AI Underway
Guide · Pricing

What AI automation costs an Australian practice.

Prices for a custom AI worker at a clinic or law firm in 2026, and a simple way to tell whether it will pay for itself before you spend anything.

At AI Underway, automating one paperwork workflow costs A$1,900 for a one-week workflow review (credited to the pilot), from A$9,500 for a four-to-six-week pilot, and from A$2,400 a month to run and improve, all plus GST. At A$55 per staff hour, the monthly fee breaks even once the AI worker returns about 10.5 hours of staff time a week.

The price list

StepPrice (AUD, plus GST)LengthOutcome
Intro callFree15 minutesA straight answer on whether the task is worth automating
Workflow reviewA$1,9001 weekHours-and-cost baseline, fixed pilot quote and target. Credited in full to the pilot.
Automation pilotFrom A$9,5004–6 weeksOne workflow automated in your existing tools, tested on your exceptions
Run and improveFrom A$2,400 / monthOngoingMonitoring, fixes, learning from staff corrections, monthly hours report

Why it is priced against hours, not seats

Most software is sold per user. An AI worker does a job, so the fair comparison is the staff time it takes off your team. If it does not remove more cost than it adds, it is not worth buying, and the workflow review is designed to find that out for A$1,900 rather than A$9,500.

The break-even maths

Use this to check any AI automation quote, not just ours:

  1. Take the annual running cost. For us that starts at A$2,400 × 12 = A$28,800.
  2. Take your full cost per staff hour, including super and on-costs.
  3. Divide the annual cost by (hourly cost × 50 working weeks).
Cost per staff hourHours a week the worker must return to break even
A$55about 10.5
A$80about 7.2
A$120about 4.8

Add the pilot in year one: from A$9,500 on top of the running fee. The calculator on our pricing section does this for a four-practitioner clinic and lets you change the hours.

Where the hours usually come from

  • Allied-health clinics: consult notes written after hours, re-keying referrals, insurer and claim paperwork, chasing reports and letters. See AI clinical notes.
  • Medical-legal practices: reading record bundles to build chronologies. One file took about two weeks by hand. See AI chronologies.
  • Property law firms: moving facts from contracts into certificate requests, trackers and follow-up emails. See conveyancing automation.

When it is not worth it

If the task takes less time than the break-even figure above, or changes so often that there are no stable rules to follow, automation will cost more than it saves. We will tell you that on the free call.

Questions

Common questions

How much does an AI worker cost per year?

Running and improving one AI worker starts at A$2,400 plus GST a month, or A$28,800 a year. The first year also includes a pilot from A$9,500 plus GST; the A$1,900 review fee is credited to it.

How many hours does it need to save to be worth it?

Divide the annual fee by your cost per staff hour and by 50 working weeks. At A$55 an hour that is about 10.5 hours a week; at A$80 it is about 7.2; at A$120 it is about 4.8.

Is it cheaper than hiring an admin person?

Usually, if the work is repetitive document handling. It is not a replacement for people who handle patients or clients; most practices use the returned hours for that work.

What if the pilot does not deliver?

The pilot target is agreed in writing before work starts. If the pilot misses it, the second half of the pilot fee is not charged.

Last updated 9 November 2026

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