For a small business, an AI agent that does one recurring job typically costs $79 to $500 per month as a subscription. Custom-built agents from an agency or developer run $5,000 to $50,000 up front plus maintenance. Dutch charges $79 to $249 per month depending on how much work the agent does, with no setup fee, a 30-day free trial, and no contract.
Pricing models differ more than the sticker prices do, and the model matters more than the number. Most frustration with AI tools comes from picking the wrong model, not overpaying.
| Model | Typical cost | Best when | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flat subscription | $79 to $500/mo | One or two recurring jobs, predictable budget | You pay in slow months too |
| Credit or usage based | $20 to $200/mo + overages | Bursty, unpredictable volume | Costs spike exactly when you are busiest, and are hard to forecast |
| Custom build | $5,000 to $50,000 + upkeep | A workflow genuinely unique to your business | Long build, and it breaks when your process changes |
| DIY on a platform | $0 to $50/mo + your time | You enjoy building and have hours to spend | The real cost is 20 to 60 hours of your own time, plus ongoing fixes |
Dutch uses a flat subscription priced by how much work the agent does. You describe the job in plain English, Dutch scopes it and quotes a fixed price on the spot, the way a contractor quotes a job. There are no credits to count and no usage meters.
| Plan | Per month | Roughly this much work |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $79 | One straightforward recurring job, such as replying to new reviews |
| Standard | $129 | A job with research or a multi-step sequence, such as lead follow-up |
| Pro | $179 | Heavier research and larger deliverables each cycle |
| Scale | $249 | The most involved jobs, delivered most frequently |
Every plan includes a 30-day free trial, $0 setup, and no contract. You are not charged during the trial and you can cancel any time.
A $0 DIY platform is not free. Building an agent yourself on a no-code tool typically takes 20 to 60 hours before it works reliably, plus ongoing time whenever a site changes or a prompt drifts. At even $50 an hour for your own time, that is $1,000 to $3,000 of cost that never appears on an invoice. This is the single most common reason small businesses abandon AI tools they already paid for.
Most owners weighing an AI agent are really comparing it against a person. Typical US market ranges for the same work:
| Option | Typical monthly cost |
|---|---|
| Part-time virtual assistant | $800 to $2,000 |
| Full-time employee doing this among other duties | $3,000 to $5,000 |
| Marketing agency retainer | $1,500 to $5,000 |
| AI agent subscription | $79 to $500 |
The honest comparison is not one-to-one. A person handles judgment, exceptions, and anything unscripted. An agent handles a defined recurring job consistently and cheaply. Most small businesses end up wanting both, not one replacing the other.
An AI agent is the wrong purchase if the job changes shape every time, needs real-time human judgment, or happens only once. It is also wrong if nobody on your side has five minutes to review the output. Dutch drafts work and waits for your approval, so it saves you the doing, not the deciding. If you want something that runs completely unattended with no review, Dutch is deliberately not that.
There are free tiers on DIY platforms where you build the agent yourself, and free trials on most paid tools. Dutch includes a 30-day free trial on every plan with no card charged during the trial. A permanently free agent that does real recurring work does not really exist, because each run costs the provider real compute.
Credits let a provider pass usage costs straight through, which protects their margin but moves the risk to you. The practical downside for a small business is that your bill rises exactly when your business gets busy, and you cannot forecast it. Flat pricing trades some efficiency for predictability.
Not with Dutch. You describe the job in plain English, and Dutch reads your website to learn your services and voice. There is nothing to install and no integrations are required to start. Custom-built agents from an agency do require a developer, which is most of their cost.
Dutch has no contract, so you can cancel any time and billing stops. During the 30-day free trial nothing is charged at all.
Describe the job in plain English. Dutch scopes it and prices it on the spot. 30 days free, no contract.
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