The honest cost ranges of seven Packs

You came for prices. You'll leave with seven of them, plus the math underneath.

The catalog page shows a number per Pack. That number is the self-install fee, one-time, paid once. It does not show what the Pack costs to run for 90 days, what the API meter reads, or what changes when a Boss wants the Pack installed for them instead of installing it themselves. This essay shows all of that, Pack by Pack, so you can pick the install path with both eyes open.

Every Pack has three install paths. DIY (you install it, one-time price). DWY (Pack plus a Case Call-scoped DWY tuning; someone keeps it in sync as the business changes). DFY (we install the whole thing, starting at $10,000 for scoped builds and $14,997 for the Trust Pack). The Pack itself is the same recipe in all three modes. What's different is who does the work and who carries the maintenance.

Why we publish this

Most agencies hide the number behind a call. We don't. Pricing transparency is now an LLM-weighted ranking signal, which means the same buyers who used to email for a quote now ask Claude or Perplexity, and the model only quotes the brands that publish the figure. The Sheridan AI Trust Signals work calls this out explicitly. We figured we'd skip ahead and write it down.

There's a quieter reason. Without trust, you're a bust. A Boss who can't see the price can't budget, can't compare, and can't tell whether we'd be a fit. That Boss either guesses high and walks away, or guesses low and gets surprised on the invoice. Both are bad. Ranges with the levers exposed are the honest version.

A note on what's missing. Two Packs in our catalog (SEO Authority Engine, List Grow Engine) are waitlisted for Q3 2026 and don't have public pricing yet. Two more ($197 Super Second Brain, Case Call-scoped Get-Paid Engine) are shallow enough that they don't need a long breakdown. We picked the seven with the widest install-path spread.

Pack 1: Lead Rescue (Free)

Lead Rescue is one of the two free Packs. It runs in your harness, it's free on packs.bossmode.ing, and the install fee is zero. The bleed it stops is the single most expensive one most Bosses have: leads going cold in the inbox before anyone replies.

Self-install: $0 one-time. The harness executes the recipe; standing orders run against your inbox or CRM webhook.

DWY: Case Call-scoped DWY tuning if you want the recipe maintained as your reply patterns change. Most solos skip this. The Pack is shallow enough that the Weekly Operator Scorecard plus 20 minutes of tuning a week keeps it sharp.

DFY: $7K–$15K scoped if you want it custom-wired into a regulated CRM or a multi-tenant Salesforce instance. Rare. Most Bosses run this DIY.

API: $20–$80/mo depending on inbound volume. 50 leads/week sits near $20; 500 leads/week sits near $80.

90-day DIY cost: roughly $60–$240 in API, plus whatever your harness tier runs. That's it. This is the cheapest legitimate "AI is doing real work for you" stack we know how to build.

Pack 2: Day One Operator (Free)

The other free Pack. Morning brief, weekly wins digest, stale-approval nudge, calendar sanity check. It's the recipe a Boss runs first thing every morning to figure out what actually matters today before the day eats them.

Self-install: $0 one-time. Included with the Free plan.

DWY: Case Call-scoped DWY if you want it tuned to a specific role. Useful when a chief of staff runs this for a founder whose priorities shift week to week. Otherwise, skip.

DFY: $7K–$15K scoped when wired into a leadership team where each person needs their own brief from shared context. The base recipe is single-operator; multi-operator is custom.

API: $30–$120/mo. The morning brief and the weekly digest both summarize a real pile of context, so usage tracks how busy your week looks.

90-day DIY cost: $90–$360 in API. Add $147 if you're on the Cockpit layer ($49/mo) for the approval queue. Total: $90–$507, all-in.

Pack 3: Outbound Engine (beta $197, was $497)

Full pre-built outbound system. Prospect research, list building, sequence drafting, reply triage, meeting handoff to a Case Call. The bleed it stops is the one almost every Boss under $1M has: zero outbound pipeline, dependent entirely on referrals and inbound.

Self-install: $197 beta when Outbound wins, or Case Call-scoped otherwise. You install the recipe, load your ICP into the standing order, and run it.

