We build AI agents.
You run your business.
Operative is the subscription service for AI agent development. Submit a request, and our team of 47 engineers will build, test, and deploy your agent within 48 hours. No hiring. No contracts. Cancel anytime.
Our typical client saves 6+ months and $180k in the first year
48h
Average first delivery
$4,995
Starting monthly
Unlimited
Requests & revisions
340+ companies trust Operative to build their AI infrastructure. From Series A startups to Fortune 500 enterprises.
Our story
We started Operative because hiring shouldn't take 6 months.
In 2021, our founders Maya and James were running engineering teams at a Series C fintech. They needed to build AI agents for document processing, but the timeline was impossible: 3 months to hire, 2 months to onboard, and another 4 months to ship anything useful.
They thought: what if you could just describe what you need and have expert engineers build it for you? What if AI development worked like a utility, available on-demand, without the overhead of full-time hires or the inconsistency of freelancers?
Four years later, Operative has 47 full-time AI engineers across three time zones. We've shipped over 4,200 agents for 340+ companies, from customer support chatbots to complex multi-agent systems that process millions of documents daily.
Our bet: the best AI teams won't be built. They'll be subscribed to.
47
Full-time AI engineers (no contractors)
3
Time zones for 18-hour coverage
2.4 years
Average engineer tenure
We're hiring
Looking for senior engineers who want to work on dozens of interesting problems instead of one product. Remote-friendly, competitive comp, no meetings before noon.
How it works
From idea to production
in 48 hours
No sales calls. No statement of work. No waiting. Submit your first request today and have a working agent by Thursday.
Submit your request
Describe what you need in plain English. Upload any relevant docs, APIs, or examples. No technical spec required, we'll figure out the architecture.
We scope and build
Your request goes to a senior engineer who scopes the work, builds a first version, and writes tests. You'll see progress updates in real-time.
Review and iterate
Test the agent, leave feedback directly in our platform, and we'll revise until it's exactly right. Unlimited revisions are included, always.
Deploy and maintain
We handle deployment to your infrastructure or ours. Post-launch, we monitor performance and fix issues proactively. You focus on results.
Slack Connect
Chat with your engineer directly. Average response time: 12 minutes.
Queue priority
Drag and drop to reprioritize. Your most urgent request always goes first.
18-hour coverage
Teams in SF, London, and Singapore. Someone's always working on your queue.
What we build
4,200+ agents shipped.
Here's what we're good at.
We've built agents across every category imaginable. If it involves AI, language models, or automation, we've probably done it, or something very close.
Customer-facing agents
Handle support tickets, answer questions, and guide users through complex workflows. Currently running for clients like Lattice and Ramp.
Internal operations
Automate the work that slows your team down. From data entry to document processing, we build agents that handle the grunt work.
Sales & marketing
Qualify leads, personalize outreach, and analyze campaign performance. Currently processing 2M+ lead interactions monthly.
Engineering & data
Code review, testing automation, SQL generation, and monitoring. Built by engineers, for engineering teams.
Recent projects
Multi-language support bot processing 50k tickets/month for a fintech unicorn
Document extraction agent handling 200k invoices/month with 99.2% accuracy
Sales research agent that cut prospecting time by 80% for a Series B startup
Voice-to-CRM agent that automatically logs call summaries for a 200-person sales team
Don't see your use case? We've probably built something similar.
By the numbers
We track everything.
Here's what matters.
These aren't vanity metrics. They're the numbers our clients ask about before signing up, and the numbers we hold ourselves accountable to.
$180k
Average first-year savings
Compared to hiring a senior ML engineer ($350k total comp) or using agencies ($25k/project average).
48h
Average first delivery
From request submission to working first draft. Complex agents may take 3-5 days.
4,200+
Agents shipped
Since 2021. Everything from simple chatbots to complex multi-agent systems processing millions of transactions.
94%
Client retention
Clients who stay for 12+ months. The 6% who leave usually bring AI in-house (which we support).
The rest of the scoreboard
Numbers we look at weekly. Updated January 2026.
