Meeting cost calculator. The meter is running.

How to use the Meeting Cost Calculator

This calculator puts a price on a meeting from the number of people in it, their average pay and how long it runs. It multiplies attendees by the hourly rate and the duration, or runs a live meter that bills by the second while the meeting happens. Use it to plan a meeting, trim an invite list or show a team what a recurring slot really costs.

Step by step

1. 1
   Enter the head count

   Type the Number of attendees, including the organizer. It starts at 6. Decimals are rounded down to whole people.

2. 2
   Enter average pay

   Type the Average pay across attendees and choose per hour or per year (salary) next to it. It starts at 50 per hour. With a salary, a Working hours per year field appears; it starts at 2,080, which is 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, and the salary is divided by it to get an hourly rate.

3. 3
   Set the duration

   Fill in Duration, hours and Minutes. The default is 0 hours and 30 minutes.

4. 4
   Pick a currency symbol

   Choose a symbol under Currency, or None for plain numbers. It only changes the symbol shown; nothing is converted between currencies.

5. 5
   Read the total

   Total meeting cost and the three tiles under it update as you type. A short verdict line appears below them once the duration is more than zero.

6. 6
   Or run the live meter

   Press Start meeting when the meeting begins. The duration fields are ignored and the cost climbs in real time with an elapsed clock. Press Stop meeting to lock in the cost, Resume to continue from the same point, or Reset to go back to the normal calculator.

Reading the result

• Total meeting cost is attendees times hourly rate times minutes divided by 60. With the defaults, 6 people at 50 an hour for 30 minutes cost $150.00.
• per minute is what the whole room costs each minute ($5.00 with the defaults), per person is the total divided by attendees ($25.00), and burn / hour is the whole room for one hour, rounded to whole units ($300).
• The verdict line reads cheap under 100, reasonable from 100, pricey from 500 and a serious line item from 2,000. The defaults land on reasonable.
• In live mode the label changes to Live meeting cost (ticking) and a clock shows the elapsed time. After you stop, the label shows the final time with (stopped), and a short message repeats the total.

Tips and common mistakes

• The verdict uses the same thresholds in every currency, because nothing is converted. In yen or rupees it will call almost any meeting pricey, so read the number, not the verdict.
• In live mode, changing attendees or pay recalculates the whole elapsed time at the new figures, not just from that moment. If someone joins late, the live total will run high.
• Lower Working hours per year to allow for holidays and leave when you work from salaries. Fewer hours means a higher hourly rate and a higher cost.
• Pay is whatever you type. To include benefits and overhead, enter a higher hourly figure than base pay.
• The live meter counts from the start time, so it stays accurate if you switch tabs. The tab title shows Meeting running while it ticks.
• Nothing is saved. Reloading the page resets the fields and loses a running meter, so note the total before you close the tab.

Privacy and limits

All the math runs in your browser. Attendee counts, pay and durations are never sent anywhere and are not stored, and the page makes no network requests while you use it. Once loaded, the calculator and live meter keep working without a connection.

Back to the tool

See the true cost of every meeting.

• Instant total from attendee count, pay rate and duration, recalculated as you type.
• Hourly or annual salary modes, with a configurable working-hours-per-year conversion (2,080 by default).
• Live ticking meter that bills in real time from the moment you press Start, rate and headcount changes apply on the fly.
• Stop, resume and reset the meter to lock in what the meeting actually cost when it ends.
• Per-minute, per-person and burn-per-hour breakdowns beside the total, plus an honest verdict on whether it was worth it.
• Seven currencies, USD, EUR, GBP, INR, JPY, AUD, CAD, or no symbol at all.

Frequently asked questions.

More business tools.

Browse the full free-tool library →