AI agency, freelancer or subscription: who should build your agents?

Agency, freelancer, subscription: what changes?

All three can build an agent. Where they part ways is what happens after: who keeps it moving, and on what terms.

• An agency on a fixed quote: a scoped project, delivered, then yours to maintain. Every addition means a new quote.
• A freelancer: one person who knows your project well. Your agents move forward when they have time.
• A subscription like Saména: a setup fee, then a monthly subscription for the whole company, with unlimited users. Your agents grow with you, and new documents join their memory as they come in.

A fixed quote feels safe. Then what?

A quote locks in a scope and a price. For a project that won't change again, that works fine.

An agent that works on your documents changes all the time. New files land, another team wants in, a new use shows up. With an agency, each of those falls outside the scope and gets billed separately.

A freelancer? Close, but on their own.

A good freelancer moves fast and knows your project inside out. They're still one person. If they get busy elsewhere or move on, your agents wait, and what they knew about your company leaves with them.

A subscription: what do you pay for each month?

At Saména, engineers from Télécom Paris who specialize in AI build your agents from your documents, read straight from SharePoint, OneDrive or Dropbox. The setup fee covers that initial work, and it is based on the volume of your documents.

The monthly subscription then covers the whole company, with no per-seat count. Your agents answer with their sources and write Word documents and PowerPoint decks, in the Saména app and also from Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot. New documents join their memory as they come in, with no new project to kick off.

You can start with one department and a first agent, then expand to other teams whenever you want.

When is an agency still the right call?

When the project is closed-ended: a specific tool with a start and a finish that doesn't need your documents. An automation between two pieces of software, a prototype to show your board. A fixed quote is simpler than a subscription there.

Saména is built for a different need: agents that know your documents and your business, and have to stay current.

If you stop, what do you keep?

Your files, untouched. Saména reads them in read-only mode from SharePoint, OneDrive or Dropbox. They never left your folders, and Saména doesn't keep a copy of any of them.

What Saména builds from them is encrypted with a key unique to your company, on servers in France. All of it can be deleted on request.

So how do you decide?

Ask yourself whether your agent will need to keep up with new files and serve other teams. If it will, that's what a subscription is for. If it's a closed-ended tool, get a quote.

The surest way is to see what your own documents can do. The demo runs on them, with no commitment.

Frequently asked

Is Saména an AI agency?

Saména's engineers build custom agents, the way an agency would. After that, your agents live on one subscription for the whole company and grow with you, with no new quote each time you add documents.

Can we start small?

Yes. You can start with one department and a first agent, then expand to other teams whenever you want.

Does the price depend on the number of users?

No. The setup fee depends on the volume of your documents, and the monthly subscription covers the whole company. We share pricing in a demo.

Are our documents copied over to Saména?

No. Saména reads your folders in read-only mode, where they already live, and doesn't keep any files. What it builds from them is encrypted with a key unique to your company, on servers in France, and can be deleted on request.