--- title: What Is AI Consulting, and How Is It Different From Buying Software? description: "AI consulting explained in plain terms: what it includes, how it differs from paying for AI software seats, and when a subscription alone is enough." image: https://ai-marketinglabs.com/hubfs/what-is-ai-consulting-and-how-is-it-different-from-buying-software-1.jpg --- [![AI Marketing Labs](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/ai-labs/pages/assets/brand/logo-lockup.svg)](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/) - Systems [AIO System](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/ai-search-engine-optimization) [Voice Assistant](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/the-ai-assistant-for-business-that-runs-on-your-voice) [Buyer's Table](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/ai-market-research) [RAG System](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/ai-knowledge-management) [Custom AI Automations](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/ai-automation-services) - [Consulting](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/ai-consulting-services) - [Free tools](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/free-ai-marketing-resources) - [About](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/about) - [Blog](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/lab-experiments) [The Lab](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/the-lab) [Book your audit](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/ai-audit) [AIO System](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/ai-search-engine-optimization) [Voice Assistant](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/the-ai-assistant-for-business-that-runs-on-your-voice) [Buyer's Table](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/ai-market-research) [RAG System](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/ai-knowledge-management) [Custom AI Automations](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/ai-automation-services) [Consulting](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/ai-consulting-services) [Free tools](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/free-ai-marketing-resources) [About](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/about) [Blog](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/lab-experiments) [The Lab](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/the-lab) [Book your audit →](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/ai-audit) [The Lab Notes](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/lab-experiments) › AI Consulting # What Is AI Consulting, and How Is It Different From Buying Software? ![Kelly Kranz](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/hubfs/1c8a298050a84a029fa51a6945685d90.png) Kelly Kranz Oct 26, 2026 [Twitter](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://ai-marketinglabs.com/lab-experiments/what-is-ai-consulting-and-how-is-it-different-from-buying-software&text=What%20Is%20AI%20Consulting,%20and%20How%20Is%20It%20Different%20From%20Buying%20Software) [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https://ai-marketinglabs.com/lab-experiments/what-is-ai-consulting-and-how-is-it-different-from-buying-software) ![What Is AI Consulting, and How Is It Different From Buying Software?](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/hubfs/what-is-ai-consulting-and-how-is-it-different-from-buying-software-1.jpg) AI consulting is paid outside help that works out where AI fits in your business, which problem it should take on first, and then helps you set it up or build it. That's also the plain answer to what is AI consulting versus buying software: a subscription gives you a capability, and consulting decides what to point it at. The software is the easy part to buy. Getting your team to use it on the right job, a month from now, is the part you're paying a consultant for. **TL;DR** - Software sells access to a tool, per seat, every month. - Consulting sells a decision about which job AI should do, and help making it run. - If the task stays inside one person's day, a subscription may be enough. ## What does AI consulting actually include? Three kinds of work sit under the label, and most engagements mix them. - **Finding the job.** Looking at how the business runs and picking the one task where AI would pay off first. For a small business, this is usually the part that saves the most money, because it stops you from building the wrong thing. - **Choosing and setting up tools.** Deciding what to use, often something you already pay for, and configuring it around the way your work actually moves. - **Building and handing off.** Connecting the pieces, testing on real examples, and training the person who will run it after the consultant leaves. Some consultants stop after the first one. That's fine if you know it going in. If you're not sure which kind you need, start with [whether you need a strategy consultant or someone who builds](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/lab-experiments/do-you-need-an-ai-strategy-consultant-or-someone-who-builds). ## How is AI consulting different from buying AI software? You're paying for different things, and the bill behaves differently. | | Buying AI software | Hiring an AI consultant | | --- | --- | --- | | What you pay for | Access to a tool | Someone's time and judgment on your problem | | How it's priced | Per user, per month | By the hour, by the project, or on a retainer, agreed up front | | Who decides what it's used for | You, on your own | You, with someone who has done it before | | When it ends | When you cancel | When the agreed scope is delivered | | What you have afterward | A login | A decision, and a working process if the scope included a build | The software price is easy to see. ChatGPT Business [runs $25 per user per month billed monthly, or $20 billed annually](https://openai.com/business/pricing/), and Microsoft 365 Copilot [lists at $30 per user per month, paid yearly](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/copilot/pricing/enterprise). Ten seats of either comes to roughly $3,000 to $3,600 a year. What no seat price covers is deciding what those ten people should do with it on Monday morning. ## Why doesn't a software subscription solve it on its own? Because the tool doesn't know which of your problems matters. MIT's Project NANDA research, [reported by Fortune in August 2025](https://fortune.com/2025/08/18/mit-report-95-percent-generative-ai-pilots-at-companies-failing-cfo/), found that for 95% of companies in its dataset, generative AI implementation "is falling short." The same research found that buying from specialized vendors and building partnerships "succeed about 67% of the time, while internal builds succeed only one-third as often." Read that second number carefully. It doesn't say software is the problem. It says the companies that bought from specialists or worked with a partner did better than the ones building alone. A seat license gives you the tool. It doesn't give you the person who has watched the same kind of rollout stall elsewhere and knows where it tends to break. ## How many small businesses are actually using AI? Fewer than you might expect, depending on how you count. The U.S. Census Bureau's Business Trends and Outlook Survey asks whether a firm used AI in the past two weeks. In the period ending May 3, 2026, [less than 20% of firms with four or fewer