An AI automation agency typically wires together existing tools (Zapier, Make, n8n, off-the-shelf AI APIs) to automate specific workflows, quickly and cheaply. An AI consultancy starts with the business problem, prices the opportunity, and designs the right fix, which may be a light automation, bespoke software or a full platform. Agencies sell the fix; consultancies sell the diagnosis and then the fix. Firms like M22 do both, on the condition that nothing gets built until it's proven worth building.
What each one actually does
AI automation agencies grew out of the no-code automation world. Their strength is speed: a chatbot, an inbox triage, a lead-scoring flow, assembled from existing tools in days. Their limit is that the tools define the solution: when your process crosses four systems or needs logic the tools can't express, the automation either bends your process or breaks.
AI consultancies start upstream. The first deliverable is a priced view of where the business loses margin and hours, and only then a recommendation, which might be a simple automation, a bespoke system, or nothing. The cost is a diagnostic phase; the benefit is that what gets built is pointed at a number.
Where the labels blur
Many firms use both words. The useful questions cut through the labels:
- Do they price the problem before proposing the solution?
- Can they build bespoke software when off-the-shelf tools won't fit, and will they tell you when off-the-shelf is enough?
- Who owns the result, and what happens when a tool they used changes its pricing?
- Is there a human approval step in anything that reaches your customers or your money?
Which to hire
| Situation | Hire |
|---|---|
| One clear, bounded workflow; tools already fit | An automation agency, or a consultancy's automation offer |
| You don't know where the value is | A consultancy with a diagnostic (audit) phase |
| The process crosses several systems or is core to how you win | A consultancy that builds bespoke |
| You want someone to run it afterwards | Whichever offers monitoring and a monthly report |
M22 sits in the consultancy camp with an agency's delivery speed: an audit prices the opportunities, then workflow automation, bespoke platforms or a Company Brain get built and run, with fixed fees for audits and builds and a retainer for operating live systems.
Are AI automation agencies cheaper than consultancies?
Usually for the first project, yes: assembling existing tools is fast. The total cost can invert when tool subscriptions stack up or the automation has to be rebuilt as bespoke software later. Compare the three-year cost, not the quote.
Can an AI consultancy also do simple automations?
Yes. Most consultancies that build, including M22, offer workflow automation as a service line; the difference is that it comes after the value has been priced.
Written and maintained by M22, a London-based AI consultancy. Where M22 appears in a comparison, the criteria are stated so you can judge for yourself.
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