Cost Model
Understanding the economics of 1000 Agent Platform
Single Cage Daily Cost
| Component | Calculation | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Kubernetes Pod | 2 vCPU × 24h × $0.05/vCPU/h | $2.40 |
| GPU Share | 0.5 A10 × 24h × $0.50/GPU/h | $6.00 |
| Storage | 10GB × $0.10/GB/day | $1.00 |
| Networking | Estimated | $0.10 |
| Compute Subtotal | $9.50 | |
| Tokens | 2.4M × $0.002/1K | $4.80 |
| Total per Cage per Day | $14.30 | |
| Total per Cage per Month | $429 |
1000 Cage Fleet Monthly Cost
| Component | Calculation | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Compute | $9.50 × 1000 × 30 | $285,000 |
| Tokens | $4.80 × 1000 × 30 | $144,000 |
| Storage | $0.50 × 1000 × 30 | $15,000 |
| Management Overhead | Estimated | $20,000 |
| Total Monthly | $464,000 | |
| Total Annual | $5,568,000 |
Unit Economics
| Metric | Calculation | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per Task | $464,000 / 500,000 tasks | $0.93 |
| Cost per Artifact | $464,000 / 1,000,000 artifacts | $0.46 |
Cost Optimization Strategies
1. Spot Instances
Use spot/preemptible instances for non-critical workloads:
- Savings: 60-70% on compute costs
- Risk: Instances can be preempted
2. Reserved Capacity
Commit to 1-3 year reservations for baseline capacity:
- Savings: 30-40% on compute costs
- Requirement: Predictable baseline usage
3. Token Budgeting
Implement strict token budgets per Agent:
- Strategy: Dynamic allocation based on task priority
- Savings: 20-30% on token costs
4. Idle Detection
Automatically scale down idle Agents:
- Trigger: No tasks for >30 minutes
- Action: Pause or terminate cage
- Savings: 15-25% on overall costs
ROI Analysis
Traditional Approach (Human Teams)
| Function | Team Size | Annual Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Production Ops | 10 engineers | $2,000,000 |
| Code Review | 5 engineers | $1,000,000 |
| Business Analysis | 8 analysts | $1,600,000 |
| Investment Analysis | 5 analysts | $1,000,000 |
| Total | 28 people | $5,600,000 |
1000 Agent Platform
| Component | Annual Cost |
|---|---|
| Infrastructure | $5,568,000 |
| Total | $5,568,000 |
Comparison
- Cost: Similar (~$5.6M/year)
- Capacity: 1000 Agents vs 28 humans = 35x scale
- Availability: 24/7/365 vs 8h/day × 5 days/week
- Consistency: No fatigue, no turnover