PRICING GUIDE · UPDATED 27 OCTOBER 2026

What an AI consultant costs in the UK, with the sources.

Contract AI consultants are advertised at a median of £564 a day, and consultancies that publish a rate charge £800–£1,500. A readiness audit has a median published price of £2,000. A full-time head of AI costs about £115,600 a year; a fractional one costs £1,500–£8,500 a month.

Figures are from advertised rates, firms’ published prices and GOV.UK, read on 27 October 2026. Prices exclude VAT unless we say otherwise.

See the figures Or ask us for a written quote

AT A GLANCE

UK AI consultant
costs in 2026.

Medians are the middle published or advertised figure, so half are higher and half lower. Sources are listed at the end of the page.

What you buy	Typical cost	Basis
Contract AI consultant	£564 a day (median)	IT Jobs Watch, 70 advertised rates
Consultancy that publishes a day rate	£800–£1,500 a day	Median £1,213, Augustova price index
AI readiness audit	£495–£8,000	Median £2,000 across 11 providers
First automation or AI agent	Median £2,125	14 providers
Proof of concept or pilot	Median £23,000	10 providers, £2,000–£85,000
Production build	Median £65,000	5 providers, £8,000–£400,000
Fractional head of AI	£1,500–£8,500 a month	Published tiers, 1 day a month to 3 days a week
Full-time head of AI	£115,600 a year	£100,000 median salary plus employer NI and pension

DAY RATES

What an AI consultant
charges per day.

Advertised contract rates for the six months to 27 October 2026. P10 and P90 mark the lowest and highest tenth.

Role	Rates	P10	Median	P90
AI Consultant	70	£448	£564	£713
AI Engineer	350	£420	£600	£875
AI Architect	148	£500	£641	£841
Head of AI	18	£679	£850	£1,200
Any IT consultant (for comparison)	1,816	£413	£550	£750

London costs less than you might expect. The median for an AI Consultant contract is £552 a day in London and £575 elsewhere in the UK. Across every advert that mentions AI skills, London pays about 12% more (£595 against £530), not the 20–40% some guides claim.

Consultancies charge more than contractors. A consultancy rate covers the firm’s method, cover and liability as well as the person. Firms that publish a rate charge £800–£1,500 a day; the median across four is £1,213.

The largest firms charge more again. On the government’s G-Cloud 15 framework, the published day-rate ceiling for a data scientist at PwC is £3,010. The median across 14 suppliers, including Deloitte, KPMG, Accenture and Capgemini, is £1,060. These are ceilings for public-sector buyers, not quotes.

PROJECT PRICES

What fixed-price
AI work costs.

The Augustova UK AI Price Index collects 225 published prices from 71 UK providers. It is compiled by a consultancy, so treat it as a guide.

Readiness audit: median £2,000

From £495 to £8,000 across 11 providers. A short audit reviews the tools you already use, the data going into them and the first opportunities. Most take one to three weeks.

First agent or automation: median £2,125

Across 14 providers. This is one workflow, such as enquiry handling or document preparation, built on tools you already have. Connecting several systems costs more.

Proof of concept: median £23,000

From £2,000 to £85,000 across 10 providers. A pilot tests one use case on your own data before you commit to a wider rollout. Most take four to eight weeks.

Production build: median £65,000

From £8,000 to £400,000 across five providers. The range is wide because scope, integrations, security and testing vary so much. Get it quoted in writing.

What UK firms actually spend. The government’s AI Adoption Research (January 2026, 3,500 firms) found a median AI spend of £2,000 in 2024 and a mean of £19,000. 31% spent nothing, and 47% had set no AI budget at all.

HEAD OF AI

Three ways to get
AI leadership.

Full-time hire

£100,000 median salary. About £115,600 a year with employer NI and pension, and £135,600–£140,600 in year one with a 20–25% recruiter fee.

Senior time: Every working day. Commitment: About 6.5 weeks to hire, then up to 3 months’ notice.

Interim

£850 a day median for a contract head of AI. £800–£1,250 a day in London.

Senior time: Full-time for a fixed term. Commitment: Usually a 6 to 12 month contract.

Fractional

£1,500–£8,500 a month across published UK tiers.

Senior time: 1 day a month to about 3 days a week. Commitment: Published minimum terms of 3 to 6 months.

THE FULL-TIME COST

What hiring a head
of AI really costs.