employees said yes](https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2026/05/ai-use-businesses.html), compared with 37% of firms with at least 250 employees. Surveys that ask whether a business has tried generative AI at all come back much higher. In our view, the space between those two kinds of number is the space between trying a chatbot and running part of the business on it. Consulting is one way across. ## When is buying software enough on its own? When you already know the job and the tool fits it out of the box. If you want help drafting replies and you live in your inbox, a seat and an afternoon of practice may be all you need. Same if the task is personal: your own writing, your own research, your own meeting notes. Software stops being enough when the work crosses people or systems. An intake process that touches your inbox, your CRM, and a shared calendar needs someone to decide the rules, connect the pieces, and test it on real requests. That's a project, and it's where a consultant earns the fee. ## What should AI consulting leave you with? Something you can point at: a named problem with a cost attached, a decision about what to do first, and, if the scope included a build, a working process on your own accounts that your team runs without the consultant on the call. The full list, including what to get in writing, is in [what a good AI consultant should leave you with](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/lab-experiments/what-ai-consultant-services-should-leave-you-with). A good first conversation spends most of its time on your work, not on tools: who does the task, how long it takes, where it gets stuck. If you'd like to have that conversation with someone who has run a business, AI Marketing Labs offers [one-on-one AI consulting with Rick Kranz](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/ai-consulting-services), with the scope and fee agreed before any work starts. ## Frequently asked questions Is AI consulting only for big companies? No. Plenty of consultants work one-on-one with owners on a single project. Ask whether they've worked with a business your size and what the smallest engagement they take looks like. Do I need technical skills to work with an AI consultant? No. You need to know your own work: what the task is, who does it, and what a good result looks like. A good consultant explains the technical parts as you go. What's the difference between an AI consultant and an AI developer? A developer builds what you specify. A consultant helps decide what to build, and may build it too. If you already know exactly what you need, a developer may be enough. How long does an AI consulting engagement last? As long as the scope. Advice on one decision can take a session or two, while a build that connects several systems takes longer. You should see the scope and timing in writing before you pay.   See it before you hire Build something with AI, *free* Free live workshops on Zoom where we build with AI alongside you, step by step, and you leave with something you keep using. Sign up and we'll email you when the next one opens. [Get the next workshop invite](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/free-ai-workshops) ![Kelly Kranz](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/hubfs/1c8a298050a84a029fa51a6945685d90.png) Written by Kelly Kranz With over 15 years of marketing experience, Kelly is an AI Marketing Strategist and Fractional CMO focused on results. She is renowned for building data-driven marketing systems that simplify workloads and drive growth. Her award-winning expertise in marketing automation once generated $2.1 million in additional revenue for a client in under a year. Kelly writes to help businesses work smarter and build for a sustainable future. Keep *reading.* [All posts →](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/lab-experiments) [![What Is AI Consulting, and How Is It Different From Buying Software?](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/hubfs/what-is-ai-consulting-and-how-is-it-different-from-buying-software-1.jpg) AI Consulting What Is AI Consulting, and How Is It Different From Buying Software? AI consulting is paid outside help that works out where AI fits in your business, which problem it should take on first, and then helps you set it up or build ... 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Oct 26, 2026](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/lab-experiments/how-to-appear-in-ai-search-results-for-searches-in-your-service-area) [![How AIO Search Works for a Service Business With a Small Website](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/hubfs/how-aio-search-works-for-a-service-business-with-a-small-website-v2-2.jpg) AI Search How AIO Search Works for a Service Business With a Small Website AIO search, short for AI optimization, is the work of getting your business named in answers from Google's AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and similar tools. For a ... Oct 26, 2026](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/lab-experiments/how-aio-search-works-for-a-service-business-with-a-small-website) Done reading? Find your *citation gap.* Book a free AI Audit. We map exactly where you're invisible and what to fix first. 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[Privacy Policy & Terms](https://ai-marketinglabs.com/privacy-policy-terms-of-use) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Kelly Kranz", "url" : "https://ai-marketinglabs.com/lab-experiments/author/kelly-kranz" }, "dateModified" : "2026-10-26T18:29:12.693Z", "datePublished" : "2026-10-26T18:29:05.000Z", "headline" : "What Is AI Consulting, and How Is It Different From Buying Software?", "image" : [ "https://ai-marketinglabs.com/hubfs/what-is-ai-consulting-and-how-is-it-different-from-buying-software-1.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://ai-marketinglabs.com/lab-experiments/what-is-ai-consulting-and-how-is-it-different-from-buying-software", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://ai-marketinglabs.com/hubfs/logo-mark.svg" } } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "FAQPage", "mainEntity" : [ { "@type" : "Question", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "No. Plenty of consultants work one-on-one with owners on a single project. Ask whether they've worked with a business your size and what the smallest engagement they take looks like." }, "name" : "Is AI consulting only for big companies?" }, { "@type" : "Question", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "No. You need to know your own work: what the task is, who does it, and what a good result looks like. A good consultant explains the technical parts as you go." }, "name" : "Do I need technical skills to work with an AI consultant?" }, { "@type" : "Question", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "A developer builds what you specify. A consultant helps decide what to build, and may build it too. If you already know exactly what you need, a developer may be enough." }, "name" : "What's the difference between an AI consultant and an AI developer?" }, { "@type" : "Question", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "As long as the scope. Advice on one decision can take a session or two, while a build that connects several systems takes longer. You should see the scope and timing in writing before you pay." }, "name" : "How long does an AI consulting engagement last?" } ] } ```