Free tool
Free support cost calculator
Estimate what a support queue costs to staff, how many full-time people the volume needs, and what changes when the desk has to stay open.
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How the calculator works
Workload hours are tickets times average handling time, divided by 60. One thousand tickets at 12 minutes is 12,000 minutes, which is 200 hours.
A person paid 40 hours a week has about 173.33 paid hours in a month, from 40 × 52 ÷ 12. At 80% occupancy and 25% shrinkage, productive time is 173.33 × 0.8 × 0.75, about 104 hours. Two hundred hours of work divided by 104 is 1.92, which rounds up to 2 full-time people. That is enough for the tickets only if nobody has to be present the rest of the clock.
A 24/7 seat is different. The month is taken as 730 hours. One person on duty, after 25% shrinkage, needs 730 ÷ (173.33 × 0.75), which is 5.62 and rounds up to 6. Two people on duty at once round up to 12. The plan uses whichever number is larger: the ticket workload or the open hours.
In-house cost is that headcount times the monthly cost you type, plus software, training, and other fixed amounts. Simple mode pins the extras at $300 of tools, 80% occupancy, 25% shrinkage, a 40-hour week, and one person on duty. Advanced mode lets you change each of those, and split tickets across chat, email, phone, and another channel.
The dedicated-hours column multiplies staffed hours by an hourly rate you type. It starts at $18 so the formula is visible. That rate is not a Hearthvane price. Hearthvane’s published prices are per person on duty: $2,000 weekdays, $3,500 after hours, $6,000 for 24/7, and $12 for each ticket the desk touches. A per-ticket price is overflow, not a promise that someone is awake. Custom weeks are not given a made-up seat price.
The 12-month view starts at the current volume. Each later month applies the growth rate to tickets, then rounds staff again. Tickets and money are plotted apart so the units are not mixed. Saved scenarios stay in this browser.
None of this is a quote. Pricing states the published numbers. Contact is how a real queue is priced. The coverage button opens the shift planner with the same hours and headcount.
Frequently asked questions
Why can one open seat around the clock need about six people?
A full-time week here is 40 paid hours. Shrinkage of 25% leaves 30 hours a person can be on duty. A 24/7 seat is about 730 hours in an average month. 730 ÷ 30 is 5.62, which rounds up to 6 full-time people.
Is $2,500 a Hearthvane price?
No. That box is your fully loaded cost for one full-time person. Replace it. Hearthvane publishes a price per person on duty: $2,000 on weekdays, $3,500 after hours, and $6,000 for 24/7.
Is $18 an hour a Hearthvane price?
No. It is a starting number so the dedicated-hours formula has something to multiply. The column is labeled as your rate. The published seat prices are the ones on the pricing page.
Why is a per-ticket price not the same as a 24/7 team?
The published overflow price is $12 for each ticket the desk touches. That buys handling of tickets, not a person present all night. Availability, skill, and what is included still have to match before two columns are a real comparison.
What do occupancy and shrinkage do?
Shrinkage removes paid time that is not available: leave, absence, and time off the queue. Occupancy is the share of the remaining time spent on contacts. Both sit in the workload formula. Coverage staffing uses shrinkage, not occupancy, because the seat has to be filled even when a contact is not in hand.
Does this include the busy hour?
No. The staff count is the larger of the monthly workload and the hours that must be open, rounded up. Peaks, handovers, and local working-time rules can require more people. It is a planning floor, not a roster.