Metric guide · AI costs
AI cost as a share of revenue
Short answer
AI cost as a share of revenue is a company's AI spend in a month divided by its revenue in the same month, shown as a percentage. It says how much of each dollar earned goes to AI models and AI tools. A rising share means AI costs are growing faster than revenue.
The formula
AI cost as a share of revenue = AI spend ÷ revenue × 100, for the same month
Unit: Percent. Better when it goes down.
How to calculate it
- Take AI spend for a closed month: model API bills, AI services on your cloud bill and AI tool subscriptions.
- Take revenue for the same month from your books or your billing tool.
- Divide AI spend by revenue and multiply by 100.
- Compare month with month, and read the trend over a quarter rather than a single month.
Mistakes that distort it
AI bills arrive a month behind many revenue reports. Line both up on the month the cost was incurred and the revenue was earned.
A yearly subscription paid in March makes March look expensive. Spread it over the months it covers, or read a three-month average.
Assistants and coding tools on company cards are AI spend too. Count them, or say plainly that the figure covers product AI only.
A published reference point
ICONIQ's State of AI report, from a survey of about 300 executives at software companies building AI products, puts spending on AI for internal productivity at 11% of revenue in 2025 and projects 16% for 2026.
Basis. ICONIQ counts AI the team uses. Sondola counts all AI, product and team, so the two are not the same measure.
ICONIQ, State of AI 2026 · published July 2026 · checked 24 September 2026
Where Sondola reads it from
Sondola divides AI spend from your books, bank, cards and AI cost connections by revenue for the same month, and shows the source and period of each. Each reading keeps where it came from, the period and the date it was recorded, and you can download all of it at any time.
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What is a good AI cost as a share of revenue?
There is no settled benchmark yet. ICONIQ reported internal AI spend at 11% of revenue in 2025 among software companies building AI products, and projects 16% for 2026, but that counts team AI only. Watch your own trend first.
Why does Sondola include team AI?
Because it is money that left the company for AI. Sondola shows product AI and team AI as separate lines, so you can read either one on its own.
Related metrics
Written by the Sondola team. Benchmarks name their source, basis and date. Changes to how Sondola counts a number are on the corrections page.
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