Guide
What AI consulting costs in Australia
By Brett Raven, APAC Lead & Board Member, AIREUpdated
AIRE's entry engagement for AI consulting, the 90-minute AI use case session, is $2,900 + GST. It ends in a roadmap and recommendations ranked by business value, delivered 48 hours later. Larger work is priced on scope, mostly how many use cases, systems and teams it has to cover, and you agree the scope and the price in writing before paying anything. Published prices for AI consulting are uncommon in Australia. The federal contracts for AI advice we found on AusTender run from tens of thousands of dollars to hundreds of thousands.
What AIRE charges
Starting costs nothing. The AI readiness assessment is free and takes about three minutes, and the 30-minute discovery call is free too. Paid work starts only once you have seen a written scope and price and agreed to both.
| Engagement | What you get | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 90-minute AI use case session | A facilitated session with your leadership team. Within 48 hours, a roadmap and recommendations ranked by business value, with AI and non-AI changes side by side. | $2,900 + GST |
| Team AI training (AI 101) | A half day for the whole team on the tool you already pay for: ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot or Gemini. Everyone works on their own documents and leaves with something they built. | From $5,500 + GST for groups of 5 or more |
| Keynote | A presentation for a conference, offsite or all-hands, typically 30 to 60 minutes. | From $3,000 |
| Everything else | AI strategy and governance, enterprise architecture, the full nine-step review, agentic workflow design and builds. | Priced on scope, in writing, before paid work starts |
The session is a fixed price. Workshop prices move with group size and delivery format. A keynote is quoted within 48 hours of getting your event details.
The session is the small end: one leadership team, and a ranked list of where AI pays. The full nine-step review sits at the other end. It runs across several teams and the whole application estate, from how the business makes money through to a sequenced roadmap and a business case. Everything between is set by scope, which is what the rest of this guide unpacks. The roadmap is yours to take to whoever you like.
What you are paying for
AI consulting is a label on six different kinds of work, and they are priced very differently. Most quotes cover one or two of them. Know which one you are being sold before you compare the numbers.
| Engagement | What you should have at the end | What moves the price |
|---|---|---|
| Use case session | A ranked list of where AI would pay, and an order of work. | Who is in the room, and how much preparation and write-up is included. |
| Readiness or strategy review | Where you stand: what is licensed and unused, where the hours go, what to back first and what to leave alone. | How many teams are interviewed and how many systems are examined. |
| Roadmap | The order of work, quarter by quarter, with what each step is worth and what it depends on. | How far ahead it plans, and whether a business case comes with it. |
| Governance | An AI policy, a one-page rule on what may go into a prompt, and tool settings your security team will pass. | How many tools are in use and how regulated you are. |
| Build | A working automation, agent or integration, tested on your own cases and handed over. | How many systems it connects to and how usable the data is. |
| Training | People using the tools on their own work. | Group size, format and the number of groups. |
The expensive mistake is buying the wrong kind. A build before anyone has agreed the use case is money spent on a guess. A strategy review, when the real problem is that nobody opens the tools, is the same mistake from the other side.
What drives the price
Scope is mostly a count. These five things set it.
- Use cases. Each candidate has to be tested against your own evidence before it earns a place on the roadmap. Twelve take longer than three.
- Systems. Every system the work touches has its own data and its own owner, and someone has to understand both. If nobody has mapped the estate lately, the mapping becomes part of the job.
- Teams. Each team adds interviews and its own account of how the process really runs. Work across several teams takes longer than work inside one.
- Data readiness. If the data a use case needs is scattered across spreadsheets or stuck in a system with no export, making it usable is part of the price. Ask whether a quote assumes the data is clean.
- Compliance obligations. AIRE writes governance against the Privacy Act 1988, the ACSC Essential Eight and your industry's own rules. The more of those apply, and the more people have to sign off, the longer it takes.
Then there is who does the work. Two quotes for the same scope can differ on team mix alone: how many senior people, how many junior, and for how many days. How to compare quotes covers what to ask.
What published prices show
Very little, and that is the first thing to know. We looked for Australian prices for AI consulting that we could read at the source and cite, on 30 September 2026. Few firms publish any. The public record is government buying, and neither source below is a market rate. All figures are in Australian dollars.
