How we calculate AI workflow costs
Our demand formulas, cash purchase rules, subscription accounting, quality heuristics and pricing verification policy explained.
1. Apply requirements before prices
Each required resource needs an eligible tool. A plan is excluded if a hard requirement has no recorded supporting evidence, its monthly capacity is insufficient or its price snapshot is unverified, future-dated or more than 30 days old.
Character consistency means documented reference-based support, not guaranteed identity in every output. The image workflow uses an approved reference supplied by you. The current video catalog does not have verified character continuity support.
2. Convert the brief into demand
Video seconds = output count × ceil(ceil(duration in seconds × AI share / 100 / 5) × attempts) × 5. Five-second planning clips and rounding are internal assumptions. They do not replace provider-specific execution rules.
Images = output count × ceil(images per output × attempts). Voice characters = output count × ceil(duration / 60 × 900 × attempts). The 900-character rate is an estimate; check real scripts when available. Runway voice is additionally rounded to its 50-character billing blocks per output.
3. Separate usage from money paid today
Existing subscription capacity is limited to the remaining units entered by the user. A new subscription adds its regular monthly fee. The model excludes introductory discounts and does not assume refunds or prorated credits when replacing a plan.
For each API provider, subtract its existing credit from metered usage. A positive deficit triggers the larger of the deficit and the applicable minimum purchase. Runway uses a conservative $10 floor based on the documented initial purchase minimum; applying it to later top-ups is an assumption. BFL requires a user-entered minimum unless existing credit covers the job. Balances never transfer between providers.
4. Rank complete affordable workflows
Cheapest minimizes additional cash required. Best Quality maximizes the unweighted mean of the selected tools’ internal quality scores, among workflows within budget. Best Value maximizes that mean divided by one plus the additional cost in dollars. Ties prefer lower cost and then a stable identifier.
These scores do not predict audience response or certify the quality of generated assets. A small real pilot is a better basis for deciding which tool suits your project. Two rankings can correctly return the same workflow.
5. Explain a budget rescue
When no eligible workflow fits, Budget Rescue tests lower AI video shares on a bounded grid, including the user’s minimum acceptable share. It preserves quantity, duration, image count, attempt factor and all hard requirements.
Replacement footage is supplied by you. Rescue does not automatically generate that material or cost the labor needed to edit it. If no allowed alternative fits, the calculator reports that limitation.
Evidence, dates and corrections
Provider prices and capability evidence have separate source links. Snapshot dates change only when pricing is reviewed; rebuilding the website alone does not refresh them. Guides display dated examples so a historical calculation is not confused with a current quote.
Software estimates are in USD before tax. Labor, equipment, stock assets, distribution and character-reference development are excluded. Send corrections with the provider source and the affected scenario so the change can be checked.
Official pricing sources: Runway, ElevenLabs, Black Forest Labs. Read the worked cost guides or report a correction.