Question 1

How does the calculator estimate costs for each tool?

Accepted Answer

The calculator divides tasks into five types — small bug fix, minor change, new feature, architectural refactor, and architecture planning (Opus) — each mapped to the most cost-effective model for that tool. Token consumption per task is estimated from typical context sizes at each level, scaled by codebase size. Costs are calculated from June 2026 published token rates: Copilot uses GPT-5 mini, GPT-4.1, Sonnet, and Opus at its preferential rate; Claude Code uses Haiku, Sonnet, and Opus at direct API rates with a prompt caching reduction; Cursor uses Auto mode for lighter tasks and Max mode for heavier ones.

Question 2

How much will Cursor cost me?

Accepted Answer

Cursor Teams costs $40 per user per month, but only $20 of that is included credits — the other $20 is a platform access fee. For a team of 10 engineers, that is a $400 monthly floor regardless of usage. Above $200 in token consumption, overages are billed at standard model rates. At medium agentic usage without Opus planning, expect around $400–500 per month. With regular Opus use for architecture and planning, costs can reach $800–2,000 per month for a team of 10, since Cursor pays the full Opus API rate of $15 per million input tokens.

Question 3

How much will GitHub Copilot cost me?

Accepted Answer

GitHub Copilot Enterprise costs $39 per user per month, which includes an equivalent amount in AI credits. For a team of 10, that is $390 per month base including $390 of credits. At light agentic usage the total stays at $390. At medium usage with a mix of GPT-4.1 and Sonnet, expect $370–660 per month. Copilot's biggest cost advantage is Opus: it currently offers Opus at $5 per million input tokens versus $15 direct — a Microsoft preferential rate at time of writing — making it materially cheaper than Claude Code or Cursor when frontier models are used regularly.

Question 4

How much will Claude Code cost me?

Accepted Answer

Claude Code Enterprise pricing is for larger teams.  There is a headline seat price, then the rest is based on API consumption. At medium-heavy agentic usage, expect roughly $150 per developer per month. Claude Code makes aggressive use of prompt caching, which can help when working over the same areas of codebase repeatedly within a session. The estimator models this as a percentage reduction in input token costs, with a default value of 40% based on observed patterns. Teams that do a lot of iterative work in the same areas may see costs fall significantly below the estimator's baseline.

AI Coding Tool Cost Estimator

How this model works