> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.animo.co/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Business case # Animo + API vs. building it yourself **For event organisers and businesses that use events in their marketing mix** *** ## The question You run events — launches, demos, conferences, webinars, partner days. You need registrations, payments, confirmations, and attendee data. Which path fits? | Path | Summary | | ------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------- | | **A — Fully managed** | API sets up and operates; Animo hosts everything attendees see | | **B — Custom site + Animo checkout** | Your branded site; tickets and forms link/embed to Animo | | **C — Build your own** | Rebuild event commerce with AI (not recommended for marketers) | **Pro plan: €99/month** — API, webhooks, hosted pages, payments, emails, attendee CRM. *** ## How to read the cost estimates All figures are **order-of-magnitude** guides, not quotes. | Line item | What it means | | --------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Platform** | Animo Pro subscription (€99/mo → **€1,188/yr**) | | **Integration labor** | **Human hours × hourly rate** — setup, build, QA (assumed **€80–100/hr** loaded) | | **AI API spend** | Token/subscription cost for coding agents — **separate from labor** | | **Maintenance** | Ongoing human time over the year | | **Infra** | Hosting for a custom site or webhook receiver (Path B only) | Labor and AI spend are listed separately because on Paths A and B, **people cost dominates**; token spend is typically hundreds of euros, not thousands. *** ## What Animo already is Animo is a full events platform — not a thin API wrapper. | Included in Pro | You never rebuild | | ------------------------------- | ----------------------------- | | Hosted event & ticket pages | Checkout & Mollie payments | | Paid + free tickets, approvals | VAT, invoicing, platform fees | | Registration & activation forms | Lifecycle emails | | Attendee CRM, QR check-in | Lead/submission storage | | Webhooks | Ticket issuance & scanning | With the API, the rule is **orchestrate and present** — not reimplement money, tax, or data-of-record flows. See [Animo for AI agents](for-ai-agents.md). *** ## Path A — Animo Pro + API, fully managed **Best for:** fast turnaround, small or no dev team, private/internal events, “just get it live.” **What you build:** almost nothing attendees see. API calls to create events, ticket types, forms, email copy, event pages. Attendees go to `https://app.animo.co/{company-slug}/event/{event-slug}`. | | Typical range | | ---------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Time to first event live** | **1–3 days** | | **Human hours (one-time)** | **4–16 hours** | | | API token, Pro plan, Mollie connect, create one event via API or agent, smoke-test free + paid flow | | **Integration labor** | **€500–€2,500** (hours × rate above) | | **Code you own** | **0–500 LOC** (optional setup scripts; no public site) | | **AI API spend (one-time)** | **€200–€500** (\~50k–150k tokens) | | **Ongoing maintenance** | **1–2 hrs/month** | | **Year 1 total** | **\~€2k–€4k** | **Example jobs:** Provision event from a brief · Operate (approve pending, shift dates) · Optional webhook to Slack. Maps to **Mode 1** in [for-ai-agents.md](for-ai-agents.md). *** ## Path B — Animo Pro + API, custom site + Animo checkout **Best for:** marketing-led businesses with brand standards — bespoke landing page, own domain, still correct payments and registrations. **What you build:** presentation layer only. Marketing site (schedule, speakers, brand). Every **money** and **data-of-record** path links or embeds to Animo — ticket signup URLs, activation forms, checkout redirect for paid orders. | | Typical range | | ---------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Time to first event live** | **2–6 weeks** | | **Human hours (one-time)** | **40–120 hours** | | | Design/dev site, `GET` sync from API, webhook receiver with persistence, CRM mapping, error handling, QA | | **Integration labor** | **€4k–€12k** (hours × rate above) | | **Code you own** | **1,000–3,000 LOC** (site + webhook app + optional sync jobs) | | **AI API spend (one-time)** | **€500–€2k** (\~200k–800k tokens) | | **Infra (year 1)** | **€60–€600** (hosting for site + webhook receiver) | | **Ongoing maintenance** | **2–6 hrs/month** | | **Year 1 total** | **\~€6k–€18k** | **What you still don’t build:** cart, Mollie UI, VAT, invoices, custom forms that POST into Animo, parallel lifecycle emails. **Example jobs:** Branded launch page pulling ticket types from API · Sponsorship form embedded via activation URL · HubSpot/Slack via webhooks. Maps to **Mode 2** in [for-ai-agents.md](for-ai-agents.md). *** ## Path C — Build “Animo-like” with AI **Best for:** only if event infrastructure **is** your product — not if events are a marketing channel. **Scope of “Animo-lite”:** events, tickets, checkout, VAT, forms, admin, API — without meetings, marketplace, hubs, or years of production edge cases. | | Animo-lite (AI-assisted) | Full Animo parity | | -------------------------- | ------------------------------ | ----------------- | | **Calendar to production** | **9–18 months** | **18–36+ months** | | **Human hours** | **1,200–2,500** | **3,000–6,000+** | | **Build labor (year 1)** | **€80k–€200k** | **€250k–€500k+** | | **AI API spend (project)** | **€15k–€50k** (\~8–20M tokens) | **€40k–€100k+** | | **Code you maintain** | **25k–45k LOC** | **60k+ LOC** | | **Ongoing engineering** | **€35k–€90k/yr** (0.2–0.5 FTE) | **€70k–€150k/yr** | | **Payment / VAT risk** | **Yours** | **Yours** | AI speeds scaffolding; it does not reliably shortcut payment state machines, EU VAT, or webhook idempotency — where Animo’s production codebase already encodes years of edge cases. *** ## Three-path comparison (year 1) | | **A — Fully managed** | **B — Custom site** | **C — Build your own** | | ---------------------------- | --------------------- | -------------------------------- | ------------------------- | | **Platform** | €1,188 | €1,188 | €0 (you are the platform) | | **Integration labor** | €500–€2,500 | €4k–€12k | €80k–€200k | | **AI API spend** | €200–€500 | €500–€2k | €15k–€50k | | **Maintenance labor** | €1k–€2k | €2k–€6k | €35k–€90k | | **Infra** | — | €60–€600 | €5k–€20k+ | | **Year 1 total** | **\~€2k–€4k** | **\~€6k–€18k** | **\~€130k–€340k** | | **Human hours (one-time)** | **4–16** | **40–120** | **1,200–2,500** | | **Time to first paid event** | **Days** | **Weeks** | **Months** | | **Attendee-facing UX** | Animo hosted | Your site + Animo checkout/forms | All yours | | **Compliance risk** | Animo’s | Animo’s (money + data) | Yours | **Savings vs Path C (year 1):** * Path A saves **\~€125k–€335k** * Path B saves **\~€115k–€325k** — still **\~10× cheaper** than building, with full brand control on marketing **A vs B:** same €99/mo platform. The gap is **\~35–100 extra human hours** and **\~€4k–€14k** more integration labor for design, site, webhooks, and CRM wiring. Choose B only when hosted pages cannot meet brand requirements. *** ## Who each path is for | Profile | Path | | ------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------ | | Solo organiser, internal team event, speed over brand | **A** | | Marketing team, 4–20 events/yr, brand guidelines, own domain | **B** | | Agency provisioning many clients with light automation | **A** or **B** (per-client branding) | | No dev capacity at all | **A** — may not even need the API | | Funded startup whose product *is* event infrastructure | **C** | *** ## What AI does on each Animo path | Job | Path A | Path B | | ------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------- | | **Provision** | Agent creates event, tickets, forms from a brief | Same + generates site structure | | **Operate** | Approve orders, update copy via API | Same | | **Integrate** | Optional thin webhook | **Required** — CRM/Slack with persistence | | **Sync** | N/A (hosted page is canonical) | Regenerate calendar/landing from `GET /events` | Path A: **tens of thousands** of tokens per engagement.\ Path B: **hundreds of thousands** — still far below Path C’s **millions**. *** ## Risks you buy down with Paths A & B * VAT & invoicing (business vs consumer, country, line items) * Payment lifecycle (order → hosted checkout → webhook → ticket issued) * No submission ingest API — hosted forms + webhooks is the supported model * Email deliverability (confirmation, pending, approved, denied) * Production edge cases (approval + failed payment, QR at door, activation flows) *** ## Recommendation For **event organisers and marketing-led businesses**: 1. **Default to Path A** — live in days, €99/mo, minimal build. 2. **Move to Path B** only when brand/domain requirements clearly outweigh **\~40–120 hours** of extra integration work. 3. **Avoid Path C** unless events infrastructure is the business itself. > €99/month ≈ **one hour** of senior contractor time. One delayed launch or one payment/VAT mistake usually costs more than a year of Pro. *** ## Next steps 1. **Pro** — [https://app.animo.co/admin/settings/billing](https://app.animo.co/admin/settings/billing) 2. **API token** — User settings → API tokens 3. **Read first** — [Animo for AI agents](for-ai-agents.md) 4. **Path A first win** — one event, one ticket type, hosted URL 5. **Path B add-on** — one webhook to CRM, then branded landing that links out *** ## Related * [API index](index.md) * [Animo for AI agents](for-ai-agents.md) — integration modes and what never to rebuild * [Conventions — Public URLs](conventions.md#public-urls) * [Webhooks](endpoints/webhooks.md) *** *Estimates based on Animo codebase scale (\~62k LOC application PHP, 134 migrations, Mollie/Stripe, multi-locale product surface) and typical integration depth. Adjust for your agency rates and CRM complexity.*