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Spend months and $100K+ building compliant AI. Or start using it today.
Building it yourself means a gateway, an audit, and a year of ops: $162,500* before your first token. The Consus access fee is $25,000 and you're in production in days. The tokens cost the same either way.
Year one, itemized
Tokens appear on neither side because both paths pay the same raw GovCloud rates. This is what access costs.
| Build it yourself | Consus Gateway | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual access fee | $0 | $25.0K |
| Gateway engineering | $37.5K | $0 |
| Security audit prep | $75.0K | $0 |
| Audit cost | $50.0K | $0 |
| Access cost, year 1 | $162.5K | $25.0K |
| Your AI tokens | GovCloud rates | Same |
| Time to production | 3 months | Days |
| Compliance risk | Your team owns it | Consus owns it |
Five years of access costs
DIY ops run every year and the first re-audit lands in year 4. The Consus fee stays flat.
| Year | DIY access cost | Consus access fee | Annual savings | What the DIY money buys |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | $162.5K | $25.0K | $137.5K | Gateway build + audit prep + the audit itself |
| Year 2 | $112.5K | $25.0K | $87.5K | Compliance ops + engineering ops |
| Year 3 | $112.5K | $25.0K | $87.5K | Compliance ops + engineering ops |
| Year 4 | $162.5K | $25.0K | $137.5K | Ops + first re-audit, then every 3 years |
| Year 5 | $112.5K | $25.0K | $87.5K | Compliance ops + engineering ops |
| 5-year total | $662.5K | $125.0K | $537.5K |
5-year savings with Consus
$537,500
DIY access runs $662,500 over five years. Consus runs $125,000. Your token spend adds equally to both.
Where the DIY numbers come from
Every assumption is set at the low end of reality. Real programs routinely run higher.
| Year-1 engineering (bring-up) | $37.5K | Build the gateway and connect the clouds; 1 engineer × 3 months at $150K |
| Year-1 security audit prep | $75K | 0.5 FTE × $150K to document controls and gather evidence |
| Year-1 audit cost | $50K | AI's portion of your CMMC audit; a full assessment is $300K+ |
| Ongoing compliance ops | $75K/yr | 0.5 FTE × $150K, real cost is 0.75–1.0 FTE |
| Ongoing engineering ops | $37.5K/yr | 0.25 FTE × $150K to run, patch, and update the gateway |
| Year-4 re-audit | $50K | First reassessment, 3 yrs after the year-1 audit; CMMC reassessment every 3 yrs after that |
| Time to production | 3 months | Aggressive; typical is 9–12 months for full ATO |