Production Companies Should Focus on ‘Seats, Usage, and Project Allocation’—Procedures and Calculation Examples for Monthly Reconciliation of Unused Seats, Unlimited Usage, and Unclear Project Billing｜黒字化の外科医｜Web制作会社の「実務改善」経営参謀

This article covers how to manage the costs of AI coding tools such as Claude Code, Cursor, and GitHub Copilot within a company.

Seats increase, bills grow, and no one knows the full picture

“Just go ahead and set up a seat for the new engineer, too.”
“We hit the limit, so I enabled additional usage.”

AI coding tool cost management grows unnoticed through the accumulation of these small decisions.
Moreover, the end-of-month bill is a single invoice for the entire company. It is impossible to tell which project, who, or how much was used.

AI coding tool cost management means reviewing the number of seats, usage limits, and project allocation once a month using the same spreadsheet.

I am a surgeon for profitability. I will dissect the procedure for organizing AI coding tool costs along these three axes.

There are three reasons why you should look at them by dividing them into three parts.

First, seat fees are incurred even if they are not being used.
Seats for employees who have resigned, transferred, or rarely use the tools tend to remain active.

Second, usage-based fees will skyrocket if you do not set a limit.
Loading large amounts of code repeatedly or assigning long tasks can cause one person’s usage to increase significantly.

Third, if you do not allocate costs to projects, your estimates will not be accurate.
If you do not know how much was spent on which project, you cannot determine the amount to include in the next estimate.

Inventory management for all AI tools contracted by the company is covered here. This article focuses specifically on the management of seats and usage for coding tools.

▶ AI tool cost management for production companies with too many company-wide contracts—How to take inventory of who is contracting what, how to find unused contracts, and how to distinguish between costs that can be billed to clients and those that cannot

Management features vary by contract plan

What you can do in the management console differs depending on the tool and the contract plan. I have confirmed that the following is stated on each company’s official pricing page (Confirmation date: October 25, 2026).

Claude（claude.com/pricing）
・Teamプランに、ユーザー単位と組織単位の支出の管理（spend controls）の記載あり

Cursor（cursor.com/pricing）
・Teamsに、請求と管理の一元化、利用状況の分析（Usage analytics）の記載あり
・グループ単位の支出上限などの細かい管理は、Enterpriseの機能として記載

GitHub Copilot（github.com/features/copilot/plans）
・Business・Enterpriseでは、管理者が利用の上限と、追加の有料利用を許可するかを決めると記載

Please be sure to check the official sources for specific setup procedures and the latest features. This article presents an ‘internal management model’ that can be used regardless of which tool you are using.

Try it now: A prompt to audit AI coding tool expenses

私はWeb制作会社の経営者です。AIコーディングツールの費用を、月次で管理する表を作ってください。

【情報】
・ツール名と契約プラン：〔記載〕
・席を持っている人と役割：〔記載〕
・直近3か月の、人ごとの使用量（分かる範囲）：〔記載〕
・直近3か月の、席の料金と従量の料金の請求額：〔記載〕
・その月に動いていた案件と、案件ごとの作業時間：〔記載〕

1. 席ごとに、使用量が少ない人を挙げ、席を減らせるか判断の材料を示す。
2. 従量の料金が多い人について、どの作業で増えたかを確認する質問を作る。
3. 従量の料金を、案件に配賦する方法を提案する。
4. 毎月の管理表の列を設計する。

分からない数字は推測で埋めず、「確認が必要」と書くこと。

Cost Management Factory: Monthly management table and allocation calculation examples

Columns for the monthly management table

【AIコーディングツール 月次管理表】〇年〇月

ツール名 ／ 契約プラン ／ 席の数 ／ 席の料金（月）
席を持つ人 ／ 当月の使用量 ／ 前月の使用量 ／ 使用量の上限
従量の料金 ／ うち案件に直接記録できた分 ／ 記録できなかった分
配賦先の案件 ／ 配賦額
次の月の対応（席を減らす／上限を変える／記録の方法を直す）

Three criteria for reviewing seats

□ 直近1か月、ほとんど使われていない席はないか
□ 退職・異動した人の席が残っていないか
□ 上位の席（使用量の多い席）を、本当に必要な人だけに渡しているか

Before reducing seats, ask the user how they are using them. If the reason they aren’t using them is ‘I don’t know how to use it,’ it is more profitable to teach them than to reduce the seats.

