Costs & Pricing
Batch Cost Calculator
This tool adds up the real costs of one freeze-drying batch: raw product, electricity, packaging, labor, oxygen absorbers, cleaning and consumables, maintenance allocation and any other cost. Electricity can be entered directly as a known cost, or estimated from average power draw, cycle hours and your electricity rate. Optional fields then spread the total over the finished dry weight and package count.
What This Tool Does
It sums the costs you enter for one batch, then optionally divides that total by finished dry weight and package count for per-unit costs. Enter costs in your usual currency; all results use the same currency.
Electricity Cost
Choose one method. Method B is an estimate and requires all three fields.
Other Batch Costs
Total Batch Cost
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Electricity is a direct cost entered above
Optional: Spread the Total Over Output
These fields divide the total batch cost over finished weight and packages. All are optional; per-unit results appear only for fields you complete.
Cost per Dry Gram
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Cost per Dry Kilogram
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Cost per Ounce
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Cost per Package
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What the Result Means
The total is your cash cost for one batch: every line you entered, added together. Dividing by finished weight or package count turns that lump into per-unit costs you can compare across batches, quote against, and use with the pricing calculator. The electricity estimate in Method B is explicitly an estimate, because real machines draw different power at different stages of the cycle.
The Formula
- Total Batch Cost = Raw + Electricity + Packaging + Labor + Absorbers + Cleaning + Maintenance + Other
- Method B Electricity Estimate = Average Power Draw (kW) × Cycle Hours × Rate per kWh
- Cost per Dry Gram = Total ÷ Dry Weight in g; per kg = Total ÷ (Dry g ÷ 1000); per ounce = Total ÷ (Dry g ÷ 28.3495); per package = Total ÷ Packages
Important Limitations
- No default values exist here: an empty line counts as zero, and a real total requires real cost entries.
- Method B needs your machine's average power draw, your actual cycle hours and your rate. Machine wattage is not the same as average draw, and cycle time varies by load, so treat the result as an estimate.
- Maintenance allocation, cleaning, labor and "other" are judgment calls. Be consistent about what you include so batches stay comparable.
- Downtime, rejected product and your own time are easy to forget; add them deliberately or they silently vanish from the total.