If you are setting an AI budget for 2026 at a B2B mid-market company, this is the rule-of-thumb guide. Real numbers from real engagements — license, implementation, training, internal time — broken down by company size and what each tier buys you.
| Company size | Year 1 total AI spend | What it buys |
|---|---|---|
| Under 10 people | \$2K-\$8K | Personal LLM seats + light internal time. No external help. |
| 10-30 people | \$10K-\$30K | Team LLM seats + first implementation engagement + light training. |
| 30-50 people | \$20K-\$60K | Team or Enterprise seats + 2-3 implementation engagements across functions + structured training. |
| 50-100 people | \$40K-\$120K | Enterprise platform + multi-function rollout + dedicated AI lead time + external implementation partner. |
| 100-250 people | \$80K-\$300K | Enterprise platform + cross-functional rollout + dedicated AI ops role + outside help as needed. |
These numbers assume the LLM platform path (Claude Team/Enterprise or ChatGPT Team/Enterprise). Budgets balloon 5-20x if you go the custom-build path. For most $5M-$50M companies, the LLM platform path is the right answer.
Claude Team / ChatGPT Team: ~\$30/user/month. Enterprise tiers: variable, typically \$50-\$100/user/month. Provision for the whole affected function, not just the AI lead.
External help for the first 1-3 workflows: \$5K-\$50K typical for mid-market. Compresses time-to-value by 2-3 months. Often the best dollar spent.
Internal training time + optional external trainer: \$0-\$10K. Most teams underspend here. Workflow-specific training (not generic AI training) is what produces adoption.
If you allocate 8-12 hrs/week of someone's time, that's \$25K-\$50K of fully-loaded cost over 6 months. It is a real cost; budget for it explicitly.
Tools you discover, training refreshes, new workflows. 15-20% on top of the above.
The single best AI budget decision at most companies: protect 8-12 hours/week of one capable operator's time, with a real mandate to lead rollout, for at least 6 months. Sometimes you need to pay this person more or restructure their role; sometimes you hire someone specifically. Either way, this is the highest-ROI line item in the budget.