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Compare the true cost of AI SDRs vs human SDRs. See cost per qualified meeting, payback period, and how much pipeline coverage you gain — based on your team size and current tooling.
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A US-based SDR fully-loaded costs $90K–$130K per year. That includes base salary ($55K–$85K), benefits and payroll burden (20–30%), tools and tech ($4K–$8K per rep — Outreach, ZoomInfo, LinkedIn Sales Nav, etc.), management overhead allocation, and the 3–6 month ramp during which productivity is partial. Industry surveys (Bridge Group) put the median fully-loaded figure at around $110K.
AI SDR pricing in 2026 falls into three tiers: (1) autonomous AI SDRs like 11x.ai or Artisan cost $1,200–$2,500/month per agent equivalent; (2) AI-augmented stacks (Apollo + Clay + Outreach) run $300–$600 per human seat per month; (3) DIY builds using OpenAI/Anthropic APIs cost $100–$400/month in inference. The right tier depends on whether you replace headcount or augment it.
Most teams hit payback within 3–6 months when AI replaces routine prospecting work. Payback stretches to 9–12 months when AI augments existing SDRs and meeting lift is the only ROI driver. Use this calculator with conservative meeting lift assumptions (60% is realistic; 100%+ is optimistic) to model your scenario.
Rarely. Most production deployments use AI for top-of-funnel work (research, list-building, drafting, sequencing) and keep humans for live conversations, complex qualification, and relationship building. The realistic ROI model is: hold SDR headcount flat, 2–3x pipeline output. The calculator's 'replacement' scenario is useful as the upper bound.
The shortlist for 2026: 11x.ai (autonomous, enterprise), Artisan (Ava — autonomous, mid-market), Clay (data + AI research, technical teams), Apollo (database + AI email writing, SMB to mid-market), Regie.ai (content personalization). See our AI sales agent tools page for detailed comparisons.
Inputs use US 2025–26 averages: SDR base salary $65K (BLS data), 20% benefits burden (national average), $4,800 tools/tech per rep, 12 meetings/month/rep at quota (Bridge Group benchmark). Meeting lift defaults to 60% — conservative versus AI SDR pilot studies showing 50–120% pipeline coverage gains. Adjust inputs to match your team's actual numbers.