A hire brings judgement, relationships and accountability. An agent brings hours, consistency and a log. Neither replaces the other, and teams that pretend otherwise get burned in both directions.
This page is the comparison most vendors avoid: what a person actually costs, what the agent actually does, and where the line sits.
If the answer is hire, hire. If the work is repetitive and system-bound, an agent pays for itself in the first month.
Hire when the work needs judgement, relationships and accountability. Sales conversations, client trust, hard calls, anything where being wrong has a human cost.
Delegate to an agent when the work is repetitive, system-bound and measurable. Triage, chasing, reporting, data entry, checks, filings, follow-up.
Most teams do it in that order: agent first for the volume, then hire for the judgement the freed-up hours make possible.
Same job family, very different shape.
| A hire | An AI employee | |
|---|---|---|
| Loaded annual cost | Salary x 1.25 to 1.4, plus tools and management time | $1,188 to $2,988 a year |
| Salary reference | BLS median for administrative support roles was $48,310 in 2025, before tax and benefits | Plan price, published and fixed |
| Time to productive | Four to twelve weeks including hiring | Day one on the entry tier, two to four weeks managed |
| Hours available | About 40 a week, minus leave, sickness and training | Continuous, including nights and weekends |
| Consistency | Varies with workload, mood and tenure | Same rulebook every time, until you change it |
| Judgement | Real. Handles ambiguity and reads a room | Narrow. Escalates when the case does not fit the rule |
| Relationships | Builds trust, which is often the whole point | None. It does not manage a client |
| Scaling | Hire again, train again | Raise the credit allowance, add a role |
| When it is wrong | Judgement, learning, apology, repair | Stops, asks, and the log shows the path |
| Best for | Relationships, judgement, accountability | Volume, repetition, checks, chasing, reporting |
Loaded cost is the number people forget: salary x 1.25 to 1.4 covers tax, benefits, equipment and software.
The comparison is not agent versus person. It is agent versus the unbillable hours your people currently absorb.
If you cannot write the job down as steps, do not give it to an agent yet.
If the process cannot be written down, that is the first job, and it is a human one.
The limits matter more than the marketing.
It cannot read a room, hold a difficult conversation or rebuild trust after a mistake.
It has no professional standing. A named person still signs, advises and answers for the work.
Novel cases stop and escalate. That is by design, not a limitation to be patched away.
Motivation, mentorship and culture are not deliverable by software, whatever the deck says.
Pick the cheapest option that is actually competent at the job.
| Option | What it costs | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time hire (US, loaded) | $60,000 to $68,000 a year | 40 hours a week, judgement included, four to twelve weeks to get there. |
| Part-time or freelance | $18,000 to $30,000 a year | Ten to fifteen hours a week, and it stops when they get busy. |
| AI employee, entry tier | $1,188 a year | One agent, day-one self-onboarding, connectors included, unlimited seats. |
| AI employee, AI Go | $2,988 a year | Managed onboarding, 200K credits, all 50+ integrations, 2 to 4 week build. |
The break-even is unflattering: one agent costs less than three weeks of a loaded junior salary.
Use the freed hours for the work only a person can do, then hire into that, not into the queue.
Credits are usage, not seats. Top-ups are $50 per 100K credits.
Write the process first. It is the rulebook, and it is also the job description if you do hire.
Write the process down as steps, exceptions and approvals. This becomes the rulebook.
The agent runs it in draft mode while your team corrects it.
Routine steps go automatic, exceptions keep a human approver.
Decide on the hire with real numbers: which hours came back, and what they are now worth.
The ones a founder or partner actually asks.
No. It removes the repetitive layer that burns people out. The judgement, relationship and accountability work stays with people, and usually grows.
Multiply salary by 1.25 to 1.4 for tax, benefits, equipment and software, then add management time. A $48,000 salary is closer to $60,000 to $68,000.
Entry tier is day one with a role template and one connector. Managed onboarding takes two to four weeks across several systems.
Outbound actions wait for approval by default. Thresholds and limits are per role, corrections are made in plain language, and the log shows exactly what happened.
Yes. It runs on schedules and events, including overnight, which is where a lot of the backlog actually sits.
Yes, through the credit allowance rather than headcount. Peak months are a top-up, not a recruitment round.
Reporting, chasing, triage, data entry, checks, filing and follow-up. Anything you can write down as steps with a clear exception path.
No. The rulebook you write for the agent is the onboarding document for the hire, and the agent keeps doing the volume afterwards.
Chatbot, copilot, agent, employee: what the ladder actually means. Start here.
Assistant you prompt, against a role that runs. Read the comparison.
Where a reasoning assistant stops and a scoped agent starts. Read the comparison.
Intake, document chase, notes and billing for billable firms. See the page.
One monthly fee, hosting, AI usage and support included, and agents that add on as you grow. Every plan begins with a free assessment and a free first month - so you see it working before you commit.
No credit card required. We assess the work for free, then stand the platform up on your own systems. AI Go includes free onboarding, migration and setup. Enterprise (Dedicated) is fixed-price: we scope it after the free assessment and confirm the full number before you start. Your first month is free - continue only if you are happy with the results and can see a measurable impact on your revenue and your cost.
Unlimited properties, units and rooms
On every plan. Add doors, add rooms, add listings - your Brahma bill does not move.
One agent, one job, live in weeks. The smallest way to see the platform work on your own data.
A working platform with your first agents live, fast. Built for the small and growing business.
Heavier operations: more agents, priority delivery.
Your own instance, on your own domain or subdomain, with your governance - run by us, reviewed by your team.
All 50+ integrations are included on every plan. See every integration we connect - including the ones we reach through secure browser automation where no API exists.
Every plan includes hosting, AI usage, and support. AI usage is counted in credits and shown live per agent in your portal. One credit is a standard unit of work: a quick task runs 50-150 credits, a standard workflow across two or three systems 250-750, and a deep task such as a report or a document set 1,500-5,000. Unused credits roll over for as long as your plan is active, and you can top up at any time at $50 per 100K credits. Extra agents add on at $249 per agent per month. Every pre-built integration is included, with no per-connector fee; only a custom build is scoped separately. Sub-agents are the specialist workers each agent can call on to finish a job. You get the full number before we start.