{
  "dataset_version": "0.1.0",
  "dataset_last_reviewed": "2026-10-21",
  "license_note": "Draft dataset, private preview. Prices are vendor list prices on the check date and change often; confirm before relying on them. Null = not yet tested or not yet known.",
  "entries": [
    {
      "id": "bookkeeping-grok-bot",
      "title": "Replace a $154/month bookkeeper with Grok Bot (plus a planned QuickBooks downgrade)",
      "summary": "Jason Reed's owner-documented case study: canceled Verity Bookkeeping ($154/month) in September 2026; Grok Bot now categorizes and reconciles in QuickBooks Online via bank feeds Jason connects. CPA reviews quarterly. Saved today: $154/month (~$1,848/year) before AI cost; at least ~$54/month (~$648/year) after the full $100/month Grok Bot plan as a worst case. Planned from January 2027: QBO downgrade $150 → $85/month (~$219/month gross, ~$119/month worst-case net).",
      "offering": "Build it (replacement project)",
      "audience": [
        "Business"
      ],
      "expense_category": "Bookkeeping & accounting",
      "replaces": {
        "name": "Bookkeeping service (Verity Bookkeeping)",
        "plan": null,
        "list_price_monthly_usd": 154,
        "price_basis": "Owner-reported amount Jason Reed paid Verity Bookkeeping ($154/month, $1,848/year); canceled September 2026. Not a public list price. A second owner-reported saving is planned but not yet in effect: QBO downgrade $150 → $85/month (≈ $65/month) from January 1, 2027, because 2026 is on the higher plan. Intuit list prices checked 2026-10-11 on https://quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing/ were Plus $140/mo and Essentials $85/mo. Directory potential_gross stays $154×12 per schema.",
        "source_url": null,
        "price_checked": "2026-10-21"
      },
      "ai_platforms": [
        "Grok Bot",
        "QuickBooks Online"
      ],
      "planned_level": "Beginner",
      "setup_time_hours": 4,
      "ai_cost_monthly_usd": 100,
      "ai_cost_note": "Owner-reported: Grok Bot plan is $100/month. Worst case: the full $100 is attributed to bookkeeping, although Jason doesn't use the full plan for bookkeeping. QBO stays on the $150/month plan through 2026; the downgrade to $85/month is planned for January 2027 and is not counted in today's net.",
      "potential_gross_annual_usd": 1848,
      "est_net_annual_usd": 648,
      "human_oversight": "High",
      "verification_status": "Case study (owner-documented)",
      "guide_access": "Free",
      "project_slug": "replace-bookkeeping-service-with-grok-bot",
      "last_verified": "2026-10-21",
      "last_reviewed": "2026-10-21",
      "case_study_in_progress": true,
      "test_results": null,
      "notes": "Owner-documented 2026-10-11/12/21. Setup ~4 hours of back-and-forth with Grok Bot to catch up 8 months of books; oversight ~30 minutes/month (owner-reported). Today: gross $154/mo (~$1,848/yr); worst-case net = $154 - $100 Grok Bot (full plan attributed) = at least ~$54/mo (~$648/yr). From Jan 2027 (planned QBO downgrade $150 → $85): gross ~$219/mo, worst-case net ~$119/mo. Net excludes the value of oversight time. CPA reviews quarterly and had not yet reviewed the setup as of 2026-10-21. No sales tax or payroll in Jason's business. Grok Bot signs in to QBO as Jason; credentials stored so only Jason enters them. Jason has no relationship with Grok Bot's maker (paying customer)."
