Last updated April 13, 2026 · By Quiet Machines
A wave of "AI for advisors" consultancies appeared in 2024–2026. Some are good. Most are a slide deck, a monthly retainer, and a Zoom link. This page is the honest comparison — what agencies are good at, what we do differently, and when you should pick each.
Book a demo →The typical AI agency serving RIAs is three to eight people working on 15+ clients at once, mostly over Zoom. They're good at strategy decks, competitive analysis, and setting up a few initial tools. They charge a monthly retainer — usually $3K–$12K — and the work rarely ends with a trained team inside your firm. If you want consulting and a roadmap, an agency can be the right call.
Quiet Machines is the opposite of an agency. One person flies to your office on Sunday, spends Monday–Wednesday inside your firm watching how you actually work, and installs AI workflows wired to your real stack. You get an Operator Runbook, a trained team, and a phone number. No retainer. No team you've never met. No slide decks that don't get built.
| AI agencies | Quiet Machines | |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery model | Remote, monthly, recurring | On-site, 3-day residency, one-time install |
| Who does the work | A team of 3–8 working on 15+ clients | One human, on your floor, focused only on your firm |
| Primary deliverable | Strategy deck + some tool setup | Working AI workflows + a trained team + a runbook |
| Pricing model | $3K–$12K/mo retainer, open-ended | $50,000 flat. 8 months. All in. |
| Who trains your team | Video tutorials and async Slack | The same human who built it, two days in person |
| Do they know your workflows | Whatever they can gather on a discovery call | We watch them happen for 3 days on-site |
| SEC / NAIC compliance awareness | Usually bolted on later | Built in from day one |
| If you fire them in month 4 | You're left with a deck | You keep a fully installed system and a printed runbook |
| Who picks up the phone | A junior account manager | The person who built it |
No. $50,000 flat is less than a year of the typical agency retainer, and you get a fully installed system at the end — not a deck. Most clients have spent more than $50K on agencies that produced less.
We offer Lights-On month-to-month after the 90-day engagement — but only if you want it. Most clients don't need it. The runbook is designed so your team can operate the system without us.
An embedded agency consultant still reports to an agency with 15 other clients. The QM residency is one person focused only on your firm for the full three days, and the 90-day runway afterward is with that same person.
The visibility audit is free and takes about 30 minutes of your time. That's the trial. If the audit doesn't surface real gaps, there's no reason to move forward.
When the firm only needs the one capability a generic AI agency provides and doesn't want a broader installed system. If your only gap is meeting-note capture, Jump or Zocks is faster to deploy than a full QM install. If you have six gaps, an installed system pays back faster.
Yes, and many of our clients do. We're tool-agnostic — we'll wire a generic AI agency into the broader stack if you already pay for it. The workflows don't replace point tools; they connect and orchestrate them.
You don't switch — you add. Keep a generic AI agency running while we install. After 60 days, decide whether a generic AI agency is still earning its monthly fee. Most firms keep it for the workflow it's best at and let QM handle the rest.
Quiet Machines: $50,000 install + ~$2,500/mo optional retainer = $80,000 over 24 months. a generic AI agency's typical SaaS pricing in this category runs $300-1,500/mo per seat, so a 5-seat firm is at $36K-180K over the same window. Apples to oranges — different scope — but the math is comparable.
We run a free Digital Visibility & AI-Readiness Audit on your firm. You'll see exactly where you stand — and whether a tool, a team, or a residency is the right next step.
Book a demo →