Calculator
Five short steps: demand, your current operation, the AI scenario, vendor billing, then results. Nothing is filled in for you, and your raw numbers stay in your browser.
Details
The estimate takes five steps, and nothing is filled in for you. Demand asks for monthly inquiries, the share the AI will engage with, messages per engaged inquiry and the share it may resolve. Keep those two shares apart. The first drives your bill, and the second drives any saving. Current operation asks for minutes per staff-handled inquiry, a loaded hourly cost, staff seats and today's software spend. The AI scenario takes a low, base and high figure for automation rate and recontact share. Vendor billing takes fees, allowances, overage, setup and upkeep. Then you calculate. Inputs stay local with no analytics. Optional share links put assumptions after # in the URL, visible to recipients.
Demand
Current operation
AI scenario
Vendor billing
Results
Open Five-step accessible calculator
Five-step accessible calculator
Results
Results show software cost, staff-handled inquiries, staff hours, total monthly cost and the change from today, each as a low, base and high estimate.
Details
Profit never appears in the results, only cost. You get software cost, staff-handled inquiries, staff hours, total modeled monthly cost and the difference from your current modeled cost, each as low, base and high. Staff-handled inquiries are all inquiries minus the ones the AI handled correctly. A recontact counts as a failure, so that customer goes back to a person at full handling time. The difference can come out negative. That is a real answer: at your numbers, the AI would cost more. Automation rate, recontact share, handling time and labor cost are among the main drivers. None of this proves a vendor will reach the automation rate you typed. It shows what follows if one did.
Estimated software cost
Estimated human-handled volume
Modeled labor time
Total modeled monthly cost
Difference from current modeled cost
Sensitivity range
AI customer-service cost model
No vendor or labor assumption is selected by default. Your inputs stay in this browser. Nothing is stored or sent over the network. A share link holds them only if you copy one.
Demand
Current operation
AI scenario
Vendor billing
Results
Review the assumptions entered in the four steps, then calculate. No amount or rate leaves this browser.
Formula ledger
eligible_inquiries = monthly_inquiries × eligible_share attempted_automations = eligible_inquiries × automation_rate recontacts = attempted_automations × recontact_share correctly_automated = attempted_automations − recontacts human_hours = human_handled × human_minutes ÷ 60 software_cost = base + seats + selected_usage_overage + subscriptions + maintenance + implementation ÷ months modeled_total_cost = software_cost + human_labor_cost cost_difference = current_modeled_cost − modeled_total_cost
Open Sensitivity tornado chart with table alternative
Sensitivity tornado chart with table alternative
Estimated software cost
Estimated human-handled volume
Modeled labor time
Total modeled monthly cost
Difference from current modeled cost
Sensitivity range
| Series | Lower input | Base input | Higher input |
|---|---|---|---|
| Estimated software cost | 75 | 100 | 125 |
| Estimated human-handled volume | 75 | 100 | 125 |
| Modeled labor time | 75 | 100 | 125 |
| Total modeled monthly cost | 75 | 100 | 125 |
| Difference from current modeled cost | 75 | 100 | 125 |
| Sensitivity range | 75 | 100 | 125 |
Compare vendor billing units
Pick one usage unit, such as messages, conversations or automated outcomes, and add any base and seat fees. One month of demand bills differently under each.
Details
One month of demand produces a different bill under each unit, so the calculator applies one usage unit at a time. A message plan follows how long chats run, so a law firm whose visitors write long questions pays more than a salon fielding quick ones. A conversation plan follows how many chats start. An outcome plan charges per automated outcome, and this model bills every attempt, because the vendor decides what counts as a success. Seat plus platform tracks headcount and a fixed fee. Tidio bills Lyro by AI conversations6. Intercom bills Fin per outcome, with possible seat costs3. Zendesk pairs agent seats with extra automated resolutions7, and ChatBot.com bills per user8.
Message plan
Conversation plan
Outcome plan
Seat plus platform
Open Four-scenario comparison table
Four-scenario comparison table
| Question | How to check |
|---|---|
| Message plan | Multiply engaged inquiries by messages per inquiry and compare it to the allowance. Long chats, like a law firm's, use it up faster. |
| Conversation plan | Count how many chats start in a month, since each AI conversation is billed whether it runs short or long. |
| Outcome plan | Read the vendor's definition of an outcome. This model bills every attempt, because the vendor decides what counts as a success. |
| Seat plus platform | Multiply staff seats by the per-agent or per-user price, then add the platform fee and any usage charges on top. |
Good enough when, the same for every row above: Record the authoritative result or preserve context for the named human handoff. Do not count generated text as resolution.
Formula and definitions
Every output comes from a short formula shown in plain text. Where a vendor defines a unit differently, the vendor's definition decides your bill.
Details
Eligible inquiries equal monthly inquiries times the eligible share. Attempted automations equal eligible inquiries times the automation rate. Recontacts equal attempts times the recontact share, and correct automations are attempts minus recontacts. A billable message is any message in an AI-engaged inquiry. An automated outcome, here, is an attempt. Where a vendor defines a unit differently, its definition is the one that bills you. Loaded labor cost is the wage plus benefits. The median customer service representative earned $21.53 an hour in May 202510. Wages make up about 70 percent of private employers' compensation cost11. On that split, a $21.53 wage implies roughly $30.76 an hour loaded11. The full model downloads as JSON.
