Last updated 03/10/2026. Prices are in AUD and exclude GST.
Who can set up AI for an Australian business?
Australian businesses have four realistic options: a freelancer, a large consultancy, an in-house hire, or a managed AI provider. On Autopilot is a managed AI provider based in Melbourne. We build the AI that answers enquiries, follows up leads and handles admin for small and medium businesses in every state, then keep it running for a fixed monthly fee. We work remotely and have no offices outside Melbourne.
The four options differ less in price than in who is accountable once the AI is live:
- A freelancer is fine for one small, well-defined job, such as a single Make or Zapier automation. The risk is what happens in month three when a tool changes and nobody is responsible. See On Autopilot versus an Upwork freelancer.
- A large consultancy suits enterprise programs with many stakeholders. For a business with fewer than 50 staff, the contract sizes and the length of the discovery phase rarely make sense.
- An in-house hire gives you full control, but you are paying a full-time salary, super and recruitment costs for work that is heavy during a build and light while it runs. See On Autopilot versus an in-house AI hire.
- A managed AI provider builds the systems and then runs, monitors and improves them for a monthly fee, the way a managed IT provider looks after your computers. That is what On Autopilot does: managed AI.
There is also doing it yourself with ChatGPT or Claude, which costs least in dollars and most in your time (DIY compared).
How much does an AI consultant cost in Australia?
An AI consultant in Australia can cost anything from a few hundred dollars, for a freelancer’s single automation, to six figures for a large consultancy’s strategy work or a year of an in-house hire. On Autopilot sits in between: $497 (ex GST) for one automation, or $1,500 to $4,000 a month for managed AI that we build, run and improve. Prices vary far more by model than by city. As at October 2026:
| Option | Typical cost (AUD) | Who is accountable after go-live |
|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself with ChatGPT or Claude | US$20 a month per paid seat, about A$33 including GST at checkout (ChatGPT, Claude), plus your time | You |
| Freelancer, for example via Upwork | About $720 to $2,890 for a single-workflow automation or chatbot set-up; $2,890 to $11,540 for an AI integration | Whoever you can get hold of |
| Large consultancy | Federal AI strategy and advisory contracts in the past year ran from $60,000 to more than $850,000 | The consultancy, for the scope you bought |
| In-house AI hire | About $132,500 a year for a data scientist in Melbourne (SEEK), roughly $170,000 with 12% super and on-costs, plus recruitment and payroll tax above your state’s threshold | Your employee |
| Managed AI with On Autopilot | $497 for a single build; $1,500, $2,000 or $4,000 a month to build, run and improve, month to month | Us, for as long as you stay |
Freelancer figures are Upwork’s published US dollar ranges (automation projects, AI projects), converted at the Reserve Bank rate of 2 October 2026 (A$1 = US$0.6933); Upwork is a global marketplace, so these are not Australian rates. Consultancy figures are federal government contract notices on AusTender for AI strategy and advisory work: Quantium, A$60,000, EY, A$148,500 over about 12 weeks and Slalom, A$851,488. AusTender values usually include GST. The salary is SEEK’s Melbourne figure for a data scientist (October 2026); the all-in figure adds on-costs at base times 1.28, as in our AI Cost Index, including the 12% superannuation guarantee.
For context, adoption is still early: the ABS found that about 12% of Australian businesses used AI in 2024-25, and 11% of small and micro businesses, against 35% of large ones (ABS).
On Autopilot’s own prices are fixed and published on the pricing page: $497 for Quick Start, $497 to $2,000 setup plus $99 to $499 a month for a productised agent such as the AI Front Desk ($1,500 plus $199 a month), and managed AI at $1,500 (Essential, up to 2 live agents), $2,000 (Growth, up to 4 live agents and one new agent or improvement a month) or $4,000 a month (Scale). All ex GST. The Claude usage behind most agents, typically $3 to $15 a month, is included.
Does it matter which state you are in?
