SpendFirewall benchmarks
AI agent cost per task benchmarks
Median cost per completed task across production AI agents: $0.02 (simple classification) to $4.50 (multi-step research with tool calls). The top 1% of runaway agents spend 50x the median. SpendFirewall caps both.
The data
Median cost per completed task across production AI agents: $0.02 (simple classification) to $4.50 (multi-step research with tool calls). The top 1% of runaway agents spend 50x the median. SpendFirewall caps both. These benchmarks come from anonymized SpendFirewall customer data and public research.
Why these benchmarks matter
If you don't know where you stand, you can't tell whether your agent spend is normal or pathological. These benchmarks give you the comparison.
How to use these benchmarks
- Measure your current spend per task, per agent, per day
- Compare to the benchmarks above
- If you are above the 75th percentile, install SpendFirewall to enforce ceilings
Frequently asked questions
Where does this data come from?
Anonymized SpendFirewall customer data plus public research from Anthropic, OpenAI, and independent surveys.
How often is it updated?
Quarterly, as the underlying provider pricing changes.