Freelancer, IT services firm, agency or in-house: who should run your AI project?
Freelancer, AI agency, consultancy, IT services firm or in-house team: strengths, limits and price ranges of each, and the questions to ask before choosing.
The market for AI in business has filled up with offers: freelancers, agencies, consultancies, IT services firms, software publishers. Each has its place. Here is how to tell them apart, and the questions that make the difference.
The five families of providers
| Family | Day rate observed | Entry ticket | What for |
|---|---|---|---|
| No-code freelancer | €350 to €600 | from €800 | a simple, well-defined automation |
| Senior AI freelancer | €650 to €1,100 | from €2,500 | a task or a process, if the person stays available afterwards |
| AI-native agency | €900 to €1,500 | €2,000 to €5,000 | a project that has to run, be checked and maintained |
| AI consultancy | €1,000 to €1,500 | €2,000 to €6,000 (diagnostic) | a strategy, a roadmap |
| IT services firms and large consultancies | €320 to €2,000 depending on the profile | from €25,000 | large programmes, often in mid-sized and large companies |
Source: survey of published prices on the French market, September 2026. Orders of magnitude, volatile.
What really makes the difference
What happens after delivery
An agent connected to your tools lives with them: a publisher changes its software, an AI model evolves, your rules change. Without monitoring, what worked ends up answering beside the point. Ask who provides follow-up, how often, and at what price. See Why an AI agent needs ongoing monitoring.
What is handed over to you
The code, the instructions given to the AI, the connections to your tools and the documentation should belong to you. It has become market practice: a provider who refuses makes you dependent.
The indicators
A good provider agrees with you, before signing, on what will be measured and on the starting figure. A provider who drags their feet on this is a warning sign.
The framework
Human approval of irreversible actions, place of data processing, safeguards for personal data: these must be written into the proposal, not just promised verbally.
In a mid-sized company: the IT services firm, the agency or both?
A mid-sized company often already works with an IT services firm for its information system. The firm is at ease with large programmes and heavy integration; an AI agency moves faster on specific business processes, with a result measured within a few weeks. The two combine: the IT firm keeps the technical foundation, the agency delivers agents on chosen processes. See From AI pilot to production in a mid-sized company.
And the in-house team?
Hiring an AI specialist is expensive, and an isolated profile burns out quickly. For most SMEs, it is better to appoint an internal lead — someone who knows the business and keeps the agents and the company’s memory alive — and hand the build to a provider. See The internal lead.
The eight questions to ask before choosing
- What exact scope, and what fixed price?
- On how many of our real cases will the agent be checked?
- What does the agent do when it does not know?
- Who approves the actions that commit the company?
- Which indicators, measured how, and from what starting point?
- Where is our data processed?
- What belongs to us at the end?
- Who maintains the agent after delivery, and how much does it cost?
We answer these eight questions in writing in every proposal, and our prices are published: Offers and prices.
Frequently asked questions
Is a freelancer cheaper than an agency?
Often, for equal skills, by 20 to 40%. The difference shows after delivery: an agent connected to your tools must be checked, monitored and adapted when a software publisher changes its product. Ask who takes care of that, and at what price.
Should we hire an AI specialist in-house?
For an SME, rarely at the start: the profile is scarce and expensive. An internal lead, who knows the business and keeps the agents alive, is more useful than an isolated engineer.
What guarantees should the contract include?
Indicators agreed before signing, ownership of the code and of the instructions given to the AI, a maintenance commitment, and safeguards for personal data if a third-party AI model is involved.