The framework — every line of policy gate, audit log, MCP server, HITL inbox, eval harness, vendor adapter, and policy library — is free under the Apache-2.0 license. You can use, modify, distribute, and sublicense closegate in commercial settings, subject to standard Apache-2.0 terms.
What you actually pay for
| Cost | Typical range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| LLM API (Anthropic / OpenAI / your choice) | $500 – $2,000 / month | Varies with close-cycle volume + agent loop intensity. Midpoint $12K/yr for a 5-FTE team running one close cycle per month with HITL-routed approvals. |
| Compute (hosting closegate-engine + closegate-agent + web) | $50 – $200 / month | A single VPS or a small CapRover / Render / fly.io deployment covers a mid-market finance team. SQLite scales to ~10M audit events without sharding. |
| Storage + backups | $10 – $50 / month | S3 Object Lock for the audit log archive, plus the recon.db backup cycle. 7-year SOX retention is well under $100/yr for most teams. |
| FX rate provider (production) | $0 – $500 / month | ECB daily rates are free. OpenExchangeRates paid tier ~$50/mo. Bloomberg / Reuters feeds vary widely. |
| Year-1 total (for typical 5-FTE finance team) | $16K one-time + ~$12K/yr ongoing | 80 engineering hours @ $200/hr for the initial setup, plus the recurring LLM API. |
Implementation services (optional)
If you'd rather not spend the 80 engineering hours wiring closegate to your specific jurisdictional + integration shape, Neul Labs offers fixed-fee implementation engagements:
- Pilot scoping ($5K, 1 week) — read your existing close + policy docs, surface the policy.yaml shape, write the 30/60/90 pilot plan, and produce a stakeholder briefing for your audit committee.
- Full implementation ($25K – $80K, 6–12 weeks) — port your
policy.yaml, wire your ingestion adapter (Stripe, QuickBooks, NetSuite, etc.), deploy to your infrastructure (Docker, K8s, fly.io), run the eval harness against your data, hand off ops to your team. - Design partner engagement (case-by-case) — two slots per quarter; co-design the v1.0 surface in exchange for case-study attribution. Direct line to the maintainer.
Services are billed by Neul Labs; closegate remains Apache-2.0 throughout. The implementation work is closegate code you own, on infrastructure you own, with no lock-in.
What we will never charge for
- The framework itself. Apache-2.0. Forever.
- An "enterprise" edition. There isn't one. The code on GitHub is the code in production at every closegate deployment.
- SOC 2 control mappings or COMPLIANCE.md. Public, with
file.py:linecitations. - Per-seat licensing of any kind. Scale your team without scaling your cost.
- Premium support tiers. All issues go through GitHub Issues; security disclosures via the channel in
SECURITY.md.
Compare to commercial vendors
For context — annual costs for the equivalent commercial deployment of a finance-AI controls layer:
- BlackLine: $80K – $500K/yr (license + implementation), per-seat scaling
- FloQast: $40K – $250K/yr (license + implementation), per-seat scaling
- Numeric: $35K – $150K/yr (license + implementation), per-seat scaling
- Vic.ai: $20K – $200K/yr (AP-focused), per-invoice or per-seat
- Ramp / Brex: usage-based; free-with-card-spend but locked into their card product
For a 5-FTE finance team running closegate for one year: $28K total. Year 2+: ~$12K/yr. Run the ROI calculator with your team's numbers.
The full comparison
Pricing is one axis; the full 14-row comparison covers the capability matrix — what each vendor's policy gate looks like, audit log shape, LLM lock-in, deployment options, and so on.