How much does an AI employee cost, and how do you work out ROI?
An AI employee usually costs a setup or build fee, a monthly management fee and usage charges for phone numbers, call minutes and AI models. Providers price these differently, so ask for each part separately. To work out ROI, measure the hours the AI employee removes, price them at a loaded staff rate (award or actual wage plus 12% super), add any extra revenue you can evidence, and divide by the total monthly cost.
Key takeaways
- Cost has three parts: build, monthly management and usage. Usage is often billed by vendors in US dollars per minute.
- Wharq does not publish prices: it charges a monthly investment and starts with an audit to check the use case.
- Compare against a loaded staff cost, not just the hourly rate: base wage plus the 12% super guarantee, before other on-costs.
- Break-even test: divide the total monthly cost by your loaded hourly rate to see how many hours of work it must genuinely remove. Count review time on the cost side.
What are you actually paying for with an AI employee?
A managed AI employee is an AI system with a defined role, connected to the tools that role needs and supervised by people. Whoever runs it, the bill breaks down into the same components.
| Component | What it covers | How it is usually charged | What to ask |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audit or discovery | Mapping the workflow, volumes and systems | Sometimes free, sometimes a fixed fee | Do I get a written scope and estimate? |
| Build and setup | Scripts, knowledge base, CRM and calendar connections, approval rules, testing | One-off fee, or folded into a monthly fee over a minimum term | What counts as a change request later? |
| Monthly management | Monitoring, reviewing logs, fixing errors, updating scripts | Fixed monthly fee | How often is it reviewed? |
| Telephony | Phone numbers plus per-minute call charges | Per number per month, plus per minute | Who owns the number if I leave? |
| Voice platform and AI models | Speech-to-text, the language model, text-to-speech and platform hosting | Per minute of call, or per message or token for text work | Are usage costs passed through at cost or marked up? |
What do usage costs look like in practice?
Usage is the easiest part to price because vendors publish rates. As listed on Twilio's Australian voice pricing page in October 2026 (USD), an Australian local number is $3.00 a month, receiving calls on it is $0.0100 a minute, and outbound calls are $0.0252 a minute to landlines and $0.0750 a minute to mobiles. Voice AI platforms charge on top: as listed on Vapi's pricing page in October 2026, pay-as-you-go hosting is $0.05 a minute with models passed through at cost, and Retell's pricing page lists $0.07 to $0.31 a minute for AI voice agents depending on the model and voice chosen. For a voice-specific breakdown with a worked example, see how much an AI receptionist costs in Australia.
Capacity is not unlimited either: Vapi's pay-as-you-go tier lists 4 concurrent calls and Retell lists 20 free concurrent calls, with more at extra cost. Usage is usually the smaller line. The build and ongoing management, the work of making it reliable inside your business, is where most of the cost and value sits.
How does Wharq price an AI employee?
Wharq does not publish a price list. Each AI employee is charged as a monthly investment, and every engagement starts with an audit to confirm there is a strong use case before anything is built. The quote depends on the role (see the roles on the services page), the systems it connects to and the volume of work. The control model, including approvals, escalation paths, logs and weekly refinement, is described on the about page.
What does the staff alternative cost in Australia?
Start with the minimum legal cost of the person who would otherwise do the work. From 1 July 2026 the National Minimum Wage is $26.44 an hour or $1,004.90 a week; it applies to employees not covered by an award or agreement, and most employees are covered by an award. For office and clerical work, the award that commonly applies is the Clerks—Private Sector Award 2020; check the classification for your role. On top of wages, employers pay the super guarantee of 12%, which from 1 July 2026 must be paid each payday.
| Benchmark (full-time) | Minimum weekly base | Weekly with 12% super | Annual (52 weeks) with super |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Minimum Wage | $1,004.90 | $1,125.49 | $58,525.38 |
| Clerks award Level 1, Year 1 | $1,024.70 | $1,147.66 | $59,678.53 |
| Clerks award Level 2, Year 1 | $1,119.10 | $1,253.39 | $65,176.38 |
| Clerks award Level 3 | $1,182.10 | $1,323.95 | $68,845.50 |
These are floors, not typical salaries. They exclude penalty rates, overtime, allowances, leave loading, payroll tax, workers compensation, recruitment and management time. If you pay above award, use your actual payroll. At Level 2, Year 1, the loaded hourly rate is $29.45 plus 12% super, or about $32.98 an hour.
