PRICING

Pricing built for the work.

Not for your top line.

Ward prices on the complexity of your stack, not your revenue. How many systems need to talk, how many brands you run, how custom your schema is. Two POS and one ERP? You’re Focused. Five brands under one parent? You’re Federated.

FOUR TIERS

Choose your complexity.

Every tier includes the full Ward platform. You only move up when your stack gets harder to run.

Focused
Single-brand · simple stack
$24K/yr
$8K one-time setup
  • 1 brand, 1–2 source systems
  • Standard retail schema
  • Up to 10 locations
  • 5 named users, unlimited queries
  • Email & Slack notifications
  • Shared-tenancy cloud
  • Standard support, business hours
Best for: Regional specialty retailers, small chains, single-brand DTC operators with a clean stack
Networked
Multi-channel · custom schema
$120K/yr
$35K one-time setup
  • 1–2 brands, 5+ source systems
  • Multi-channel (retail, DTC, wholesale, marketplaces)
  • Custom schema, dedicated infrastructure
  • 40 named users, full API access
  • Private VPC, SOC 1 included
  • Dedicated CSM, quarterly business reviews
  • 24/5 support, 1-hour response
Best for: Omnichannel operators with real schema complexity, franchise networks, vertically integrated brands
Federated
Multi-entity · holding group
$240K+/yr
$60K+ one-time setup
  • Multiple brands / legal entities
  • Cross-entity benchmarking
  • Multi-region data residency
  • Unlimited users, full API
  • SOC 2 Type II (in progress)
  • Dedicated solutions architect + CSM
  • 24/7 support, 30-minute response
Best for: Holding groups, retail conglomerates, PE portfolio operators, franchise parent companies
04 DIMENSIONS

What determines your tier.

Revenue is a lazy proxy. The work is what we price on.

A $20M group with five brands on three POS systems is harder to run than an $80M single-brand DTC with one warehouse. Four dimensions decide where you land.

01
Source systems

How many systems need to talk: POS, ERP, WMS, e-commerce, loyalty, marketing, finance. More systems means more integration and reconciliation work.

Range: 1 → 8+
02
Brands & entities

Single brand, multi-brand portfolio, or holding group with separate legal entities. Each entity needs its own schema, auth, and compliance boundary.

Range: 1 → 20+
03
Schema customization

Off-the-shelf retail schema, or custom fields, KPIs, and industry logic: fresh weights, fashion seasonality, pharmacy compliance, franchise royalties.

Range: Standard → Bespoke
04
Infra & compliance

Shared tenancy or private VPC. Basic SLA or SOC 1 / SOC 2 / data residency. Stricter IT requirements cost more to deliver.

Range: Shared → Dedicated
ADD-ONS

Stack what you need.

4A
AI Orchestration only

Already have a warehouse (Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks, Redshift)? Ward connects, picks the best LLM per query, and delivers agentic insights on top. No rebuild.

TierScopeOne-time connectAnnual
Focused OrchSingle warehouse, 5 users, 3 query domains$5K$12K/yr
Connected OrchMulti-source orchestration, 15 users, custom prompts$12K$36K/yr
Networked OrchMulti-LLM evaluation, agentic workflows, 40 users$25K$72K/yr
Federated OrchLLM fine-tuning, private VPC, SOC 1/2, cross-entity$50K+$144K+/yr
4B
Workflow Automation

Detect-and-act automations on top of Ward. Insights route to the right human, approval flows, and cross-system writes (ERP, POS, Slack, email) driven by AI reasoning, not rules.

TierScopeAdd-on to WardStandalone
Focused5 workflows, 50K tasks/mo$6K/yr$18K/yr
Connected15 workflows, 250K tasks/mo, premium connectors$18K/yr$42K/yr
NetworkedUnlimited workflows, 2M+ tasks/mo, agent orchestration$48K/yr$84K/yr
FederatedDedicated infra, custom connectors, cross-entity, 24/7 SLA$96K+/yr$150K+/yr
4C
AI Advisory

Fractional AI strategy for retailers who want our team in the room. LLM evaluation, model selection, retrieval architecture, agentic design, build-vs-buy guidance.

EngagementScopePrice
Workshop2-day onsite, AI readiness audit, roadmap deliverable$12K–$20K one-time
Assessment4–6 week build-vs-buy deep dive, written recommendation$25K–$45K project
RetainerMonthly strategy, vendor review, board prep, team enablement$3K–$8K/mo (6-mo min)
THE COMPARISON

What you’re choosing between.

Not Ward vs. Palantir. Ward vs. the four options every mid-market retailer actually weighs.

