Get your number in 60 seconds
Answer five questions, get a defensible budget range. No email gate. The maths is explained below the tool, because a calculator you cannot interrogate is just a random number generator with confidence.
The price bands, by project type
| Project | Typical range | Timeline | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chatbot / WhatsApp automation | R80k – R250k | 4 – 8 weeks | A production assistant on your channels, trained on your content, integrated with one or two systems. |
| Document intelligence | R250k – R600k | 6 – 12 weeks | AI that reads, extracts and routes contracts, claims or invoices with human review built in. |
| Voice agent | R300k – R700k | 8 – 12 weeks | An agent that answers or makes calls, in the languages your customers actually speak. |
| Prediction engine | R500k – R1.5m | 3 – 5 months | Custom ML on your data: demand forecasting, credit scoring, churn, pricing. |
| Full AI platform | R1.5m – R5m+ | 3 – 6 months | A complete product: interfaces, AI core, integrations, admin, security, POPIA compliance. |
Why the wide bands? Because five things move the number more than the AI does: how many systems we integrate, how messy your data is, whether personal information is involved, how many users hit it on day one, and how much change management your organisation needs. The calculator above weights exactly these.
The hidden costs nobody quotes you
Data cleanup. The model is rarely the expensive part. Getting your data out of seventeen spreadsheets and one legacy system with no API is. Budget 15 to 30% of the project for it if your data is rough.
Model usage. LLM calls are metered. A busy customer service bot can run R2,000 to R20,000 a month in model costs depending on volume and model choice. Anyone quoting zero running costs is hiding them.
Maintenance and drift. Models degrade as your business changes. Plan 15 to 20% of build cost annually for monitoring, retraining and prompt maintenance.
Change management. The best AI system your staff refuse to use is worth exactly nothing. The projects that fail usually fail here, not in the code.
Local versus offshore versus DIY
| SA studio | Offshore body shop | Internal build | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sticker price | Middle | Lowest, until change requests | Highest (salaries are forever) |
| POPIA fluency | Native | You will be explaining it on calls | Depends who you hired |
| Context | Knows load shedding, WhatsApp-first users, SA languages | Will suggest SMS in 2026 | Deep but slow to assemble |
| Speed to production | 3 – 6 months | 6 – 12 months with timezone tax | 6 – 18 months incl. hiring |
| Best for | Custom platforms that must work here | Well-specified commodity builds | AI as your core, permanent differentiator |
We are obviously a Johannesburg studio, so discount our bias accordingly. Then check the work and decide for yourself.
Questions people actually ask
How much does an AI chatbot cost in South Africa?
R80,000 to R250,000 for a production chatbot integrated with your systems and trained on your content, plus monthly model usage costs. Template bots cost less and disappoint at roughly the same rate. The price rises with integrations, languages and compliance requirements.
What does custom AI software cost in South Africa?
Custom machine learning products run R500,000 to R1.5 million. Full AI platforms with interfaces, integrations and compliance run R1.5 million to R5 million plus, over 3 to 6 months. The biggest cost drivers are integration count and data readiness, not the AI itself.
Why not just use ChatGPT for free?
You should, for individual productivity. A business system is different: it needs your data, your integrations, audit trails, access control and POPIA compliance. ChatGPT is a tool your staff use. An AI platform is an asset your business owns. Different jobs, different price tags.
What are the monthly running costs of an AI system?
Three components: hosting (R2,000 to R30,000 monthly depending on scale), model usage (R2,000 to R20,000 for typical business volumes), and maintenance (plan 15 to 20% of build cost per year). A R1m build typically runs R15,000 to R40,000 a month all-in.
Is AI development cheaper in South Africa than overseas?
Significantly cheaper than the US, UK or EU: SA senior engineering rates run well below those markets. Against Indian or Eastern European rates, SA is comparable but wins on POPIA fluency, timezone, and context for African users. That combination is why SA studios increasingly export development.