Free planning tool · August 2026
AI agent cost calculator
Estimate the complete first-year budget. Route one project to a published CTB package floor, then add model usage, infrastructure, maintenance, and human review. The assumptions and routing formula are visible below.
Runs entirely in your browser · No calculator data is submitted · Planning estimate, not a quote
Suggested scope band
Production Launch candidate
One end-to-end production workflow with integrations, an interface, and controlled write actions.
- Scope score
- 7 points
- Published build-budget floor
- $12,000
Estimated cost
- Model and API usage / month
- $100
- Human review / month
- $250
- Total recurring / month
- $800
- Recurring / year
- $9,600
- First-year planning floor
- $21,600
Excludes taxes, third-party software licenses, internal change management, and scope not represented by the inputs.
This calculator provides a planning floor anchored to CTB’s published starting prices. It cannot account for undocumented exceptions, data remediation, security or compliance requirements, procurement, unusual deployment constraints, or third-party license terms.
Transparent method
How the AI agent cost estimate is calculated
The calculator does two separate jobs. First, a scope score selects a CTB package floor. Second, your usage and staffing assumptions calculate recurring cost. The two values are combined for the first-year planning floor.
| Scope factor | Score |
|---|---|
| Additional workflow after the first | 5 points each |
| Integration after the first two | 1 point each |
| User interface or review queue | 2 points each |
| Browser-only or legacy system | 3 points each |
| Bounded interpretation / adaptive reasoning | 2 / 4 points |
| Reversible write / high-consequence action | 2 / 4 points |
Rapid Launch candidate
One workflow and 0–3 scope points. Published floor: $5,000.
Production Launch candidate
One workflow and 4–10 scope points. Published floor: $12,000.
Enterprise Build candidate
Multiple workflows or more than 10 scope points. Published floor: $25,000.
Monthly recurring cost
Executions × cost per execution + hosting and monitoring + maintenance and evaluation + review hours × reviewer rate.
First-year planning floor
Published build-budget floor + twelve months of recurring cost.
Use the result correctly
A cost estimate is useful only beside a workflow and value estimate
Use the AI agent development cost guide to understand each workstream, the requirements template to document the scope, and the AI automation ROI calculator to compare the first-year cost with a defensible value estimate. If the architecture is unclear, map the components with the production architecture guide before relying on the number.
FAQ
AI agent cost calculator questions
How does the AI agent cost calculator estimate build cost?
The calculator uses a disclosed scope score to route the project to one of CTB’s published package floors: Rapid Launch from $5,000, Production Launch from $12,000, or Enterprise Build from $25,000. It does not generate a quote or claim a market-wide average.
What is included in the first-year AI agent cost estimate?
First-year total cost combines the selected CTB build-budget floor with twelve months of estimated model and API usage, hosting and monitoring, maintenance, and human review. Third-party software licenses, taxes, and internal change-management costs remain outside the result unless you add them to an operating input.
What recurring costs does an AI agent have?
Common recurring costs include model or API consumption, cloud hosting, databases, monitoring, logs, third-party software, maintenance, evaluation, and human review for approvals and exceptions. The amount depends on execution volume and workflow risk.
Is the calculator an official project quote?
No. It is a browser-based planning tool anchored to CTB’s published starting prices. A quote requires a review of the actual workflow, systems, data, permissions, exceptions, acceptance tests, deployment environment, and support requirements.
Does CTB receive the information entered into the calculator?
No. The calculation runs in the browser and the page does not submit calculator inputs to CTB. Copying or downloading a summary also happens locally on the device.
How can I make an AI agent cost estimate more accurate?
Document one workflow, count every integration and interface, identify browser-only or legacy systems, estimate monthly executions, measure the human-review requirement, and collect representative normal, edge, and failure cases before requesting a quote.