Most automation vendors charge you monthly. Forever. Even after the work is done, the system is running, and nobody’s touched it in six months. You keep paying because if you stop, your automations disappear. We think that model is broken. Not evil—just misaligned with what’s actually best for the customer. Here’s why we do things differently, and why automation ownership should matter to you when you’re evaluating vendors.
Key Takeaways
- Most automation vendors charge monthly subscriptions—even after the work is done
- Subscriptions create dependency: stop paying, lose your automations
- Our model: fixed scope, fixed fee, you own everything we build
- In 3 years, would you rather still be paying monthly or own it outright?
This isn’t a philosophical argument. It’s a financial one. The difference between renting your automations and owning them adds up to thousands of dollars over just a few years. And it changes the entire dynamic of the vendor relationship—from dependency to partnership.
The Subscription Model Problem
Here’s how most automation vendors work: they scope your project, build the automations, get everything running, and then charge you a monthly fee to keep it all active. That fee might be $200/month, $500/month, or more depending on the complexity.
Month one, that feels reasonable. You just got a bunch of new automations, things are working, and the vendor is monitoring everything. Month six, you notice the automations are running fine and nobody’s touched them in weeks. Month twelve, you’re paying the same amount for a system that’s been on autopilot since month three.
By year three, you’ve paid $7,200 to $18,000 for automations that cost a fraction of that to build. And if you stop paying? They stop working. The vendor controls the platform, the credentials, or the hosting—and your automations disappear.
That’s not a service. That’s a lease with no buyout option.
Why Vendors Love Subscriptions
To be fair, let’s understand why this model exists. It’s not because vendors are trying to scam you. There are real business reasons:
Predictable Revenue
Monthly fees mean steady cash flow for the vendor. That’s good for their business—but it’s not necessarily good for yours.
Built-In Dependency
When your automations only run on their platform, you can’t leave. High switching costs keep customers locked in even when they’re unhappy.
Complexity Incentive
More features and complexity justify a higher monthly price. The incentive is to build more, not to build what you actually need.
None of these are evil. They’re just business incentives that don’t align with what’s best for you as the customer. When the vendor makes more money by keeping you dependent, the relationship is fundamentally lopsided.
Why No Subscription Automation Is Better for Your Business
Let’s flip the incentives. Here’s what happens when the vendor doesn’t charge monthly:
Costs stop accumulating. You pay for the work. The work gets done. Your automations run. That’s it. No monthly meter ticking. No annual renewal negotiations. No wondering if you’re still getting value for the fee.
You own everything. The automations, the documentation, the monitoring setup—it’s all yours. If you want to modify something, hire someone else, or bring it in-house, you can. Nothing disappears.
The vendor has to earn your next dollar. Without a subscription, the only way we get more business from you is by delivering enough value that you come back for the next project. That’s a healthy dynamic. It keeps us focused on doing great work, not on maintaining a revenue stream.
No hostage situation. If you’re unhappy, you walk away with everything intact. That’s a powerful negotiating position—and it’s one subscription models are specifically designed to take away from you.
The math: A vendor charges $300/month for automation management. In year one, that’s $3,600. Year two: $7,200. Year three: $10,800. A fixed-fee project that costs $4,000–$6,000 upfront breaks even by month 14–20—and every month after that is free. Over three years, you save $5,000–$7,000. Over five years, the gap widens to $12,000+.
Want to see what fixed-fee automation looks like for your specific workflows?
Our Model: Fixed Scope, Fixed Fee, You Own It
Here’s exactly how we work:
We scope the work upfront. Before any money changes hands, we define exactly what’s being built, what it does, and what’s included. No ambiguity, no open-ended engagements.
You pay a fixed fee. One project, one price. If the scope is complex, we break it into phases—each with its own fixed price. You always know what you’re spending before we start.
Everything we build is yours. The automations, the documentation, the monitoring configuration. It’s handed over to you. If we part ways tomorrow, nothing breaks and nothing disappears.
Documentation is included. Not an add-on. Not “available for extra.” Every project comes with plain-English documentation so you—or anyone else—can understand what’s running.
“But What About Ongoing Support?”
This is the fair question. If there’s no subscription, what happens when you need something changed? When a tool updates its API? When you want to add a new workflow?
The answer is simple: you hire us again. New scope, new project, new fixed fee. The same way you’d call a plumber for a new job—you don’t pay them monthly just because they fixed your sink last year.
The core automation runs without us. It doesn’t need monthly babysitting. If you want changes, additions, or expansions, those are new projects. You pay for what you need, when you need it. Not a monthly retainer “just in case.”
And because everything is documented, you’re not locked in to coming back to us. If another vendor is a better fit for the next project, they can pick up where we left off. That’s what ownership means.
The Real Question: Own or Rent?
In three years, do you want to be paying monthly for the same automations? Or do you want to own them outright, running on your systems, documented and transferable?
It’s the same question you’d ask about any business asset. You wouldn’t lease a drill press forever when you could buy one and own it. Your automations are no different—they’re tools your business depends on, and you should own them.
Subscriptions make sense for products that are constantly evolving—software you use daily, platforms that add new features every month. But your invoice automation? Your missed call text-back? Your follow-up sequence? Those are built once, tuned once, and then they run. Paying monthly for something that doesn’t change monthly doesn’t make sense.
See Our Pricing: Fixed, Transparent, No Surprises
We believe the best vendor relationship is one where both sides are choosing to work together—not one where the customer is stuck because leaving means losing their automations.
Book a free 15-minute workflow fit check. We’ll walk through your current automation needs, give you a clear fixed-fee quote, and explain exactly what you’d own when the project is done.
No contracts. No subscriptions. No pressure. Just automations that work—and that belong to you.
