Question 1

How much does AI automation cost for a small business?

Accepted Answer

Cognito Coding offers AI automation at three tiers to match the size of your business. Apollo, our personal AI executive assistant, is £29.99/month per client and includes private deployment, full configuration, and a 7-day free trial. Athena, our consultancy-led multi-agent platform with a workflow audit, configured specialist agents, and a 60-minute debrief, is £750/month. Pantheon, the bespoke AI-powered business command centre tailored to your operation, starts at £2,500 fixed-fee. Standalone small-business apps (e.g. WagTracker, SoloTutorLite) are £9.99/month. We never charge hourly, never tier on features, and never break out hidden setup costs.

Question 2

What is Apollo AI assistant?

Accepted Answer

Apollo is Cognito Coding's personal AI executive assistant, deployed per client in a private Docker container — not a shared SaaS platform. It handles email management, calendar scheduling, research, task tracking, and a private knowledge base, primarily through a Telegram interface and a clean web UI. Apollo is fully configured for each client's business and supports a custom skills system, so the assistant learns your specific workflows and terminology over time. Pricing is £29.99/month with a 7-day free trial; this includes private deployment and full initial configuration.

Question 3

How is Pantheon different from Athena?

Accepted Answer

Athena (£750/month) is a productised consultancy: you get a workflow audit, two to three configured specialist AI agents on a standard stack (Gmail or Outlook, calendar, Drive or OneDrive, an off-the-shelf CRM hook, web chat plus Telegram, weekly digest), a conductor agent that briefs the specialists, and a 60-minute debrief. It's the fast bridge between Apollo and Pantheon. Pantheon (£2,500+ fixed) is the same two-layer architecture scaled up and bespoke — your own private dashboard with whatever modules your business needs (CRM, invoicing, accounts, proposals, Kanban, newsletter, secrets vault), a custom-configured specialist team, full Claude Max API budget included, and your own data, branding, and infrastructure. Athena is rented; Pantheon is built. The same stack we use to run Cognito Coding itself is what we deploy for Pantheon clients.

Question 4

Do you offer a free trial?

Accepted Answer

Yes — a 7-day free trial is available on all our small-business apps (£9.99/month, including WagTracker and SoloTutorLite) and on Apollo (£29.99/month). After 7 days the standard monthly price kicks in. For larger commitments, our small-business websites and bespoke small-business apps follow a 'built free, billing on go-live' model — we build it for you with no upfront cost and you only start paying once you're happy with the live product. DashDeck for Education, Athena, and Pantheon do not offer free trials, but every Athena and Pantheon engagement begins with a discovery call and workflow audit so you know exactly what you're getting before signing.

Question 5

How long does it take to set up?

Accepted Answer

Set-up time depends on the product. Apollo is typically live for a client within 1–2 working days of the discovery call — including private container deployment, knowledge-base seeding, and your initial custom skills. Small-business apps like WagTracker and SoloTutorLite are immediate sign-up. Bespoke small-business apps and websites are scoped on a discovery call and built free; most go live within 2–4 weeks. Athena onboards in roughly 1–2 weeks: workflow audit, agent configuration, integration to your comms and calendar stack, and a 60-minute debrief. Pantheon is bespoke, scoped at onboarding, and typically deploys in 4–8 weeks depending on the modules and integrations required. Every project starts with a discovery call so the timeline is realistic before any work begins.

Question 6

What does Cognito Coding build?

Accepted Answer

Cognito Coding builds full-stack web applications, AI automation tools, and educational platforms for small businesses, tutors, and alternative provision providers. Our products include WagTracker (business management for dog walkers), SoloTutorLite (scheduling, teaching, invoicing for solo tutors), Apollo (personal AI executive assistant), Award Tracker (AQA UAS management for SEND and AP settings), DashDeck for Education (modular ecosystem for tutoring agencies and schools), and Pantheon — a custom AI-powered business command centre. We specialise in practical software built by practitioners who understand the problems first-hand.

Question 7

Do you work with SEND providers?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Award Tracker is purpose-built for alternative provision and SEND settings, specifically supporting AQA Unit Award Scheme qualification tracking and student portfolio management. We also offer DashDeck, Target Tracker, and Lesson Logs used by SEND and alternative provision providers. All products are designed with the realities of specialist provision in mind — because our founder spent over 25 years in education, including as an Advanced Skills Teacher and Deputy Headteacher.

Question 8

How does Award Tracker work with AQA?

Accepted Answer

Award Tracker is designed specifically for the AQA Unit Award Scheme (UAS). It provides a structured system for recording unit completions, managing student evidence, and tracking qualification progress across your cohort. Each organisation has its own isolated data environment — no shared databases, no cross-contamination of records. Award Tracker removes the administrative burden from SEND and AP staff, replacing spreadsheets and paper portfolios with a clean, purpose-built digital system. Pricing is £19.99/month per organisation.

Question 9

Where is Cognito Coding based?

Accepted Answer

Cognito Coding is a UK-registered company, GDPR compliant, serving clients across the United Kingdom. Founded by Eris Taylor — a former Deputy Headteacher and Advanced Skills Teacher with 25+ years in education and decades of software development experience — the company combines first-hand practitioner insight with full-stack engineering to build software that solves real day-to-day problems for small businesses, tutors, schools, and alternative-provision providers.

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Small Business Apps

Education

AI Automation

We Build Apps for Every Business — Big or Small

DashDeck

WagTracker

Apollo

Automate the Boring.Focus on What Matters.