Ask five AI vendors what a project costs and you'll get five variations of "it depends, let's book a call." That's true — it does depend — but it's also a dodge that wastes your time before you know whether a vendor is even in your budget range.
Here's an honest breakdown of what AI automation and modernization work actually costs in Canada, using our own published pricing as the worked example, plus the factors that move a project from the low end of a range to the high end.
Why Ranges, Not Fixed Numbers
A single "from $X" price sounds reassuring, but it's almost meaningless — the real cost depends on how many systems you're integrating, how messy your existing data is, and how much of the process is genuinely repeatable versus full of exceptions. A range at the package level is more honest: it tells you the floor and ceiling for a given type of project without pretending every engagement is identical.
The Five Project Types and What They Cost
AI Readiness Audit — $1,500, fixed, 5 business days. A short, fixed-fee diagnostic: a ranked map of where automation would actually help your business, what it would cost, and — just as importantly — what isn't worth automating. If you build with the same vendor within 30 days, this fee is typically credited toward the build. This is the right first step if you're not yet sure what to build.
Workflow Automation Sprint — roughly $8,500–$18,000, 2-4 weeks. Automating one specific, high-friction manual process end-to-end — data entry, follow-ups, report generation, routing. The lower end covers a single well-defined process with clean data; the higher end covers processes touching several systems or messier, less structured input.
Knowledge Assistant (RAG / docs-to-answers) — roughly $14,000–$60,000+. A secure assistant trained on your own documents that answers questions with cited sources. Single-document-set projects sit at the low end; multi-source implementations spanning contracts, policies, and case files across departments sit at the high end.
Legacy-to-AI Modernization — roughly $2,500 for an initial health check, up to $45,000–$120,000+ for a full rebuild. This is the widest range in the industry because "modernize the system" can mean anything from a five-day diagnostic to an 18-month rebuild. A staged approach — health check, then a scoped decision on the right path — is how you avoid over-buying here.
Sovereign AI / Data Residency Migration — roughly $6,500–$35,000. A fixed-price assessment ($6,500) followed by a scoped migration of your AI workloads onto Canadian-hosted infrastructure, PIPEDA-documented. The migration cost depends mainly on how many tools and integrations need to move or be replaced.
AI Care Retainer — $1,500–$3,500/month, minimum 6-month term. Ongoing monitoring, tuning, and priority support after a system goes live, so quality doesn't quietly drift as your data and tools change. The higher tier suits teams running multiple AI systems who want something closer to a part-time AI lead.
What Actually Moves a Project From Low to High in Its Range
- Number of systems touched. One tool integrating with one other tool is cheap. A process spanning four systems with inconsistent data formats is not.
- How structured the input is. Automating a form with five fixed fields is simple. Automating "read this email and figure out what the customer actually wants" requires more sophisticated handling.
- Compliance and data-residency requirements. Sovereign AI and healthcare/legal-adjacent work carries documentation overhead that flat automation work doesn't.
- How much of the process is genuinely repeatable. Processes with lots of edge cases and exceptions take longer to get reliably right than processes with one clear, consistent pattern.
Why This Matters More in Canada Specifically
Canadian SMBs are frequently first-time buyers of AI and automation services, and the market has both transparent and completely opaque pricing shops operating side by side. Published, package-level ranges let you self-qualify before spending an hour on a call — and they make it much harder for a vendor to quote a wildly different number to two similar businesses.
These are CODIA's own published prices — see the full breakdown on our Services page, or book a free intro call to find out where your project would land in these ranges.