Two salary points: the median advertised UK salary, and the average for a London firm with 50 to 250 staff. Employer costs use the 2026 to 2027 GOV.UK rates.

Cost	Median advertised salary	London firm, 50–250 staff
Salary	£100,000	£157,500
Employer National Insurance (15% above £5,000)	£14,250	£22,875
Minimum employer pension (3% of £6,240–£50,270)	£1,321	£1,321
Cost each year, before benefits	£115,571	£181,696
Recruiter fee at 20–25% of salary	£20,000–£25,000	£31,500–£39,375
Year one, with the fee	£135,571–£140,571	£213,196–£221,071

The table leaves out benefits, a bonus, equipment and any pension above the legal minimum. Seven in ten professionals get private health insurance, and the same share a bonus scheme. The £10,500 Employment Allowance can reduce a small employer’s total NI bill, but it applies to the whole company, not to one hire.

Which salary figure to trust. Advertised salaries centre on £100,000 (IT Jobs Watch, 116 salaries, down 11% on a year ago). Recruiter guides quote more: Robert Half gives a £157,250 UK median, and Google’s AI answers repeat it. Recruiters are paid a percentage of salary, and Robert Half’s figures are projections with no published sample size. For a smaller business the advertised median is the better guide.

Time is a cost too. Senior roles take about 6.5 weeks to fill, and a senior director often has three months’ notice to serve. Expect four to five months between deciding to hire and the person starting.

FRACTIONAL

What a fractional head
of AI costs.

A fractional head of AI works with you for a set number of days a month. These UK firms publish their prices.

Firm	Time	Monthly price	Minimum term
Insightful AI	1, 2 or 4 days a month	£1,500, £3,000 or £5,500 a month, ex VAT	3 months
Hartz AI	Advisor, fractional CAIO or embedded	£2,500, £4,000 or £6,000 a month, plus VAT	6 months recommended
The AI Consultancy	About 1, 2 or 3 days a week	From £3,000, £5,000 or £8,500 a month, ex VAT	6 months

Compare the cost per senior day. A full-time head of AI on the median salary costs about £115,600 a year. With the statutory 5.6 weeks’ holiday, a year has about 232 working days, which comes to about £498 a day. A fractional day at £1,500 costs three times as much, but you only buy the days you need.

The full-time yearly cost buys about 77 fractional days at £1,500, or about six days a month. If you need less senior time than that, fractional is cheaper. If AI is central to your product, or you need someone to lead a team every day, hiring makes more sense.

Be wary of the benchmark figures that circulate online. One widely quoted guide gives £900–£1,600 a day and £4,000–£6,000 a month for two to three days a week, but two days a week at £900 is already £7,794 a month.

WHAT CHANGES THE PRICE

Five things that move
an AI quote.

Two quotes with the same headline price can buy very different amounts of work.

How much senior time you get

A £3,000 retainer can mean one day a month or one day a week. Ask for the number of days and who does them, then compare the cost per senior day.

Whether delivery is included

Most fractional tiers cover strategy, governance and board reporting. Building and training are often quoted separately.

The state of your data

Gartner expects 60% of AI projects without AI-ready data to be abandoned through 2026. Cleaning and connecting data is often the largest hidden cost.

Running costs after launch

Licences, hosting and model usage continue after the project. Ask for them to be listed separately, with who pays each one.

VAT

Most published prices exclude VAT at 20%. A business under the £90,000 VAT threshold cannot reclaim it, so a £5,000 audit costs £6,000.

FUNDING

Is there a grant
for AI consultancy?

As of 27 October 2026, there is no national grant that pays for SME AI consultancy.

Made Smarter Adoption offers manufacturers expert advice, funded training and grants of up to £20,000.
Scotland’s National AI Adoption Programme, run by The Data Lab, offers SMEs fully funded AI training and support until 31 March 2027.
Help to Grow: Management has a £750 joining fee. It is management training and does not pay for AI work.

Funding schemes change often. Check the scheme’s own page before you rely on it.

OUR PRICES

What Nerdster
charges.

Custom AI agents

Pilots from £3,000 plus VAT, individually scoped and quoted after we review your systems and data.

Read about Custom AI agents

Nerdster Intelligence

An initial build of £5,000–£15,000 (indicative), then £2,500 a month, both plus VAT. The monthly service gives you a Senior Head of AI and an AI Developer working on an agreed roadmap, including two days a month of the Senior Head of AI’s time. It is not two full-time staff.

