The real cost of an AI coworker (everything on the table, including hidden costs)
Most AI customer service comparisons only look at monthly fees, but true TCO (total cost of ownership) also includes setup, training, KB maintenance, and handling wrong answers. This article lays out all the costs of Satsuma's three tiers, and even runs the comparison against a full-time employee.
TL;DR
All plan pricing public, nothing hidden — because vague quotes are the worst thing about this industry:
- Lite: from NT$3,000/month. Live in 1 week, 30 KB entries, 1 channel. For testing the waters.
- Starter(recommended ⭐): NT$50,000 setup + NT$5,000/month. Live in 3 weeks, 80–150 KB entries, two channels, quarterly audits.
- Pro: NT$200,000 setup + NT$15,000/month. 6–8 weeks, 200+ KB entries, CRM integration, monthly audit + ROI dashboard.
- Three-year TCO vs SaaS: Starter totals NT$230K over three years; comparable-quality SaaS often exceeds NT$300K.
- Compared to a full-time agent: a full-time customer service agent earns NT$400K–600K/year; Pro is NT$360K/year and never sleeps.
Conclusion first:
Lite 3,000 元/月起 試水溫、單渠道、通用人格
Starter 建置 50K + 5K/月 客製人格、訪談式 KB、每季 audit
Pro 建置 200K + 15K/月 多渠道、CRM 整合、每月 audit
Custom 詢價 遊戲、訂閱、特殊產業
Below, I'll break down why we price this way, what each plan actually delivers, how it compares to other options, and how to calculate hidden costs —all laid out in full。
The article is long (4,000 words), but reading it will save you evaluation time.
Why publish prices on the website?
Most custom vendors hide their quotes and only share them after a demo. The reason: "afraid competitors will copy, afraid clients will be scared off」。
We chose to publish, for the opposite reasons:
- Filter clients: those whose budget is too low leave immediately after seeing prices,saving your demo time and our briefing time
- Clients with budget trust us more: seeing transparent pricing, they know you're not the type thatgouges big spenders when one walks in」
- Pricing is positioning: publishing "we start at NT$50K" declares that "we don't take SaaS-tier standard projects」
Lite: from NT$3,000/month
Who this plan is for: - Small brands, just starting out, want to test the waters - Monthly interaction volume < 1,500 - No need for "brand-customized persona" - Budget ceiling NT$5,000/month
What's included: - 1 channel (Web widget or LINE OA, pick one) - Knowledge base capped at 30 entries (you organize, we deploy) - Generic persona (can rename, but no custom personality / taboos / opening) - 1,500 conversations/month - Email handoff notifications (no two-way TG) - Basic backend chat log - Live in 1 week
What's not included: - ❌ No interview (we deploy what you give us) - ❌ No custom persona (character design) - ❌ No regular audits (KB maintenance is your job) - ❌ No TG / human two-way takeover - ❌ No multilingual, no multi-role
→ This is the "cost-tier" plan. The price is close to SaaS-tier, and what you get is close to SaaS-tier too.We're upfront about it。
Starter: NT$50,000 setup + NT$5,000/month
Who this plan is for: - Mid-sized brands with a brand book, who want AI aligned with brand tone - Monthly interaction volume 1,500–5,000 - Want AI that "speaks our company's voice" - Budget NT$50K–100K setup, NT$5K–10K monthly
What NT$50K setup includes(3-week delivery)
Week 1: Brief + 訪談
