Top AI development companies in Europe / Cost and method

Cost and method

European AI project brief template

A project brief is a short document that tells a firm what you want built, so each firm can answer the same questions. This template is for a company in Europe that wants AI software built. You fill in the blanks about your problem, your data, the rules your system must follow, where the team should work, your dates and your budget, and you list the answers you want back. Print one copy, fill it in once, and send the same text to every firm on your shortlist. Facts from this guide, read on 21 October 2026, show why each question matters.

Published October 21, 2026. Editorial.

Key takeaways

Send the same brief to every firm, ask for written answers by a fixed date, and compare the answers line by line.
Give ten or more real examples of the inputs the AI will see, with the answer you expect for each.
Say where your data is kept and whether it holds personal data. Eurostat found data protection concerns among the reasons EU enterprises that had considered AI gave for not using it in 2025.
Ask each firm how it will help your system follow the EU AI Act, which became applicable on 2 August 2026 with some exceptions.

A project brief is a short document that describes what you want built and asks each firm the same questions. It saves time on both sides. The firm learns what you need before the first call, and you receive answers you can compare. This template is for a company in Europe that wants AI software built. Print it, fill in each part, and send the same text to every firm on your shortlist.

Eurostat, the statistics office of the European Union, asked EU enterprises that had considered AI why they did not use it in 2025. The top three answers were a lack of relevant expertise, at 70.89 percent, a lack of clarity about the legal consequences, at 52.52 percent, and concerns about data protection and privacy, at 48.83 percent [1]. A good brief asks each firm how it will deal with all three.

How to use this brief

Fill in Parts 1 to 8 yourself. Write in plain words, and leave out anything you are unsure of.
Send the brief to every firm at the same time, with the same date for written answers.
Ask each firm to answer every question in Part 9, in the same order.
Put the answers side by side in the table at the end, and invite the firms whose answers you can check to a call.

Part 1: About your company

Company name and country: ______________________
Your role, and who else will decide: ______________________
The language or languages the team must work in: ______________________
Your own technical team, if any, and its size: ______________________
The person the firm should contact, with email: ______________________

Part 2: The problem

Write one paragraph, in plain words, on the problem the AI should solve. Say who has the problem today, how they handle it now, and what changes for them when the system works.

The problem: ______________________
How it is handled today: ______________________
What a good result looks like, as a number if you can (time saved, errors found, answers given): ______________________
What must never happen (for example, a wrong answer sent to a customer): ______________________

Part 3: The people who will use it

Who will use the system: staff, customers, partners: ______________________
How many people, and in which countries: ______________________
Which languages the system must read and answer in: ______________________
Where they will use it: a phone app, a website, an internal tool, email: ______________________

If the system needs a phone app, say so. Some firms in this guide describe mobile apps as their main work. Miquido's homepage, for example, says, "We build and scale business-critical mobile products that run your enterprise."

Part 4: Your data

What data the AI will use: ______________________
Where it is kept today, and in which country: ______________________
Whether it contains personal data, such as names, addresses or health records: ______________________
Who owns it, and who must approve its use: ______________________
Whether the data may leave your own systems, or must stay under your control: ______________________

Some buyers want the whole AI system to stay under their own control. adesso's press release of 20 October 2026, for example, describes an AI platform built for SOKA-BAU, the social security funds for the German construction industry, that gives "around 880 employees" access to generative AI in line with the GDPR, the EU's data protection law, and the EU AI Act [6]. If that is what you need, write it here.

Part 5: Examples and tests

AI software is judged by its answers, so the firm needs to know which answers count as right.

Ten or more real examples of inputs the system will receive, attached to this brief: yes / no
The answer you expect for each example: attached: yes / no
The hardest examples you know of, and why they are hard: ______________________
Who in your company will judge whether an answer is right: ______________________

Ask each firm, in Part 9, who will write the tests, how answers will be scored, and who keeps the tests when the project ends.

Part 6: The rules your system must follow

The European Commission states that the AI Act "entered into force on 1 August 2024 and became applicable on 2 August 2026, with some exceptions", and that "prohibited AI practices and AI literacy obligations entered into application from 2 February 2025" [2]. AI literacy means the knowledge staff need to work with AI systems.