Read about Nerdster Intelligence

Audits, policies and private AI

Audits start from £2,000 plus VAT. For audits, policies and private AI, we agree the scope and give you a written quote before any work starts.

Read about AI audits

BEFORE YOU SIGN

How to compare
AI quotes.

Ask every supplier the same seven questions, in writing.

How many senior days a month, and the name of the person doing them.
Exactly what is included, and what building, training or support costs extra.
Whether the price includes VAT.
The minimum term, the notice period and what happens at exit.
Who owns the code, the accounts and the configuration.
Running costs after launch: licences, hosting and model usage.
How success will be measured, against a baseline recorded before work starts.

SOURCES

Where the
figures come from.

All read on 27 October 2026. Our own arithmetic, such as the employer costs and the cost per day, uses only the inputs below.

IT Jobs Watch, contract rates and permanent salaries (6 months to 27 Oct 2026). Advertised rates, not agreed fees.
Augustova UK AI Price Index (updated 22 Oct 2026; 225 prices from 71 providers, ex VAT). Compiled by a consultancy.
GOV.UK, employer rates and thresholds 2026 to 2027. Official.
GOV.UK, automatic enrolment thresholds 2026 to 2027. Official.
Robert Walters Salary Survey 2026, UK (Feb 2026). Recruiter.
Robert Half 2027 UK Salary Guide, Head of AI. Recruiter; projections, no sample size.
ON3 Works, UK recruitment agency fees (Oct 2026). Recruiter.
DSIT AI Adoption Research (28 Jan 2026; 3,500 firms). Official.
StandOut CV survey of 497 UK recruitment managers, via NatWest Mentor (Apr 2026). Time to hire.
Insightful AI, fractional Chief AI Officer. Firm’s own prices.
Hartz AI, fractional Chief AI Officer. Firm’s own prices.
The AI Consultancy, fractional AI officer. Firm’s own prices.
Made Smarter Adoption. Programme page.
The Data Lab, National AI Adoption Programme. Programme page.

Advertised rates are not agreed fees, and published prices are mostly starting prices. This guide is general information, not a quote. Your price depends on your scope.

GOOD QUESTIONS

AI consultant cost,
answered.

Read about Nerdster Intelligence

How much does an AI consultant cost per day in the UK?

Contract AI consultants were advertised at a median of £564 a day in the six months to 27 October 2026 (IT Jobs Watch, 70 rates), with most between £448 and £713. Consultancies that publish a day rate charge £800 to £1,500, with a median of £1,213. Most prices exclude VAT.

How much does an AI readiness audit cost?

Published fixed prices for UK AI readiness audits run from £495 to £8,000, with a median of £2,000 across 11 providers (Augustova price index, October 2026). The price mostly depends on how many teams, systems and tools are reviewed.

How much does it cost to hire a head of AI in the UK?

The median advertised salary for a UK head of AI is £100,000 (IT Jobs Watch, October 2026). Employer National Insurance and the minimum pension take the yearly cost to about £115,600 before benefits. With a 20 to 25% recruiter fee, the first year costs £135,600 to £140,600. Recruiter salary guides quote higher figures, such as an average of £157,500 for a London firm with 50 to 250 staff.

What does a fractional head of AI cost?

Published UK prices run from £1,500 a month for one day a month to £8,500 a month for about three days a week, usually excluding VAT, with minimum terms of three to six months. Compare the number of senior days and what is included, not just the monthly fee.

Is a fractional head of AI cheaper than hiring one?

Usually, if you need fewer than about six senior days a month. A full-time head of AI on the median salary costs about £498 per working day, but you pay for every day. At £1,500 per fractional day, the full-time cost buys about 77 days a year, or about six days a month.

Do AI consultancy prices include VAT?

Most UK AI consultancies publish prices excluding VAT at 20%. If your business is not VAT registered (turnover under £90,000), you cannot reclaim it, so add 20% to compare like for like.

Are there grants for AI consultancy in the UK?

As of 27 October 2026 there is no national grant that pays for SME AI consultancy. Some regional and sector schemes help: Made Smarter Adoption offers manufacturers grants of up to £20,000, and Scotland’s National AI Adoption Programme offers SMEs fully funded support until 31 March 2027. Schemes change often, so check before you rely on one.

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What an AI consultant costs in the UK, with the sources.

UK AI consultant costs in 2026.

What an AI consultant charges per day.

What fixed-price AI work costs.