Meeting Cost Calculator

Every meeting has a price.

find out yours

Enter who is in the room and how long it runs. You get the cost of one meeting, and of the whole year it repeats for.

6
minutes
per year
$
Fully loaded cost is typically 1.25–1.4× salary. We use 1.3×.
This meeting costs
$356
Per minute
$5.94
Loaded rate
$59/h
Person-hours
6.0 h
Cost per year, repeating weekly
$18,525
312 h
person-hours a year
39
full working days
$3,088
per person a year
Run it live
Watch the meter while the meeting runs.
$0.00
00:00 · Ready
Everything is calculated in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to us or stored.

How meeting cost is calculated

Every meeting has a price, even when no invoice ever changes hands. The formula is simple: take the number of attendees, multiply by each person’s fully loaded hourly rate, multiply by how long the meeting runs, and then multiply by how many times it happens in a year. Put plainly, that is attendees × fully loaded hourly rate × duration × occurrences per year.

The one assumption worth naming is the fully loaded multiplier. A salary is not the true cost of employing someone — benefits, payroll taxes, equipment and overhead all add to it. That premium usually lands between 1.25× and 1.4× of base salary, so we use 1.3× as a reasonable midpoint. It is an estimate, not an exact figure, so adjust the salary you enter to match your own numbers.

What a meeting actually costs

Team size

Duration

Frequency

Annual cost

5 people

30 min

Weekly

$7,700 / yr

8 people

60 min

Weekly

$24,700 / yr

12 people

60 min

Every 2 weeks

$18,500 / yr

6 people

45 min

Monthly

$3,200 / yr

Based on a $95,000 average salary at a 1.3× fully loaded multiplier. Your numbers will vary with the salaries in the room.

How to cut the number down

Trim the guest list

Every extra attendee multiplies the cost. Invite only the people who need to decide or do something — everyone else can read the notes.

See how RACI can cut meeting attendance

Shorten the default

Most recurring meetings run 60 minutes out of habit. Reset the default to 30 and let it grow only when the agenda genuinely demands it.

Use this executive agenda template

Change the cadence

Weekly is a strong default that rarely gets revisited. Moving a status sync to every two weeks halves its annual cost overnight.

Rethink your weekly meeting cadence

Move status to async

If a meeting mostly exists to share updates, a written thread or a short recorded note reclaims the time while keeping everyone informed.

Move status updates async with these templates

Where Spry fits

This calculator prices one meeting you already know about. The harder problem is the meetings you have stopped noticing — the standing syncs, the optional invites, the recurring blocks nobody questions anymore. Spry reads across your team’s whole calendar and surfaces the ones quietly draining focus, so you can decide what is actually worth keeping.

See Spry

Frequently asked questions

How is the cost of a meeting calculated?

A meeting’s cost is the combined value of everyone’s time while they attend. Multiply the number of attendees by each person’s fully loaded hourly rate, then by the meeting’s length in hours. For a recurring meeting, multiply that figure by how many times it happens in a year. This calculator uses that formula and lets you add optional context-switching time.

What is a fully loaded employee cost?

Fully loaded cost is an employee’s salary plus the extra costs of employing them — payroll taxes, benefits, equipment, software and overhead. It is usually 1.25 to 1.4 times base salary. We use 1.3 times as a reasonable mid-range estimate, so an hourly rate reflects the real cost to the business rather than take-home pay.

How much does a one-hour meeting with 6 people cost?

With an average salary of $95,000 and a 1.3× fully loaded multiplier, six people in a one-hour meeting cost $356 per occurrence. Held weekly for a year, that is $18,525. The exact figure depends on the salaries in the room, which is why the calculator lets you set them.

Should I include preparation and follow-up time?

You can, and for important meetings it is worth it. Preparation, note-taking and follow-up often add as much time as the meeting itself. A quick way to account for it is to turn on context switching, which adds fifteen minutes of lost focus per attendee, or simply enter a longer duration.

Is a high meeting cost always bad?

No. Some meetings are worth every dollar — closing a deal, aligning a team before a launch, or making a decision that unblocks weeks of work. Cost is only a problem when it is invisible. Seeing the number helps you decide whether the outcome justifies the time, not to cut meetings for their own sake.

How do I convert an annual salary to an hourly rate?

Divide the annual salary by the number of working hours in a year, typically 2,080 (40 hours a week across 52 weeks). To get a fully loaded rate, multiply the salary by about 1.3 first. For example, a $95,000 salary becomes roughly $59 per hour fully loaded.

What is a reasonable amount to spend on meetings?

There is no universal number, and most teams have never measured it, which is the real problem. A healthy target is to make sure recurring meetings have a clear purpose and the smallest workable group. Use the annual figure here as a baseline, then decide what the meeting should be worth.

Is this calculator free?

Yes. The meeting cost calculator is completely free, needs no signup, and works instantly in your browser. Everything is calculated locally — nothing you type is sent to us or stored.

Work shouldn’t feel like a full‑time calendar

Work shouldn’t feel like
a full‑time calendar

Let’s protect your team’s focus and put a price
on wasted time.

Let’s protect your team’s focus and put a price on wasted time.

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