Meeting cost

What that meeting really costs

Multiply the people in the room by what an hour of their time costs, then watch the number climb while the meeting runs. Everything stays on your device.

Live meeting

not started

$0.00

00:00:00

Burning $7.50 per minute with 6 people in the room.

0 of 60 planned minutes

The start time is saved locally, so the counter keeps real time through a reload or a closed tab.

Planned meeting

60 min at $75.00/h each

Total cost

$450.00

Per minute

$7.50

Per attendee

$75.00

Weekly, per year

$23,400

52 repeats

Meeting details

Attendees

Rate basis

Average hourly cost per personFully loaded cost, not take-home pay.Planned durationMinutes on the invite.Currency symbol

Inputs are saved in this browser. Copy link puts them in the URL so you can send the same numbers to someone else.

How to use it

The calculator turns a meeting into a single number: how much salary the organisation spends during the time the invite blocks out. Set the three inputs on the right and read the planned cost, or press Start meeting and let the counter run while you talk.

Set the inputs

Attendees is everyone who actually joins, including anyone who only listens. For the rate, pick whichever number you have to hand. Hourly rate takes a figure per person per hour. Annual salary takes a yearly figure and divides it by 2080 working hours, which is 40 hours a week across 52 weeks. Planned duration is the length of the calendar invite.

Read the four results

Total cost is what the planned meeting spends end to end. Per minute is the useful one for deciding whether an agenda item is worth another five minutes. Per attendee shows what each seat costs, which makes the case for trimming the invite list. Weekly, per year assumes the same meeting repeats 52 times and is usually the number that changes minds about a recurring slot.

Run it live

Start meeting anchors a timestamp and the money figure climbs from there in real time. Pause holds the total, Resume continues from the same point, and Reset clears it. The timestamp is stored in your browser, so a reload or a closed laptop lid does not lose the running total. Once you pass the planned duration the bar fills and an overrun badge shows what the extra time is costing.

A worked example

Eight people, an average loaded cost of $60 an hour, and a 45 minute invite. Eight people at $60 comes to $480 an hour, which is $8 a minute. Multiply by 45 minutes and the meeting costs $360, or $45 per attendee. Hold it every week and the year costs $18,720.

Share the numbers

Copy link builds a URL with the inputs attached, in the form people=6&rate=75&min=60. Anyone who opens it sees the same figures without retyping them, which is handy when you want to attach the cost to the meeting notes.

Frequently asked questions

How is meeting cost calculated?

Attendees multiplied by the hourly cost of one person gives a cost per hour for the whole room. Divide by 60 for a cost per minute, then multiply by the length of the meeting. A 30 minute meeting with 5 people at $80 an hour costs 5 x $80 x 0.5, which is $200. When you enter an annual salary instead of an hourly rate, the salary is divided by 2080 hours to get the hourly figure first.

What rate should I use?

Use an average across the people in the room rather than a precise figure for each one, since the point is a rough order of magnitude. If most attendees earn a similar amount, one blended rate is close enough. If a meeting mixes very different pay bands, run it twice and take the midpoint. Finance teams often publish an internal hourly cost per role, and that number is the best one to use if you can get it.

Is this the real cost of a meeting?

It is a floor, not a ceiling. Two things push the real figure higher. The first is loaded cost: salary plus payroll taxes, benefits, equipment, software and office overhead, which typically lands somewhere around 1.25 to 1.4 times base salary. Multiply your rate by that factor for a truer number. The second is opportunity cost, meaning the work that did not happen because the hour went to the meeting, plus the time people lose refocusing afterwards. Neither is in the arithmetic here, so treat the result as the conservative version.

How do I reduce meeting cost?

Cut the invite list first, because cost scales directly with headcount and most meetings carry passengers who could read the notes instead. Then shorten the default slot: 25 and 50 minutes work as well as 30 and 60 for most agendas and save a fifth of the spend. After that, ask whether the meeting needs to be synchronous at all, and whether a recurring slot still earns its place. Look at the weekly, per year figure before renewing anything on the calendar. A written agenda sent in advance also shortens the meeting itself, since the discussion starts from a shared position.

Does the live counter keep running if I close the tab?

Yes. Starting a meeting saves the start timestamp in your browser rather than counting ticks, so the elapsed time is worked out from the clock when you come back. Reload the page, close the tab, or sleep the machine and the total is still right. Pausing banks the time so far, and Reset clears it. Nothing is sent to a server.

Where the numbers come from

The annual conversion uses 2080 hours, the standard full-time year of 40 hours across 52 weeks with no deduction for holidays. If you want a rate that accounts for paid leave, divide the salary by your own figure for hours actually worked and enter that as an hourly rate instead. The yearly projection assumes 52 occurrences, so drop it by a few percent for a meeting that skips holiday weeks. For a fuller view of where the working week goes, the work hours calculator covers hours, overtime and pay.