Federal contracts for AI advice
The Department of Finance requires federal departments and other non-corporate Commonwealth entities to report each contract of $10,000 or more (including GST) on AusTender. A notice gives a description, the dates and the value of the initial term, including GST where it applies. It does not say what was delivered, how many people did the work or for how many days.
| Agency | Description on the notice | Contract period | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Department of Health, Disability and Ageing | Development of Artificial Intelligence Strategy and Roadmap | 7 February to 14 March 2025 | $165,000 |
| Department of Education | Develop an implementation ready AI Roadmap | 10 March to 30 June 2026 | $60,000 |
| Safe Work Australia | Artificial Intelligence Expert Advice | 8 April to 31 August 2026 | $22,000 |
| Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water | Artificial Intelligence (AI) review | 28 April to 30 June 2026 | $129,800 |
| Future Fund Management Agency | AI Advisory Services | 1 June to 21 August 2026 | $477,488 when signed. $851,488 after an amendment signed in July 2026. |
Descriptions are as each notice words them. Each notice also names its supplier: see the sources. No notice states the scope, so no two rows can be compared.
Two things stand out. The spread is wide, and the notices cannot tell you why. And a contract value can move after signing: the last row grew by $374,000 through an amendment. Agree up front how a change in scope gets priced.
Rate caps nobody can see
The NSW Government caps the daily rates its agencies pay for ICT consulting bought through its ICT Services Scheme. The cap covers advice whose output is a report, a strategic plan or an audit, technology roadmaps included. Its ICT Consulting Commercial Framework, applicable from 1 July 2024, sets a maximum daily rate for each of seven roles, from partner down to analyst, for an eight-hour day and excluding GST. The published version leaves every rate blank and points to a login on its Supplier Hub instead.
So there is no published rate to hold a quote against, even from the state that caps them. Use the figures above to see the spread, then compare quotes on what each one buys.
How to compare quotes
Fixed fee or day rate
A fixed fee buys a deliverable. If the work runs long, the supplier wears it. A day rate buys time, and the overrun is yours.
Use a fixed fee wherever the deliverable can be written down: a use case session, a policy, a roadmap, a scoped build. Use a day rate for advice on call, or for a question still too open to scope, and cap the days in writing. Either way, ask how long a day is. The NSW caps assume eight hours.
What counts as a deliverable
Something you can hold the supplier to. A ranked roadmap. A policy your board has signed. A workflow running on your own cases. A team that has built something in the room. Each should say what it contains and when it arrives. Insights and alignment are not deliverables, and if they are the main output, you are paying for meetings.
Questions to ask before you sign
- What exactly will we have at the end, and on what date?
- Who does the work, and how many days does each person spend on it?
- Is the price fixed, capped or open, and does it include expenses and GST?
- How is a change in scope priced, and who approves it before the work starts?
- What do we own at the end, and can we take the roadmap to another supplier?
- What will you tell us not to do?
On the second question, the NSW Government publishes a guide to team mix for its own ICT consulting work. It expects partners, directors and senior managers to supply 18% of the effort between them (derived: 6% each), and consultants and analysts 43% (derived: 24% plus 19%). NSW calls it a reference guide only. It still tells you to ask who is doing the days you pay for. The same framework caps disbursements, such as travel and accommodation, at 7% of fees, which is worth asking about too.
Red flags
- Open-ended discovery: weeks of workshops and interviews with no written scope, no end date and no named deliverable.
- A day rate with no cap on the number of days.
- A quote that can't say who will do the work.
- Recommendations that all lead to one platform, chosen before anyone looked at your processes.
- A promised return, or a promised time saving, with no evidence behind it.
- A strategy that ends in a list of options with no order of work.
A worked example from AIRE's prices
Take a leadership team that wants to know where AI belongs before it funds anything, and two teams of eight who hold licences they barely use. Built only from AIRE's published prices, the first stage looks like this.
| Step | What happens | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Readiness assessment and discovery call | Seven questions online, then a 30-minute call on where you stand. | Free |
| 90-minute AI use case session | The leadership team works through where AI would pay. A ranked roadmap follows within 48 hours. | $2,900 + GST |
| AI 101 for both teams | Two half-day workshops, one per team, on the tool you already license. | From $11,000 + GST (derived: two workshops at the entry price of $5,500 + GST each) |
| First stage in total | The session and both workshops. | From $13,900 + GST (derived) |
Workshops start from $5,500 + GST for groups of 5 or more. The price moves with group size and delivery format, so treat the training line as a floor.
What the roadmap recommends next, such as governance work or a build, is scoped and priced in writing before it starts. We haven't guessed at it here, because the roadmap is what decides it.
