I'm a builder at NxFlowAI, a Mumbai AI automation agency. This post contains no vendor prices on purpose. Prices change, and I don't want you copying a number from me. You supply the rates from each provider's own pricing page.
When people ask what AI automation costs Indian small businesses, they usually get a range. A range hides the useful part: which lines scale with volume and which don't. Here is a small script that makes those lines explicit, so you can see what happens to the monthly bill if enquiries double. For how we describe engagement types, see what AI automation costs Indian small businesses on our pricing page (it has no numbers, so this post is the arithmetic).
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The idea
Split the running cost into three kinds of line:
Fixed per month: platform seat or plan, hosting, monitoring. #
Per message: template messages you send on WhatsApp. Per Meta's documentation, businesses are charged per delivered template message, with rates set by template category and country, and non-template messages in an open customer service window are not charged. Read the current rules atMeta's pricing page . #
Per AI call: input and output tokens for each model call, times your provider's rates.
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The script
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How to read the output
Run monthly() and double_it() with your real rates and counts, then look at two things:
1.
Which line grew? Fixed lines don't grow when volume doubles; message and model lines do. A quote that hides these inside one monthly fee is telling you nothing about growth.
2.
Which line is missing? If your vendor's monthly fee doesn't say whether it covers Meta's charges and model usage, ask. It is a common source of surprise.
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What the script cannot tell you
- The build cost: that depends on how many systems and exceptions are involved, and a script can't price it.
- The value side: what a recovered enquiry is worth. Do that arithmetic first; ourfree workflow-mapping guide is a starting point.
- The rules side: Meta says pricing changes for some message types take effect on 1 October 2026, so re-read its page before trusting any number, including the ones you type in.
If you extend the script (retries, media messages, multiple numbers), I'd like to hear what you added.