How to use the meeting cost calculator
- List who attends. Add one row per role with the number of people and their pay. Pick per year for salaries or per hour for hourly rates.
- Decide on overhead. Leave Overhead ticked for employees. Untick it for freelancers and contractors, whose rate already covers their own costs.
- Set the length and how often it happens. The cost per meeting, per month and per year, and the person-hours, update as you type.
- Share it. Copy summary gives you one sentence for a chat or an agenda. Copy link shares the exact setup.
- Run the timer. Press Start (or the Space bar) when the meeting begins, then Present to show the running total full screen.
How meeting cost is calculated
Work out what each person costs per hour, add everyone up, and multiply by the length of the meeting.
Hourly cost = salary ÷ working hours per year × overhead
Cost per meeting = sum of (people × hourly cost) × minutes ÷ 60
Cost per year = cost per meeting × meetings per year
Recurring meetings are counted per week the meeting runs. Daily (weekdays) is 5 a week, so 260 a year over 52 weeks; weekly is 52; every two weeks is 26; monthly is 12. Lower the weeks per year if the meeting stops over holidays and every yearly figure scales down with it.
Worked example
A weekly 60-minute team sync with 8 people, using 2,080 working hours a year and a 1.3 overhead multiplier. This is the example the calculator opens with.
| Role | People | Pay | Each per hour | Group per hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engineer | 4 | $120,000 a year | $75.00 | $300.00 |
| Product manager | 1 | $136,000 a year | $85.00 | $85.00 |
| Designer | 1 | $104,000 a year | $65.00 | $65.00 |
| Engineering manager | 1 | $160,000 a year | $100.00 | $100.00 |
| Freelance contractor | 1 | $150 an hour, no overhead | $150.00 | $150.00 |
| Total | 8 | $700.00 |
For the engineers: $120,000 ÷ 2,080 = $57.69 an hour, × 1.3 = $75.00, × 4 people = $300. The whole room costs $700 an hour, so one 60-minute meeting costs $700. Held weekly, that is 52 × $700 = $36,400 a year, about $3,033 a month, and 416 person-hours (8 people × 1 hour × 52).
Why add overhead?
An employee costs more than their salary: employer payroll taxes, benefits, equipment, software and office space. The default of 1.3 adds 30% and is a rough rule of thumb, not a measured figure. If you know the real cost of an employee, divide it by salary and use that. Contractors and freelancers build those costs into their own rates, so untick Overhead for them.
The hidden costs of meetings
The calculator counts only the time people spend in the meeting. The real cost is higher, by an amount that depends on the people and the work:
- Preparation. Reading the document, pulling numbers, building slides. It usually falls on one or two people and never shows on the invite.
- Context switching. A meeting in the middle of a block of focused work splits it in two, and getting back into a hard problem takes time nobody records.
- Follow-up. Writing notes, chasing action items, and the second meeting to finish what the first one started.
- Late starts. Minutes spent waiting for people to join or for screen sharing to work are paid for at the full room rate.
To include them, add minutes to the meeting length. If you think each person loses about ten minutes to prep and getting back on task, enter 70 instead of 60.
How to run cheaper meetings
- Write the agenda as questions or decisions. If you cannot write one, you may not need the meeting.
- Invite fewer people. Invite the people who decide or contribute and send everyone else the notes. The calculator shows what one fewer attendee saves.
- Shorten the default. Try 25 or 50 minutes instead of 30 or 60. Cutting 15 minutes from the example above saves $9,100 a year.
- Move status updates to writing. A written update that people read when it suits them can replace a recurring meeting whose main job is reporting.
- Review recurring meetings every quarter. Check each one's length, frequency and invite list. Moving a weekly meeting to every two weeks halves its yearly cost.
- End when you are done. If the agenda is covered in 20 minutes, give people the rest of the slot back.
How freelancers should account for client meetings
For a freelancer, meeting time is not overhead someone else pays for. Every call uses hours you could otherwise bill, so decide up front how it gets paid:
- Hourly work: log calls and their prep on your timesheet and invoice them like any other work.
- Fixed-price work: estimate how many calls the project needs, multiply by length plus prep, and add that time to the quote. Write the allowance into the proposal, for example "includes four 30-minute check-ins; extra calls billed at the hourly rate".
- Unbillable calls: discovery calls, sales calls and admin meetings still use working hours. Count them when you set your hourly rate, so your billable hours cover them.
A weekly one-hour client call plus 15 minutes of prep, at $90 an hour, is 1.25 × $90 = $112.50 a week, or $5,850 a year over 52 weeks. To see your own figure, add yourself as one person paid per hour with Overhead unticked, and enter the call length plus prep time.
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate the cost of a meeting?
Work out each attendee's hourly cost, add everyone up, and multiply by the meeting length in hours. For salaried staff, divide the annual salary by working hours per year (2,080 for a 40-hour week) and multiply by an overhead factor for benefits and other employment costs. Multiply by the number of meetings a year to get the annual cost.
What overhead multiplier should I use?
The default of 1.3 adds 30% to pay to cover benefits, payroll taxes, equipment and office space. It is a rough rule of thumb, not a measured figure. If you know the real cost of an employee, divide it by their salary and use that. Use 1 to count pay only.
Why are working hours set to 2,080 a year?
2,080 is 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, the usual way to turn a salary into an hourly figure. It does not remove holidays or vacation. For the cost per hour actually worked, use a lower number such as 1,880 (47 weeks), which raises the hourly cost.
How does the meeting cost timer work?
Press Start when the meeting begins. The total is worked out from the clock rather than by counting ticks, so it stays accurate when the tab is in the background. Present shows it full screen for a shared screen, and the Space bar starts or pauses it. If someone joins late, add them and the new rate applies from that moment.
Does it include preparation and context switching?
No. It counts time in the meeting only. To include prep, follow-up or the time people need to get back into their work, add those minutes to the meeting length.
Should freelancers charge for client meetings?
Time on a client call is time you cannot spend on other paid work, so it should be paid for: billed hourly, included as a stated allowance in a fixed-price quote, or covered by your hourly rate. Agree which before the project starts.
Is my salary data private?
Yes. The calculator runs in your browser and nothing you type is uploaded. Your setup is saved in this browser for next time. Copy link puts the setup, including pay figures, into the link itself, so only share it with people who may see those numbers.