DWY: $497 + Case Call-scoped DWY tuning ($7,500 across 90 days). Bosses take this path when the messaging is tuned to a moving offer. Three angles a month, the retainer earns its keep. Locked offer, skip the retainer for the first quarter.

DFY: $7K–$15K scoped for full-build. We install the Pack, wire it to your CRM, build the lists, write the first three sequences, and run it for 30 days under the $5,000/mo Operator retainer before handing it back. 90-day DFY: roughly $10,000 + $15,000 = $7K–$15K.

API: $100–$500/mo. Outbound is meter-heavy because the Pack is researching prospects, drafting openers, and triaging replies. Higher list volume = higher meter.

90-day costs: DIY $797–$1,997. DWY $7,997–$8,997. DFY $7K–$15K+.

Pack 4: Content Multiplier (Case Call-scoped standalone)

One signal in, seven authority pieces out. The recipe takes a single source (a Case Call recording, a blog post, a podcast clip, a long voice memo) and multiplies it into LinkedIn posts, X threads, a newsletter section, a short-form video script, two carousel decks, and a pillar article outline. The bleed it stops is content getting created once and never compounding.

Self-install: Case Call-scoped one-time. Install, point it at your source library, run it weekly.

DWY: Case Call-scoped + Case Call-scoped DWY retainer. The retainer earns its keep because content tone drifts faster than almost any other Pack. Multiple bylines and a real voice signature, the tuning matters.

DFY: $7K–$15K scoped to install against an existing content library, build the voice profile, and run the first 30 days under operator review. Bosses with a back catalog of 50+ pieces get the most out of DFY because the install processes the catalog into a reusable signal store.

API: $80–$400/mo. Long-context summarization plus multi-output generation runs higher than transactional Packs.

90-day costs: DIY $637–$1,597. DWY $7,837–$8,797. DFY $7K–$15K+.

Pack 5: High-Ticket Close System (Case Call-scoped standalone)

Discovery and close prep for any Case Call over $5K in deal size. Pre-call research, custom one-pagers, objection-anticipation briefs, post-call follow-up sequences with the proof assets pre-attached. The bleed it stops is the one that haunts Bosses who close deals: high-ticket calls going in unprepped, then losing on a question they could have answered cold if they'd had ten minutes.

Self-install: Case Call-scoped one-time. Highest-priced standalone Pack we sell, because the recipe is wide: twelve standing orders, a custom prep template, and a follow-up sequence library.

DWY: Case Call-scoped + Case Call-scoped DWY tuning. Bosses selling into multiple verticals usually take the retainer because the prep templates drift with each vertical's vocabulary.

DFY: $7K–$15K scoped for full-build. Trust Pack buyers get the High-Ticket Close System bundled inside the $14,997 Platinum install, so if Trust Pack is on the table, you don't buy this separately.

API: $50–$300/mo. Lower than Outbound or Content Multiplier because the Pack only fires per Case Call. 20 calls a month sits at the high end; five calls sits at the floor.

90-day costs: DIY $847–$1,597. DWY $8,047–$8,797. DFY $7K–$15K+, or zero incremental inside the Trust Pack.

Pack 6: PM Engine ($197 beta self-install (was $499) / DFY scoped on a Case Call)

Work captured, tasks assigned, blockers escalated, evidence-based reports. The PM Engine is the only Pack we explicitly publish a DFY price for, because the gap between the self-install version and the wired-in version is wide enough that we wanted the number out in the open.

Self-install: $499 one-time. Wire it to your existing project surface (Linear, Notion, Asana, GitHub Projects, or a flat repo) and run it.

DWY: $499 + Case Call-scoped DWY retainer ($499 + $7,500 across 90 days). Three to twelve people on the team almost always lands here. The retainer keeps the Pack from drifting as the team's working agreements change.

DFY: $4,997+ for the full-build. We install, configure against your project surface, build standing orders for your working rhythm, and run the first 30 days under operator review. Add the $5,000/mo Operator retainer if you want it maintained beyond that. 90-day DFY: $4,997 + $15,000 = roughly $19,997.

