Planning tool · illustrative scenarios

AI workflow cost estimator

Explore low, base and high planning scenarios. Keep cash spending separate from the time your team needs.

1. Set your planning basis

CurrencyPlanning horizon (months)Illustrative monthly workload

All amounts use one currency. Changing currency does not convert values.

Low / base / high are your assumptions, not statistical confidence bounds. Edit every range to fit your work. Each scenario combines that column’s inputs; correlated high inputs may be deliberately conservative.

Tasks per month

LowBaseHigh

I supplied or verified this range, including any genuine zero.

2. Enter cash costs

Use monthly equivalent license charges, including annual commitments divided by 12. These are planning allocations, not invoice payment schedules. Include applicable taxes in your inputs. Exclude anything already counted elsewhere.

Paid seats

LowBaseHigh

I supplied or verified this range, including any genuine zero.

License cost per seat / month

LowBaseHigh

I supplied or verified this range, including any genuine zero.

Other shared cash cost / month

LowBaseHigh

I supplied or verified this range, including any genuine zero.

All task usage is included in the fixed/license costs above — no additional per-task charge.

If unchecked, supply only the additional effective per-task cost after included allowances. Tiered pricing and overages need your own effective rate; they are not automatically modelled.

Additional cash cost per task

LowBaseHigh

I supplied or verified this range, including any genuine zero.

One-time setup cash

LowBaseHigh

I supplied or verified this range, including any genuine zero.

3. Enter staff effort

Staff hours are separate from cash. Do not also enter the same staff effort as an external cash cost. Include review, correction and escalation time in the review estimate.

Illustrative review effortIllustrative maintenance effort

These effort ranges are examples, not typical benchmarks. Replace them with measured or reasoned estimates.

Human review minutes per task

LowBaseHigh

I supplied or verified this range, including any genuine zero.

Maintenance hours / month

LowBaseHigh

I supplied or verified this range, including any genuine zero.

One-time setup hours

LowBaseHigh

I supplied or verified this range, including any genuine zero.

Optional staff-hour valuation (selected currency / hour)

This optional value translates staff time into an equivalent effort value. It is not cash spending, cash savings or an ROI forecast.

Your scenario estimate

How this is calculated

Monthly cash = paid seats × monthly license cost + other shared monthly cash + monthly tasks × additional cost per task.
If all usage is included, the additional cost per task is zero for calculation; your entered rates are retained but ignored.
Period cash = one-time setup cash + planning months × monthly cash.
Monthly staff hours = monthly tasks × review minutes ÷ 60 + monthly maintenance hours.
Period staff hours = one-time setup hours + planning months × monthly staff hours.
Optional equivalent effort value = period staff hours × your hourly valuation. It is never added to cash totals.

Check before relying on an estimate

Inputs must exist or be supplied with sufficient accuracy, completeness and relevance. Check supplier pricing, currency, taxes, usage allowances, shared-cost allocations, commitments and omitted costs. This model assumes steady monthly volumes and rates; it does not model ramp-up, exchange movements, inflation or tiered bills automatically. Round displayed values only; calculations retain full precision.

No LLM generates these totals: the arithmetic runs locally in your browser. If you use an LLM to prepare assumptions, responses can differ by model, version and settings. You remain responsible for validating the data, assumptions and outcomes against your criteria. Values are not sent or saved by this calculator; reloading resets them.