- 30-90 分鐘 brief 確認需求
- 1-2 場訪談(我們進場聊你公司,挖出你品牌調性、語氣、禁忌)
- 整理「人格設計書」給你確認
Week 2: 知識庫建立
- 你提供的資料(官網、產品說明、SOP、過往客服紀錄)整理
- 80-150 條向量知識庫
- 切段、embedding、index 全部做完
- 開始小範圍內部測試
Week 3: 上線 + 微調
- 接 Web widget 跟 LINE(雙渠道)
- TG 雙向中繼設定(你在 TG 對 AI 通知按 reply,自動回給客戶)
- 內部 sandbox 跑 50 個 query 確認品質
- 正式上線 + 你自己驗收一週
What NT$5K monthly includes
- 主機 + 模型呼叫 + 知識庫向量索引維護
- 每季一次 audit(我們進場 1-2 小時):
* 看 chat log 跑出 "AI 答不出來" 的 top 30 問題
* 補進 KB
* 重新建 embedding
* 給你 audit 報告
- 後台:基本 chat log + gaps 報告
- 出問題 24 小時內回應
Not included (add-ons):: - Multilingual (English / Japanese +NT$30K setup + NT$2K/month per language) - API SDK (lets your system pull from KB, +NT$30K) - Monthly instead of quarterly audits (upgrade to Pro)
Pro: NT$200,000 setup + NT$15,000/month
Who this plan is for: - Large brands, multi-brand, multi-market - Monthly interaction volume 5,000+ - CRM / ERP integration needed, so AI knows customer membership tier, purchase history, event participation - Budget NT$200K–500K setup, NT$15K–30K monthly
What NT$200K setup includes(6–8 week delivery)
Phase 1: 策略 + 多角色設計(2 週)
- 多場訪談 + 文獻研究
- 設計「角色 family」(例如:客服小愛、銷售小銅、技術小綠)
- 各自人格、語氣、邊界
Phase 2: 深度知識庫(3 週)
- 200+ 條向量知識庫
- 多語版本(預設中 + 英,加日越要加錢)
- CRM 整合:客戶身份識別、會員等級注入對話 context
Phase 3: 完整工單系統 + 後台(2 週)
- Agent 接管後台(類似 Zendesk 但專屬你)
- 即時對話監控
- ROI dashboard(對話量、轉換、客單影響)
- 多渠道(Web + LINE + Telegram + Email + 自家 App API)
Phase 4: 上線 + 培訓(1 週)
- 你公司客服團隊培訓(怎麼用後台、什麼時候手動接管)
- 1 個月的 hyper-care 階段(我們密集監控)
What NT$15K monthly includes
- 多角色運維 + CRM 連線維護
- 每月主動 audit(2-4 小時):
* 完整 chat log 分析
* Hot lead 識別模型調整
* KB 補洞 + 重建 embedding
* 多語 KB 同步更新
- 客戶服務團隊 quarterly 培訓 (1 hr 線上)
- 即時 dashboard + 每月 ROI 報告
- 出問題 SLA 2 小時內回應
Custom: contact for pricing
When Custom fits: - Gaming industry (complex player behavior, real-time game state queries) - Subscription services / membership (deep subscription system integration) - Multi-market (Southeast Asia, Japan/Korea, Europe/US) - Self-hosted LLM (sensitive data can't go to cloud) - 24/7 SLA + on-site engineer
Price range: NT$20K–100K+ per month, NT$300K–1.5M setup.
→ Just ask for a quote— actual scope is only clear after the brief.
Add-ons (can stack on any plan)
| Add-on | Setup add | Monthly add | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Each additional language (English / Japanese / Vietnamese...) | +30K | +2K | Cross-border brands |
| Voice / Avatar animation | +50K | +2K | Demo settings that need to wow |
| API SDK (your system can pull from KB) | +30K | +1K | Want to extend across channels |
| Annual retainer (quarterly review + strategy consulting) | — | Monthly fee ×1.5 | Large clients |
Comparison 1: three-year TCO vs SaaS
Mid-sized brand scenario (3,000 monthly interactions, two channels, long-term operation):
| Plan | Setup | Monthly | Three-year total TCO | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pure mid-tier SaaS | 0 | 8,000 | 288,000 | Templated features |
| OpenAI + DIY (hire an engineer) | 80,000 | 6,000 | NT$296,000 + your time | Semi-custom, self-operated |
| Satsuma Starter | 50,000 | 5,000 | 230,000 | Custom persona, interview, TG two-way, quarterly audits |
| Satsuma Pro | 200,000 | 15,000 | 740,000 | Multi-role, CRM integration, multilingual, real-time dashboard |
Starter's three-year total cost is 20% lower than SaaS, and what's delivered is a completely different tier.
