Full AI value calculator

Compare what a task costs with human labor versus AI. This free worksheet uses STH (Synthetic Thought-Hour)—a normalized unit of cognitive work—to estimate monthly spend on each path.

TCH — Total Cost of Human: Your monthly labor cost: hourly rate × hours per task × monthly volume.
TCA — Total Cost of AI: Your monthly AI cost: model inference, human review time, and any error or risk premium.
STH — Synthetic Thought-Hour: A standardized measure of cognitive effort used to compare human and AI throughput for the same task type.

Adjust model, review share, risk premium, and monthly volume below. All figures are per month.

Cognitive equivalency (STH)

Compare TCH (total cost of human labor) to TCA (total cost of AI): list API prices for T_in/T_out (or a fixed monthly dedicated host), plus oversight and risk. As an illustrative non-agentic anchor, ~10k tokens can resemble ~1 hour of dense reading—but task-type presets assume agentic AI (retrieval, tools, multi-step) to reflect the real world usage to increase consistency, so hourly token rates are higher.

TCA = (T_in×P_in) + (T_out×P_out) + (H_review×R_human) + C_error

All workload and cost totals are per calendar month. List prices are USD per 1M tokens; ≈ EUR uses ×0.92.

Inputs

Task type

Presets assume work is done with agentic AI (tools, retrieval, multi-turn) so API token use stays comparable across task types.

Model choice

Volume (units per month)

Task completions per calendar month (TCH, tokens, and oversight).

Human billing rate (EUR/hr)Hours per task unit

H_review (share of original task time)

C_error — risk premium (EUR / month)

TCH — human labor

Full manual cost if AI is not used. Use (?) for formulas.

Monthly workload ≈ 10 h

Workload (h/mo) = units per month × hours per unit. With your inputs: 10 × 1 h/unit ≈ 10 h/mo. This same monthly workload drives token estimates (STH × hours × volume) and oversight hours.

(10 units × 1 h/unit)

TCH (monthly)

500 €

TCH = hours per unit × EUR/hr × units per month. With your inputs: 1 × 50,00 €/hr × 10 ≈ 500,00 €/mo. Oversight (H_review × R_human) uses the same hourly rate as this TCH.

TCA — AI path

Set H_review and C_error under Inputs. Click (?) for formulas and pricing detail.

P_in / P_out (list): $5/1M · $30/1M USD

≈ 100,000 tokens/unit · Monthly T_in / T_out: 300,000 / 700,000

T_in and T_out come from STH × hours × monthly units, with total tokens split ~30% input / ~70% output for costing. Right now: 300,000 T_in / 700,000 T_out per month (from ≈ 100,000 tokens/unit × 10 units). List prices are USD per 1M tokens; EUR uses ×0.92 on the USD API total.

(T_in×P_in) + (T_out×P_out): $22.50≈ 20,70 €
?
(T_in × P_in) + (T_out × P_out) at list USD/1M; approximate EUR applies ×0.92 to the USD total. Using your monthly split: 300,000 T_in and 700,000 T_out → $22.50 (≈ 20,70 €).
H_review × R_human (3 h/mo): 150,00 €
?
H_review × R_human = review share × hours per unit × monthly units × your EUR/hr (from Inputs). H_review is often 20%–40% of original task time. With your inputs: 30% × 1 h/unit × 10 units × 50,00 €/hr ≈ 150,00 €/mo (3 oversight h/mo).
C_error: 0,00 €
?
C_error is the risk / hallucination premium you enter under Inputs (EUR/month). Your value: 0,00 €/mo. It adds to API or fixed cost and oversight to form TCA.
TCA (monthly): 170,70 €
?
TCA = API or fixed infra + H_review × R_human + C_error (all per calendar month). With your numbers, total 170,70 € = 20,70 € (API/fixed) + 150,00 € (oversight) + 0,00 € (C_error).

Savings

Net saving (TCH − TCA), monthly: 329,30 €
?
Net saving = TCH − TCA for the same calendar month (human-only labor cost minus full AI path cost). With your numbers: 500,00 € − 170,70 € = 329,30 €/mo.
Reduction vs TCH: 65.9%
?
Reduction vs TCH = (TCH − TCA) / TCH when TCH > 0; otherwise shown as —. With your numbers: (500,00 € − 170,70 €) ÷ 500,00 € ≈ 65.9%.

Worksheet-style check (your numbers, monthly)

Step-by-step recap of the same monthly figures as above: human cost, AI or fixed compute, oversight, and net saving — useful to sanity-check inputs. The list below updates live as you change volume, rates, hours, model, and risk inputs.

Human (TCH): 10 h × 50,00 €/hr ≈ 500,00 €
AI API: 300,000 T_in + 700,000 T_out ≈ $22.50 (≈ 20,70 € EUR)
Oversight: 3 h × 50,00 €/hr ≈ 150,00 €
Net saving:329,30 € (65.9% vs TCH)