Meeting Cost Calculator

What does that meeting really cost?

Meetings feel free because nobody receives an invoice for them. But an hour with eight people is eight hours of paid time — and a weekly status meeting repeats that cost fifty-two times a year. Putting a number on it changes how teams plan: who really needs to attend, whether it could be an email, and whether thirty minutes would do. This calculator works out the cost per minute, per meeting and per year, and includes a live timer that shows the cost adding up while the meeting runs.

How to use the calculator

1. Add a row for each group of attendees — for example managers, engineers and contractors.
2. Enter how many people are in each group and their pay, either as an annual salary or an hourly rate.
3. Set the meeting length and how many times a week it happens.
4. Optionally raise the cost multiplier to include benefits and overhead.
5. Read the cost per meeting, per month and per year — then press Start when the meeting begins.

Your attendee list is saved in this browser so you can reuse it for the next meeting.

How the cost is calculated

Annual salaries are converted to an hourly rate by dividing by 2,080 — the standard number of paid hours in a year (40 hours × 52 weeks). Hourly rates are used as entered. The calculator adds up everyone’s hourly cost, multiplies it by the cost multiplier, and scales it to the length of the meeting. Recurring costs multiply the per-meeting figure by meetings per week and 52 weeks.

Example: two managers on $120,000, four engineers on $95,000 and one contractor at $75 an hour cost about $373 per hour together. A one-hour weekly meeting of that group costs roughly $19,400 a year in paid time alone.

Salary versus true cost

An employee costs an organization more than their salary: health insurance, payroll taxes, retirement contributions, equipment and office space all add to it. If your finance team uses a loaded-cost figure, enter it as the multiplier — for example 1.25 adds 25% on top of pay. Leave it at 1 to count pay only.

How to make meetings cheaper

• Invite fewer people. Share notes with those who only need to be informed.
• Default to shorter meetings — 25 or 50 minutes instead of 30 or 60 leaves time between calls.
• Always have an agenda and a clear decision or outcome to reach.
• Move status updates to writing and keep meetings for discussion and decisions.
• Review recurring meetings every few months and cancel the ones that no longer earn their cost.

Coordinating across countries? Find a time that suits everyone with the Time Zone Meeting Planner. Track your hours with the Timesheet Calculator, and estimate a whole project with the Software Development Cost Calculator.