How much does AI discovery cost?
It ranges from free-but-thin to five-figure open-ended retainers. The price is driven by depth, whether the engagement is capped or open-ended, and whether you keep the plan. Foundry's version is a paid engagement from $2,500 that leaves you a starting AI Playbook you keep, after a free assessment that finds the highest-leverage opportunity first.
Three things move the number.
Before you compare quotes, ask what you are actually buying.
A read, or a real plan?
A light audit that ends in a slide deck is cheap and thin. A discovery that finds the highest-leverage opportunity and gives you an actual build plan costs more and is worth more.
A fixed engagement, or a meter?
The expensive trap is an open-ended discovery retainer that runs for months. A capped, fixed-scope engagement tells you the price before you start.
Yours, or theirs?
Some firms keep the deliverable so you have to come back to act on it. The plan should be yours to keep and to hand to any builder, including your own team.
Capped, concrete, yours to keep.
Discovery is a step on a published ladder, not a gate to a long contract.
Free.
The free AI Maturity Assessment finds where you stand and the highest-leverage opportunity in about 15 minutes, before any spend.
From $2,500.
A paid engagement with our experts. You leave with a starting AI Playbook, yours to keep, whoever builds it next. This is the discovery step, capped and concrete.
Priced to value.
If you move forward, the build is priced to the value it creates, and you approve every step. Discovery is not a gate to a long contract; it is a plan you own.
Start with the free read.
The AI Maturity Assessment is free and takes about 15 minutes. It finds the highest-leverage opportunity before you spend a dollar on discovery.