    },
    {
      "id": "receipt-expense-tracking",
      "title": "Receipt and expense tracking with an AI assistant",
      "summary": "Capture receipts, extract vendor/date/amount/category, and keep a reviewable expense log instead of paying for a dedicated expense app.",
      "offering": "Build it (replacement project)",
      "audience": [
        "Business",
        "Personal"
      ],
      "expense_category": "Receipts & expenses",
      "replaces": {
        "name": "Expensify",
        "plan": "Collect",
        "list_price_monthly_usd": 5,
        "price_basis": "Vendor-announced flat price of $5 per member per month, no annual commitment, for workspaces created on or after April 1, 2025 (Expensify blog, May 8, 2025). Expensify's pricing page did not render for our fetcher, so the price came from the vendor's own announcement.",
        "source_url": "https://use.expensify.com/blog/collect-plan-pricing-update",
        "price_checked": "2026-10-11"
      },
      "ai_platforms": [
        "Grok Bot"
      ],
      "planned_level": "Beginner",
      "setup_time_hours": null,
      "ai_cost_monthly_usd": null,
      "ai_cost_note": "Not yet tested.",
      "potential_gross_annual_usd": 60,
      "est_net_annual_usd": null,
      "human_oversight": "Medium",
      "verification_status": "Not yet tested",
      "guide_access": "Free",
      "project_slug": "ai-receipt-expense-tracking",
      "last_verified": null,
      "last_reviewed": "2026-10-11",
      "test_results": null,
      "notes": "Per-member price: savings scale with team size. Tax treatment of AI-extracted data needs human review."
    },
    {
      "id": "client-follow-up-assistant",
      "title": "Client follow-up assistant",
      "summary": "Draft follow-ups for leads and clients on a schedule, with a human approving every message before it is sent.",
      "offering": "Build it (replacement project)",
      "audience": [
        "Business"
      ],
      "expense_category": "Client follow-up / CRM",
      "replaces": {
        "name": "Pipedrive",
        "plan": "Growth (the tier with automated follow-up sequences)",
        "list_price_monthly_usd": 39,
        "price_basis": "US$39 per seat per month billed annually (US$468/seat/year). Monthly billing costs more. Lite (US$14/seat/month, billed annually) lacks automation sequences.",
        "source_url": "https://www.pipedrive.com/en/pricing",
        "price_checked": "2026-10-11"
      },
      "ai_platforms": [
        "Grok Bot"
      ],
      "planned_level": "Intermediate",
      "setup_time_hours": null,
      "ai_cost_monthly_usd": null,
      "ai_cost_note": "Not yet tested.",
      "potential_gross_annual_usd": 468,
      "est_net_annual_usd": null,
      "human_oversight": "High",
      "verification_status": "Not yet tested",
      "guide_access": "Free",
      "project_slug": "ai-client-follow-up-assistant",
      "last_verified": null,
      "last_reviewed": "2026-10-11",
      "test_results": null,
      "notes": "A CRM does far more than follow-ups; this only replaces the follow-up part. Outbound messages require human approval (policy)."
    },
    {
      "id": "invoices-approved-reminders",
      "title": "Invoices and approved payment reminders",
      "summary": "Generate invoices from a simple log and draft polite payment reminders that you approve before they go out.",
      "offering": "Build it (replacement project)",
      "audience": [
        "Business"
      ],
      "expense_category": "Invoicing & payments",
      "replaces": {
        "name": "FreshBooks",
        "plan": "Lite",
        "list_price_monthly_usd": 23,
        "price_basis": "Regular price US$23/month (shown as 'Was $23.00'); a promotional $1/month first-year offer was running on the check date. Payment processing fees are separate and do not go away.",
        "source_url": "https://www.freshbooks.com/pricing",
        "price_checked": "2026-10-11"
      },
      "ai_platforms": [
        "Grok Bot"
      ],
      "planned_level": "Beginner",
      "setup_time_hours": null,
      "ai_cost_monthly_usd": null,
      "ai_cost_note": "Not yet tested.",
      "potential_gross_annual_usd": 276,
      "est_net_annual_usd": null,
      "human_oversight": "High",
      "verification_status": "Not yet tested",
      "guide_access": "Free",
      "project_slug": "ai-invoices-and-payment-reminders",
      "last_verified": null,
      "last_reviewed": "2026-10-11",
      "test_results": null,
      "notes": "You still need a way to accept payments. Reminders are only sent after human approval (policy)."
