Three very different kinds of firm now answer to ‘artificial intelligence consultancy’ in the UK. Some are genuine advisers: they assess where AI can save time or money in your business, choose the tools, manage the risks and train your staff. Others are marketing, web or app agencies that have added AI services to an existing offer, often chatbots, content tools or automations. And a third group are software developers who build AI features, integrations and agents to a specification. All three can be useful; they are rarely interchangeable. This page lists 117 UK profiles that declare artificial intelligence, and the mix is visible on the cards: 49 also declare web development, 38 mobile apps, 30 software development, while 38 declare AI automation and 30 AI agents. London is the head office of 42 of them. Below: what each type of firm delivers, one published UK price list, the data protection rules that apply, and how to brief and shortlist. Data read in October 2026.
AI consultancies, agencies adding AI, and developers: who is on this list
Reading the cards one by one confirms the three populations. The consultancies, a minority here, sell readiness assessments, strategy, governance and change management, and usually partner with developers for the build. The agencies adding AI are mostly digital, marketing and web firms; for them AI tends to mean chatbots on a website, generative content, marketing automation or AI-assisted search. The developers, the largest group by declared skills, include app studios, software houses and a few large IT services groups with offshore delivery centres; they build integrations with language models, retrieval systems over your documents, and agents that carry out tasks across your tools. A handful of profiles are clearly outside the subject, such as a translation company and several small web design studios, and we have flagged them. When you read a card, look at the other expertises declared: they tell you more about what the firm really does than the word AI.
What an artificial intelligence consultancy does, from readiness to deployment
A typical engagement moves through four stages. Discovery comes first: interviews with your teams, a review of processes, data and systems, and a list of candidate use cases scored on value, effort and risk. Strategy follows: a roadmap that says which use cases to pursue, which tools or models to use, what data needs preparing, how to measure results and which policies and controls are needed. Then a pilot, usually a working prototype on real data with a small group of users, to test whether the expected gains appear. Finally, deployment and adoption: integration with your systems, security and data protection checks, training, documentation and monitoring. Good consultancies are candid about the stages where many projects stall, data quality and user adoption, and will recommend stopping a pilot that does not deliver. Be wary of firms that skip discovery and start by selling a platform licence.
Where the UK's AI consultancies and agencies on this page are based
London dominates the list, with 42 head offices in the capital and 5 more in Greater London. Leeds follows with 5, then Manchester and Bristol with 2 each. The rest are spread across the country, from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee to Durham, Norwich, Oxford, Swansea, Exeter or Brighton and Hove, and one profile is headquartered in Paris with a London office. Several large IT services groups list a UK office while doing much of their engineering abroad, and some US companies appear under their American legal names. For AI work, location matters mainly in two ways: discovery workshops and staff training are more effective in person, and you need to know where your data will be processed and by whom. Ask each provider where its engineers are based and which jurisdictions your data will pass through.
Generative AI, automation and agents: what UK firms sell in 2026
The services on offer have converged around a few patterns. Assistants built on large language models answer questions from your documents, policies or product data, with retrieval so that answers cite your sources. Workflow automation connects AI to email, CRM, finance or support tools to draft replies, classify requests or extract data from documents. Agents go a step further and carry out multi-step tasks, which raises questions about permissions, oversight and error handling. Generative tools for marketing and content are the most common entry point for agencies. Training and enablement, teaching staff to use mainstream assistants safely and well, is often the quickest win. Whatever the pattern, ask how the provider evaluates accuracy before going live, how it keeps a human in the loop where decisions matter, and what it will cost to run each month once usage grows, since model and hosting costs can surprise.
What AI consultancy costs on a UK firm's published price list
Few UK AI firms publish prices, but one gives a full grid. The AI Consultancy, based in Hoxton, London, and not part of this list, states that ‘all prices exclude VAT’ and sets out three fixed-fee phases: a Readiness Sprint from GBP 3,500 over two weeks, a Discovery and Pilot from GBP 15,000 over four to eight weeks, and a Build and Embed phase from GBP 40,000 over eight to sixteen weeks. It also publishes a day rate of GBP 950 to GBP 1,500 for work where a fixed fee is not practical, and a fractional Chief AI Officer service from £3,000 per month (according to its website, accessed October 2026). That grid illustrates the usual structure: a modest diagnostic, a larger pilot, and a build whose cost depends on integrations. Large consulting firms charge more; freelancers and small studios may charge less for narrower jobs. VAT at the standard 20% (GOV.UK) applies on top for VAT-registered suppliers.
Data protection and the ICO: AI projects under UK GDPR
Most business uses of AI touch personal data, whether customer emails, HR records or call transcripts, and UK data protection law applies. The Information Commissioner's Office has published detailed guidance on AI. One point stands out for buyers: the ICO states that ‘in the vast majority of cases, the use of AI will involve a type of processing likely to result in a high risk to individuals’ rights and freedoms, and will therefore trigger the legal requirement for you to undertake a DPIA’, a data protection impact assessment. The ICO also asks organisations to identify a lawful basis for each distinct processing operation, from training a system to using it for predictions. You remain responsible as the organisation deploying the system, even if a consultancy builds it. Ask providers whether they will help you complete the DPIA, where data is processed and stored, whether your data is used to train third-party models, and how individuals' rights will be handled.
