---
title: "The month-6 cost: three costs the demo never mentions"
slug: costo-total-mes-6
lang: en
situation: comprar
format: plantilla
minutes: 10
video: 8
updated: 2026-10-19
---

# The month-6 cost: three costs the demo never mentions

> For whoever signs or renews an AI tool and wants to see the sixth month's invoice before approving the first one.

## When to use it

- A proposal arrived with a per-licence price and nothing else.
- You are about to renew a tool and the invoice no longer looks like the one you started with.
- Finance asked for "the total cost" and all you have is the list price.

## The sheet

In month one you pay the licence and it looks cheap. By month six, lines appear that nobody budgeted. Fill both columns with your real volume. Every example number is illustrative.

| Line | What it covers | Month 1 | Month 6 | Where the figure comes from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Licences | Users or seats under contract. | ____ | ____ | Vendor proposal. |
| Usage | If you pay by volume, what it costs once people really use it. | ____ | ____ | Real volume from the last quarter × rate. |
| Integration | Connecting it to sales, accounting or support. Almost never included. | ____ | ____ | Separate quote or IT hours. |
| Review time | Hours of the person who checks what the AI produces before it goes out. | ____ | ____ | The reviewer, not the vendor. |
| Training | Team hours spent learning and hours of whoever teaches. | ____ | ____ | Adoption calendar. |
| Data cleanup | Preparing the information so the tool can work with it. | ____ | ____ | Whoever handles the data today. |
| Exit cost | Exporting data, migrating and paying out the contract. | ____ | ____ | Contract clauses. |
| **Total** | | ____ | ____ | |

Illustrative example: if the month-1 licence is worth 100, by month 6 usage may add 40, integration 30 and review 50. The total goes from 100 to 220 and the licence stops being the biggest share.

## How to fill it in 10 minutes

1. Copy the licence price into the Month 1 column. It is the only figure the demo gave you.
2. Fill Usage with your real volume, not the trial's. If the tool works, people use it more, and if you pay per use, the invoice grows.
3. Ask in writing whether integration is included. If the answer takes a while, keep it as a separate line.
4. Ask whoever will review the outputs for an estimate of hours per week and multiply by their hourly cost.
5. Check the exit cost in the contract before signing, not when you want to leave.
6. The most common mistake: filling only Month 1 and projecting month 6 as "the same times six". Month 6 has more lines, not just more months.

## The line that is almost always missing

Review time. Usage and integration eventually show up on some invoice; the hours of whoever checks what the AI produces never show up on any, which is why nobody budgets them. Without that line the tool looks cheaper than it is, and the reviewer ends up doing work nobody counted.

## If this becomes a big decision

If the purchase or renewal is hard to reverse and carries your name, the free tools at vicsol.org/decision-clarity/ help you structure it. They do not replace a formal review.

---

Vic Sol · Decision Desk · vicsol.org/resources/ · Free to use with attribution.
This sheet structures a conversation; it is not legal, financial or audit advice.