Your industry, and any rules that apply to it (for example banking, insurance, health, public sector): ______________________
Whether the system will make or support decisions about people: ______________________
Any internal rules on AI use in your company: ______________________

Ask each firm how it will help your system follow these rules. Your own legal advisers decide what the law requires of you.

Part 7: The team and where it works

Where you want the team to work: your office, the firm's office, remote: ______________________
The time zone and working hours you need: ______________________
Whether you want to visit the team's office: yes / no
Whether engineers must work inside your own team for part of the project: yes / no

Ask for the street address of the office the team will work from and the company that will sign the contract, then look the company up in its country's register. A register is an official public list of companies kept by a government body. In Poland, the National Court Register (KRS) lists a company by number, with its seat [8].

Part 8: Dates and budget

The date you need a first working version: ______________________
The date the system must be live: ______________________
Your budget range, and its currency: ______________________
Whether you want a fixed price for the first step: yes / no

Firms publish little on price. Miquido, one of the firms in this guide, prints "$ 15,000 +" for one generative AI build through its AI Kickstarter offer and "$ 40,000 +" for one built "with traditional ground-up AI development" [3]. Monterail publishes step lengths instead: Diagnose, 2 to 4 weeks; Prove, 4 to 6 weeks; Ship, 8 to 16 weeks [4]. A budget range in the brief helps a firm say early whether the project fits.

Part 9: The answers you want back

Ask each firm to answer every item below in writing.

Item	What to ask for	Why, from this guide
The company	Legal name, country, register number	Brand names and legal names can differ: ML6's contact page names Skyhaus BV
The team	Names or roles, where each works, who leads day to day	Reply describes itself as a network of companies
The first step	What it delivers, how long it takes, what it costs	Monterail and N-iX publish step lengths
The tests	Who writes them, how answers are scored, who keeps them	Your examples in Part 5 become the test
Measured results	Typical results on projects like yours, with the baseline	The two speed claims quoted in this guide say "up to" and show no working
The data	Where it is kept, who can see it, how personal data is handled	Data protection was a top concern in Eurostat's 2025 figures
The rules	How the system will follow the AI Act and your industry rules	The AI Act became applicable on 2 August 2026
After launch	Who watches the AI's cost and quality, and what that costs	Miquido's two offers differ on whether cost tracking and monitoring are included
Ownership	Who owns the code, data, tests and any trained model	The answer belongs in the contract
References	Two clients with similar projects, by name, who will take a call	No outside source confirmed any client named on firm pages

N-iX's homepage describes a pilot in which "Three to five workflows run on your real code, with your real engineers, against a baseline agreed at the start" [5]. A baseline is the measurement taken before the change. Ask every firm what its baseline would be for your project.

Part 10: After launch

Who will run the system day to day after launch: ______________________
How you want to hear about problems, and how fast: ______________________
What happens if the AI model the system uses is retired by its maker: ______________________
Whether the firm's own platform or product would be part of your system: yes / no / ask

ML6 sells build work and also its own AI platform. When any firm proposes its own product as part of your system, ask what it costs each year and what happens if you stop paying for it.

Where to send it

Send the brief to Reveneau and Fluxon, if you want them in the comparison, and to the firms on your shortlist from the list of AI development companies in Europe. Reveneau has no office in Europe; its offices are in San Francisco and Vancouver. Reveneau says AI writes 100 percent of its code, that every change must pass a large eval suite written from the specification before release, and that Jev grades the suite and makes it run ten times faster than its previous grader did. It says it puts the saving from using AI in place of more engineers into clients' prices and takes responsibility for the whole project through production and after release. You can send Reveneau a brief. Fluxon hires in Poland and Portugal, by its own careers page. Anthropic's partner directory, read on 21 October 2026, shows the tier of each firm it lists [7].

For a startup with a first product, read Reveneau's page for startups. For what developers earn in three European countries, read what AI development costs in Europe, by country.

Common questions

What is an AI project brief?

