How many tokens does it take to build X with AI?
If you don’t think in tokens, it’s hard to guess what an AI coding agent will cost before you start. These references map a real unit of work — a story point, an epic, a landing page, an MVP feature — onto an honest Low / Typical / High token range and a dollar estimate at today’s model prices. Numbers are for the build (developer-time spend), not for running the finished feature.
Scrum & story points
Map agile estimates — story points and epics — onto AI build cost.
| Work item | Typical tokens | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|
| 1-point user story | 160,000 | $0.4750 |
| 2-point user story | 318,000 | $0.9300 |
| 3-point user story | 528,000 | $1.53 |
| 5-point user story | 945,000 | $2.70 |
| 8-point user story | 1,680,000 | $4.80 |
| 13-point user story | 2,940,000 | $8.40 |
| Epic | 10,500,000 | $30.00 |
Software tasks
Common engineering tasks: bug fixes, endpoints, tests, refactors.
| Work item | Typical tokens | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|
| Small bug fix | 106,000 | $0.3100 |
| Complex bug fix | 420,000 | $1.20 |
| AI code review of a PR | 208,000 | $0.5800 |
| Unit test suite for a module | 415,000 | $1.30 |
| CRUD API endpoint | 320,000 | $0.9500 |
| Third-party API integration | 635,000 | $1.85 |
| Refactor a module | 792,000 | $2.30 |
| Data / schema migration | 550,000 | $1.60 |
| Technical documentation | 245,000 | $0.8000 |
Products & projects
Bigger deliverables — landing pages, MVPs, internal tools, POCs.
| Work item | Typical tokens | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|
| Landing page | 408,000 | $1.23 |
| MVP feature | 3,680,000 | $10.55 |
| Internal tool / admin app | 5,260,000 | $15.10 |
| Marketing website | 1,290,000 | $3.90 |
| Proof of concept / prototype | 798,000 | $2.36 |
Ranges assume a whole agent session (many turns, with context re-sent each turn), not a single prompt. Cost column uses GPT-4o at current prices; open a unit for full low/typical/high ranges and to change the model.