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What an AI governance assessment costs, and what you get

By Gary Trautmann · · AI governance · AI audit · pricing · procurement

Buyers ask this constantly and almost no one answers it plainly. Search for “how much does an AI audit cost” and you get ranges so wide they are useless, or a contact form. So here is the direct version of what independent AI governance work costs at this practice, what each tier includes, and what actually moves the number.

The short answer

  • Governance Diagnostic: free. A 10-question read of your AI governance maturity, with a written assessment and prioritized next steps.
  • Governance Readiness Assessment: $8,000 to $12,000. A fixed fee, typically over 2 to 3 weeks.
  • Advisory Retainer: $3,000 to $5,000 per month. Ongoing governance review on retainer.

Fixed fees, scoped up front. You know the number before the work starts.

What each tier includes

Governance Diagnostic (free)

Ten questions, about ten minutes, self-serve. It returns a tier classification (Operational, Partial, Decorative, or Gap) and the two or three things to address first. Many organizations run it once, get their bearings, and do not need anything else. It exists to answer “do we even have a problem” before anyone spends money.

Governance Readiness Assessment ($8,000 to $12,000)

The core engagement. A structured assessment of what your AI governance can actually sustain under scrutiny:

  • Document review: policies, model cards, vendor contracts, training records, incident logs.
  • Stakeholder interviews: who owns what, how decisions are made, where accountability breaks down.
  • TRACE scoring: a dimension-by-dimension rating across Traceability, Responsibility, Authority, Change, and Evidence.
  • A written report: findings, gap analysis, and a prioritized remediation roadmap you can hand to a regulator, a board, or an acquirer.

The deliverable is a defensible document, not a slide deck.

Advisory Retainer ($3,000 to $5,000 per month)

For organizations in active deployment that want a standing outside view: review of model launches, vendor selection, and policy changes, plus availability for fast-turnaround questions. Typically a few hours of structured review per month. It is the option for maintaining a posture rather than establishing one.

What drives the price

Within the assessment range, the number is a function of scope, not negotiation:

  • How many systems are in scope. One flagship model is different work from a portfolio of fifteen.
  • How much evidence already exists. A team with current model cards and test records is faster to assess than one starting from email threads.
  • How tangled the claims are. When marketing, contracts, and engineering describe the system three different ways, reconciling them takes longer.
  • Who needs the output. A report for an internal team is lighter than one built to withstand a regulator or a buyer’s due-diligence team.

Scope is agreed before the engagement starts, which is why the fee is fixed rather than hourly.

How it compares

To put the numbers in context:

  • AI governance platforms typically run in the tens of thousands per year and up; the enterprise tier is often in the $50,000 to $200,000 per year range. That is software to manage governance over time, not an independent assessment of whether your systems are defensible. (More on that distinction in audit or platform.)
  • Big Four AI assurance is credible but heavier: larger engagements, longer timelines, and the conflict that comes from a firm that also sells you implementation or strategy.

An independent fixed-fee assessment sits deliberately below both: fast, scoped, and with no stake in the tools or the outcome.

What it is not

The fee does not buy software, a subscription, or an implementation project. We do not build AI systems or sell models. You are paying for an independent judgment about what your AI does versus what you claim it does, written down in a form you can defend. The independence is the product.

Where to start

The cheapest first step is free: the 10-question diagnostic tells you which tier your systems fall into and whether a full assessment is even warranted. If you already know you need the documented version, tell us about the system and we will scope a fixed fee.