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The comparison
| Option | First-year cost | Cost per workflow | Time to the first workflow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hire full-time | $158,333 | $79,167 | 4 months to hire, then the build |
| Contractor | $48,000 | $24,000 | About 4 weeks of build, once you have found one |
| FDE Sprint | Two Sprints at $5,000 each | $5,000 | Ten business days |
The figures above are the worked example below, with the default inputs. Change any input to recalculate.
How the numbers are calculated
- Hire full-time. Salary times the overhead multiple, for the months of the first year left after hiring and onboarding. Cost per workflow divides that by the workflows you need. The first workflow ships after the hiring months plus its own build.
- Contractor. Hourly rate times hours per workflow, times the number of workflows. Time to the first workflow assumes 40 billable hours a week, after you have found and contracted someone.
- FDE Sprint. The fixed Sprint price, once per workflow. Each Sprint ships one workflow into your repo in ten business days, with a full refund if there is no working prototype by Day 5 or the workflow isn't running to its acceptance criteria by Day 10.
Worked example, with the defaults. Two workflows. A hire at $190,000 base and a 1.25 overhead multiple, who joins after four months, costs $190,000 × 1.25 × 8/12 = $158,333 in the first year, or $79,167 per workflow. A contractor at $150 an hour for 160 hours a workflow costs $24,000 per workflow, $48,000 for both. Two Sprints cost twice the Sprint price, $5,000 each.
Median US total compensation for the role is about $206,000 (Levels.fyi), so if you plan to match the market on total pay rather than base, raise the salary field. Posted ranges run higher still: in 260 live roles in October 2026, the median US posted base range was $180,000 to $250,208.
What the calculator leaves out
Cost per workflow is the fair way to compare the first few workflows, and an unfair way to compare everything after that. A full-time engineer also maintains what shipped, iterates on it when the model or your data changes, and starts the next workflow without a new contract. A contractor's cost goes up if the scope drifts, and down if the scope is already tight. A Sprint ships one narrow workflow and hands it to your team with a rubric, a playbook, and a recorded walkthrough, so it only works if someone on your team will own the result.
So read the break-even line, not just the cheapest column. If you need more workflows a year than the break-even, and AI is a standing part of the roadmap, hire. If you need one or two, or you want to learn what an AI workflow takes before you write a job description, start with a Sprint. The three options, compared in full.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a forward deployed engineer cost?
Job postings in 2026 put a forward deployed engineer's base salary typically between $160,000 and $220,000, with a median near $190,000, and median US total compensation is about $206,000. The cost to the company in the first year is different: benefits and payroll taxes add to it, and the months spent hiring take away from it, because nobody is paid or shipping yet. That first-year cost is what this calculator adds up.
Is a Sprint cheaper than hiring a forward deployed engineer?
Per workflow, yes, for the first several. But a hire is a different purchase: standing capacity to maintain, iterate, and ship the next workflow without a new contract. The calculator shows the break-even point, the number of workflows a year at which a hire costs less per workflow than Sprints. Below it, start with a Sprint. Well above it, hire.
Where do the calculator's defaults come from?
The salary default is the 2026 median base from Recruiting from Scratch's analysis of forward deployed engineer job postings. The other defaults are example inputs, not market data: replace the overhead, hiring time, contractor rate, and hours with your own numbers. The Sprint price comes from the live offer.
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