AI Coaching vs Executive Coaching: How Per-Seat Pricing Compares

Per-seat AI coaching is priced like software: 15Five lists its Kona AI coach at $19 per manager per month, billed annually, or $228 a year. An assumed six-month human package of 12 one-hour sessions, priced at the $300 to $450 hourly rates in Sherpa Coaching’s 2020 survey, comes to $3,600 to $5,400 per leader, roughly 16 to 24 times more.

Rules of thumb

• One six-month human package at $4,788 buys about 21 AI coaching seat-years at $228 each (arithmetic from the worked example below).
• AI coaching seats are often sold on annual terms: 15Five bills Kona Coach annually, and Rocky.ai says its large-team per-user price depends on volume and annual commitment.
• Executive coaches with 15+ years in business were charging over $450 an hour in Sherpa Coaching’s 2020 survey, and newer coaches nearly $300, so treat $300 to $450 as a dated floor.
• Judge an AI seat on cost per active user: at 50% adoption a $228 seat really costs $456 per manager who uses it (assumption band below).

How do per-seat AI coaching prices compare with executive coaching packages?

Per-seat AI coaching prices published in November 2026 run from $1 to $19 per user per month where the period is stated, while human executive coaching is priced per hour or per session at $300 to $450 or more. The two are not the same unit, so the table below puts every published figure on its own denominator before any comparison is made.

All vendor prices were read on each vendor’s own pricing page on 3 November 2026. The pages show dollar signs; 15Five’s and Rocky.ai’s visible pricing copy does not name the currency. Sherpa’s figures are from its 2020 executive summary, the most recent free survey of executive coaching rates we could verify, so they are dated. If you are an executive coach comparing your own fees, our page on executive coaching pricing models (hourly, program or retainer) covers the human side in depth.

FAQ

Could you compare per-seat subscription pricing models for AI professional coaching versus traditional executive coaching packages?

Yes. AI coaching is sold per seat per month, often billed annually: 15Five lists Kona Coach at $19 per manager per month, and Rocky.ai lists $19.90 per seat. Traditional executive coaching is sold per hour, per session or as a fixed package, and 12 sessions over six months at $300 to $450 an hour comes to $3,600 to $5,400 per leader. For a 50-manager cohort that is $11,400 a year against $180,000 to $270,000.

Is AI coaching a replacement for an executive coach?

AI coaching is priced and sold as a layer beside human coaching, not as a like-for-like replacement. 15Five, for example, lists its Kona AI coach and live 1:1 and group coaching with its own experts as separate products on the same pricing page. The seniority rule on this page puts each where its cost is justified.

How much does an executive coach charge per hour?

The most recent free survey figure we could verify is dated: Sherpa Coaching’s 2020 Executive Coaching Survey executive summary reported coaches with 15 or more years in business charging over $450 per hour, and coaches in their first two years nearly $300. Treat those as a floor for experienced corporate work in 2026, not a current market rate.

Why do AI coaching vendors want annual contracts?

AI coaching vendors often price per seat on annual terms because seat volume and commitment set the discount. 15Five shows Kona Coach as billed annually, and Rocky.ai says its large-team price of $1 to $10 per user per month depends on licence volume and annual commitment. Run a small pilot before committing a full cohort.

Where does group coaching fit between AI seats and 1:1 coaching?

Group coaching sits between the two on price. On 15Five’s published credit model, a group session costs 5 credits at $399, or $1,995, for up to 10 people, which works out at $199.50 per person per session when the group is full, against $399 for a 1:1 session. If you design group programs yourself, our guide to selling group coaching programs covers filling them.

What does a 50-manager coaching cohort cost under each model?

A 50-manager coaching cohort costs $11,400 a year on AI seats, $180,000 to $270,000 on six-month human packages, and $45,120 to $63,120 on a blend of 40 AI seats and 10 human coaches. Every input is either a published price from the table above or a labelled assumption you should replace with your own quote.