340+
Active clients
47
Full-time engineers
2.4 years
Average engineer tenure
18h
Daily coverage
12 min
Average Slack response
<2%
Refund requests
Case studies
The proof is in
the production deploys.
We're not a demo shop. Every case study here represents an agent running in production, processing real data, delivering real value.
Ramp
FintechChallenge
Needed to automatically categorize millions of expense transactions with 95%+ accuracy while handling edge cases that confused rule-based systems.
Solution
We built a multi-model categorization agent that learns from corrections and handles 50+ expense categories. Integrates directly with their data pipeline.
Results
Series B Healthcare Startup
HealthcareChallenge
Processing prior authorization requests manually was taking 45 minutes each. With 200+ requests daily, they couldn't scale without massive hiring.
Solution
Built a document processing agent that extracts key fields, validates against payer requirements, and drafts responses. Human review reduced to 5 minutes.
Results
E-commerce Platform
RetailChallenge
Customer support was drowning in repetitive questions. 60% of tickets were about order status, returns, and sizing. They needed to scale without hiring.
Solution
Deployed a support agent integrated with Zendesk that handles tier-1 queries, escalates complex issues, and maintains brand voice. Learns from agent corrections.
Results
Want to see how we'd approach your specific use case? We'll scope it for free, no commitment required.
How we compare
We've done the math.
Here's how it breaks down.
You have options: hire in-house, work with an agency, find freelancers, or subscribe to Operative. Here's an honest comparison to help you decide.
O Operative | In-house hire | Agency | Freelancer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time to first agent | 48 hours | 3-6 months | 4-8 weeks | 1-2 weeks |
| Monthly cost | $5k-$20k | $25k+ (salary) | $15k-$50k | $5k-$15k |
| Concurrent requests | 1-4 (by plan) | 1 (per hire) | 1-2 | 1 |
| Revisions | Unlimited | N/A | 2-3 rounds | 2 rounds |
| Maintenance | Included | Your team | Separate contract | Hourly |
| Pause/cancel | Anytime | Severance | Contract terms | Anytime |
| Coverage hours | 18h/day | 8h/day | 8h/day | Variable |
| Domain expertise | Broad (47 engineers) | Narrow | Varies | Narrow |
When to hire in-house
If AI is your core product and you need deep, proprietary research. Expect 6+ months to hire and ramp. Budget $300k+ per senior engineer (salary + equity + benefits).
When to use an agency
If you have a single, well-defined project with a fixed scope and budget. Good for one-time builds, but expensive for ongoing work.
When to use freelancers
If you have strong internal AI leadership who can spec, review, and manage work. Quality varies widely, plan to interview many.
When to use Operative
If you need ongoing AI development without the overhead of hiring. Best for teams shipping multiple agents per quarter who want predictable costs.
Not sure which option is right for you?
Simple pricing
One subscription. Unlimited agents.
No per-agent pricing. No hourly rates. No surprise invoices. Just predictable monthly costs and unlimited potential.
Most teams start here
Starter
For teams exploring AI agents
Billed annually ($47,940/year)
- Unlimited agent requests
- 1 request at a time
- 48-hour average delivery
- Unlimited revisions
- Slack Connect support
- Full source code ownership
- Basic integrations
Growth
For teams shipping agents weekly
Billed annually ($95,940/year)
- Everything in Starter, plus:
- 2 requests at a time
- 24-hour average delivery
- Priority queue placement
- Dedicated senior engineer
- Advanced integrations
- Weekly strategy calls
- Agent maintenance included
For high-volume teams
Scale
For teams with complex needs
Billed annually ($191,940/year)
- Everything in Growth, plus:
- 4 requests at a time
- Same-day delivery option
- Dedicated team of 3 engineers
- Custom model fine-tuning
- On-call support (24/5)
- Quarterly business reviews
- SOC 2 compliance support
Enterprise
Custom contracts, dedicated teams, on-premise deployment, and compliance support. For organizations processing sensitive data or needing guaranteed capacity.
What counts as a request?
A request is a single agent or discrete piece of work. A chatbot is one request. A multi-agent system might be 3-4 requests depending on complexity. We'll scope it with you before starting.
