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Cost analysis 16 April 2026 7 min read

How much should an AML program cost an Australian SME?

Benchmark monthly subscription pricing across the 14 vetted providers, and where the true cost sits beyond the licence fee.

By James Carter

Across the 14 vetted providers in our directory, monthly pricing for an SME ranges from A$0 (easyAML's free-until-deadline tier) to A$1,500+ for managed services like AML SmartGuard. Most SMEs land somewhere in the A$200–A$650 monthly band for self-serve tools, or A$1,000–A$2,500 for managed services.

What you're paying for

  • Program documentation and templates (one-off and ongoing updates).
  • Customer due diligence — biometric or document verification, often priced per check.
  • Sanctions, PEP and adverse media screening (often subscription, sometimes per-check).
  • Ongoing monitoring of your customer base.
  • AUSTRAC reporting workflow — SMR and TTR drafting and submission helpers.
  • Training and attestations for staff.
  • Annual independent review (sometimes included, often an add-on).
  • Support — and the level of access you get to a real human.

True cost beyond the subscription

The licence fee is rarely the largest line item. The biggest hidden costs are: time spent by partners and fee-earners learning the tool, time spent triaging false positives in screening, and the cost of remediating poorly documented onboardings if AUSTRAC ever engages. Managed services collapse a lot of this into a single monthly fee.

How to think about the ROI

A single SMR done badly creates regulator risk. A single SMR done well demonstrates that your program is working as intended. The difference is usually the quality of the workflow tool and the quality of the support behind it.

Practical next step

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