How do you calculate the ROI of an AI employee?
- List the tasks. For example: answering enquiry calls, chasing new leads, updating the CRM, drafting follow-ups.
- Measure the hours. Track the time those tasks take for two normal weeks rather than estimating from memory.
- Decide the realistic share. Mark which tasks the AI employee can take end to end, which it can draft for a person to approve, and which stay human. Add the review time back as a cost.
- Price the hours. Multiply net hours saved by a loaded hourly rate: award or actual wage plus 12% super.
- Add revenue only if you can evidence it. For example, after-hours enquiries that now go unanswered, times your own conversion rate and average gross profit.
- Total the monthly cost. Management fee, expected usage and any setup fee spread over the measurement period.
- Compare and review. ROI = (value of hours saved + evidenced extra gross profit - total monthly cost) / total monthly cost. Re-measure after a fixed period the same way.
A worked example (hypothetical numbers)
Example only: the inputs below are invented to show the arithmetic. They are not Wharq prices, quotes or client results.
Say an office team spends 20 hours a week on enquiry calls, follow-up and CRM entry, and decides 12 of those hours can move to an AI employee, with 2 hours a week of human review added. Net time saved is 10 hours a week. At the Level 2, Year 1 loaded rate of $32.98 an hour, that is $329.80 a week, or about $1,429 a month (52 weeks divided by 12 months).
The break-even test follows directly: for every $1,000 of total monthly cost, the AI employee needs to remove about 30 hours a month of award-rate work ($1,000 divided by $32.98). In this example, time savings alone cover a total monthly cost up to about $1,429. Above that, the case rests on the revenue side, so it needs real numbers from your own enquiry and sales data rather than assumptions.
What should you ask a provider before signing?
- Which costs are fixed, which vary with volume, and are vendor usage costs passed through at cost?
- Who owns the phone numbers, accounts, prompts and data if you leave, and what is the minimum term?
- What does the AI employee do without approval, and how can you see what it did? Our AI employee security FAQ covers the questions to ask about access and logs.
If you would like the numbers worked through for your own workflows, email us to book a workflow audit.
AI employee cost and ROI: frequently asked questions
Does Wharq publish its prices?
No. Wharq charges a monthly investment for each AI employee and starts with an audit to confirm there is a strong use case. The quote depends on the role, the systems it connects to and the expected volume of work.
Is an AI employee cheaper than hiring an admin assistant or receptionist?
It depends on volume and scope. An AI employee usually takes over specific tasks rather than a whole job, so compare its cost with the hours it genuinely removes, priced at a loaded wage.
What usage costs should I budget for?
Phone numbers, per-minute call charges, voice platform minutes and AI model usage. Most vendors publish these in US dollars, so convert at the current exchange rate.
How long does it take for an AI employee to pay for itself?
There is no honest general answer. Measure the baseline hours and enquiry numbers before you start, use the same method after a fixed review period, and judge the result on those numbers.
Should I include on-costs when comparing with staff?
Yes. At minimum add the 12% super guarantee to the base wage. Payroll tax, workers compensation, leave and recruitment add more, so use your own payroll data where you can.
Sources
- Twilio, "Voice pricing: Australia" (USD) (accessed October 2026)
- Vapi, "Pricing" (USD) (accessed October 2026)
- Retell AI, "AI Phone Agent Pricing" (USD) (accessed October 2026)
- Fair Work Ombudsman, "Minimum wages" (accessed October 2026)
- Fair Work Commission, "Clerks—Private Sector Award 2020" (consolidated to 1 July 2026) (accessed October 2026)
- Australian Taxation Office, "Super guarantee" (accessed October 2026)