Less than most city landing pages imply. The AI runs in the cloud, so it answers your customers on your local time wherever you are. Three things do change by state: your time difference with a provider, whether a state health-records law applies on top of the federal Privacy Act, and the payroll tax threshold if you are weighing an in-house hire. As at October 2026:
| State or territory | Time vs Melbourne | State health-records law for private businesses | Payroll tax threshold (2026-27) | Free help worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VIC | Same | Health Records Act 2001 | $1,000,000 | Digital Jobs program (AI training vouchers, construction and manufacturing) |
| NSW | Same | HRIP Act 2002 | $1,200,000 | Small Business Advisory Program (free advice, AI is a listed topic) |
| ACT | Same | Health Records (Privacy and Access) Act 1997; complaints go to the ACT Health Services Commissioner | $1,750,000 (cut from $2m on 1 July 2026) | Check business.gov.au |
| TAS | Same | None; federal Privacy Act applies | $1,250,000 | Check business.gov.au |
| QLD | Same in winter; 1 hour behind from October to April | None; federal Privacy Act applies | $1,300,000 | Mentoring for Growth (free volunteer experts) |
| SA | 30 minutes behind all year | None; federal Privacy Act applies | $1,500,000 | Check business.gov.au |
| NT | 30 minutes behind in winter; 90 minutes behind from October to April | None; federal Privacy Act applies | $2,500,000 | Check business.gov.au |
| WA | 2 hours behind in winter; 3 hours behind from October to April | None; federal Privacy Act applies | $1,000,000 | SBDC advisory service (free advice and AI workshops) |
Sources for the health-records column: the OAIC’s summary of state and territory privacy laws, which notes that the NT, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia have privacy laws for their public sectors only. Daylight saving in 2026-27 runs from 4 October 2026 to 4 April 2027 in VIC, NSW, the ACT, TAS and SA; QLD, WA and the NT do not change their clocks (NSW Government).
Two federal rules apply everywhere. Businesses with turnover of $3 million or less are mostly exempt from the Privacy Act, but health service providers are covered whatever their size (OAIC). And from 10 December 2026, businesses covered by the Act must explain in their privacy policy any automated decisions that significantly affect people (OAIC). Our guide to the Australian AI compliance landscape goes further.
AI consulting in Adelaide, Canberra, Hobart, Darwin, the Gold Coast and regional cities
On Autopilot is based in Melbourne and has no office in any other city, so we do not keep a separate page for each one: the work is the same wherever you are. The audit, the build and the handover happen over video calls and shared tools, the agents run in the cloud on your local time, and the price list is the same national one, with no travel loading. What changes is the clock. Canberra, Hobart and Launceston keep Melbourne time all year, and so do Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo. Newcastle and Wollongong share Sydney’s, which is the same. Adelaide is 30 minutes behind all year. Darwin is 30 minutes behind in winter and 90 minutes behind from October to April, because the Northern Territory has no daylight saving. The Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba, Townsville and Cairns run on Queensland time, an hour behind Melbourne from October to April. We book calls in your time zone and put decisions in writing, and the state table above covers the health-records law and payroll tax threshold where you are.
We have written city pages where the local detail adds something: AI consultant in Melbourne (our home city), AI consultant for Sydney businesses, AI consultant for Brisbane businesses and AI consultant for Perth businesses.
How do you choose an AI consultant?
Ask any provider, including us, five things before you pay:
- Will you tell me what you would build, and what it costs, before I commit? A free, specific audit is the best single filter.
- Is the price fixed, in AUD? Open-ended hourly billing on a vague scope rewards slow work.
- Do I own the code and the prompts, and whose accounts does it run on? If you stop paying, the provider should move it into your name so it keeps running.
- What have you actually built and run? Ask to see working systems and what they cost to run, not slides.
- Where is the line for my industry? For health, finance and legal work, the AI should triage, reply and prepare, while licensed decisions stay with qualified people.
Our full buyer’s guide to choosing an AI consultant or agency covers the green and red flags in more depth.
Where does On Autopilot fit?
On Autopilot is the managed option: an Australian AI consultancy and managed AI provider, run by Boring Ventures Pty Ltd (ABN 67 671 943 758) in Melbourne. Our founder, Jenn Yang, also runs the virtual assistant agency DotVA and does every audit. We build on Anthropic’s Claude plus the tools businesses already pay for, such as Shopify, Xero, Cliniko, ServiceM8, HubSpot, Slack, Make and n8n.
We do not have client logos to show you, and we will not invent them. What we can show is the same stack running in our own businesses: Hey Bud Skincare’s daily Shopify inventory system, DotVA’s website lead pipeline and DotVA HQ operations platform, and the 20-site Lead Gen Empire comparison network, all built and maintained with Claude Code.
The fastest way to find out whether AI is worth it for your business is the free 30-minute audit. You leave with a plan and a fixed AUD price, or a straight answer that you do not need us yet. Book the free AI audit.