Setting limits on usage

□ 1人あたりの月の上限を決めたか
□ 上限を超えて使えるようにするとき、誰の承認が必要かを決めたか
□ 上限に近づいたとき、通知が届く設定になっているか（ツールの機能は公式で確認）
□ 上限を超えた理由を、作業の内容と案件で記録しているか

Calculation example: Allocating usage fees that could not be recorded (example figures)

当月の従量の料金：60,000円
　案件に直接記録できた分：45,000円（それぞれの案件へ）
　記録できなかった分：15,000円

記録できなかった分を、案件の作業時間の比率で配賦する
　案件A：120時間　案件B：60時間　案件C：20時間　合計200時間
　案件A：15,000円 × 120 ÷ 200 ＝ 9,000円
　案件B：15,000円 × 60 ÷ 200 ＝ 4,500円
　案件C：15,000円 × 20 ÷ 200 ＝ 1,500円
　合計：9,000 ＋ 4,500 ＋ 1,500 ＝ 15,000円

Allocation is merely an estimate. Please also record what percentage of the total the unrecorded portion accounts for each month. As this percentage decreases, the cost per project becomes more accurate.

Where to include seat fees and usage fees in estimates and costs is covered here.

▶ Where to include AI tool fees and API usage fees in estimates and costs—Seat fees go into hourly rates, project usage goes into direct costs, and post-delivery usage is borne by the client. Three placement locations and calculation examples for production companies.

How to reflect allocated amounts in future estimates is covered in our paid kit.

▶ AI-driven development estimation kit, a complete set ready for production companies to use—7-step process chart, procedures for deriving review/test/rework coefficients from actual performance, estimate items and example conditions, and explanatory text for clients.

Structural risks

I will point out a paradox.

If you manage costs too strictly, staff will stop using AI.
If the usage limit is too low, work will stop mid-task, actually increasing man-hours.

The goal of cost management is not to reduce expenses, but to verify whether the expenses incurred are contributing to project profits. Please look at them in conjunction with project man-hours and gross profit, not just usage.

▶ How production companies can measure AI productivity internally when they are stuck at ‘it feels faster’—How to choose project man-hours, gross profit per person, and number of reworks, and the procedure for starting measurements

Common Q&A

Q. Who should maintain the management spreadsheet?

Separate the tool contract holder from the accounting person. The contract holder checks usage and seats, while accounting checks billing amounts and project allocation. If the president tries to handle it alone, it won’t last.

Q. What if staff use AI tools with personal accounts?

This means client code and information are being put into accounts not managed by the company. This is an information handling issue before it is a cost issue. Please establish internal rules to determine which accounts are permitted for use.

▶ Production companies without internal generative AI rules cannot explain their deliverables—Information prohibited from input, client explanation and consent, responsibility for checking deliverables, and basics of copyright

Q. Should we use multiple tools or stick to one?

If you use multiple tools, decide ‘what to use them for’ for each tool. If you have seats for multiple tools for the same task, costs will overlap. Which one to choose depends on the types of projects your company handles.

Conclusion

AI coding tool costs can be organized by looking at three factors: seats, usage, and project allocation.

Only companies that review seats, set caps, and allocate costs to projects using the same spreadsheet once a month can provide accurate cost estimates as they use AI more.

You can read all previous articles in the ‘Profitability Operations Room’ membership. It costs 1,980 yen per month, the price of two articles. See my profile for details.

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