How the options compare.
| In-house AI engineer | Oravel | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Annual salary plus employer costs, equipment, tools and management time. Base salaries vary widely by source (see below). | Published prices: one system from €3,900; AI Ops from €1,950/month; Run & Care €490/month. Excl. VAT. |
| Time to first result | Recruitment and onboarding first, then the build. | Audit this week; most first systems live 2–4 weeks later; guarantee of 30 days or setup fee back. |
| Breadth | One person's skills: often strong in models or data, less in integrations or process. | Process mapping, integrations, agents and monitoring as one service. |
| Continuity | Knowledge sits with one person; holidays and departures are a risk. | Documented build, handed over; an operator monitors it. |
| Control | Full control and deep company knowledge over time. | You approve rules and decisions; code and data are yours, but the builder is external. |
| Best when | AI is core to your product, or you have years of AI work queued. | You need specific workflows automated and run, without building an AI team. |
Salary benchmark (labelled market data, not our figures): Payscale reports a Machine Learning Engineer base salary in the Netherlands of roughly €36k–€73k (10th–90th percentile), based on 93 profiles last updated March 2024. Other salary sites report much higher figures for senior AI engineers, so treat any single number with care. Employer costs, recruitment fees and tooling come on top.
Source: Payscale, Machine Learning Engineer salary, Netherlands (checked November 2026).
Choose them if…
Hiring is the right call more often than agencies admit.
Choose us if…
We fit the stage before that, or companies that never need an AI team.
Questions worth asking.
Whoever you choose: ask who will maintain the system after launch, what happens when they are unavailable, and where the code and prompts live.
If you hire, ask candidates to show something they built that is still running in production and who maintains it today. If you outsource, ask the same question.
Common questions.
Can we work with Oravel and hire later?
Yes. We hand over code, prompts and documentation, so an in-house engineer can take over or extend what we built.
Is an AI engineer cheaper over time?
Possibly, if you have enough work to keep them fully busy. For a handful of workflows, a fixed-price build plus a monthly plan is usually cheaper and lower-risk.
Why not hire a junior?
A junior can be great with good supervision. Without a senior to review their work, production AI systems tend to fail quietly.
Want this in your business?
Tell us how you work today. We'll tell you honestly what AI can take off your team's plate, what it costs, and whether we are the right fit.