    },
    {
      "id": "social-media-planning",
      "title": "Social media planning and drafting",
      "summary": "Plan a content calendar and draft posts with AI, then publish manually or with a free scheduler.",
      "offering": "Build it (replacement project)",
      "audience": [
        "Business"
      ],
      "expense_category": "Social media",
      "replaces": {
        "name": "Buffer",
        "plan": "Essentials (1 channel)",
        "list_price_monthly_usd": 5,
        "price_basis": "US$5/month per channel, billed yearly (US$60/year). Priced per channel, so cost scales with channels; Buffer also has a free plan.",
        "source_url": "https://buffer.com/pricing",
        "price_checked": "2026-10-11"
      },
      "ai_platforms": [
        "Grok Bot"
      ],
      "planned_level": "Beginner",
      "setup_time_hours": null,
      "ai_cost_monthly_usd": null,
      "ai_cost_note": "Not yet tested.",
      "potential_gross_annual_usd": 60,
      "est_net_annual_usd": null,
      "human_oversight": "Medium",
      "verification_status": "Not yet tested",
      "guide_access": "Free",
      "project_slug": "ai-social-media-planning",
      "last_verified": null,
      "last_reviewed": "2026-10-11",
      "test_results": null,
      "notes": "Small savings per channel; value is mostly time. Posts are reviewed by a human before publishing (policy)."
    },
    {
      "id": "recurring-research-reports",
      "title": "Recurring research and monitoring reports",
      "summary": "A scheduled AI digest that monitors topics, competitors or prices and sends a sourced summary.",
      "offering": "Build it (replacement project)",
      "audience": [
        "Business",
        "Personal"
      ],
      "expense_category": "Research & monitoring",
      "replaces": {
        "name": "Feedly",
        "plan": "Pro",
        "list_price_monthly_usd": null,
        "price_basis": "Not verified: Feedly's pricing page did not load for our fetcher and third-party reports disagree. Left null until checked on the vendor page.",
        "source_url": null,
        "price_checked": null
      },
      "ai_platforms": [
        "Grok Bot"
      ],
      "planned_level": "Beginner",
      "setup_time_hours": null,
      "ai_cost_monthly_usd": null,
      "ai_cost_note": "Not yet tested.",
      "potential_gross_annual_usd": null,
      "est_net_annual_usd": null,
      "human_oversight": "Low",
      "verification_status": "Not yet tested",
      "guide_access": "Free",
      "project_slug": null,
      "last_verified": null,
      "last_reviewed": "2026-10-11",
      "test_results": null,
      "notes": "Guide planned. Summaries must link to sources so readers can check them."
    },
    {
      "id": "cheaper-travel-bookings",
      "title": "AI agents for cheaper travel bookings (comparison)",
      "summary": "Compare AI travel agents and fare-search assistants on whether they actually find cheaper itineraries than a manual search.",
      "offering": "Find it (agent comparison)",
      "audience": [
        "Personal",
        "Business"
      ],
      "expense_category": "Travel",
      "replaces": {
        "name": "Manual fare search / travel agent fees",
        "plan": null,
        "list_price_monthly_usd": null,
        "price_basis": "No single subscription is replaced; savings depend on each trip. Not estimated until tested.",
        "source_url": null,
        "price_checked": null
      },
      "ai_platforms": [],
      "planned_level": "Beginner",
      "setup_time_hours": null,
      "ai_cost_monthly_usd": null,
      "ai_cost_note": "Depends on the agent; not yet tested.",
      "potential_gross_annual_usd": null,
      "est_net_annual_usd": null,
      "human_oversight": "High",
      "verification_status": "Not yet tested",
      "guide_access": "Free",
      "project_slug": null,
      "last_verified": null,
      "last_reviewed": "2026-10-11",
      "test_results": null,
      "notes": "Comparison planned. Agents must not complete purchases without human approval (policy)."
