AI features that earn their place

We build AI features where they genuinely beat a database query, and tell you when they do not. What we build, what it costs to run, and when to skip it.

The App14 team1 min read

We build AI features where they do something a database query cannot. We turn down more of these requests than we accept, and that is the useful part of this page.

When AI is the right tool

Genuinely unstructured language

  • Summarising free-text notesSite reports, call notes, case records that nobody has time to read.
  • Answering questions across your own documentsRetrieval over material that was never indexed.
  • Classifying messages that arrive a hundred different waysWhere a rules engine would need endless maintenance.
  • Drafting where a human reviews before it goes out

When it is not

The cost shape is different

An ordinary feature is built once and costs hosting. An AI feature carries a per-use cost forever: API usage that scales with success, and a vector database if you use retrieval.

Full published pricing and running costs.

Common questions

Should my app have AI in it?

Only if the input is genuinely unstructured language. If your problem has a schema, a query answers it faster, cheaper and more reliably. We turn down more AI requests than we accept.

What does it cost to run?

LLM API usage of roughly £50 to £300 a month depending on volume, plus hosting and, where retrieval is involved, a vector database. Unlike ordinary features, an AI feature has a per-use cost forever.

Can you add AI to an app we already have?

Often, yes, provided we can get at the code and the data. A retrieval layer over documents you already hold is one of the more contained things to add.

Want to talk it through?

Tell us what you're trying to build and we'll tell you honestly whether a 14-day sprint is the right way to do it.

Free. No commitment. Just a conversation.

About the author

The App14 team · Design and engineering, Appetite Studio

App14 is the 14-day app sprint run by Appetite Studio, a London-registered design and engineering studio. We design, build, and ship production iOS and Android apps in two weeks, at a published fixed price. Everything we write here comes out of work we have actually delivered: the prices are our real prices, the timelines are our real timelines, and the limits are the ones we genuinely hold to.

Our articles are drafted with AI assistance and reviewed by the App14 team before publication. The prices, timelines, delivery record, and client outcomes described are our own.

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