Concierge vs hiring an in-house AI person

AI Concierge is $2,000/mo. Twelve months at that published rate is $24,000. An in-house hire is a different purchase: a person on payroll. This page uses our prices and Bureau of Labor Statistics wage medians. It does not quote an agency fee.

Checked October 4, 2026. BLS does not publish a wage for a job titled “AI consultant.” The two medians below are the closest occupations on the pages we read. They are wages, not benefits, tools, or recruiting.

Our prices

Hourly consult stays open if a retainer is more than you need: $75 / 30 min · $150 / hour. A 10-hour pack is $1,250, with $625 up front. Those prices are on the consult page, in the section “What an AI consultant costs.”

AI Concierge is $2,000/mo for two 45-minute sessions a month, unlimited async Slack or text, and a shared inventory of the assets we build. Cancel any month after the first 30 days. The offer is on the Concierge page.

The hire

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says the median annual wage for software developers was $135,980 in May 2025. Divide that annual figure by 12 and the wage is $11,331.67 a month, before benefits. Source: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/software-developers.htm, checked October 4, 2026.

The same bureau says the median annual wage for computer and information systems managers was $175,140 in May 2025, which is $14,595.00 a month in wages alone. Source: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/computer-and-information-systems-managers.htm, checked October 4, 2026.

An “AI person” is not a line in those tables. A shop might be hiring a developer, a manager, or a job BLS names differently. Use the median that matches the role you would actually post. This page does not add a benefits multiplier, because we are not citing one.

Where the other options win

Hire in-house when the work is a job: someone in the business every day, owning the systems. AI Concierge does not staff your team. A large agency is the better fit when one founder on two calls a month is too small and you need a bench under a statement of work. We are not naming an agency weakness or a price we did not read.

AI Concierge is the better fit when the published scope is the thing you want: audit the messy task, optimize the process, then automate it, with an operator on the calls. If you only need a few hours, use consult instead of either a retainer or a hire.

Sources

• Software developers, median annual wage $135,980, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/software-developers.htm. Checked October 4, 2026.
• Computer and information systems managers, median annual wage $175,140, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/computer-and-information-systems-managers.htm. Checked October 4, 2026.
• AI Concierge $2,000/mo, and consult $75 / 30 min · $150 / hour plus the $1,250 pack, are the prices published on agenthiveinc.com.

Questions