Insights / PricingBy James Penz

How ClearForge prices the work.

No flat price list. A fixed-fee diagnostic first, and every build priced before it starts.

James Penz · Founder

Buyers should not need a sales call to learn how an engagement is priced. So we publish the structure. This article walks through each tier, what it includes, and how its price is set.

The entry point is fixed. The Forge Diagnostic is a fixed fee, agreed up front, and it takes 2 weeks. If your company already built an AI system, the Eval and Reliability Audit is the same shape: a fixed fee, 2 weeks, applied to the system you have.

Build work is scoped, not listed. A Forge Sprint is scoped in the Diagnostic and agreed before any build. Every Sprint ships with an eval harness and reliability gates as a named deliverable, not an add-on.

The tiers

Five tiers. Diagnose and audit at a fixed fee. Build scoped in the Diagnostic. Adopt and run as monthly retainers. The full ledger:

The tiers, how each is priced, and duration
TierHow it is pricedDuration
Forge DiagnosticFixed fee, agreed up front2 weeks
Eval and Reliability AuditFixed fee, agreed up front2 weeks
Forge SprintScoped in the Diagnostic10 to 14 weeks
Forge ScaleMonthly retainer, scoped to the systemOngoing
Forge RunMonthly retainer, scoped per systemOngoing

Forge Scale runs the Adoption Mile: a named operator, a weekly working cadence, and a live adoption scoreboard, on a monthly retainer scoped to the system. The top tier is a Fractional Chief AI Officer engagement. After a build, Forge Run keeps the system in production on a monthly operations retainer, scoped per system.

Price follows scope, and scope is set in the Diagnostic.

What changes the price

Sprint scope varies because workflows vary. What stays constant is the deliverable. Every Sprint ships with the same named parts:

  • An eval harness that checks outputs against a test set.
  • Reliability gates the system must pass before release.
  • A live production system, not a report.

The path from kickoff to a live production system runs 10 to 14 weeks. The full breakdown of each tier lives on the pricing page.

One number sits behind every tier. We build to a 70 percent weekly-active adoption bar by day 90. That is the standard the pricing pays for.

The starting point is always the same: two weeks, one workflow, a fixed fee agreed up front. Everything after it is scoped in the Diagnostic and agreed before any build.

Read next2 articles
01The 70 percent adoption bar.Read 02Every Sprint ships with an eval harness.Read
Next stepFixed price · 2 weeks

Start with the fixed-fee Diagnostic.