What are you actually paying for?
Quotes for automation are hard to compare because providers bundle these four parts differently. One may charge a large setup fee and a small monthly fee. Another may charge nothing up front and more each month. A tool you build in yourself may look cheap until you count the hours. Line them up side by side and ask each provider which parts they cover.
| Cost driver | What it covers | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | Mapping the work, connecting your systems, building and testing each job. | How many jobs, how many systems, how tidy your records are, and any specialist tool that needs a custom connection. |
| Running | Watching the automations, fixing what breaks, adjusting as the business changes. | How often your tools and processes change, and who does the fixing. |
| AI usage | The AI models that read, write and reason underneath the automations. | How much email, meeting and document volume the system processes. |
| Your team's time | Explaining how you work, reviewing drafts, approving the first sends. | How much the provider does for you, and how much you build yourself. |
What drives the setup cost?
Setup is the work of getting the first jobs running properly. Someone has to learn how your business actually works, connect the systems the work lives in, build each job, and test it against real examples before it touches a customer. The more jobs and systems involved, the more setup there is.
Three things push setup up:
An automation repeats whatever it is given, mistakes included.
Older or specialist tools with no standard way to connect need a custom integration.
If every person does a job their own way, it has to be agreed before it can be automated.
Starting with one well-defined job keeps setup small.
What does it cost to keep running?
Automations are not set and forget. Tools change, a field gets renamed, a new client wants a different invoice format, and something stops working. Someone has to notice, fix it and adjust it as the business changes. That ongoing care is the running cost, whether you pay a provider for it or do it yourself.
If you build in a do-it-yourself workflow tool, the subscription is only part of it; the rest is the time of whoever maintains the workflows. We compare the two approaches in Seby versus DIY automation tools.
How do AI usage costs work?
Underneath any AI automation is a model that reads and writes text. Model providers generally charge by how much text is processed, so the more email, meetings and documents a system reads, the more usage it generates. It grows with volume, so a busy month costs more than a quiet one.
The useful question for any provider is whether AI usage sits inside the monthly price or is billed on top. Ask it on any call, including ours.
How much of your own time does it take?
This is the cost most people leave out. Even when someone else does the building, your team has to explain how the work is done, review the first drafts and decide what is allowed to go out. Done badly, that turns into months of meetings. Done well, it is short and front-loaded.
With Seby, you give us time in the first two weeks, a weekly call after that, and a yes on the first sends.
We map where your week actually goes and rank what Seby takes first.
The brain, the agent in your tools and your engines, wired into what you already use.
We run it alongside your team and hand over with your own operator trained.
See how it works for the full install.
What does Seby cost?
Seby pricing is modular. Every plan includes the Brain, the always-on intelligence layer every engine plugs into; the difference is how many engines run on it. These are the published plans.
| Plan | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Single Engine Pick the one job that's hurting most. We run it. | from $1,999/mo | The Brain, included. One engine of your choice. Most owners start with the Proposal engine. Live in weeks, not months. Monthly, cancel anytime. |
| Front Office The full sales trail, running end to end. | from $2,999/mo | The Brain, included. Proposal engine. Customer engine. Billing engine. Comms engine. Lead in, proposed, signed, invoiced, followed up. |
| Full Operating System Your whole back office, run for you. The Embed. | from $4,999/mo | The Brain, included. Every engine, switched on. A dedicated AI Operations Lead running it with your team. The 8-hours-a-week guarantee. Direct founder access for 90 days. |
Priced in USD, billed monthly. Monthly, cancel anytime.
The starting points are real. The engines you stack and the bespoke pieces you need are specific to your business, so we quote the rest after a short call, never before. Add-ons, such as a website avatar or a custom integration with a specialist tool, are scoped on a call, quoted as a one-off build, then run on your monthly plan. Full detail is on pricing, and the invoicing side is on Seby Billing.
How do you work out whether it pays for itself?
Use your own numbers, not a vendor's. For each admin job, note roughly how many hours a week it takes and who does it. Multiply by the number of people doing it and by what an hour of their time is worth to the business. Compare that with the monthly price of automating the job, and start with the job where the gap is widest.
That is what the call is for. We map where your week goes and tell you which engine pays back first. You leave with the number, booked or not.
"If we haven't saved you 8 hours per person, per week within 30 days of go-live, we keep working, at no further cost, until we have."
How can you keep the cost down?
Start with one job. With Seby you can begin with a single engine, feel it work, then stack the next one when you are ready, and you only pay for what is switched on. Most owners start with the Proposal engine. Keep the tools you already pay for, because Seby runs on top of your stack rather than replacing it. And avoid lock-in, so the decision stays easy to reverse. For background, read what is back office automation or what is a company brain.
FAQ
How much does AI automation cost for a small business in Australia?
It depends on four things: setup, the monthly running cost, AI usage and your own team's time. Seby publishes its prices: plans start from US$1,999/mo for a single engine. Priced in USD, billed monthly. No lock-in.
Why do Seby's bigger plans say "from"?
Because the engines you stack and the bespoke pieces you need are specific to your business. The starting points are real. We quote the rest after a short call, never before.
Is there a lock-in contract?
No. Everything is monthly and cancellable. We'd rather keep you because it's working than because you're trapped.
What is included in every Seby plan?
The Brain: the always-on intelligence layer every engine plugs into. It reads your email, meetings and documents, keeps a living memory of your business, and decides what each engine needs to know. Plans differ in how many engines run on it.
What costs extra?
Add-ons that are specific to your business, such as a website avatar or a custom integration with a specialist tool. We scope these on a call, quote a one-off build, then they run on your monthly plan.
Do I have to replace the software I already pay for?
No. Seby runs on top of your stack, including Xero, Stripe, Slack and Microsoft, without replacing any of it.
Get the number for your business.
Book a call. We look at where your week goes, tell you which job to hand over first, and what it costs. Then you decide.