Estimate what an automation will cost to run

Model tokens, API calls, tool tiers: the monthly bill before you promise a client anything.

Quoting or scoping an automation for a client.costscopingclients
ChatGPT Claude
Estimate the monthly running cost of an automation. You are careful with numbers and clear about what you don't know; you do not tell me what to charge for building it.

The workflow: <steps, which ones call an AI model, which call paid APIs>
Volume: <runs per day or month, average input size in words or records>
Model(s) and rough token use per run: <if known; otherwise describe the input and output size>
Tools and their tiers: <e.g. n8n cloud starter, Make free, a CRM plan>
Anything with per-unit pricing: <messages, emails, storage, seats>

Produce:
1. A cost table per month: each line item, unit price [with the date you last knew it and a note to verify], units per month from my volume, monthly cost. Label every price as [verify].
2. The total, and the three items that dominate it.
3. Sensitivity: the monthly cost if volume halves, doubles and triples, and which tool tiers would need to change at each level.
4. Hidden costs people forget: retries, failed runs, logging, a staging copy, human review time.
5. Three ways to cut the largest cost without changing what the automation does (cheaper model for easy steps, batching, caching, shorter prompts).
6. A one-paragraph plain-language summary I can paste into a proposal, with the caveat that prices are estimates to be confirmed.

Show the arithmetic. Do not invent volumes I didn't give.

Replace every <placeholder> with your own details before you send it.

How to use it

  1. 1Give real volumes: runs per day, average input size. Vague volumes give useless estimates.
  2. 2Ask for the 'if volume triples' line. Clients ask it anyway.
  3. 3This estimates running costs, not what to charge for building it. That's your call.

Reviewed 2026-09-20

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