Guide · Cost
How much does an AI audit cost for a UK retailer or small business? (2026)
Published prices for an AI audit for a UK small business run from about £750 to £15,000, depending on the size of the business and how deep the audit goes. Big 4 readiness audits start around £50,000. Niddy's AI Audit costs £1,495 fixed, takes five days with minimal client time, and carries a guarantee: ten times the fee in estimated annual value identified, or the fee back.
AI audit prices by size of business
| Business | Typical published price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Sole trader or under 10 staff | £750 to £2,500 | Lilach Bullock, Aug 2026 |
| 10 to 50 staff, several departments | £2,500 to £8,000 | Lilach Bullock, Aug 2026 |
| Agency-run audits | £5,000 to £15,000 or more | Lilach Bullock, Aug 2026 |
| 50 to 200 staff, audit and plan | £3,500 to £15,000 | We Call Shotgun, Aug 2026 |
| Strategy and assessment, 4 to 8 weeks | £8,000 to £25,000 | Whitehat, Mar 2026 |
| Big 4 readiness audit | £50,000 or more | We Call Shotgun, Aug 2026 |
| Niddy AI Audit, any size | £1,495 fixed | Our pricing |
For an independent retailer, the small-business ranges are the right comparison. Mid-sized retailers with several sites or channels tend to fall in the strategy and assessment band, and national chains in the large-firm band. That mapping is our reading of the published prices, not a figure from the sources.
What a good AI audit includes
- Your own numbers, not a questionnaire alone. Read-only access to your sales, marketing, stock and admin data, reconciled to source.
- Every option, including doing nothing. A useful audit says when the right answer is a tool you already own, or no change at all.
- A ranked plan. What to build, buy or wait on, in order, with the expected value of each.
- Identified value stated as identified. Savings an audit finds are estimates until the change is made and measured. A good report keeps the two apart.
- A report you keep. You should be able to act on it with or without the consultant.
What our AI Audit includes
Five working days, minimal time from you. We go through your sales, marketing, stock and admin using your own data, then hand you a build, buy or wait roadmap. If it doesn't identify at least ten times the fee in estimated annual value, you get the fee back. The report is yours to keep, and the fee credits in full against your first Sprint or first month of ongoing work, for 60 days.
In one audit for an independent UK retailer, we flagged £20,000 to £35,000 a year of marketing spend to stop or redirect, before any AI went in. Read the case study.
Five questions to ask before you buy an audit
- Will you work from my actual numbers, or only from a questionnaire?
- Is the price fixed, and what exactly do I get at the end?
- Will the plan tell me when not to spend money?
- What happens if the audit doesn't find enough value?
- Is the audit a sales pitch for something else you sell?
AI audit or free readiness check?
A free online readiness check, like our AI Readiness Score, takes a few minutes and tells you roughly where you stand. It can't tell you where the money is. An audit looks at your real numbers and ends with a plan you can act on.
Want an audit priced at £1,495, with the fee back if it doesn't find ten times that?
or email hello@niddy.co.uk
Questions we get asked
How much does an AI audit cost for a small business in the UK?
Published prices run from about £750 to £15,000 depending on size and depth. Niddy's AI Audit is £1,495 fixed for any size of business.
How long does an AI audit take?
Ours takes five days with minimal time from you. Published guides quote anything from a few days to eight weeks for larger strategy and assessment work.
Is an AI audit worth it?
It's worth it if it finds more than it costs and tells you what not to spend money on. Ours carries a guarantee: ten times the fee in estimated annual value identified, or the fee back.
What happens after the audit?
You can act on the plan yourself, or we build the workflows one at a time in fixed-fee Sprints of £2,950 per workflow.