The assumptions: the AI seat is Kona Coach at $19 per manager per month for 12 months ($228 a year, the shortest billing period shown). The human package is 12 one-hour sessions over six months, a common two-a-month cadence but an assumption, not a market standard. The three human price bands are $300 an hour (low, Sherpa’s newer coaches), $399 a session (middle, 15Five’s published 1:1 credit) and $450 an hour (high, Sherpa’s veteran floor). The blend gives the 10 most senior leaders a human coach and the other 40 managers an AI seat.

Read across the middle band: the blend costs $182,400 less than coaching all 50 by hand ($239,400 minus $57,000), and $45,600 more than giving everyone an AI seat. That $45,600 is the real decision. It buys 10 leaders a human coach, about $4,560 each over the AI seat they would otherwise have. The table leaves out the 15Five platform itself (its Engage tier is listed at $4 per user per month, billed annually), any assessments or 360 reviews a human coach adds, and your own programme management time.

Which leaders should get a human coach and which an AI seat?

The Coaching Cohort Seniority Split gives a human coach to leaders whose decisions, stakeholders or role change justify about 21 AI seat-years each, and gives everyone else an AI seat. The 21 comes from the worked example: $4,788 for one six-month human package divided by $228 for one AI seat-year.

The group session figure is arithmetic from 15Five’s page: a group session is 5 credits at $399, or $1,995, shared by up to 10 people, which is $199.50 each when the session is full. The test for each human seat: is this one leader’s improvement worth more than 21 managers each getting a year of AI coaching? For a new chief financial officer, often yes. For a capable team lead, rarely.

What does per-seat AI coaching pricing leave out?

Per-seat AI coaching pricing leaves out adoption, platform prerequisites and annual minimums, so the true cost per active manager can be double the sticker price. A seat that nobody opens still costs $228 a year.

Adoption is the biggest gap, and there is no credible public benchmark for AI coaching usage rates that we could verify. Use your own pilot data. Until you have it, these assumption bands show what the sticker price becomes per manager who actually uses the tool:

• 90% of seats active: $228 ÷ 0.9 = $253 per active manager a year.
• 70% active: $228 ÷ 0.7 = $326.
• 50% active: $228 ÷ 0.5 = $456.

Even at 50% adoption the AI seat is about a tenth of the middle-band human package per leader. Three other costs belong in the budget. First, prerequisites: Kona Coach is listed as powered by your 15Five data, so check whether you also need a 15Five platform tier and price it in. Second, commitment: annual billing means a failed pilot still costs the full year, so negotiate a short pilot cohort before a 50-seat contract. Third, human packages carry costs the hourly rate hides, such as intake meetings with the sponsor, stakeholder interviews and progress reviews. How long each phase takes is covered in our guide to how long executive coaching takes.

What does per-seat AI coaching mean if you sell executive coaching?

For executive coaches, per-seat AI coaching means the cohort sale shrinks to the top 10 leaders, while the deal value per leader stays at $3,600 to $5,400 or more. In the worked example, the human share of the blended budget is $47,880 of $57,000, or 84%, so the coach still holds most of the money even when AI covers 40 of the 50 managers.

That changes how the coaching is sold. A proposal that prices all 50 managers by hand at $239,400 competes with an $11,400 software line on the same budget sheet and often loses on procurement maths alone. A proposal that recommends AI seats for the 40 and a human coach for the 10, with the seniority rule written out, reads as a budget the HR buyer can defend. Our guide on how to sell executive coaching to companies covers the sponsor, HR and procurement routes this kind of proposal travels through.

The sale still has to start with a meeting. Coaches who want more of those conversations booked can see how LeadsNow works with coaching businesses on its lead generation for coaches page; LeadsNow’s coaching clients include eight-figure businesses doing more than $1 million a month. Firms selling into US corporates can also read lead generation for executive coaching firms in the USA.

Sources

1. 15Five pricing (read 3 November 2026): Kona Coach, Coaching credits and Engage tier.
2. Rocky.ai pricing (read 3 November 2026): per-seat and large-team prices.
3. Cloverleaf pricing (read 3 November 2026).
4. Sherpa Coaching, 2020 Executive Coaching Survey, executive summary: hourly rates by years in business.