A short document that describes the AI software you want built and asks every firm the same questions. It covers the problem, the people who will use the system, your data, the rules it must follow, where the team should work, your dates and your budget. Each firm answers in writing, so you can compare the answers line by line before any call.

Why send the same brief to every firm on a shortlist?

Firms describe their work in their own words, and a call with each one covers different ground. The same written questions, answered by the same date, give you answers you can put side by side. The firms in this guide range from studios that print step lengths to large groups with several companies, so a fixed set of questions helps.

How many real examples should an AI project brief include?

Ten or more is a useful start, each with the answer you expect. Include the hardest cases you know of and say why they are hard. The examples show each firm what right looks like, and they can become the first tests for the system. Say who in your company will judge whether an answer is right.

What should an AI project brief say about personal data?

Say what data the AI will use, where it is kept and in which country, whether it holds personal data such as names or health records, who owns it, and whether it may leave your own systems. Eurostat found that 48.83 percent of EU enterprises that considered AI and did not use it named data protection and privacy concerns in 2025.

Which EU AI Act dates should a project brief mention?

The European Commission states that the AI Act entered into force on 1 August 2024 and became applicable on 2 August 2026, with some exceptions. It says the rules on prohibited AI practices and on AI literacy applied from 2 February 2025. Put these dates in the brief, and ask each firm how it will help your system follow the law.

Should an AI project brief state a budget?

A budget range, with its currency, helps a firm say early whether the project fits. Few firms publish prices. In this guide, Miquido prints $ 15,000 + for one generative AI build through its AI Kickstarter offer and $ 40,000 + for one built with traditional ground-up development, and Monterail and N-iX publish step lengths with no price. Ask each firm to price the first step on its own.

What should a firm send back after reading the brief?

Its legal name and register number, the team and where each person works, what the first step delivers and costs, who writes the tests and who keeps them, typical measured results with their baseline, how it handles data and the AI Act, who runs the system after launch, who owns the work, and two client references who will take a call.

How does a brief help compare firms based in different countries?

It asks every firm for the same facts in the same form: the legal company, the office the team works from, the time zone, the currency of the price and the register number. With those answers you can check each company in its own country's register, such as KRS in Poland or ARES in Czechia, and compare the same facts for every firm.

What should a brief ask about the work after launch?

Who will run the system day to day, how you will hear about problems and how fast, who watches the AI's cost and quality, and what happens if the AI model is retired by its maker. Miquido's page describes one of its two AI offers as including cost tracking and monitoring and the other as without them, so ask each firm whether that work is in its price.

Can I print this brief template?

Yes. The page has a Print or save as PDF button, so you can keep a paper copy or a file. Print one copy, fill in Parts 1 to 8 once, and send the same text to every firm. Keep each firm's written answers to Part 9 with the brief, so the answers that matter can be attached to the contract.

Which firms in this guide trade under a name that differs from their registered company?

ML6's contact page prints Skyhaus BV beside its Ghent office, and the Belgian KBO register lists that company. dataroots prints a VAT number that the register shows under the name TALAN BELGIUM since 31 July 2026. N-iX's legal notice names N-iX Ltd in Valletta, Malta. Ask each firm which company will sign, and look that company up before you sign.

References

More in Cost and method

What AI development costs in Europe, by country

Miquido is the one firm in this guide that prints prices on the pages read: "$ 15,000 +" for one generative AI build through its AI Kickstarter offer, and "$ 40,000 +" for one built with traditional ground-up development. Monterail and N-iX publish how long some steps take, with no price. The other public guide to cost is what developers earn. This page gives the official figures for Denmark, the Netherlands and Poland exactly as each statistics office states them, with their conditions: what each figure includes, which period it covers and whether it is final. No figure is converted into another currency.

How these European AI development companies were chosen

Each firm in this guide passed three tests: it builds AI software for other companies, its own pages describe that work, and its own pages, a government register or a filing name an office in Europe. Reveneau and Fluxon come first in a fixed order. Every fact was read on 21 October 2026 and labelled by its source: the firm itself, a register, a filing, a statistics office or Anthropic's partner directory. This page lists every register used, the registers that could not be read, the claims left out and the firms considered and dropped.

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