Renting AI by the seat or owning the box: the 3-year maths

A per-seat AI plan looks small: a modest amount per person per month. Nobody argues about it, so it gets approved. Then the team grows, the plan renews, and three years later it is one of the larger software lines in the budget. Owning the hardware turns that around: a larger bill on day one and very little after. Here is how to compare the two properly, including the cases where the box loses.

Renting: three numbers multiplied

The cost of a per-seat plan is people × price per seat × months. Nothing else. That is its charm and its problem: every new colleague adds the same amount again, every month, for as long as you use the tool.

Business AI plans are priced per person per month. We use €25 per seat as an example here. Take the real figure from your own invoice.

Owning: one purchase, then optional updates

• The box: €2,199 + VAT once, at the Founders price. The retail price is €2,699 + VAT.
• The software license for the whole team is included. There is no monthly license fee and no fee per seat, for up to 30 people.
• 6 months of LionBox+ are included: new models, performance improvements, software updates, new features and skills. After that it is optional: 12 months cost €389 + VAT.
• Without LionBox+ the box keeps running on the last version it received.

The Founders price is for Founders Pass holders during launch week, 7-13 December 2026.

Three years, side by side

Example at €25 per seat per month, excluding VAT. LionBox: the €2,199 Founders price and the yearly LionBox+ plan (€389) after the 6 included months, the same assumptions as our ROI calculator. Standard shipping is included; VAT and power consumption are not. Break-even is the month in which the seats would have cost more than the box.

The LionBox column does not move, because nothing in it depends on head count. The per-seat column is a straight line through your team size.

When the box does not pay off

At €25 per seat, a team of fewer than 4 people pays less with seats over 3 years. The same is true when only two or three people in a larger team would really use AI. In those cases the reason to choose a box is not cost. It is where the work goes.

So count the people who would use it every week, not everyone on the payroll.

What the table leaves out

• What the model can do. A model compact enough to run on one office box does not match the largest cloud models on very complex tasks, complex software or in-depth research. If that is someone’s daily work, keep a cloud seat for that person. A box for everyday work plus a few seats for the hardest tasks is a reasonable mix, and the saving shrinks accordingly.
• Where the work goes. With seats, prompts and documents are processed on the provider’s infrastructure. With a box they stay in your office. For some teams that settles the question before any table.
• Cash flow. Seats are a running monthly cost. A box is paid up front and is a hardware asset on your books.
• Hardware. A box can fail. LionBox comes with a 24-month limited hardware warranty; statutory rights are additional.
• Electricity. The box uses power; cloud seats do not show up on your meter. The power figure is in the specifications on the product page.
• Size. One LionBox is designed for teams of up to 30. Larger teams or heavier workloads can add another box.

Run your own numbers

You need two inputs: how many people would use AI every week, and what you pay per seat today. The ROI calculator on our home page compares 3 years for your team size and your seat price.

Seat fees grow with your team. A box does not. Whether that matters for you is a question the numbers answer in a minute. The pricing page shows what is included in the price.