To illustrate the arithmetic for a 25-person office, this example assumes a cloud subscription at $30 per user per month. That is an example input, not a current quote or a claim about every provider; use current vendor pricing and your negotiated terms before comparing.
| Per-seat cloud assistant | AI Box appliance | |
|---|---|---|
| Up-front | $0 | $599 one-time |
| Monthly, 25 users | $750 | $0 |
| Year 1 | $9,000 | $599 base appliance price; excludes shipping, taxes, and optional upgrades |
| Year 5 cumulative | $45,000 | $599 base appliance price; excludes operating costs and any replacement |
| Adding a 26th user | +$360 per year at this example rate | The standard licence is for up to 25 users; ask about additional licensing |
| Payment method | Varies by provider and location | Check the payment methods and currency shown at checkout |
Check the assumptions against your own numbers
Seat counts, negotiated discounts, and exchange rates vary. The comparison above uses list pricing and a flat headcount; replace both with your figures before taking it to a board.
Costs people forget on both sides
- Cloud: annual price increases, seats bought for staff who left, and usage-based charges on top of the per-seat fee.
- Cloud: the compliance review needed before confidential material can legally go into it — often the largest hidden cost.
- Appliance: electricity, which for a device in this class is small, and eventual hardware replacement.
- Appliance: the internal owner who handles updates, backups, and user accounts. Budget a few hours a month.
When cloud is still the right answer
If your documents are not confidential, your team is fully remote across many countries, and you want the newest frontier model every quarter, a subscription is the better fit. The appliance argument is strongest where the material is sensitive, the headcount is stable, and the connection is not.