Setting Tool Costs

The single most valuable number you'll capture in The GAiGE is what you pay per seat per month for each AI tool. Without it, the platform can show you hours saved — but not whether those hours are worth what you're paying for them.

What "cost per seat per month" should be

Whatever you actually pay the vendor, divided by the number of paid seats. For per-seat plans this is straightforward:

• ChatGPT Team — currently AUD $30 per seat per month → enter 30
• Claude Pro — currently AUD $25 per seat per month → enter 25
• GitHub Copilot Business — currently AUD $19 per seat per month → enter 19

For tools billed flat (e.g. an annual "team plan" of $5,000 covering 50 users), divide it: 5000 / 12 / 50 = 8.33.

If you're not 100% sure of the exact number, a defensible estimate is fine. The order of magnitude matters more than the cents. You can update it any time.

How seats are counted

We don't ask you for a separate "seats paid" number, because that drifts and fluctuates. Instead, seats = the number of users you've assigned to the tool in The GAiGE. Add a user → seat count goes up. Remove them → it goes down.

Keep your tool assignments accurate and your costs will follow.

What the cost number unlocks

Once a tool has a cost set, you'll see:

• Monthly cost — for that tool and rolled up to org level on the dashboard
• ROI multiplier — value of hours saved ÷ monthly cost (e.g. "Claude is delivering 8.6× ROI")
• Wasted spend — for assigned users who didn't show any activity in the period (e.g. "$528/mo of MS Copilot is being paid for seats with no activity")
• Tool ranking by ROI — instead of just by satisfaction or volume

If a tool has no cost set, it'll show "—" in the cost and ROI columns and be excluded from org-wide cost rollups.

What if I genuinely don't know the cost?

Two options:

1. Ask Finance. This is the right answer for the long term — your AI spend should be visible and tracked.
2. Best estimate. Better than nothing. The dashboard will tell you which tools are missing cost data — you can fill them in over time.

Bonus: spotting unused seats

The "wasted spend" metric on the dashboard surfaces a really actionable insight: assigned users who haven't been active in the period. For ChatGPT at $30/seat/mo, having 13 people assigned who never touched it = $390/mo you could reallocate. That alone often pays for The GAiGE.

Related: Adding an AI tool · Wasted seats — what they are and what to do about them · Understanding ROI