What if I need to pause?
Pause anytime and keep your unused days. We've had clients pause for product launches, fundraising, or just because they're catching up on requests. No questions asked.
How do revisions work?
Submit feedback, and we'll iterate until you're happy. Most agents are done in 2-3 rounds. We've never had a client hit a revision limit because there isn't one.
Can I change plans later?
Upgrade or downgrade anytime. Changes take effect on your next billing cycle. Most clients start with Starter and move to Growth within 2-3 months.
From our clients
Real teams.
Real results.
FAQ
Questions
we get asked
Still have questions? We love talking to potential clients. No sales pressure, just honest conversation about whether we're a fit.
Operative works best for teams that need AI agents built but don't have the in-house expertise or bandwidth. If you're spending more than 10 hours a week on tasks that could be automated, or if you've been meaning to hire an ML engineer for months, we're probably a good fit. We're not the right choice if you need a one-off project (try an agency) or if you have a large AI team that just needs extra hands (try contractors).
Within 24 hours, you'll get access to our platform, a Slack Connect channel with your dedicated engineer, and a kickoff call to discuss your first project. Most clients submit their first request the same day and have a working agent within 48-72 hours. We move fast because we know your time is valuable.
We're SOC 2 Type II certified and can sign BAAs for healthcare clients. Your data never leaves your infrastructure, we work within your existing security perimeter. All engineers undergo background checks and security training. For enterprise clients, we offer dedicated VPC deployments and custom security reviews.
Complex is our specialty. We've built multi-agent systems that coordinate across 15 services, document processors handling 200k+ docs monthly, and real-time voice agents. If it involves AI and software, we can probably build it. For truly novel challenges, we'll do a free scoping call to make sure we can deliver before you commit.
Absolutely. We work with whatever stack you prefer: OpenAI, Anthropic, open-source models, or your own fine-tuned variants. We can deploy to your AWS, GCP, or Azure accounts, or host on our infrastructure if you prefer. We're stack-agnostic because lock-in is bad for everyone.
Active subscribers get monitoring, bug fixes, and minor improvements for all deployed agents at no extra cost. We proactively watch for model deprecations, API changes, and performance degradation. If something breaks at 2am, we'll often fix it before you notice. Major feature additions count as new requests.
Every agent goes through our internal QA process before delivery: automated testing, edge case verification, and a second-engineer review. You get unlimited revisions until you're satisfied. Our average first-draft acceptance rate is 87%, which means most agents are right on the first try, but we're always happy to iterate.
We encourage it. Every delivery includes full source code, documentation, and a walkthrough. Many clients use Operative to ship fast while building internal capability. After 6-12 months, they often have team members who can maintain and extend what we built. We see that as success, not churn.
We don't do free trials because our work involves real engineering time, but we do offer a 14-day money-back guarantee. If you're not satisfied with your first agents, we'll refund your first month, no questions asked. Less than 2% of clients have ever used this.
Agencies charge per-project, which means scope creep, change orders, and surprise invoices. We charge a flat monthly rate for unlimited work. Agencies take weeks to staff up; we start building tomorrow. Agencies disappear after delivery; we maintain what we build. The model is fundamentally different, designed for ongoing partnership rather than one-off projects.
Get started
Ready to stop hiring
and start shipping?
Most clients submit their first request within 24 hours of signing up. By this time next week, you could have your first agent in production.
Book a call
30 minutes to discuss your use case. No sales pitch, just honest conversation.
Email us
hello@operative.ai, we respond within 4 hours during business hours.
What happens next
- 01
Sign up in 5 minutes
Choose a plan, add payment. No contracts, cancel anytime.
- 02
Submit your first request
Describe what you need. Loom videos welcome.
- 03
We start building
A senior engineer picks up your request within 4 hours.
- 04
First delivery in 48h
Review, provide feedback, iterate until perfect.
Questions before signing up?
Chat with our team. We're real humans (engineers, actually) who can answer technical questions. Average response: 12 minutes.
14-day money-back guarantee. Less than 2% of clients have ever used it.