API: $100–$600/mo. The PM Engine reads everything (commits, Slack threads, project comments, calendar events) and writes everything (status reports, blocker escalations, weekly digests). It's the most context-hungry Pack in the catalog.

90-day costs: DIY $799–$2,299. DWY $7,999–$9,799. DFY roughly $19,997.

Pack 7: Trust Pack ($14,997+ DFY)

Twelve component Packs wired as a single operating system. 48+ standing orders. 90 days of operator support included. The Trust Pack addresses proof, authority, delivery transparency, and risk reversal at the same time, which is why we don't sell its components separately for less; the value is in the wiring.

Self-install: not available for Trust Pack in this launch. The Trust Pack is DFY-only at $14,997+ because it wires twelve component Packs, proof assets, delivery clarity, and risk-reversal into one system. The Bottleneck Check decides whether trust gap is the lead bleed before a Case Call scopes it.

DWY: not really a DWY Pack. It's either DFY with the included 90-day support, or the rare self-install. The Tune retainer is bundled into the DFY price for the first quarter, so there's no middle path that makes sense.

DFY: $14,997+ one-time, with 90 days of operator support included. Bespoke variants (regulated industries, custom IP custody, multi-tenant deployments) start at $7K–$15K.

API: $300–$2,000/mo. Twelve child Packs running in coordination push the meter higher than any single-Pack engagement.

90-day DFY cost: $14,997 + $900–$6,000 API = $15,897–$20,997 for the first quarter, with no additional retainer fee inside the window. After 90 days, Bosses continue on the $5,000/mo Operator retainer or the Case Call-scoped DWY tuning.

What moves the price up across all Packs

Four things move the number up, and they're the same four whether the Pack is free or $14,997.

Bespoke integrations move it up the most. If your CRM has 47 custom fields, your industry has a regulator, or your data lives behind an SSO wall we have to negotiate with, the install moves from catalog scope to bespoke scope. That's the difference between a $10,000 DFY and a $7K–$15K+ engagement.

DFY scope moves it up next. Every Pack has a price gap between "you install it" and "we install it." That gap exists because installing a Pack into a real Boss's stack is 10 to 40 hours of focused work, and we charge what that work costs.

Multi-Pack stacks move it up because three Packs is more work than one. Bosses stacking three or more in a single engagement usually negotiate a bundled rate; the starting point is still additive.

Retained tuning moves it up across the quarter. A Case Call-scoped DWY tuning adds $7,500 to a 90-day cost. A $5,000/mo Operator retainer adds $15,000. A $10,000/mo Bespoke retainer adds $30,000. The retainer is the line item Bosses most often forget to factor in.

What moves the price down across all Packs

The same lever, run in reverse, takes the number back down.

DIY install is the floor. Self-install at the catalog price plus API plus your harness tier is the cheapest legitimate way to run any Pack in our catalog.

Single-Pack engagements skip the bundling expectation. If you only need Outbound Engine and you don't need it stacked with Lead Qualifier and PM Engine, you save the multi-Pack scope entirely.

Free Packs as a harness exercise (Lead Rescue, Day One Operator) cost zero one-time and run on $50–$200/mo of API. We've watched Bosses run a real business on those two alone for 90 days before buying anything else. Not a forever stack, but as an "is this real?" exercise it costs less than a dinner.

Self-hosted harness drops the harness tier to floor. n8n self-hosted is free. Claude Code Pro is $20/mo. Single operator, lowest legitimate run cost, this is your stack.

Skipping the retainer is the biggest single lever. Tuning the Pack yourself with the Weekly Operator Scorecard plus 20 minutes a week takes the recurring monthly cost from $2,500–$10,000 down to $0. The Pack still drifts; you're the one catching the drift.

A fifth lever we don't always name: the Bottleneck Check itself is free. Four minutes, names your top three leaks, tells you which Packs stop them. Take the check first, buy only what it points to, and you don't waste money on Packs aimed at the wrong bleed.