Build, buy or configure: choosing the right type of AI partner
Before choosing a firm, decide what kind of solution you are likely to need. Configuring an existing product, such as a mainstream assistant for your staff or the AI features in software you already use, needs a consultant or trainer more than a developer. Buying a specialised AI product for one task, such as document processing or customer service, needs help with selection, contracts and integration. Building something specific to your processes, such as a retrieval assistant over your knowledge base or an agent connected to your systems, needs engineers who can integrate, test and maintain it. Many projects combine the three. A consultancy with no developers will hand you over to someone else at build stage; a development house without advisory skills may build what you asked for rather than what you need. Ask each firm which of the three it would recommend for your case and why.
Separating AI case studies from AI marketing
Claims about AI results are easy to make and hard to check, so ask for specifics. A credible case study names the client or at least the sector and size, describes the process before AI, explains what was built or configured, and gives a measured result over a stated period: hours saved per week, response times, error rates, cost per transaction. It should also say what did not work. Ask to see the system running, ideally with the client's permission, and ask what it costs to operate monthly. Be cautious with savings calculators on agency websites; they rest on assumptions you should replace with your own figures. Finally, ask for a reference you can call. A firm that has delivered real projects will usually be able to put you in touch with a client who can talk about adoption and maintenance as well as results.
Questions for an AI consultancy before signing
Put the same questions to every firm on your list. Which of our processes would you look at first, and why? Which models, platforms or vendors do you work with, and do you receive commissions from any of them? Who will do the work: named consultants and engineers, employees or subcontractors, and where are they based? How will you measure accuracy and business value during the pilot, and what would make you recommend stopping? How will you handle personal data, the DPIA and security reviews? What will running costs be after launch, and who maintains the system? Who owns the code, prompts, configurations and any fine-tuned models? What training will our staff receive? The answers will quickly separate advisers who understand your business from vendors selling a product with a consultancy label.
Our records on UK AI providers
The evidence available on this page is limited. At the time of reading, none of the profiles had a verified client review on La Fabrique du Net and no completed project was recorded. Almost every card is unclaimed, meaning its details were collected from public sources rather than provided by the firm. We have flagged anomalies for correction: a head office in Paris, several American company names on UK cards, a profile still named after a firm that has since joined a larger group, and some web design, translation and marketing businesses whose link to AI consultancy is thin. The order of the list is therefore not a ranking. Treat the page as a map of UK firms that declare AI work, then use the checks above to judge which of them can actually deliver for you.
Team size and in-house engineering among UK AI providers
Declared team sizes are spread across the range: 21 firms report five people or fewer, 21 between six and twenty, 31 between 21 and 100, and 21 more than a hundred. Size matters for AI work in particular ways. A small consultancy may give you senior expertise and independence from vendors, but it will rely on partners for engineering and support. Mid-sized software houses usually have the developers, data engineers and testers to build and maintain a solution. The largest groups bring delivery capacity and security processes suited to big organisations, sometimes with much of the engineering offshore. Ask how many people on the proposed team have delivered AI projects in production, not just prototypes, and who will support the system after launch.
Who owns the models, prompts and data in an AI contract
Ownership questions are sharper with AI than with ordinary software. Make sure the contract states that your data remains yours and will not be used to train the provider's or a third party's models without your agreement. Clarify who owns the code, prompts, workflows and configurations developed for you, and any models fine-tuned on your data. Check which third-party services are used, under whose account, and what happens to them if you change provider: accounts and keys should ideally be in your organisation's name. Agree service levels for availability and support, and how changes to underlying models, which vendors update regularly, will be tested before they reach your users. Finally, look at liability for errors made by the system, which providers often limit tightly.
Checking an AI firm before you sign
Because the AI market moves fast and many firms are new or rebranded, basic checks are worthwhile. The free company search on GOV.UK shows when a company was incorporated, where it is registered and who its officers have been, which helps you confirm that the firm presenting to you is the one that will contract and invoice. On this page some cards carry US company names or a recent change of ownership, so ask which legal entity you will deal with and where it is based. Check any claimed partnerships with model or cloud vendors on those vendors' partner directories. And confirm whether prices include VAT.
Shortlisting artificial intelligence consultancies in the UK
Start by deciding which type of partner you need: an adviser for strategy, governance and training, an agency for marketing and customer-facing tools, or a developer for integrations and agents. Keep only the profiles on this page whose declared expertises and case studies match that type, and remove those that are clearly in another trade. Check where their teams are based and how they handle data. Read at least one detailed case study per firm and call a reference. Three or four firms are enough for a meaningful comparison. Ask each for a fixed-price discovery or readiness phase before any larger commitment: it is the cheapest way to test how they think, and the output should be useful to you even if you choose someone else for the build.
Writing a brief for UK AI consultancies
A short brief makes proposals comparable. Describe your organisation, sector and size, and the processes or problems you think AI could help with, with rough volumes such as emails per day or documents per month. List your main systems and where your data lives. Say what has already been tried, including staff use of mainstream assistants. State constraints: sensitive or regulated data, data residency, security requirements, budget range for a first phase and whether it includes VAT. Explain who will own the project internally and how decisions are made. Then ask each firm to respond with the same structure: approach, team, timeline, deliverables, price per phase, running costs after launch, and how they will handle data protection. The firms that ask clarifying questions before quoting are usually the ones worth meeting.