Eligible inquiry
Automation rate
Recontact
Billable message
Conversation
Automated outcome
Loaded labor cost
Open Formula ledger · Download JSON/CSV/print report
Formula ledger
| Question | How to check |
|---|---|
| Eligible inquiry | Multiply monthly inquiries by the eligible share, the part of your inquiries the AI could take on at all. |
| Automation rate | Multiply eligible inquiries by the automation rate to get attempted automations. Enter a low, base and high rate. |
| Recontact | Multiply attempts by the recontact share. Each recontact counts as a failure and goes back to a person at full handling time. |
| Billable message | Count any message in an AI-engaged inquiry. Where the vendor defines a message differently, its definition is the one that bills you. |
| Conversation | Check how the vendor defines a conversation, for example whether a visitor who returns the next day starts a new one. |
| Automated outcome | In this model every attempt counts as an automated outcome, because the vendor decides what counts as a success. |
| Loaded labor cost | Add benefits to the hourly wage. If you have your own payroll figures, use them in place of a national median. |
Good enough when, the same for every row above: Record the authoritative result or preserve context for the named human handoff. Do not count generated text as resolution.
Download JSON/CSV/print report
Interpret the result responsibly
A lower modeled cost does not prove good service. Check correct answers, handoffs, customer effort, risk and upkeep before you buy anything.
Details
A cheaper total says nothing about whether the software answers well. Before you buy, gather evidence on five things. Correct answers: test it with questions you already know. Handoff: ask for a person and read what staff receive. Customer effort: count the messages a customer needs to finish. Risk: decide what one wrong answer about a refund, a warranty or a moving quote would cost. Upkeep: someone must keep hours, prices and policies current. Leave unknowns as unknowns. If a vendor will not state its human handoff terms, write that down. A receptionist's median wage was $18.27 an hour in May 2025, before benefits9. Compare against that, and remember that a bot which strands customers can still cost more.
Cost is not quality
Guardrails
Unknowns
Evaluation evidence
First AI Employee pricing preset
An optional preset loads First AI Employee's current chat price and message allowance. It leaves your automation and labor numbers exactly as you typed them.
Details
Current message tiers
The preset covers First AI Employee's three website chat plans: Essential at $25/month with 5,000 messages, Growth at $49/month with 15,000 messages and up to 3 locations, and Scale at $99/month with 50,000 messages and unlimited locations1. Essential and Growth stop answering at the allowance. Scale has optional overage, off by default. Choosing a preset changes only the platform price, included messages and billing unit, and it shows the date the price was checked. Confirm the price at checkout.
Voice-plan included allowance
Every First AI Employee receptionist plan includes a free website chat tier of 1,000 messages a month, which you switch on in the dashboard1. If you are pricing both products, enter that allowance as included messages with no platform fee. Add a paid chat plan only if your volume needs more.
No chat free trial
Paid First AI Employee website chat plans have no free trial1. Your first month is a paid month, so decide before you buy what result would make you keep it and what would make you cancel. Write down a target for correct answers and good handoffs, not just cost.
Open Owned-product preset with disclosure and source date
Owned-product preset with disclosure and source date
- Current message tiers
- Three chat tiers of 5,000, 15,000 or 50,000 messages a month, taken from First AI Employee's own pricing page and checked on October 20, 2026.
- Voice-plan included allowance
- Every receptionist plan includes a free website-chat tier of 1,000 answered messages a month, switched on in the dashboard. It is not a paid chat tier.
- No chat free trial
- Paid website chat plans have no free trial, so this preset starts at a paid tier. Do not mix this up with the voice product's trial terms.
Evidence scope: 11 cited records on this page; latest recorded check 2026-10-22. Open the source record below for each source's individual state and review date.
Frequently asked questions
Answers on how the calculator treats your inputs, what each result means and why a higher-cost result is a valid answer.
Details
Frequently asked questions
How does the calculator estimate AI customer-service cost?
It runs your demand and billing numbers through formulas you can read, covering base fees, seats, included usage and overage, then works out how many inquiries people still handle. It does not predict how accurate a product will be or what your business will earn.
What automation rate should I enter?
Use a range based on the inquiries the AI may handle and on what your own testing showed. Do not copy a vendor's headline rate unless its definition, its customers and its conditions match yours.
What is loaded labor cost?
It is the hourly cost you choose to count for staff service work. It may include wages, payroll costs, benefits, management and overhead. The calculator does not fill in a default for you.
Does this calculate ROI?
It works out a cost difference from the numbers you enter. A real return-on-investment figure also needs checked service results, setup cost, the effect of errors and repeat contacts, the effect on customers, and the value or cost of the work the software takes over.
Does the calculator store my data?
No. It runs in your browser and sends only broad usage events to analytics, never your amounts, rates or typed text. Downloaded reports are made in your browser.