LLM Agentic vs Manual Coding Cost Comparison

Visualise the crossover point where using Agentic coding with tools such as Cline becomes more cost-effective than manual development.

Parameters

Global Parameters
Manual Development Parameters
SCRUM overheads, Jira, meetings etc.
Agentic Development Parameters
One-time setup cost for tooling, environment, etc.
Total hours to complete the project using agentic tools
Adjust for engineer experience with agentic tools (1.0 = average)
Adjust for AI model capability (1.0 = baseline, lower values increase token usage due to rework)
Total tokens in millions (e.g., 5 = 5 million tokens)
Advanced Settings
Token Usage
1x
Multiplier for token costs (both cached and uncached)

Token Breakdown

Token Distribution (For Cached Calculations)
1:1
3:1
8:1
12:1
16:1
8:1 (89% output / 11% input)
This ratio only affects cached calculations. Non-cached calculations use a fixed 50/50 distribution.
Caching Settings
88%
Higher values = more tokens retrieved from cache = lower costs

The chart shows costs both with and without prompt caching for comparison.

Prompt caching can significantly reduce costs, especially for output tokens.

Project Size Presets

Select a project size to automatically set token size, manual hours, and agentic hours

Development Cost Over Time

Cost Comparison Summary

Run Cost Calculator

Total Savings:
$2,925.00
Time Saved:
30 hours
Return on Investment (based on setup costs):
272%
(Calculated as savings relative to initial setup investment)

Manual Development Approach

Total Cost:
$4,000.00
Engineer Time Cost:
$4,000.00
Direct cost of developer hours at the specified hourly rate
Management Overhead:
Included in total cost
Additional costs for meetings, planning, and management

Agentic Development Approach

Total Cost:
$1,075.00
Initial Setup Cost:
$0.00
One-time cost for tooling and environment setup
Engineer Time Cost:
$1,000.00
Cost of developer time spent prompting and guiding LLMs
LLM Token Cost:
$75.00
Cost of tokens processed by the AI model
(Assumes prompt caching is enabled)
Token Cost Breakdown

Token costs vary based on whether they are input or output tokens, and whether caching is enabled.

Input Token Cost:
$0.00
Cost of tokens sent to the model
Cache Write Cost:
$0.00
Cost of writing tokens to cache (first-time processing)
Cache Read Cost:
$0.00
Cost of reading tokens from cache (previously processed)
Output Token Cost:
$0.00
Cost of tokens generated by the model
Output Token Cost (without caching):
$0.00
What output tokens would cost if caching were disabled

Project Timeline Comparison