# Time & Cost Tracker: Know What Each Customer Really Costs > The Time & Cost Tracker is the agent for time and cost per customer in the Ai1 platform by MyZone AI: name a customer and a period, and it matches the work to that customer, estimates human time as a range, adds the AI cost and gives you a quick answer or a full report. Canonical page: https://myzone.ai/pages/agents/ai-time-cost-tracker-agent Part of Ai1, by MyZone AI. Book a Time & Cost walkthrough: https://calendly.com/d/ct6h-tcy-8qf/ai1-demo?a1=Time%20%26%20Cost%20Tracker&utm_source=myzone.ai&utm_medium=agent-page&utm_content=ai-time-cost-tracker-agent-final Last updated: 2026-10-05. Reviewed by the MyZone AI team. See how much human time and AI cost went into each of your customers. ## At a glance - **Who uses it:** Your own team, in chat or its own Slack channel; customers never use it directly - **Matching the work:** By customer name, prefix or project; unclear matches are confirmed with you - **Human time:** Shown as a low to high range; agent running time is kept separate - **AI cost:** At list price, and as the customer's share of your subscriptions - **Missing data:** Shown as unavailable, never as zero and never guessed - **Billing:** It can suggest an amount from your rate. A person decides what to bill. ## What the Time & Cost Tracker does - **Finds the customer's work:** Matches work sessions to a customer by name, prefix or project, plus the work they passed to other agents. Uncertain matches are flagged, and shared work goes to a manual bucket, never to two customers. - **Estimates human time:** Hands-on time plus time spent waiting on an agent, shown as a low to high range. Agent running time is shown separately and never added to human hours. - **Adds the AI cost:** Shows what the AI usage would cost at list price and the customer's share of what you pay for subscriptions. - **Builds the report:** A full Time & Cost report for any period, plus a customer view with no staff names, session names or account details. - **Checks itself:** Before the first invoice for a new customer, it compares its estimate with your judgement on a sample, so you know how far to trust it. ## How the Time & Cost Tracker differs from a timesheet A timesheet relies on people remembering and writing down their hours. The Time & Cost Tracker estimates time from system activity instead, shows it as a low to high range and adds the AI cost per customer. Before a new customer's first invoice, it checks its estimate against your judgement on a sample. It suggests an amount from your rate, and a person decides the bill. How this differs from the Productivity Tracker (https://myzone.ai/pages/agents/ai-productivity-tracker-agent): the Productivity Tracker measures the overall return on your AI work, while the Time & Cost Tracker works out hours and AI cost customer by customer for billing. ## How it works 1. **You ask** (Whenever you want to know): Name the customer and the period. If you give no period, it uses this month to date. 2. **Match the work** (Straight away): It finds the customer's sessions and confirms any unclear matches with you. 3. **Estimate** (Once the work is matched): Its scripts estimate human time and AI cost, and report any gaps. 4. **Report** (In moments): A quick answer or a full report, in the internal or the customer view. 5. **A person decides billing** (you approve) (Before any invoice): The suggested amount is only a suggestion. You decide what to invoice. ## When to use it - **You want to know how many hours went into a customer this month:** It gives a quick estimate in chat. - **You are preparing an invoice or a renewal:** It builds the full report and suggests an amount from the rate you set. - **You want something you can share with the customer:** It builds the customer view, for a person on your team to review and share. - **You are billing a new customer for the first time:** It checks its estimate against your judgement on a sample first. ## What you get - A quick time and cost estimate in chat - A full internal Time & Cost report for any period - A customer view without staff names, session names or account details - A suggested invoice amount from your rate, marked provisional while data is incomplete ## Example: monthly Time & Cost report Example with a fictional company. Names, people and figures are invented to show the agent's output. Any resemblance to a real company or person is unintended. What it was asked: How much time and AI did we spend on Reddisholm last month? I need the report for their invoice, and a version I can send them. The report follows Time & Cost Tracker's standard internal and customer views: work matched to the customer by prefix, name and keyword, time credited once per minute to one source, AI cost at list price and as a subscription share, and a suggested amount from the rate set in chat. All activity, meetings, emails, chat, rates and subscription figures are invented; no real sessions, calendars, mailboxes or billing data were read. The first-invoice check was not marked and nothing was billed, sent or shared. Run date: 1 October 2026. ### What it found - In September the team spent an estimated 18.9 to 23.3 hours on the customer, best estimate 20.8 h, with 38.4 hours of agent running time kept separate from human hours. - AI usage cost $65.85 as the customer's share of the agency's subscriptions, against $286.40 at list price, giving a suggested invoice amount of $1,829.60 at $85 an hour. - The amount stays provisional: team chat data stops on 26 Sep and is shown as unavailable, not zero, and the account manager has not yet marked the 20-item first-invoice check. ## Guardrails - Every number is an estimate from system activity. It is not a timesheet, attendance record, performance measure or invoice. - A person always decides what to bill. - Only your own team uses it. Reports open inside your Ai1 workspace, behind your login, and customers only see a customer view a person has reviewed and shared. ## Frequently asked questions ### How can a service business see which customers are profitable? Start with what each customer actually costs you in time and AI. The Time & Cost Tracker matches work to a customer, estimates human time as a range and adds the AI cost, so you can use real activity instead of guesswork when you quote or renew. It suggests an amount from the rate you set, marked provisional while data is incomplete. A person always decides the final bill. ### Can you track client costs without staff filling in timesheets? You can estimate them from system activity. The Time & Cost Tracker counts hands-on time and time spent waiting on an agent as a low to high range. Every number is an estimate. It is not a timesheet, attendance record, performance measure or invoice, and a person always decides what to bill. ### How do you work out the AI cost behind each client? The Time & Cost Tracker shows what that customer's AI usage would cost at list price and the customer's share of what you pay for subscriptions. Shared work goes to a manual bucket, never to two customers. Missing days are shown as unavailable, never as zero and never filled in by guessing. ### What does a customer see from the Time & Cost Tracker, and is it available? The customer view leaves out staff names, session names, check-in counts, AI providers, accounts and what you pay for subscriptions. Reports open inside your Ai1 workspace, behind your login, with no public link; a person on your team reviews the customer view and shares it. It is ready to use in Ai1 by MyZone AI. ## More on this topic - [The $200K Question: Do You Really Need a CFO, or Do You Need Better Data?](https://myzone.ai/pages/blog/ai-financial-health-monitor): Most small businesses fly blind financially until it is too late. AI-powered monitoring delivers CFO-grade financial insight at a fraction of the cost. ## About Ai1 Ai1 is the AI operations platform by MyZone AI, where each client runs on its own private server. The Time & Cost Tracker is not sold on its own: every Ai1 agent, including this one, is included on Developer Pro and every Fully Managed option, with no per-agent charge. Developer Core includes the development agents. Pricing: https://myzone.ai/pages/services/ai1-pricing. Security: https://myzone.ai/pages/security.