Content Marketing Cost Calculator

How to use the content cost calculator

Target volume, three per-article costs. Monthly and annual comparison across all three production models.

1. 01

   Enter your target content volume

   Articles per month is your publishing target – blog posts, pillar pages, case studies, or any long-form content piece. This is the volume all three production models will be costed against.

2. 02

   Set the in-house cost per article

   Fully-loaded in-house cost includes writer hourly rate × hours to write, editing time, and management overhead (brief, feedback, approval). A typical in-house article from a senior writer takes 6–10 hours all-in at $50–80/hr, producing a $300–800 per-article cost.

3. 03

   Set the agency cost per article

   Agency cost per article is the all-in rate for a brief-to-published piece. Mid-tier content agencies charge $500–1,500 per article for B2B content. Performance-focused SEO agencies often charge more. Enter your actual quoted rate, or use $700 as a benchmark.

4. 04

   Set the AI-assisted cost per article

   AI-assisted cost covers AI tool subscription cost amortised per article, plus human review and editing time (typically 1–2 hours vs. 8–10 hours for fully manual production). Total AI-assisted cost typically runs $80–200 per article depending on the review standard.

5. 05

   Read the comparison and cumulative table

   The results panel shows monthly and annual costs for all three models plus the annual saving of AI-assisted vs agency. The 12-month cumulative table shows the cost divergence over time – the gap widens every month as volume compounds.

Why use this calculator?

Related free tools

Who'll get the most out of this

• Head of Content / Content DirectorJustifying a workflow change from agency or in-house to AI-assisted production with concrete annual savings.
• CMO / Marketing DirectorComparing content production options before committing to a vendor, hire, or tooling budget.
• Founder / CEOUnderstanding the real cost of content marketing at scale before building the programme.
• Agency Owner / FreelancerBenchmarking your rates against in-house and AI-assisted alternatives to sharpen your value proposition.
• Operations / FinanceBuilding the content budget line with a clear model comparison for board review.

Frequently asked questions

• What is the average content marketing cost?+

  Content marketing cost varies significantly by production model and volume. Typical per-article cost benchmarks: in-house (junior-mid writer): $200–400. In-house (senior writer, SEO-optimised): $400–800. Boutique content agency (B2B): $500–1,200. Top-tier SEO content agency: $1,200–3,000. AI-assisted with human editing: $80–200. At 10 articles/month, the annual content marketing cost ranges from $24,000 (AI-assisted) to $360,000 (premium agency). This calculator lets you compare all three models at your actual volume.
• How do you calculate content marketing cost per article?+

  In-house content marketing cost per article = (writer hours × hourly rate) + (editor hours × editor rate) + (management/brief time × manager rate). A typical B2B article: 6 hours writing at $60/hr + 1.5 hours editing at $70/hr + 1 hour management at $80/hr = $360 + $105 + $80 = $545 fully loaded. For AI-assisted: AI tool cost ÷ articles/month + (review hours × hourly rate). At $200/month tool cost for 20 articles + 2 hours review at $60/hr = $10 + $120 = $130 per article.
• Is AI-assisted content production cheaper than hiring an in-house writer?+

  For most B2B content teams publishing 5+ articles per month, AI-assisted production is 50–70% cheaper per article than in-house. However, the comparison is more nuanced than cost alone: in-house writers develop institutional knowledge, build relationships with SMEs, and produce content that reflects the brand's voice with less editing overhead than AI-generated drafts. The economic case for AI-assisted production is strongest at high volume (10+ articles/month) where the per-article savings compound into six-figure annual differences.
• How much does a content marketing agency charge?+

  Content marketing agency pricing varies widely: content mills and commodity agencies: $100–300 per article. Mid-market content agencies (general B2B): $400–800. SEO-focused content agencies: $700–1,500. Specialist B2B content agencies with subject matter expertise: $1,200–3,000+. Monthly retainer-based content agencies typically bundle strategy, production, and distribution for $3,000–15,000/month for 4–12 articles. Agency cost per article is usually higher than in-house but includes project management, subject-matter research, and sometimes SEO optimisation.
• What is included in the fully-loaded in-house content marketing cost?+

  Fully-loaded in-house content marketing cost includes: writer time (research, drafting, revisions), editor time (structural edit, copy edit, SEO review), content manager time (brief creation, SME interviews, approval process, publishing), content strategy time (keyword research, content planning), and tools (SEO software, CMS, grammar/style tools). Most teams underestimate cost by 40–60% when they only count the writer's salary and ignore everything around it. The true per-article cost including all supporting overhead is typically 2–3× the raw writing cost.
• When does it make sense to use an agency vs. in-house vs. AI-assisted content production?+

  Agency makes sense when: you need to scale quickly, you don't have the internal expertise to hire and manage writers, or you need a specialist (technical, regulated industry). In-house makes sense when: you're publishing enough volume to justify a full-time hire (usually 8+ articles/month), you have deep subject matter expertise to transfer, and consistency of voice matters. AI-assisted makes sense when: you have an established workflow and brand voice, your team has capacity to edit AI drafts, and you need to scale volume without scaling headcount proportionally.
• How do I reduce content marketing costs without reducing quality?+

  The highest-leverage ways to reduce content marketing cost: (1) Introduce AI-assisted drafting for research-heavy but templated content types (comparison pages, how-to guides, glossary entries). (2) Build a content template library so every new piece doesn't start from a blank brief. (3) Repurpose – turn one interview into a blog post, LinkedIn post, and email newsletter instead of creating three separate pieces. (4) Systemise the editorial process with checklists and style guides so editing time drops from 3 hours to 45 minutes per article. These changes can reduce per-article cost by 40–60% without touching output quality.
• What's the ROI of content marketing cost vs. organic traffic value?+

  To calculate content marketing ROI, use the Content Marketing ROI Calculator alongside this tool. The rough framework: if your 10 articles/month (at $130/article AI-assisted = $1,300/month) generate an average of 500 organic sessions each at a 2% conversion rate and $5,000 deal value, the annual organic value is significant. The content cost is the investment side; the organic revenue is the return. Content marketing typically has a longer payback period (6–18 months) but much higher long-term ROI than paid channels because the asset compounds in value over time.
• How does content volume affect cost per article?+

  In-house: cost per article is roughly flat per article (writer hourly rate × hours). It decreases only when volume is high enough to improve process efficiency (templates, briefs, SME relationships). Agency: most agencies offer volume discounts at 20+ articles/month. AI-assisted: cost per article decreases as volume increases because the fixed tool subscription cost is amortised over more articles. At 5 articles/month, an AI tool costing $200/month adds $40 to cost per article. At 50 articles/month, it adds $4.
• How should I budget for content marketing costs in a B2B SaaS company?+

  B2B SaaS content marketing budget benchmarks: early stage (pre-PMF): $2,000–5,000/month, focused on a small number of high-quality pieces. Growth stage: $5,000–20,000/month, mix of in-house writer and AI-assisted production. Scale stage: $20,000–80,000/month, dedicated content team with AI-assisted production at high volume. As a rule of thumb, SaaS companies allocating 20–30% of marketing budget to content tend to see the strongest long-term organic growth. Use this content marketing cost calculator to model the production cost side, then pair with the Content Marketing ROI Calculator to verify the business case.