How to Choose an AI Agency in 2026: The Guide
Execution or advice, certification, quantified proof, published pricing, code ownership: the five criteria that separate a real AI agency from a slide-seller — and the questions to ask before you sign.
AI audit methodologies, concrete use cases, triple ROI, field feedback from our SME clients. For leaders who want to embrace AI without getting lost.
Execution or advice, certification, quantified proof, published pricing, code ownership: the five criteria that separate a real AI agency from a slide-seller — and the questions to ask before you sign.
An audit from €2,000, an AI Partnership at €399 or €699/mo, Custom Development from €3,000: here is the real AI budget for an SME in 2026, from first diagnostic to ROI — no made-up numbers, no "contact us".
Nobody publishes their prices for AI development — so executives end up comparing quotes that vary tenfold, with no framework to make sense of them. Here is ours: the market's 3 pricing models with their real ranges, what makes a quote vary, our transparent pricing from €3,000 excl. VAT, the method, and realistic timelines.
We're often asked what our best offering is. It's neither the most expensive nor the most technical: it's the one that took the longest to emerge, shaped by fieldwork. Here's the story of the AI Partnership — and why we believe it's the truest expression of our expertise.
For local authorities, municipalities and public institutions, AI is not a technical issue — it is a matter of law, politics and trust. Sovereignty, GDPR, the French Public Procurement Code: three constraints that rule out 80% of the solutions on the market. Here is the approach we built with Experts Publics, and how to transpose it.
Before paying for an AI Partnership at 399 or 699 €/mo, an SMB leader needs to know where they truly stand. Here is the 5-dimension self-assessment method we use at Codito, the concrete scoring grid, the 3 typical profiles we encounter — and how the AI Partnership adapts to the score you get.
"AI training", "AI coaching", "AI partnership": three terms that business leaders often use as synonyms, when they cover very different realities. Here is what sets them apart in practice, what each one delivers (and doesn't fix), and why, for an SME, the right monthly format combines coaching for the leader AND ongoing training for the team.
One-off AI Audit or monthly AI Partnership: where should an SME leader start in 2026? An honest comparison of Codito's two offers, 3 typical SME profiles and the right offer for each, and why it's almost never one OR the other.
Hire a Head of AI at 90 k€/year, bring in an AI consultant at 6,000 €/month, or go without: the classic dilemma facing SME leaders in 2026. There is a third path most people overlook — the monthly AI Partnership at 399 €/month — that solves both extremes. A candid, numbers-based comparison, with no bashing.
Generative AI is 4 years old; your SME is 20. To avoid missing the turn without burning €50k on ill-suited tools, there is a hybrid format between the one-off engagement and hiring an in-house expert: the monthly AI Partnership. Codito offers 2 tiers: Essential at 399 €/mo for the leader who wants to structure their thinking, and Premium at 699 €/mo for those who want to bring their teams along and install AI agents they can run on their own.
The 3 mistakes SMEs make with AI, Codito's 5-step method (Information Trinity, Triple ROI, Maturity Score), what we uncover in 90% of audits, and the typical ROI in hard numbers from a real client case.