Comparison 2: vs a full-time customer service agent
A comparison many people miss.
A full-time customer service employee: - Monthly salary NT$35,000 - Labor/health insurance + pension contribution: + ~NT$5,000 - Benefits (year-end bonus 1 month, paid leave, health checks): monthly amortized + ~NT$3,500 - Training + recruitment + turnover costs (annual amortized): + ~NT$2,000 - Real monthly cost ~NT$45,500 - Hours: Mon–Fri 9am–6pm,40 hours/week - Can't do 24/7, can't do holidays, takes sick leave, will eventually quit
Satsuma Starter AI coworker: - NT$5,000 monthly operations - 24/7 on duty, no leave, no turnover, no retraining - Can't fully replace humans (complex emotions / complaints / legal issues still need handoff) - Real monthly cost ~NT$5,000
→ About 0.11 of a full-time employee's cost, buthandles 80% of standard inquiries(humans handle the remaining 20%)
If your agents waste 50% of their time answering standard FAQs daily, Starter saves you0.4 of an employee's time within 12 months.
Hidden costs (most people don't count these)
Quote sheet numbers are just "surface costs". The real calculation also includes:
Hidden costs of using SaaS
| Item | Estimate |
|---|---|
| Learning the tool / onboarding | 1–2 weeks of your internal time |
| Self-maintaining KB (4–8 hours/month) | 36 months × 6 = 216 hours |
| Handling complaints from wrong answers | ~30 min each, ~5 times/month = 150 min |
| Major overhaul every six months (KB restructure) | ~8 hours each |
| Three-year hidden cost total | ~280–350 hours of internal time |
× assuming your hourly rate is NT$1,500 = NT$420,000+ hidden labor cost
Hidden costs of using Starter custom plan
| Item | Estimate |
|---|---|
| Brief and interview | One-time ~5 hours of your time |
| Providing materials | One-time ~3–5 hours |
| Reviewing backend weekly | ~30 min × 52 × 3 = 78 hours |
| Three-year hidden cost total | ~85 hours of internal time |
× NT$1,500 = NT$127,500 hidden labor cost
Starter's hidden cost is only 30% of SaaS. The reason:We handle the KB maintenance for you, you only need to check the backend.
ROI: when does it pay back?
Let's actually run the numbers. Mid-sized brand:
Situation: 50 partnership inquiries per month, previously via form, 60% reply rate within 7 days, 30 enter brief, 5 sign on, average NT$80,000 per project.
After installing AI coworker (Starter): - 100% instant reply rate (AI 24/7) - Inquiry completeness improves (AI collects needs while chatting) - Brief entry goes from 30 to 40 (because unsuitable clients are filtered out early by AI, suitable ones are more precise) - Sign-on rate rises: 5 → 8/month (higher brief quality, aligned expectations)
→ +3 projects/month × NT$80,000 = NT$240,000 in new monthly revenue
→ Starter NT$5K monthly operations is less than 2% of new revenue
→ NT$50K setup investmentpays back in the first month with room to spare
(The above is a mid-sized brand scenario estimate; actual figures vary by industry and ticket size)
Who this isn't for
Please go elsewhere: - Monthly inquiry volume < 100 → Starter investment isn't worth it, even Lite is overkill.Just use humans - Pure e-commerce standard support (orders / returns / shipping) → BotBonnie / Super 8 entry-tier is enough - Unwilling to spend time on interviews and providing materials → custom has no shortcuts - Just want "a screenshot on the website to look on-trend" → we don't take these
"Not taking low-end cases" is our company's discipline. Low-end cases kill brands, and they kill clients too — expectations misalign, the deliverable causes arguments.
How to start
- Want to test the waters:Xiao Ai — try it hands-on, see which tier fits you
- Brief us directly:Fill out the partnership form, 30-minute brief is free, same-day feasibility opinion
- Not sure: read:
- AI customer service selection guide — see which type you should pick
- Don't buy AI customer service SaaS anymore — see why the SaaS route is wrong
Satsuma Creative
Integrated marketing creative agency. Our pricing is public, because filtering for the right clients matters more than keeping all clients.