first engagement; we do the rest
$0 hourly
Every engagement is fixed-price, quoted before work begins
What Does Small Business AI Consulting Cost?
Five fixed-price packages, in the order most clients use them. Start small, measure, then scale what works.
ChatGPT Stack & Cost Plan
$500-$1,500
2 weeks
We audit your tools, recommend the right ChatGPT plan for each seat, and deliver an implementation roadmap.
See full details →Choose Your AI Tool
$500-$5,000
3 days-6 weeks
ChatGPT vs Claude vs Copilot vs Gemini, scored against your workflows. Written recommendation in CAD with PIPEDA notes.
See full details →AI Starter Install
Most popular first step$1,500-$3,500
2 weeks
Your first working AI system. We find the workflow costing you the most and wire AI into it. No AI experience needed.
See full details →AI Automation Starter
$5,000-$10,000
30 days
Pick 3 workflows from our menu. We build and deploy all 3 in 30 days.
See full details →Industry AI Package
$10,000-$25,000
4-6 weeks
5 industry-tailored AI workflows, custom integrations, and full team training.
See full details →Not sure which fits? Our free AI readiness assessment takes 5 minutes, or see the full Canadian AI consulting rate card for market-wide pricing.
What Do You Actually Get?
Every engagement produces working systems and documented decisions, not recommendations to hire us again. Typical first installs for businesses between 2 and 200 staff:
- ✓Customer email and quote automation. The same questions answered, quotes drafted from job notes, follow-ups sent on schedule.
- ✓Document and report generation. Proposals, invoices, status reports, and meeting summaries produced from the data you already have.
- ✓Intake sorting and routing. Incoming requests classified, prioritized, and sent to the right person with context attached.
- ✓Tool and plan selection. The right ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, or Gemini plan per seat, priced in CAD, with data-handling settings configured correctly from day one.
- ✓Team training. Short, role-specific training so the system gets used, because adoption is where most SMB AI spending dies.
We specialize in the ChatGPT and Claude stacks and stay vendor-neutral on recommendations. For the build-vs-hire decision itself, read our guide on when to hire an AI consultant versus building in-house.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does AI consulting cost for a small business?
At ChatGPT.ca, small business AI consulting runs on fixed prices: a ChatGPT stack and cost plan is $500 to $1,500, a written AI tool recommendation is $500 to $5,000, your first working AI system (the AI Starter Install) is $1,500 to $3,500, a three-workflow Automation Starter is $5,000 to $10,000, and a full industry package with five workflows and training is $10,000 to $25,000. Every price is quoted before work starts and never changes mid-project. For market context, enterprise firms like Deloitte and Accenture typically start at $100,000.
Is AI consulting worth it for a small business?
It is worth it when the engagement targets one measurable workflow rather than a broad transformation. A $2,500 install that saves a team 10 hours a week pays for itself in the first two months. The pattern that is not worth it for SMBs: open-ended discovery phases, hourly strategy billing, and tool licenses bought before a problem is named. We structure every engagement around a named workflow with a before-and-after measurement so the ROI is visible.
Do I need any technical staff for this to work?
No. Most of our SMB clients have no IT department. We choose the tools, build the system, integrate it with what you already use (email, spreadsheets, CRM, accounting software), and train your team with a short video. Your total time commitment for a first install is about two hours.
Which AI tools do you implement for small businesses?
We are specialists in the ChatGPT (OpenAI) and Claude (Anthropic) stacks, including their business plans and APIs, and we work with Gemini and Copilot where they fit better. We are vendor-neutral on the recommendation: the Choose Your AI Tool engagement scores the options against your actual workflows and budget in CAD, with PIPEDA notes, before anything is purchased.
How is this different from hiring a big consulting firm?
Three ways. Price: our engagements run $500 to $25,000 fixed, while enterprise practices start around $100,000. Speed: a first working system ships in two weeks, not after a quarter of discovery. Scope: we implement and hand over working systems rather than delivering strategy decks. For most businesses under 200 staff, the enterprise model is the wrong fit, and we wrote a full breakdown of when to use which in our consultant-versus-in-house guide.
Does this comply with Canadian privacy law (PIPEDA)?
Yes. We default to business tiers of AI tools that do not train on your data, keep customer and financial information out of consumer tools, and document where your data goes in plain language. Where Quebec Law 25 or sector rules apply, the build follows them and we flag anything that needs your privacy officer's sign-off.
Start With One Workflow
A free 30-minute call: we identify the workflow with the clearest payback in your business and quote a fixed price on the spot. No pitch deck, no discovery fee.