Spreadsheets / DIY Tableau + analyst ThoughtSpot Enterprise Palantir Foundry Ward Connected
Annual cost $0 visible $30K tools + $140K analyst = $170K $400K–$1M+ $500K–$5M+ $60K
Setup time None (you build forever) 3–6 months 4–6 months 6–12 months 6 weeks
AI reasoning layer None None Bolted-on, query-capped Yes (you engineer it) Native, multi-LLM
Retail-native schema No No No No (you build it) Yes, out of box
Agentic workflows No No Limited Yes (engineered) Yes, ready day 1
Designed for mid-market n/a Sort of No (Fortune 1000) No (Fortune 100) Yes
Hidden cost 1–3% of revenue in avoidable stockouts, markdowns, overstaffing Analyst burnout, dashboards no one uses $50K–$200K data modeling consultants 20–50% Y1 services uplift None
Ward Connected
Annual cost
$60K
Setup time
6 weeks
AI reasoning layer
Native, multi-LLM
Retail-native schema
Yes, out of box
Agentic workflows
Yes, ready day 1
Designed for mid-market
Yes
Hidden cost
None
Spreadsheets / DIY
Annual cost
$0 visible
Setup time
None (you build forever)
AI reasoning layer
None
Retail-native schema
No
Agentic workflows
No
Designed for mid-market
n/a
Hidden cost
1–3% of revenue in avoidable stockouts, markdowns, overstaffing
Tableau + analyst
Annual cost
$170K (tools + analyst)
Setup time
3–6 months
AI reasoning layer
None
Retail-native schema
No
Agentic workflows
No
Designed for mid-market
Sort of
Hidden cost
Analyst burnout, dashboards no one uses
ThoughtSpot Enterprise
Annual cost
$400K–$1M+
Setup time
4–6 months
AI reasoning layer
Bolted-on, query-capped
Retail-native schema
No
Agentic workflows
Limited
Designed for mid-market
No (Fortune 1000)
Hidden cost
$50K–$200K data modeling consultants
Palantir Foundry
Annual cost
$500K–$5M+
Setup time
6–12 months
AI reasoning layer
Yes (you engineer it)
Retail-native schema
No (you build it)
Agentic workflows
Yes (engineered)
Designed for mid-market
No (Fortune 100)
Hidden cost
20–50% Y1 services uplift

Spreadsheets look free. They cost the most. Missed insights, slow decisions, and drift between stores are the largest single expense in mid-market retail.

THE ROI

You’re not paying for software. You’re paying for the insights you can’t afford to miss.

Ward Connected runs $60K/year. Here’s what one missed insight costs the same retailer.

What you catch

You catchFirst-week impactAnnualized
One stockout day at one store$500–$5,000$20K–$200K
One mispriced promo run$20K–$80K$80K–$320K
One quarter of staffing inefficiency$7K–$20K$30K–$90K
One vendor fill-rate dispute$15K–$50K$60K–$200K
One Category 7 markdown spiral$30K–$100K$120K–$400K

Sources: NRF, IHL Group, RetailNext benchmarks for mid-market multi-location operators.

The payback math
Connected tier. 1 brand, 4 source systems, 20 locations.
InvestmentCost
Annual Ward subscription$60,000
One-time setup$18,000
Workflow automation add-on$18,000
Total Year 1$96,000
ReturnValue
Stockout reduction (1.5% recovery on $40M)$600K
Margin optimization (40 bps)$160K
Labor / scheduling efficiency (2%)$144K
Year 1 return (mid-case)$904K

The first stockout Ward catches in week three has paid for the quarter.

The first promo conflict Ward flags has paid for the year.

Everything after that is margin you weren’t going to capture without us.

FAQ

Common questions.

We score your stack on four dimensions: source systems, brands and entities, schema, and infra and compliance. The mix sets the tier. Most mid-market retailers land in Focused or Connected. You get the answer 24 hours after a 30-minute call.

Yes. Every tier upgrades cleanly, pro-rated, with no penalty for starting at Focused and moving to Connected six months in.

Source integration, schema and custom KPI setup, user provisioning, two training sessions, and 30 days of guided onboarding. Networked and Federated also include private VPC provisioning and a security review.

Per-user pricing punishes you for using the platform more. Ward prices on stack complexity. Every team member is included. You pay more only if your stack gets more complex.

Ward is built for mid-market multi-location retail. ThoughtSpot and Palantir are general-purpose platforms where you build the retail layer yourself. Ward ships with retail-native schema, retail KPIs, and an AI agent that already understands stockouts, fill rates, promo conflicts, and shrinkage.

Tell us about your stack.

We’ll score your complexity, quote your tier, and show you the platform. 30 minutes, no decks.

Or email brian@askotter.ai

Control AI spend by department and user.
Without skimping on the outcome.

Give every department and every user a compute budget. Ward routes each question to the cheapest model that clears the quality bar, so finance caps the spend without capping what the business gets back.

Compute budgets, this month 68% used · on pace
Merchandising
14,200 / 20,000
Supply Chain
9,800 / 15,000
Store Ops
6,100 / 10,000
Ecommerce
4,700 / 5,000
Finance
3,400 / 5,000
Per-user caps. Alerts at 80%. Hard stop or overage approval, your call. Ecommerce flagged at 94%, before it became a surprise invoice.

Find out what your data has been hiding.

Tell us about your operation. We’ll show you the problems Ward catches, and the ones your current tools miss.

Step 1 of 3
What are your goals?
Step 2 of 3
About your operation
Step 3 of 3
Your contact info