// Agency vs AI cost calculator

Your agency retainer per article, per post, per year.

Plug in your numbers. The math runs live. The comparison against a fractional AI Content Department is at the bottom of the page.

// Inputs
$10,000
$3,000$30,000
4
050
12
030
2
012
16 hr
0 hr40 hr
$150
$50$500
Year-1 saving
$58,800
Year-one delta between your full agency cost (retainer plus in-house review time) and a fractional AI Content Department at $7,500 per month. Output volume runs higher on the fractional side, not lower.
Cost per article · agency
$2,500
retainer ÷ articles
Cost per article · EOI
$375
$7,500 ÷ 20 articles
Cost per social · agency
$192
retainer ÷ posts/mo
Cost per social · EOI
$69
$7,500 ÷ 108 posts/mo
Year-1 agency spend
$120,000
retainer × 12
Year-1 fractional spend
$90,000
$7,500 × 12
Hours reclaimed · year
192
your review time
In-house review cost
$28,800
hours × rate × 12
Output volume multiple
2.9×
blended across surfaces
// Your agency vs AI Content Department
Your agency
$148,800/ year all-in
4 articles/mo · $2,500 each
12 social/wk · $192 each
2 landing pages/quarter
AI Content Department
$90,000/ year flat
20 articles/mo · $375 each
25 social/wk · $69 each
8 landing pages/quarter
Year-1 saving
$58,800
Article volume multiple
Social volume multiple
2.1×
5× more articles for $58,800 less in year one.
// What now?

The numbers above run for hundreds of EOI clients.

If they look right and the gap is meaningful, apply for a 14-day content sprint. If you want to talk through the assumptions first, talk to Roy.

// How the math runs

Cost per article: the full monthly retainer divided by the number of articles shipped that month. This is the honest number, not the writing-line-item number. Account management, strategy, project management, QBR prep are all overhead that your retainer absorbs. The article is what you paid for.

Cost per social post: retainer divided by posts per month (weekly count × 4.33). Agencies typically allocate 10 to 20 percent of the retainer to social, which is why the per-post number looks reasonable in isolation. When you divide the full retainer by the full output, the picture changes.

In-house review cost: the hidden line. Senior marketing time spent briefing, reviewing, and chasing the agency. Two hours a week at a $150 blended rate is $15,600 a year. Most teams underestimate this by half because the time is spread across Slack threads and the Monday call.

Fractional comparison: $7,500 monthly retainer, 20 long-form articles per month, 25 social posts per week, 8 landing pages per quarter. Same brand voice profile on every output. Live in 14 days. The volume is the variable, the retainer is the constant. These numbers match the cadence we ship for clients today, not aspirational targets.

Volume multiple: the ratio of fractional output to your current agency output, by surface. Articles, social, and landing pages each have their own multiple. The blended multiple weights all three.