Ready to start
TOTAL MEETING COST
Sponsored
✦ FROM HATCH
We all assume meetings are necessary. But how many people actually know what that hour costs? I built this so you'd know before you book.
Read why we built this →About This Tool
Most teams don't think twice before scheduling a meeting. But every meeting has a cost — and it's almost never calculated. A 60-minute meeting with five participants consumes five hours of collective labor. At average knowledge worker salaries, that's easily hundreds of dollars per session. Research from Microsoft WorkLab shows that the number of weekly meetings nearly tripled between 2020 and 2022, while productivity satisfaction declined. The real problem is that meeting costs are invisible — no budget line, no invoice, just a calendar event. This tool makes that invisible cost visible, so you can ask the question that most teams never do: "Is this meeting actually worth it?"
How to Use Your Results
Once you have a number, here's what to do with it. Trim the invite list. Not everyone needs to be in the room. If someone's role is informational, send them the meeting notes instead. Cutting headcount in half cuts the cost in half. Share the agenda in advance. Async-first teams consistently report shorter, more decisive meetings — a clear written agenda before the meeting means less rambling during it. Use the number as data, not a complaint. A screenshot of your meeting cost is a neutral, objective conversation starter. "This weekly sync costs us $X a year" lands very differently than "I feel like we have too many meetings" — and makes it much easier to propose change.
How to cut meeting costs
Q. How can I reduce the cost of a meeting?
A. The most effective way is to limit attendees. Cutting a 10-person meeting down to 5 halves the cost immediately.
Q. How long should a meeting be?
A. Decision-making meetings ideally run under 30 minutes. For anything longer, set a clear exit condition in advance.
Q. What counts as a wasteful meeting?
A. "Status update only" meetings, meetings with no decision-makers, and meetings without a clear agenda rarely justify their cost.
Q. How do I share this with my team?
A. Copy the URL or take a screenshot and drop it in your team chat or doc. Showing a number like 'our weekly standup costs $12,000/year' shifts the conversation from opinion to data — and makes it far easier to propose and justify changes to your meeting culture.
Q. What if I don't know participants' salaries?
A. Use industry averages as a starting point. Sites like Glassdoor, LinkedIn Salary, or the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics provide role-based estimates. Precision isn't the goal — getting a realistic order of magnitude is. Even a rough estimate is enough to surface whether a meeting's cost is worth the outcome.
Sponsored
Related Tools