    },
    {
      "id": "subscription-cancellation-agents",
      "title": "Agents for subscription cancellation (comparison)",
      "summary": "Compare apps and AI agents that find and cancel unwanted subscriptions, and check what they really complete versus suggest.",
      "offering": "Find it (agent comparison)",
      "audience": [
        "Personal"
      ],
      "expense_category": "Subscriptions & bills",
      "replaces": {
        "name": "Forgotten or unwanted subscriptions",
        "plan": null,
        "list_price_monthly_usd": null,
        "price_basis": "Savings depend on each person's subscriptions. Reference point for one candidate agent: Rocket Money says Premium uses pay-what-you-think-is-fair pricing, typically US$7-14/month, subject to change (vendor page).",
        "source_url": "https://www.rocketmoney.com/learn/personal-finance/how-much-does-rocket-money-cost",
        "price_checked": "2026-10-11"
      },
      "ai_platforms": [],
      "planned_level": "Beginner",
      "setup_time_hours": null,
      "ai_cost_monthly_usd": null,
      "ai_cost_note": "Varies by agent (see price basis); not yet tested.",
      "potential_gross_annual_usd": null,
      "est_net_annual_usd": null,
      "human_oversight": "High",
      "verification_status": "Researched (vendor claims)",
      "guide_access": "Free",
      "project_slug": null,
      "last_verified": null,
      "last_reviewed": "2026-10-11",
      "test_results": null,
      "notes": "Only the vendor's own pricing claim has been recorded. Tests must use test accounts, not real bank logins (policy)."
    },
    {
      "id": "personal-scheduling-assistant",
      "title": "Personal scheduling assistant",
      "summary": "Let an AI assistant propose meeting times and manage booking requests instead of paying for a scheduling app.",
      "offering": "Build it (replacement project)",
      "audience": [
        "Business",
        "Personal"
      ],
      "expense_category": "Scheduling",
      "replaces": {
        "name": "Calendly",
        "plan": "Standard",
        "list_price_monthly_usd": 10,
        "price_basis": "US$10 per seat per month as shown with yearly billing on the check date; monthly billing costs more. Calendly also has a free plan (one event type).",
        "source_url": "https://calendly.com/pricing",
        "price_checked": "2026-10-11"
      },
      "ai_platforms": [
        "Grok Bot"
      ],
      "planned_level": "Intermediate",
      "setup_time_hours": null,
      "ai_cost_monthly_usd": null,
      "ai_cost_note": "Not yet tested.",
      "potential_gross_annual_usd": 120,
      "est_net_annual_usd": null,
      "human_oversight": "Medium",
      "verification_status": "Not yet tested",
      "guide_access": "Free",
      "project_slug": null,
      "last_verified": null,
      "last_reviewed": "2026-10-11",
      "test_results": null,
      "notes": "Guide planned. Calendar access is sensitive; use least-privilege permissions."
    },
    {
      "id": "meeting-notes-task-extraction",
      "title": "Meeting notes and task extraction",
      "summary": "Turn recordings or transcripts into notes and a reviewed task list instead of paying for a dedicated notetaker.",
      "offering": "Build it (replacement project)",
      "audience": [
        "Business"
      ],
      "expense_category": "Meetings & notes",
      "replaces": {
        "name": "Otter.ai",
        "plan": "Pro",
        "list_price_monthly_usd": 16.99,
        "price_basis": "US$16.99 per user per month on monthly billing; annual billing was advertised lower on the check date. Otter also has a free Basic plan.",
        "source_url": "https://otter.ai/pricing",
        "price_checked": "2026-10-11"
      },
      "ai_platforms": [
        "Grok Bot"
      ],
      "planned_level": "Beginner",
      "setup_time_hours": null,
      "ai_cost_monthly_usd": null,
      "ai_cost_note": "Not yet tested.",
      "potential_gross_annual_usd": 203.88,
      "est_net_annual_usd": null,
      "human_oversight": "Medium",
      "verification_status": "Not yet tested",
      "guide_access": "Free",
      "project_slug": null,
      "last_verified": null,
      "last_reviewed": "2026-10-11",
      "test_results": null,
      "notes": "Guide planned. Recording consent laws vary; get everyone's consent before recording."
    }
  ]
}