Meeting Cost Calculator —Watch Your Meeting Burn Money in Real Time
Enter the number of attendees and their average salary, hit Start, and watch the cost tick up every second. Nothing shortens a meeting like watching it burn cash.
The most expensive hour of your week
Think about your last team sync. Eight people in a room (or on a video call), each earning a decent salary, talking for an hour about things that could have been an email. That meeting didn't just cost time —it cost real money. And nobody noticed, because the cost is invisible.
The Meeting Cost Calculator makes that cost visible. You enter the number of attendees and their average monthly salary, click Start, and a counter ticks up in real time —showing exactly how much money is being burned, second by second.
How the math works
The calculation is straightforward:
- Hourly rate = Monthly salary ÷ Working hours per month (174 for CNY, 173 for USD/EUR/GBP)
- Cost per second = Attendees × Hourly rate ÷ 3600
- Total cost = Cost per second × Elapsed seconds
For example: 8 people averaging ¥50,000/month. Their combined hourly rate is ¥2,299. Every minute costs ¥38.31. A one-hour meeting burns ¥2,299. A weekly one-hour standup costs ¥119,548 per year.
Features
- Real-time counter —Updates 60 times per second using
requestAnimationFrame. No lag, no approximation. - Multi-currency —Supports ¥, $, €, £, ₹ with correct working-hour assumptions per region.
- Salary presets —One-click presets from Intern (¥3k) to C-Suite (¥200k).
- Share the shock —One click copies a ready-to-paste message with the current burn total.
- 100% private —All calculations run locally in JavaScript. No server, no API, no tracking.
Why this tool exists
Most online tools help you do something. This one helps you stop doing something. It's a productivity tool that works by making waste visible.
The idea isn't new —companies like Amazon have reportedly used similar displays in meeting rooms. But those are internal tools behind corporate walls. This is the same concept, free and available to anyone with a browser.
Screen-share the counter during your next standup. Drop the share message in Slack. Watch how quickly people start asking "do we really need this meeting?"
FAQ
How is the meeting cost calculated?
The calculator divides the average monthly salary by the standard working hours per month (174 hours for CNY, 173 for USD/EUR/GBP) to get an hourly rate, then multiplies by the number of attendees. The counter updates 60 times per second using requestAnimationFrame.
Is the salary data sent to any server?
No. All calculations run locally in your browser using JavaScript. No data is sent anywhere. The tool has zero server-side components.
What currencies are supported?
CNY (¥), USD ($), EUR (€), GBP (£), and INR (₹). Each currency uses the correct working-hours-per-month assumption for its region.
Can I share the meeting cost?
Yes. Click the Share button to copy a ready-to-paste message with the current burn total and a link to the tool. You can paste it in Slack, Teams, WeChat, or any chat app.