Cost per meeting calculator for B2B sales: SDR, agency or AI SDR

Short answer

Cost per meeting is your total monthly outbound spend divided by the meetings actually held. One in-house SDR seat (about $9,300 a month) holding 8 meetings costs about $1,170 per meeting, against roughly $150 to $600 per held meeting charged by pay-per-meeting appointment-setting agencies. Enter your own spend and meetings below.

Pay-per-meeting agency range: $150–$600 per held meeting
Agency retainers: $4,000–$18,000 a month
In-house SDR team (Glencoco): $1,500–$2,500 per qualified meeting
Held meetings that convert: 6 in 10 (Bridge Group median)

People, $ a month (salary, benefits, tax)Default: one SDR seatSales tools, $ a monthContact data, $ a monthAgency or contractor fees, $ a monthMeetings held a monthHeld meetings that become opportunities, %Agency price to compare, $ per held meetingMainstream range $150–$600

Total spend a month$9,333

Cost per held meeting$1,167

Opportunities a month4.8

Cost per opportunity$1,944

$817 more per meeting than a $350 pay-per-meeting agency

How is cost per meeting calculated?

Cost per meeting = (people + tools + data + agency fees) ÷ meetings held. Cost per opportunity = the same spend ÷ (meetings held × the share that become opportunities). Use one month, and count the spend that month even if the meetings it produced land later.

What do appointment-setting agencies charge?

Model	Typical price	Source
Pay per held meeting	$150–$600; enterprise can exceed $900	Cleverly, Revnew
Monthly retainer	$4,000–$18,000 a month	Revnew
Hybrid	$2,000–$4,000 base plus $150–$400 per meeting	Cleverly
Subscription (smaller agencies)	$2,000–$4,500 a month	SalesBread

These ranges come from the agencies’ own pricing pages, so treat them as list prices. Ask what counts as a held meeting, who qualifies it, and whether you can cancel monthly.

How do you lower cost per meeting?

Narrow the list. A tighter buyer profile raises the reply rate more than any rewrite of the email.
Start from a reason. First lines built on a real signal, such as a hire or a funding round, get more replies; see how AI SDRs personalise cold emails.
Protect deliverability. Emails in spam book nothing. Check your setup with the email domain checker.
Automate the research and drafting. An AI SDR does the list building and first drafts, leaving people for the calls; the AI SDR ROI calculator compares the two.

Outbound Labs costs $149 a month for 5,000 emails, with 750 free emails to start. Try a free run on your website.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good cost per meeting in B2B?

It depends on deal size. Appointment-setting agencies charge roughly $150 to $600 per held meeting for mainstream B2B buyers, and more for enterprise. Glencoco’s 2026 report puts an in-house SDR team at $1,500 to $2,500 per qualified meeting once salary, tools and management are counted.

Should I count booked or held meetings?

Held. No-shows cost the same to book, and most pay-per-meeting agencies bill only for held meetings, so counting held meetings keeps the comparison fair.

What should go into the spend?

Everything the meetings needed that month: salaries with benefits, sales tools, contact data, sending domains and mailboxes, and any agency or contractor fees.

How do pay-per-meeting agencies price?

Three ways: a fixed price per held meeting, a monthly retainer (typically $4,000 to $18,000 according to Revnew), or a hybrid of a smaller retainer plus a per-meeting fee.

Why look at cost per opportunity too?

A cheap meeting with the wrong buyer is expensive. The Bridge Group’s 2025 median is 6 converted opportunities for 10 held meetings, so 60% is the default here; use your own rate if you track it.

Cost per meeting calculator

How is cost per meeting calculated?

What do appointment-setting agencies charge?

How do you lower cost per meeting?

Frequently asked questions

Sources

Related

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