AI vs human cost comparison
Per-task cost comparison with the volume where each wins.
FreeRuns in your browserNo signupUpdated 2026-10-29
Rates last checked October 2026. Prices change; check the provider's pricing page. Gemini 4 Argon is due to rise to $4 / $20 on 1 December 2026.
Human, per task
$4
$6,000 per month
AI, per task
$1
$1,756.75 per month including fixed cost
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Cheaper at this volume | AI$4,243.25 per month saved |
| API cost per task | $0.0045 |
| Human review per task | $1 |
| Break-even volume | 84 tasks per month |
| Payback on build cost | 0.7 months |
Review time is the honest part of this comparison. A task that needs a full human check gains little; one that needs a glance at 1 in 10 outputs gains a lot.
About this tool
How it works and how to read the result.
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Comparing AI cost vs human cost fairly means counting everything on both sides, and this page does that per task and per month. The human side is minutes per task at an hourly cost. The AI side is the model's token cost per task, plus the human review time it still needs, plus a fixed monthly cost for hosting and tooling. The page shows which is cheaper at your volume, the volume where that flips, and how long a build cost takes to pay back. Everything runs in your browser.
How to use it
- Enter tasks per month and how long one takes a person, with their hourly cost.
- Choose a model and enter the input and output tokens a task uses. Measure a real example with the token counter.
- Set review time as a share of the manual time. Be honest.
- Add fixed monthly costs and the one-time build cost.
- Read the per-task figures, the winner and the break-even volume.
How to read the result
Suppose a task takes a person 12 minutes at $20 an hour, so $4.00 per task. On GPT-6.1 Terra with 2,000 input and 500 output tokens, the API cost is about $0.0045 per task. With 25% review time, a person still spends 3 minutes, or $1.00, so the AI side costs about $1.00 per task. At 1,500 tasks a month, that is $6,000 for people against $1,507 plus $250 fixed, a saving of about $4,243 a month. A $3,000 build pays back in under a month.
The break-even volume here is tiny, about 84 tasks a month, because the fixed cost is small and the per-task gap is wide. Raise review to 80% and the AI side becomes $3.20 per task; the saving shrinks to about $940 a month and break-even rises to over 300 tasks.
If the winner shows Human, the per-task gap is too narrow for the fixed cost. Cut review time by improving the prompt, or choose a cheaper model.
We find these numbers in the first week of an AI automation project and build only where they hold up.
Questions
Frequently asked.
Why include human review time on the AI side?
Because almost no AI output goes straight to a customer unread. Someone spot-checks, corrects or approves it. If that review takes half as long as doing the task by hand, the saving halves. Setting review to zero only makes sense for fully automated, low-stakes work.
What is the break-even volume?
The number of tasks per month at which the AI's fixed monthly cost is covered by its lower per-task cost. Below that volume the human is cheaper overall; above it the AI is. If the AI is not cheaper per task at all, no volume reaches break-even.
What is not in this comparison?
Quality, speed and risk. A model answers in seconds and never queues, which may matter more than the cost. Equally, a wrong answer sent to a customer has a cost the page cannot see. Use the numbers as one input, not the decision.
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