AI automation agency, compared
Everything an AI automation agency does, minus the agency
laikodev delivers agency-grade AI workflow automation through one accountable engineer, with the price published and the return modeled before you commit. Here is the honest comparison.
An AI automation agency builds AI-assisted workflows for businesses, typically through paid discovery, a delivery team and a monthly retainer. The model below is different where it matters for a small business buying its first workflow, and the comparison keeps the rows where an agency genuinely wins.
Agency vs laikodev, criterion by criterion
| Criterion | Typical AI automation agency | laikodev |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Quoted after discovery; retainers of $2,000-10,000+/month are common | Published fixed prices from $4,800, deposit and timeline stated upfront |
| Who you deal with | Account manager, then a delivery team | The engineer who builds it, from fit call to handover |
| Diagnosis | Paid discovery or strategy phase | Free automated assessment that models the return first |
| Guarantee | Rarely offered | 90-day outcome guarantee against one agreed target |
| Parallel projects | A team can run several workstreams at once | One workflow at a time, sequenced deliberately |
| Broad rollouts | Better fit for org-wide, multi-department programs | Built for the first workflows that prove the return in an SMB |
| Tooling | Often standardised on the agency's preferred stack | Built around the tools your team already uses |
Common questions
- What does an AI automation agency do?
- An AI automation agency designs and implements AI-assisted workflows for businesses: connecting tools, automating repetitive admin, and adding AI steps like drafting, triage or data extraction. Engagements usually start with paid discovery and run on retainer.
- Is laikodev an agency?
- laikodev delivers the same category of work as an AI automation agency but through a deliberately different model: one engineer, published fixed prices, a free assessment instead of paid discovery, and an outcome guarantee. For org-wide multi-team programs, a larger agency is honestly the better fit.
- How should I choose between an agency and laikodev?
- If you need several departments automated in parallel, pick a team. If you need the first workflow that provably pays for itself, the single-engineer model gets you there faster and cheaper, with the return modeled before you spend anything.