Calculator Inputs
Example Data Table
| Scenario | Items | Labels / Item | Automation % | Total Hours | Total Cost | Cost / Item |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bounding Box Batch | 20,000 | 3 | 10 | 116.40 | $1,864.00 | $0.0932 |
| Segmentation Sprint | 12,500 | 5 | 5 | 172.80 | $2,951.50 | $0.2361 |
| Text Classification Run | 80,000 | 1 | 35 | 94.75 | $1,418.90 | $0.0177 |
| Medical Review Dataset | 9,000 | 6 | 0 | 214.35 | $4,389.80 | $0.4878 |
Formula Used
Raw Labels = Items Count × Average Labels Per Item
Effective Manual Labels = Raw Labels × (1 − Automation Coverage ÷ 100)
Annotation Hours = Effective Manual Labels × Seconds Per Label × Complexity Factor ÷ 3600
Review Hours = Items Count × Review Coverage × Review Seconds Per Reviewed Item × Complexity Factor ÷ 3600
QA Hours = Items Count × QA Coverage × QA Seconds Per Audited Item ÷ 3600
Rework Hours = Items Count × Rework Rate × Rework Seconds Per Reworked Item × Complexity Factor ÷ 3600
Direct Labor Cost = Annotation Cost + Review Cost + QA Cost + PM Cost
Direct Base Cost = Direct Labor Cost + Tooling Cost + Infrastructure Cost
Vendor Markup Cost = Direct Base Cost × Vendor Markup %
Contingency Cost = (Direct Base Cost + Vendor Markup Cost) × Contingency %
Grand Total = Direct Base Cost + Vendor Markup Cost + Contingency Cost
Estimated Days = Total Hours ÷ (Team Size × Hours Per Day × Utilization %)
How to Use This Calculator
- Enter the project name and choose a working currency.
- Fill in dataset size, labels per item, and average seconds per label.
- Add review, audit, and rework assumptions to reflect your quality workflow.
- Enter automation coverage to reduce manual labeling effort where applicable.
- Set hourly rates for annotators, reviewers, QA staff, and project management.
- Include tooling, infrastructure, markup, and contingency for a full budget view.
- Adjust team size, work hours, and utilization to estimate delivery time.
- Click Calculate Cost to show the result summary above the form.
- Use the CSV and PDF buttons to export the final project estimate.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What does this calculator estimate?
It estimates labor hours, role-based costs, tooling, infrastructure, vendor markup, contingency, cost per item, cost per label, and schedule impact for labeling projects.
2. Why is automation coverage included?
Automation can pre-label or assist workers. Higher automation lowers manual label volume, reducing annotation hours and total project cost when the model output remains usable.
3. What does the complexity factor do?
It scales effort upward or downward. Complex guidelines, dense images, difficult language, or domain-specific edge cases usually increase time and raise total costs.
4. Should review and QA both be used?
Yes, when your workflow includes multiple quality layers. Review checks worker accuracy, while QA samples the final output for acceptance, escalation, or client reporting.
5. How is rework different from review?
Review measures checking time. Rework measures correction time after issues are found. Both matter because errors create additional labor beyond the original annotation pass.
6. Why include utilization percentage?
Not every paid hour becomes productive labeling time. Meetings, breaks, calibration sessions, downtime, and context switching lower usable output capacity.
7. Can this calculator support vendor pricing?
Yes. Add vendor markup, tooling, infrastructure, and management hours to reflect outsourced pricing or internal chargeback models more realistically.
8. Is cost per item enough for planning?
Not always. Cost per item is useful, but total hours, review load, rework rate, and delivery days often reveal hidden operational risks sooner.