Can you really make money with an AI agency?
Clients do pay for AI automation work: YunoJuno reports an average of $78 an hour. We found no survey of what agencies earn, and a rate is not an income.
What an AI agency is
An AI agency sells work to clients, such as building automations or AI agents for a business. Its income is what clients pay, less its costs.
What the rates look like
| Source | Figure | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| YunoJuno, 2025 | $78 an hour, £472 a day | Average for AI and automation contractors on its platform |
| YunoJuno, by level | $76 Senior, $148 Director | Average hourly rate by experience |
| Bet on AI | $95 to $235 an hour | Solo operators, from 54 freelance invoices |
| Taskip | $1,500 to $12,000 a build | A buyer’s guide to one-off automation builds |
| Bet on AI | $1,800 to $26,000 a project | Its flat-fee project ranges; $1,800 to $4,500 for one client-intake build |
These sources differ, and 2 of them are guides. A rate is what a client pays for an hour or a build: none of these figures is an agency’s yearly income.
What the tools cost
Tools have a price too. n8n, one of the automation tools, lists a plan at €20 a month, billed annually, for 2,500 workflow executions.
Where the FTC comes in
The FTC says one scheme falsely claimed its AI-powered tools would help people quickly earn thousands of dollars a month in passive income, and that it took at least $25 million. See our AI truth check.
Before you start
- A rate says nothing about how many hours clients buy.
- We found no survey of what AI agencies earn.
- If someone sells you the agency model, ask what their buyers really earned.
“Never pay anyone to get paid, or to get a job. That’s a sure sign of a scam.”US Federal Trade Commission
Read next
Sources
- YunoJuno: AI and automation contractor rates 2026, checked 5 Nov 2026
- Bet on AI: AI automation rate card 2026, checked 5 Nov 2026
- Taskip: AI automation agency cost, checked 5 Nov 2026
- n8n: plans and pricing, checked 5 Nov 2026
- FTC: crackdown on deceptive AI claims and schemes (25 Sep 2024), checked 5 Nov 2026
- FTC: how to spot and avoid task scams (Aug 2025), checked 5 Nov 2026