C3 AI
Prebuilt enterprise AI apps for industrial ops — big-ticket, big-iron
Overview
C3 AI sells 40+ configurable enterprise AI applications — predictive maintenance, demand forecasting, supply-network risk and fraud detection — for large manufacturers, energy firms, banks and government/defense. It sells via multi-year contracts; founder Thomas Siebel returned as CEO in May 2026.
Pricing
Pricing shown for reference only. These figures reflect RECATOOLS research as of 13 Jul 2026 and may be out of date or incomplete. This is not financial or purchasing advice — always confirm the current price on the provider’s official website before making any decision.
What you can produce with C3 AI
- 40+ prebuilt enterprise AI applications
- Predictive maintenance, demand forecasting, supply-network risk
- Fraud and anti-money-laundering detection
- Data integration across structured + unstructured sources
- C3 Generative AI (enterprise search / RAG line)
- Deployment on major clouds and on-prem
ASEAN Perspective
C3 AI in Southeast Asia
ASEAN-region availability and pricing notes coming soon. Drop the editorial team a note via /contact/ if you can supply local context (Singapore/Malaysia/Indonesia/Thailand/Vietnam).
The pitch that still holds up: instead of hiring an ML team to build predictive maintenance or supply-chain-risk models from scratch, you buy C3's pre-built applications and configure them — a real head start for asset-heavy operators like Baker Hughes or the US Air Force. The caveats are substantial. This is enterprise-only pricing (a $500K initial deployment is the standard on-ramp, average contract value near $1.8M), deployments run weeks to months per Gartner reviewers, and the business itself is under strain — FY2026 revenue of ~$360M came with a $498.5M GAAP operating loss, a restructuring cutting ~$135M in costs, and founder Thomas Siebel resuming the CEO seat in May 2026. Fit: large, well-funded industrial, energy, financial and government buyers with a specific high-value use case and patience for a long rollout. Small and mid-size teams should look elsewhere.
What people say
Gartner Peer Insights is the most useful outside read, and it's a small sample: C3 AI's platform carries about 4.5 stars in the Data Science and Machine Learning Platforms market, but off only a couple of reviews. The praise and the complaint are both consistent across sources — strong pre-built breadth and data-integration depth, undercut by cost and time-to-value.
Reviewers credit the suite with wide data-source support, pre-built models, and solid scalability, performance, integration and security. The recurring knock: deployment is 'time-consuming,' with turnaround measured in weeks to months rather than days. Independent analyst Lokad has been harsher over the years about the gap between C3's marketing and the reality of shipping models, and that skepticism still colors third-party write-ups.
Pricing is where the platform self-selects for large enterprises. C3 doesn't publish list prices; instead the standard entry is a $500,000 Initial Production Deployment, and SEC filings put average contract value around $1.8M with customer relationships spanning three to five years and total contract values often above $5M. Professional-services fees in year one frequently match or exceed the software license itself. There's no self-serve tier and no meaningful free option.
The corporate backdrop matters for anyone signing a multi-year deal. C3 AI reported preliminary FY2026 (ended April 30, 2026) revenue above $360M, up about 15%, but with a GAAP operating loss of $498.5M and a Q4 restructuring targeting roughly $135M in annualized savings; management is guiding to positive free cash flow by Q4 FY2027. Founder Thomas Siebel resumed the CEO role effective May 8, 2026, with Stephen Ehikian staying on as President — a leadership reset buyers will read either as founder re-commitment or as a sign of turbulence.
Who it's genuinely for: asset-intensive operators in energy, manufacturing, financial services and defense with a concrete, high-value problem (predictive maintenance, fraud, supply-network risk) and the budget and patience for a long, services-heavy rollout. The value proposition — buy the app instead of building the ML — is real for that buyer. For everyone smaller, the entry price and deployment timeline make it the wrong tool.
Summary of public user & expert reviews, compiled by RECATOOLS.
About this listing
This entry was compiled from publicly available data including C3 AI's official website, press releases, documentation, and reputable third-party publications. RECATOOLS is not affiliated with C3 AI unless explicitly stated.
Third-party AI tools update their pricing, features, availability, and policies frequently. Information here may be outdated by the time you read this — we make reasonable efforts to keep listings current, but cannot guarantee absolute accuracy.
For the latest details, please refer to C3 AI directly →
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