What AI training for your staff actually costs (and why the prices you see are not comparable)

Ask for three AI-training quotes and three irreconcilable numbers come back. It is not that one is lying: "AI training" covers two things that do not compete with each other.

Product A: capability

Teaching the team to work better with AI. Prompting, automation, tools per department. It is measured in productivity and priced by trainer hours: €90 to €180 an hour depending on format and group size. Full in-company programmes run from about €2,500 for an intensive small-team workshop to €35,000 at large companies, and a 30-person SME typically lands between €8,000 and €14,000.

Product B: compliance

Evidencing that staff hold sufficient literacy under Article 4. It is measured in coverage and evidence: how many people, which track, what date, with what record. Trainer cost matters little here, because the content is built once; what you pay for is the right track per role and the system that keeps the record.

Confusing them is expensive in both directions. Buying product A to meet Article 4 means overpaying for something that does not produce the record you will be asked for. Buying product B and expecting the team to come out automating processes falls short.

How to read a quote

• Is the price per person or per project? Per person scales badly across large headcounts; per project usually hides an attendee cap.
• Does it include a named, dated record, or only the material?
• Are there different tracks per role, or the same content for the board and the warehouse?
• What happens to next year’s joiners? If every new hire is billed separately, the real price is not the one you were shown.
• Is the content revised when the law changes? In 2026 the calendar already moved once.

On Spanish training credit

Most of this training qualifies for FUNDAE credit, and the share depends on size: micro-companies can reach 100% and above 250 employees it drops to 50%. Beware the "€0 cost" pitch: the credit is the company’s own money, expiring annually, not a supplier discount — and whoever files it carries the risk of rejection.