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Free tool
AI Rework Cost Estimator
Estimate the monthly labour cost of DIY AI content when you include review and rework, not just generation time. Uses only your inputs. No invented benchmarks. The core result is free on this page, with no email and no account.
- No email required
- Instant results
- Worked example included
How to use the AI Rework Cost Estimator
Step 1
Enter your monthly volume
Add the number of published drafts you aim to ship each month.
Step 2
Add generation and review time
Minutes per draft for prompting and the first AI pass, then for editing, fact-checking and approval.
Step 3
Set retry rate and hourly cost
The share of drafts that need one full redo, and the loaded hourly cost of the person doing the work.
Step 4
Read the estimate
See hours and cost per month and cost per published draft, with an optional generation-only comparison.
Your content workflow
EXAMPLE defaults below are placeholders you can change. They are not industry benchmarks.
Estimated monthly labour cost
Generation + review + redo attempts, priced at your hourly labour cost. Estimate only; not a market benchmark.
Inputs changed or incomplete. This result is out of date. Update result to refresh.
This estimate measures labour hours and cost from your inputs (generation, review, and at most one full rework). It does not establish market rates, content quality, tool subscription cost, or opportunity cost beyond the hourly rate you enter.
Worked example
10 drafts a month, 20% retry, 60 CAD an hour
Worked example (no JavaScript required). Static HTML so crawlers and no-JS browsers still see a citable result. Same formula as the interactive calculator. Numbers below are an EXAMPLE placeholder set, not a Teamulate study result.
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Drafts per month (D) | 10 |
| Generation minutes per draft (G) | 15 |
| Review minutes per draft (R) | 45 |
| Retry rate | 20% |
| Hourly cost (H) | 60 CAD |
| Step | Formula | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Minutes factor | (G + R) × (1 + Retry) = (15 + 45) × 1.20 | 72 min per published draft |
| Hours / month | D × (G + R) × (1 + Retry) / 60 = 10 × 60 × 1.20 / 60 | 12 |
| Cost / month | Hours × H = 12 × 60 | 720 CAD |
| Cost per published draft | Cost / D = 720 / 10 | 72 CAD |
| Naive cost (optional) | D × G / 60 × H = 10 × 15 / 60 × 60 | 150 CAD |
Result: 12 hours and 720 CAD a month, or 72 CAD per published draft. The naive generation-only line for the same month is 150 CAD, because it leaves out review and rework.
- EXAMPLE: the 10 / 15 / 45 / 20% / 60 set is a placeholder for the static table and default form values. Replace with your own numbers.
- ASSUMPTION: Retry is the fraction of drafts that need one full redo of generation plus review. Attempts per published draft = 1 + Retry. The model caps at one full rework (no stacked multi-pass redos).
- ASSUMPTION: Hourly cost is a loaded rate you choose (salary, contractor, or founder opportunity cost). This page does not convert currencies.
Methodology
How the estimator calculates
Version 1.1.1 (ai-rework-cost-2026-10-05). Dated 5 October 2026. Published by Teamulate.
Pure client-side arithmetic from your inputs. No network calls for the calculation. No invented rework stats.
- Let D = drafts per month, G = generation minutes per draft, R = review minutes per draft, Retry = retry rate as a fraction 0 to 1, H = hourly cost.
- Attempts per published draft = 1 + Retry (Retry is the fraction that need one full redo; max one full rework per published draft).
- Total gen+review minutes = D × (G + R) × (1 + Retry).
- Hours/month = D × (G + R) × (1 + Retry) / 60.
- Cost/month = Hours × H.
- Cost per published draft = Cost/month / D (when D > 0).
- Optional naive cost (generation only, no review or rework) = D × G / 60 × H.
What the estimator does not do
- It does not establish market rates, content quality, tool subscription cost, or opportunity cost beyond the hourly rate you enter.
- It does not ship benchmark defaults. The default numbers are an EXAMPLE placeholder set.
Share state via query string keys: drafts, genMin, reviewMin, retry, hourly, currency, showNaive (1 or 0).
FAQ
Questions about the estimator
Is the AI Rework Cost Estimator free?
Yes. The full result shows on this page with no email and no account.
Where do the default numbers come from?
They are an EXAMPLE placeholder set (10 drafts, 15 generation minutes, 45 review minutes, 20% retry, 60 CAD an hour). They are not industry benchmarks or a Teamulate study result. Replace them with your own numbers.
Why is the estimate higher than generation time alone?
Because it counts review minutes and redo attempts as well as generation. The optional naive line shows generation minutes only, so you can see the difference.
Does the estimate include tool subscriptions or content quality?
No. It measures labour hours and cost from your inputs (generation, review, and at most one full rework). It does not establish market rates, content quality, tool subscription cost, or opportunity cost beyond the hourly rate you enter.
Does the estimator save my numbers?
No. It runs in your browser and makes no network calls for the calculation. The share link embeds the numbers you entered, so share it only with people who should see them.
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