Should you hire an AI employee like Viktor or use agency as a service?
An AI employee is software you manage: you connect the accounts, brief it, review what it drafts, and approve anything that spends money. Agency as a service puts a person on that job, so the briefing, reviewing and deciding are done for you.
These tools can automate work. Their workflows still require customer oversight, configured permissions and approval for sensitive actions.
What you still do with an AI employee
Viktor describes its own model plainly: it pulls the numbers and drafts the recap, and the marketer still owns what the numbers mean. Spend, pausing and publishing wait for a person to approve.
That is the right design. It also means someone on your team has to be the manager: connect the accounts, write the brief, check the output, and catch it when it is wrong.
Setup
Accounts connected and labeled, briefs written, rules set.
Review
Every draft read before it ships.
Approval
Spend and publishing decided by a person.
Edge cases
The strange week, the broken pixel, the campaign that looked fine and was not.
Compare the work left with your team.
Okara or Levered
Compare organic marketing agents with a service that includes senior leadership, review and implementation.
Team24 or Levered
Compare AI teammates in Slack or Teams with an experienced operator directing and checking the work.
AmpPilot or Levered
Compare an AI CMO and optional human services with senior-led delivery.
ourCMO or Levered
Compare HighLevel-based AI and human CMO options with managed implementation.
Viva or Levered
Compare small-business AI marketing tools with managed growth services.
SMAAI or Levered
Compare modular AI marketing and daily approvals with senior-led execution.
Scroll sideways to see every column.
| Agency as a service (Levered) | Viktor | Sintra | Marblism | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | A person running your marketing with AI | An AI employee in Slack or Teams | A set of 12 AI helpers | A set of AI employees for small businesses |
| Who briefs and reviews the work | Levered | You | You | You |
| Spend and publishing | Reviewed by the operator | Waits for your approval | You review | You review |
| Price | $250–$1,799 a month | $100/month Team plan; shared credits | Plan, term and credit limits; check current quote | From $24 a month (yearly) |
Pricing pages reviewed 20 Oct 2026 at Viktor pricing, Sintra pricing, Marblism pricing. Features and pricing change.
Who this is for
Choose an AI employee if
- Someone on your team has time to brief and review it every week.
- The work is mostly drafts, reports and routine tasks.
- Budget is under a few hundred dollars a month.
Choose agency as a service if
- Nobody has time to manage the tool.
- You want a person deciding what ships and answering for it.
- The work crosses paid, pages, tracking and reporting.
Named results
35
Patients matched to ad inquiries
Colonial Heart: 35 patients matched to ad calls and forms over about four months; 17 were new to the practice.
3.8×
Monthly new-customer orders from paid search
EIS: new-customer orders linked to paid search rose from 22 to 83 across matching April–July periods, and revenue from those orders rose about 70%.
4
Client workstreams at once
Aux Insights: one embedded operator across four PE-consulting clients.
How it works
- 01
Connect the accounts.
Ads, analytics, site, CRM, whatever is live. The work happens in your systems.
- 02
Start with a 14-day trial.
The trial has half of Growth I’s monthly usage. A card is saved at sign-up, and the first task comes out of that trial usage.
- 03
Pick a plan.
Every plan has access to the full service catalog. Plans differ by how much work each month includes.
- 04
Ask for the work you need.
Setup, ongoing work, measurement and iteration across the services you choose. Top up or move up a plan when you need more.
Marketing strategy and execution
Growth I
$250/month
For monitoring and optimization
Start free trial- 14-day free trial
- Weekly monitoring of your site and accounts
- Tasks done for you in your accounts and on your site
- A senior marketer leads the work and checks with you before big changes
- Results tracked for each change
- A monthly report
- Chat with Levered anytime
- Pay for extra usage without changing plans
Growth II
$999/month
For growing businesses
Start free trial- Everything in Growth I
- 5x usage, for projects like:
- Google or Meta ads management
- A new landing page
- New ad copy and images
- SEO fixes on 5 pages
Growth III
$1,799/month
For growing teams
Start free trial- Everything in Growth II
- 10x usage, for projects like:
- Google and Meta ads management
- A custom landing page
- An AI phone agent
- One monthly planning call
Growth Team
Custom
For a marketer on your team
Book a call- Everything in Growth III
- An embedded marketer on your team
- Scope and price set on a call
Services on every plan
Paid ads
- Google Ads
- Meta ads (Facebook and Instagram)
- LinkedIn Ads
- Campaign setup and quality checks
Content and creative
- Ad design
- Video ads, including creator-style (UGC)
- Articles and thought leadership
- Social media and executive presence
Website and search
- Website design and development
- Landing pages
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Showing up in AI answers, like ChatGPT
Conversion and email
- Conversion rate testing
- New-customer onboarding
- Lifecycle email and newsletters
- Re-engagement, upsell and win-back campaigns
Sales and partnerships
- Account-based marketing (ABM)
- Outbound prospecting and sales automation
- Sales decks and materials
- Referral and partner programs
Tracking and data
- Conversion tracking
- Analytics and attribution reports
- CRM setup and marketing automation
- Data pipelines and warehouses
AI for your business
- AI phone agents
- Chatbots and AI assistants
- AI workflow automation
- AI training for your team
Strategy
- Marketing and go-to-market strategy
- Competitive and market research
- Fractional CMO leadership
- Managing vendors and agencies
Want this run in your accounts?
Get started with a website check and the 14-day trial.
Common questions
What is an AI employee?
Software that runs tasks in your tools on a schedule, like Viktor in Slack or Sintra’s helpers. You brief it and review its work.
Is Viktor fully autonomous?
No. As of 23 Sep 2026, Viktor’s own materials say actions like spending, pausing ads or publishing wait for human approval.
Can an AI employee replace an agency?
For drafts and routine reports, often. For deciding what to change and owning the result, you still need a person.
Does Levered use AI agents?
Yes. The difference is that a Levered operator manages them for you.
Can I use both?
Yes. Levered can run the work and review what your AI tools produce.
What does agency as a service cost at Levered?
Growth I is $250 a month, Growth II $999 and Growth III $1,799, with a 14-day free trial.