The AI-era build-cost estimator
What will it cost to build this with AI?
Describe your project. Get the real token-and-dollar range to build it with an AI agent — next to what a dev shop would charge for the same thing. Honest Low/Expected/High bands, because anyone quoting you one number is guessing.
The estimator
client-side · no data leaves your browserOptimized: senior op, high cache, test-backed verify loop (the vinext regime).
Standard interactive development, moderate cache.
Runaway: debug loops, verbose logging, no context resets (the Tokenflex regime).
This is a serious build. Enough moving parts that a vetted AI-native dev shop often pays for itself.
Get it built →Ranges, never a single number — agentic token spend has 10×+ run-to-run variance and is near-unpredictable before a build. Figures are industry-composite estimates for planning, not quotes. Methodology →
How the number is built
Scope → tokens
Project-type presets map to agentic token bands, anchored to real builds — vinext ($1,100), a 340M-token mobile app, FeatureBench (~9.7M tokens / feature).
Tokens → dollars
Live per-model pricing, weighted for cache reads (>97% of agentic volume) and the Opus 4.7+ tokenizer that burns ~35% more tokens for the same text.
Always a range
Low / Expected / High — never one number. Token spend has 10×+ run-to-run variance (academic r<0.15). False precision destroys credibility.
Too complex to vibe-code? The estimator can route you to a verified AI-native dev shop. Doable yourself? It just tells you — no upsell. Staying an honest referee is the point.
Read the full methodology →