Call Center Outsourcing Cost Calculator: In-House vs. Outsourced

Jump to Mode 2: what should outsourcing cost me?

Your inputs

Agents (FTE) you needNumber of full-time agent seats. Agent hourly wage ($)Assumption. Check your local market or BLS data for customer service representatives. Benefits, payroll taxes & PTO (% of wage)Assumption: employer cost on top of wages. Agents per supervisorAssumption. Supervisor hourly wage ($)Assumption. Agents per QA analystAssumption. QA analyst hourly wage ($)Assumption. Telephony, CRM & software per seat / month ($)Assumption. Facilities & equipment per seat / month ($)Assumption: rent, utilities, PCs, headsets. Annual agent turnover (%)Assumption. Cost to recruit & train one agent ($)Assumption. Other management / WFM overhead per month ($)Optional. Billable hours per outsourced agent / monthAssumption: hours your program is staffed per FTE. Outsourced all-inclusive rate per hour ($)Expivia publishes $28 to $35/hr all-inclusive for USA agents (expivia.com/pricing). Enter any vendor's quote. One-time outsourcing setup fee ($)Expivia states setup fees are never more than $10,000, as low as $7,000 for cloud-ready companies (expivia.com/pricing).

Results (monthly)

In-house, fully loaded

Outsourced

Estimated difference per year

In-house breakdown

In-house cost per paid agent hour

Outsourced first year incl. setup

Want a real quote to plug in? Get a custom quote from Expivia

Mode 2: What should outsourcing cost me?

Estimate a monthly outsourced cost from your volume, on both per-hour and per-minute billing.

Calls per month Average handle time (minutes, incl. wrap-up) OR handled minutes per month (overrides calls x AHT)Leave 0 to use calls x AHT. Hours of coverage per day24 for 24/7. Days covered per month Minimum agents on shift at all timesCoverage floor: someone must be staffed even when calls are slow. Agent occupancy (%)Assumption: share of paid time spent on calls. Hourly rate, low ($)Editable default: Expivia publishes $28 to $35/hr all-inclusive for USA agents (expivia.com/pricing). Hourly rate, high ($)Editable default, same source (expivia.com/pricing). Per-minute rate ($/handled minute)Placeholder assumption, not an Expivia price. Expivia offers per-minute billing but does not publish a rate; enter a quote. Setup fee, low ($)Editable default: expivia.com/pricing says as low as $7,000 for cloud-ready companies. Setup fee, high ($)Editable default: expivia.com/pricing says never more than $10,000.

Estimate (monthly)

Handled minutes

Billable agent hours

Per-hour billing

Per-minute billing

First year, per-hour + setup

Get a custom quote from Expivia

How it works: handled minutes = calls x AHT (or your minutes). Workload hours = minutes / 60 / occupancy. Coverage floor = hours per day x days x minimum agents. Billable hours = the larger of the two. Per-hour cost = billable hours x rate; per-minute cost = handled minutes x per-minute rate.

How the calculator works

Paid hours per full-time employee are 2,080 a year, or 173.33 a month. Each in-house role costs hourly wage x 173.33 x (1 + benefits %). Supervisor and QA headcount are your agent count divided by the span of control, rounded up. Turnover cost is agents x annual turnover % / 12 x cost to recruit and train one agent. The outsourced cost is agents x billable hours per agent x hourly rate; the setup fee is shown separately as a one-time cost.

About the defaults: apart from the Expivia rate and setup fee, taken from Expivia's pricing page, every default is an editable assumption, not an industry benchmark. Swap in your own payroll, vendor and HR figures for an accurate answer.

What in-house costs leave out

Spreadsheets often stop at wages. The bigger gaps are usually supervisors and QA staff, per-seat telephony and software licenses, desk space, and the cost of constantly hiring and training replacements. Add them and the real hourly cost of an in-house agent is often well above the wage.

FAQ

How much does it cost to outsource a call center?

It depends on the rate model. Many US vendors bill per agent hour or per minute. Expivia publishes an all-inclusive USA rate of $28 to $35 per hour on its pricing page. Use the calculator to compare any quote against your fully loaded in-house cost.

What is the fully loaded cost of an in-house agent?

Wages plus benefits and payroll taxes, plus a share of supervisors, QA staff, telephony and software, facilities, and the cost of replacing agents who leave. The calculator adds each line so you can see where the money goes.

Where do the default numbers come from?

Except for the Expivia rate and setup fee (from expivia.com/pricing), every default is an editable assumption, not a benchmark. Replace them with your own payroll and vendor numbers.

How is the math done?

Paid hours per FTE = 2,080 / 12 = 173.33 per month. Loaded wage = wage x hours x (1 + burden%). Supervisors and QA = agents / ratio, rounded up. Turnover cost = agents x turnover% / 12 x cost per hire. Outsourced = agents x billable hours x rate.

Is there a signup?

No. The calculator runs in your browser and nothing you type is sent anywhere. Download a CSV of your results anytime.

In-House vs. Outsourced Call Center Cost Calculator