How much does it cost to keep a verifiable record of every AI job?
Keeping a verifiable record of an AI job costs nothing to start: Zambo's demo and free tier cover a first job. Review the receipt and actual deliverable before accepting a handover.
There are three honest ways to pay for this, matched to how often you need proof. The free route is real, not a teaser: the demo mints an actual receipt you can check, and every tool carries a free daily allowance (up to 20 free calls a day on metered tools, some tools unlimited), so a first client job can be recorded end to end at no cost.
The one-problem route is the Day Pass: $0.99, one time, 24 hours, no subscription and no auto-renew. It exists for the day a client questions a delivery, an invoice is disputed, or a project has to be handed over with proof. You are not buying tool access; you are buying the record for the job in front of you.
The recurring route is the Zambo Pass at $29 a month ($290 a year, and See pricing a month for $ZAMBO holders), for people whose clients expect a checkable record on every job. Build-your-own logging looks free until you price the hours: capture, storage, a checker your client can open, and the maintenance are a project, not an afternoon. The worksheet below makes the comparison with your own numbers.
Worksheet: your cost per recorded job
Fill in four numbers. A: jobs per month that need proof. B: minutes you would spend per job assembling proof by hand (screenshots, exports, explanations). C: your hourly rate. D: your current tool cost per month. Manual cost per month = A x B / 60 x C. Zambo cost per month = $0 if A fits the free allowances, $0.99 per proof day if the work clusters on delivery days, or $29 flat if proof is a daily habit. If manual cost is higher than the Zambo line, the record is already paying for itself before any dispute arrives.
Worked example
Sample: a freelance designer records 8 client jobs a month, clustered on 6 delivery days, and used to spend 25 minutes per job assembling screenshots and explanations. Manual cost: 8 x 25 / 60 x $50 = about $167 of time a month. Zambo cost: 6 Day Passes, $5.94, or one $29 pass. The first avoided dispute pays for years of either. (Sample numbers for the worksheet; your inputs decide.)
Frequently asked questions
Is the free route actually enough to prove a job?
For one job, yes. The free tier records real work and mints real receipts that anyone can check. The paid routes buy volume and time: a full day of proof, or a month of it, without watching allowances.
Why is a Day Pass cheaper than a subscription?
Because most proof problems are occasional: a delivery, a dispute, a handover. The Day Pass charges for the day you need the record, once, with no subscription and no auto-renew. Recurring users pay less per job on the monthly pass.
What does it cost to build my own logging instead?
The build is the small part. The ongoing cost is being your own evidence department: keeping the format stable, keeping the checker available to clients, and keeping the records exportable years later. Price your hours honestly in the worksheet before deciding it is free.
By Brennan Zambo, founder of Zambo.
Last verified: 2026-10-17.
5. Cost, plans, and setup
- Is there a no-subscription way to prove one AI job to a client?
- How long does it take to set up receipts for an AI agent?
- How much does an AI agent audit trail cost for a small team?
- Zambo Day Pass vs Zambo Pass: which one do you need for this job?
- Do I need a subscription if I only use AI for occasional client work?
- How do I pay only for the AI work my team actually used?
Try a handover
A handover gives your client one proof link with verifiable receipts to review, then Accept or Flag.
try it: say 'use zambo to hand this over to <client>' in your ai