You turn on a new AI tool on a Tuesday. People like it, and nobody thinks about it again until the invoice lands. Then someone in finance forwards it with one line: "What is this?" Nobody can say which work it paid for, who asked for it, or whether next month will be bigger.

That’s why "how much does an AI employee cost" is a harder question than it looks. The monthly price is the easy part. The real question is whether you can see the cost while the work happens, put a ceiling on it, and explain every line afterwards. Here is how HeyBob makes the answer yes, and where the limits are.

How much does an AI employee cost?

HeyBob is one price for the whole workspace, with no per-seat charge. Everyone draws from one pool of credits, and a credit is worth about a fifth of a cent.

  • Flex: from $75 a month for 40,000 credits up to $1,425 a month for 1,200,000. Bob pays for the AI models. 40,000 credits is roughly 200 to 290 questions a month at a typical size.
  • Bring your own keys: $349 a month flat. Your own Anthropic and OpenAI keys, so model spend goes to your provider at your rates. Runs still use credits at the normal rate, with 1,000,000 credits a month included.
  • End-of-year offer: new plans are half price on each monthly bill through December 31, 2026 (Flex from $37.50, bring your own keys $174.50), then full price. Top-up packs aren’t discounted.

A typical question takes an estimated 140 to 200 credits, and a scheduled job usually costs the same or less, depending on its model. Unused credits roll over one month. Top-up packs are $40 for 20,000 credits and never expire. The pricing page has the full ladder.

A receipt under every job

Every finished job ends with a receipt next to the work: credits used, how long it took, how many steps Bob took, and which model did the thinking. If someone approved a sensitive action, the receipt says who. Ask "what ran this week" and Bob adds them up, scheduled jobs included.

When credits come back to you, for example because a job failed on our side, that job's line on the Usage, Runs and Schedules pages shows what it used, what was refunded, and what you paid. No working out a net figure across two screens.

If Bob gets something wrong, press Not right? Rerun free under his answer. Each job can be redone free once, and a workspace gets five free reruns each billing month.

AI agent cost control: caps you set

A workspace cap. An admin sets a monthly limit in credits. At 80% of it, Bob warns in the thread, once per billing period. At the cap, he won’t start new jobs, and he says an admin can raise it.

A cap per person. An admin can set a default monthly cap for everyone and a different number for anyone. On bring your own keys, each person starts at 200,000 credits a month, and admins can change it. A person's cap covers what they ask Bob for directly. Schedules and other automations count against the workspace cap.

When someone reaches their own cap, Bob holds the request instead of dropping it. A member gets one button to ask an admin, and each admin gets the ask with a button that raises that person's cap. Once it’s raised, Bob picks the held request back up on his own.

Out of credits, with the next step on screen

When the workspace runs out, Bob holds the request and says what jobs like it usually take. What he offers depends on who you are:

  • An admin on the free trial sees the plans right there, with a one-off credit pack as the smaller option.
  • An admin on a paid plan sees a credit pack to top up.
  • Anyone else gets one click to ask an admin.

In the HeyBob app, the card's prices are the ones checkout charges, and if someone buys a plan in another window, the open card updates to match. Once credits land, the held request starts by itself. If nothing arrives within 24 hours, Bob lets it go and you aren’t charged.

The jobs nobody is watching

A schedule that overlaps itself. If a schedule's last run is still going when its next time comes round, Bob skips that time instead of starting a second copy. A skipped time costs nothing. After three skips in a row, Bob tells the person who set it up that it may need a longer gap.

Pages that refresh. A page Bob built keeps itself up to date on a schedule. If a refresh is skipped because the workspace is out of credits, the admins get one message a day naming the page, with the button that fixes it. Schedules and other automations that stop for credits get the same notice, so quiet work never stops quietly.

People pick a model, inside your limits

Bigger models cost more credits. Until someone chooses, Bob picks a model for each job. In the HeyBob app, the Usage page shows your limits and the models you can use, and you can pick your own default there, or go back to Auto. When you set up a schedule, Bob suggests the cheapest model that fits it.

On the Models page, an admin chooses which models anyone may use, sets a workspace default, and can give one person a shorter list. The page labels each model with how its credit cost compares, so the trade-off is visible before anyone picks.

Meetings at half price

The HeyBob app also takes meeting notes, with no bot joining the call. Transcripts and notes use credits from the same pool at half the usual rate, about 500 credits for an hour, and the app shows what each meeting cost.

A ledger you can hand to finance

The Activity page in the HeyBob console lists every action Bob took: when, what he did, whether it worked, how long it took, who it was for, and which job it belonged to. An admin can download it as a CSV for any date range of up to a year, with the same columns in the same plain words. So when the "what is this?" email comes, the answer is a file, not a guess.

Honest limits

  • A running job finishes. The cap stops new work, not a job halfway through, so a long job can carry you a little past it.
  • Up-front costs are estimates. The receipt is the real figure.
  • A schedule with nothing to report still uses credits. It posts no receipt, so ask "what ran this week".

Common questions

How much does an AI employee cost per month?

HeyBob starts at $75 a month for the whole workspace, which buys 40,000 credits, with no per-seat charge. New plans are half price, $37.50 a month, through December 31, 2026. Bring your own keys is $349 a month with 1,000,000 credits included.

Can an AI agent run up a surprise bill?

Not past the cap you set for new work. Bob warns at 80% of the workspace cap and will not start new jobs at it, and you can cap each person too.

Do I pay when Bob gets it wrong?

No. Press Not right? Rerun free and he redoes it at no cost, once per job, up to five times per workspace each billing month.

Can I export what Bob did for an audit?

Yes. A workspace admin can download the Activity ledger as a CSV for any date range of up to 366 days.

How much do meeting notes cost?

Half the usual rate, from the same credit pool: about 500 credits for an hour of meeting.

Want to see what a real job costs? Add Bob to Slack or get the HeyBob app, hand him one task off last week's list, and read the receipt. The trial is $100 of work on us. More on credits and spending caps, choosing a model, and bringing your own keys.