# How much does AI cost for science and biotech teams?

The typical AI build for science and biotech teams costs $4,000, and half of 67 priced briefs fall between $700 and $10,000. That ranks 5th of 36 industries on median cost.

Updated 2026-11-04. Published by VIZIO AI (https://vizio.ai/?utm_source=build-cost-index&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=industry-md). Page: https://aibuildindex.com/industries/science-biotech. Data: https://aibuildindex.com/industries/science-biotech/data.json.

## Key points

- Demand leans towards custom agents: 14.1% of briefs here against 7.3% across industries.
- The median build in science and biotech is $4,000, 1.6 times the $2,500 market median.
- Buyers here ask for evaluation or guardrails in 15.2% of briefs, more than most sectors.
- Compliance comes up in 11.1% of briefs, 1.6 times the usual share, so plan for it in scope and budget.

## What shapes cost here

Research builds depend on domain data and reproducibility. Expect time on data cleaning and validation, and on proving results to scientists rather than users.

## How it ranks

| Measure | Value | Rank |
| --- | --- | --- |
| AI build briefs | 96 | 33 of 36 |
| Median build cost | $4,000 | 5 of 36 |
| Median hourly rate | $30/hr | 5 of 36 |
| Responses per brief | 11 | 26 of 36 |
| Senior-level requests | 34% | 28 of 36 |
| Compliance named | 11.1% | 5 of 36 |
| Production named | 17.2% | 18 of 36 |
| Buyers with $10k+ in prior project spend | 52% | 2 of 36 |

## What buyers ask for

| Build | Briefs | Share here | Across industries |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Custom agents | 14 | 14.1% | 7.3% |
| Back-office automation | 13 | 13.1% | 14.2% |
| AI SaaS and MVPs | 12 | 12.1% | 21.4% |
| API integrations | 5 | 5.1% | 5.4% |
| RAG and document search | 5 | 5.1% | 2.3% |
| CRM automation | 5 | 5.1% | 4.6% |

## Tools and systems named

| Name | Share here | Across industries |
| --- | --- | --- |
| “Agent” | 19.8% | 12.0% |
| GoHighLevel | 6.3% | 3.2% |
| GoHighLevel | 9.1% | 5.7% |
| Google Sheets | 5.1% | 5.7% |

## Questions

### How much does an AI build cost for science and biotech teams?

The median across 67 priced briefs is $4,000. Half fall between $700 and $10,000, and one in ten reaches $24,000 or more. That ranks 5th of 36 industries on median cost.

### What are science and biotech teams building with AI?

The most common requests are custom agents, back-office automation, AI SaaS and MVPs.

### What do AI developers charge in science and biotech?

Stated rates centre on $30 an hour, with most between $25 and $45. These are open-market rates; agencies usually charge more.

### Where are the buyers in science and biotech?

The United States is the largest market, with 46% of briefs.

### How do you decide a brief's industry?

From the brief title where it names a sector, otherwise from the buyer's stated industry. About 45% of briefs can be placed, so this describes those briefs, not every buyer in the sector.

## How to read this

A brief's industry comes from its title where that names a sector, otherwise from the buyer's stated industry. About 45% of briefs can be placed. Figures come from public project briefs from December 2025 to November 2026 and show what briefs offered, not what was paid. Hourly briefs are estimated from rate, length and workload. Industries need 30 priced briefs to be ranked, and are left out of rankings when one buyer makes up over a quarter of briefs. Counts under 5 are hidden. Momentum compares January to March with May to July, before collection widened, and is left out where one buyer is over 12% of briefs.