When training is the cheaper first step
Training is the front door. If your organisation already pays for Copilot, ChatGPT or Claude and most people barely open it, you don't need a consultant to find that out. The free AI readiness assessment and a 30-minute call will show it.
What fixes it is people using the tools on their own work, with a clear rule on what they may paste in. Our AI training for teams does that, and team workshops start from $5,500 + GST for groups of 5 or more. 96% of participants said they were likely to apply what they learned (Post-training survey, n=220, October 2025 to September 2026).
Paid advice earns its place when the question changes from how to use the tools to what to fund, and in what order. That is what AIRE's AI consulting answers, starting with the 90-minute session.
Not sure whether you need training or advice? The discovery call is free and takes 30 minutes.
Rather write first? Contact AIRE with what you are trying to decide.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an AI consultant cost in Australia?
We could find no published market rate. AIRE's 90-minute AI use case session is $2,900 + GST and ends in a ranked roadmap 48 hours later. Larger work is priced on scope: how many use cases, systems and teams it covers. The federal contracts for AI advice we found on AusTender run from $22,000 to more than $850,000. Compare what each price buys before you compare the figures.
Is AI consulting worth it for a mid-sized business?
It is worth paying for when a decision is expensive to get wrong, such as which tools to license or which processes to change first. It is poor value when the real problem is that staff have licences and don't use them, because training deals with that directly. Start with a free assessment, then buy a fixed-scope piece with a written deliverable before anything open-ended. Be wary of any consultant who promises a return without evidence behind it.
Should we pay a fixed fee or a day rate for AI consulting?
A fixed fee, wherever the deliverable can be written down: a use case session, a policy, a roadmap, a scoped build. The supplier then carries the risk of the work running long. A day rate suits advice on call or a question that is still open, but cap the days in writing and ask who will be doing them. AIRE charges a fixed price for the use case session and prices everything else against a written scope before any paid work starts.
What should an AI consulting quote include?
The deliverables, named and dated. Who will do the work, and roughly how many days each person spends on it. The price, whether it is fixed or capped, and whether it includes expenses and GST. How a change in scope is priced and approved. And what you own at the end. If a quote leaves any of those out, ask before you sign.
Do AI consulting prices include GST?
Check each one. AIRE quotes its session and workshop prices plus GST. Ask every firm whether its figure includes GST. Contract values on AusTender include GST where it applies, and the NSW Government caps ICT consulting day rates excluding GST. Put every quote on the same basis before you rank them.
Is the first conversation with AIRE free?
Yes. The readiness assessment takes about three minutes and costs nothing, and neither does the 30-minute discovery call. You see a written scope and price, and agree to both, before any paid work starts.
Sources
Every outside figure on this page comes from the source it cites: AusTender contract notices, Commonwealth and NSW procurement guidance, and the pricing pages of three Australian firms. We read each one on 30 September 2026. Prices and contracts change, so check a source before you rely on it. AIRE's prices are our own.
- Department of Finance, Contracting and reporting, Procurement publishing and reporting obligations (RMG 423) (last updated 22 December 2025). Read 30 September 2026.
- AusTender, Contract notice CN4129175: Development of Artificial Intelligence Strategy and Roadmap (Department of Health, Disability and Ageing). Read 30 September 2026.
- AusTender, Contract notice CN4233414: Develop an implementation ready AI Roadmap (Department of Education). Read 30 September 2026.
- AusTender, Contract notice CN4233018: Artificial Intelligence Expert Advice (Safe Work Australia). Read 30 September 2026.
- AusTender, Contract notice CN4235381: Artificial Intelligence (AI) review (Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water). Read 30 September 2026.
- AusTender, Contract notice CN4250283: AI Advisory Services (Future Fund Management Agency, value as first published). Read 30 September 2026.
- AusTender, Contract notice amendment CN4250283-A1: AI Advisory Services (Future Fund Management Agency, variation to contract value published 27 July 2026). Read 30 September 2026.
- NSW Government, info.buy.nsw, ICT Services Scheme: buying ICT consulting (updated 22 August 2025). Read 30 September 2026.
- NSW Department of Customer Service, Digital.NSW, ICT Consulting Commercial Framework (ICTC CF), applicable from 1 July 2024. Read 30 September 2026.
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Related services
- AI consulting and advisory: From the 90-minute use case session to the full nine-step review.
- Free AI readiness assessment: Seven questions, about three minutes.
- AI training for teams: Hands-on sessions on ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot and Gemini, on your own documents.