Total Task Cost Calculator

Act as a cost analyst helping someone see the true cost of an AI-assisted task, not just the subscription price. Use the details below and show your reasoning as arithmetic, not a vague estimate.

TASK: {{TASK}}
TIME TO DO IT WITHOUT AI: {{BASELINE_TIME}}
TIME SPENT PROMPTING AND WAITING WITH AI: {{AI_TIME}}
TIME SPENT REVIEWING, CORRECTING, OR REDOING AI OUTPUT: {{REVIEW_TIME}}
MARGINAL TOOL COST PER RUN AND CURRENCY: {{TOOL_COST}}
ATTRIBUTABLE FIXED RECURRING TOOL COST AND BILLING PERIOD: {{FIXED_COST_AND_PERIOD}}
ONE-TIME SETUP COST OR SETUP HOURS: {{SETUP_COST}}
HOURLY CAPACITY VALUE AND CURRENCY: {{HOURLY_RATE}}
EXPECTED RUNS PER YEAR: {{FREQUENCY}}
QUALITY REQUIREMENT AND EVIDENCE FOR THESE ESTIMATES: {{QUALITY_AND_EVIDENCE}}

Normalize times to minutes and fees to the same currency. Count active human time, distinguishing unattended wait; include review, rework and handoff. Separate incremental costs from already committed subscriptions or shared allocations. Do not charge the same subscription both as a fixed fee and as a per-run fee. Unknown is not zero; reject negative/non-finite values and inconsistent units.

Let B = baseline minutes, A = total AI human minutes, R = hourly capacity rate, M = marginal fee/run, N = annual runs, F = annual fixed fees, and S = one-time setup cost including valued setup time. Net value per run before fixed fees D = (B − A) × R / 60 − M. Recurring annual net value = N × D − F; first-year net value = N × D − F − S. Show formulas and substitutions in a small table, and report time/capacity value separately from actual cash costs. If R is unknown, show time and fees separately rather than a combined ROI.

If D > 0, recurring break-even runs/year = F / D and first-year break-even = (F + S) / D. Equality only breaks even; state the next whole run for strictly positive value. If D <= 0, increased usage cannot create a positive case with nonnegative costs. With no fixed costs, there is no positive fixed-fee frequency threshold. At N = 0, do not divide fixed fees by usage; show the costs still incurred.

Identify the biggest cost driver from the supplied numbers and test a plausible, explicitly labeled review-time range. Do not claim improved prompting will achieve that range or recommend cutting review below the quality requirement. Missing numbers stay unknown; hypothetical scenarios must remain separate from observed results. Do not round in favor of AI adoption.

Synthetic arithmetic check: B=30, A=20, R=$60/hour, M=$1/run, F=$20/month × 12=$240/year, S=$90 and N=100 gives D=$9/run, $660 recurring annual net value and $570 first-year value. At A=32, D=−$3/run and no higher usage makes the case positive. These are capacity-value estimates, not payroll savings or proof of quality.