The short answer: a full-time in-house SDR in the US costs about $80,000 a year in salary and commission at the median, and roughly $110,000 to $160,000 a year once payroll taxes, benefits, tools, recruiting and management are added. At a typical quota of 10 held meetings a month, that works out to about $900 to $1,700 per meeting. An outsourced US rep runs $84,000 to $155,000 a year, and an AI SDR such as Sdrs costs $49 to $499 a month.
Most "SDR cost" numbers you will find online come from vendors selling the alternative, so this page shows each component separately with its source. Plug in your own salary band, benefits and tools and you will have a number you can defend in a budget meeting.
SDR cost in year one at a glance
The table builds the first-year cost of one US-based SDR from the median compensation reported by The Bridge Group's 2025 SDR survey of 351 B2B companies. Ranges reflect the difference between a lean startup and a well-tooled sales org.
| Cost component | Typical year-one amount | How it is calculated |
|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $55,000 | Bridge Group 2025 median, 68 percent of OTE |
| Variable pay (commission, bonus) | $25,000 | Bridge Group 2025 median, 32 percent of OTE, paid at 100 percent of quota |
| Payroll taxes and benefits | $16,000 to $24,000 | Employer FICA is 7.65 percent of wages; health cover, 401(k) match and state taxes bring the total to about 20 to 30 percent |
| Sales tools and data | $5,000 to $15,000 | Contact data seat, sequencing tool, dialer, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, extra sending domains |
| Recruiting | $0 to $20,000 | Internal hiring time, or an agency fee of roughly 15 to 25 percent of first-year pay |
| Management and training | $10,000 to $20,000 | Share of a sales manager's time, coaching, onboarding content |
| Total, year one | about $111,000 to $159,000 | Before laptop, office space and any equity |
Two adjustments push the real figure up. The rep spends the first months ramping, so you pay the full salary for partial output, and the average SDR stays 1.9 years, so a share of the hiring and ramp cost repeats roughly every other year.
How much does an SDR cost per year?
An SDR costs about $110,000 to $160,000 per year all in for a US-based hire, against an $80,000 median on-target earnings package. Salary and commission are roughly two thirds of the bill. The rest is taxes, benefits, the tool stack the rep needs to prospect and the management time to keep the rep productive.
Location moves the number more than anything else. Reps in New York, San Francisco and Boston are commonly offered more than the national median, while remote roles at smaller companies often pay less base with a bigger variable slice. If you hire through a recruiter, add the placement fee to year one only. If your rep needs a dedicated manager because you have no sales lead yet, the management line can double.
What is the average SDR salary and OTE?
The median SDR on-target earnings is $80,000, split $55,000 base and $25,000 variable, according to The Bridge Group's 2025 SDR metrics report. OTE has been flat at that level since 2022. Variable pay is usually tied to held meetings or qualified opportunities, so a rep who misses quota costs less in commission but also produces less pipeline.
When you budget, use OTE rather than base salary. Paying a rep who hits plan is the outcome you want, and budgets built on base salary alone are the main reason SDR programs look cheaper on paper than they turn out to be.
How much does an SDR cost per meeting?
An in-house SDR costs roughly $900 to $1,700 per held meeting. The Bridge Group reports a median monthly quota of 10 held first meetings. With about nine productive months in year one after ramp, that is around 90 meetings for $111,000 to $159,000, or $1,230 to $1,770 each. In a fully ramped year of 120 meetings, the figure drops to about $925 to $1,325.
Cost per meeting is the number to compare across options, because every alternative prices differently. Agencies sell rep-months, pay-per-meeting firms charge $150 to $1,500 per held meeting, and AI SDR software charges a flat monthly fee no matter how many meetings it books. If you only have the budget for one metric, use this one.
The hidden costs of hiring an SDR
The salary is the visible part. These four costs rarely make it into the first budget, and together they decide whether the hire pays back.
- Ramp time. The Bridge Group puts average ramp at 3.0 months. During those months you pay full salary while meetings trickle in. On an $80,000 OTE that is about $20,000 of compensation for partial output.
- Turnover. Average tenure is 1.9 years, and many reps who succeed get promoted to account executive. Each departure restarts recruiting and ramp, so plan for a replacement cycle every two years.
- Tool sprawl. A rep needs contact data, a sequencer, a dialer and mailboxes that land in the inbox. Our guides to ZoomInfo cost per month and Instantly pricing show how quickly those seats add up.
- Manager time. New reps need call reviews, list help and message coaching. Without a sales leader in place, that time comes from the founder, which is the most expensive time in the company.
If you do hire, two things shorten the payback. Source candidates faster with an AI recruiter that screens and ranks applicants, and put your playbook, objection handling and product training into a structured onboarding course for new sales hires so ramp does not depend on whoever has a free afternoon.
SDR cost vs outsourced SDR vs AI SDR
Here is how one in-house rep compares with the two main alternatives, using prices published by the vendors and checked in October 2026.
| Option | Monthly cost | Yearly cost | Terms | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| In-house US SDR | $9,250 to $13,250 all in | $111,000 to $159,000 | Employment, recruiting and ramp each time | Complex sale, phone-heavy buyers, building a sales career ladder |
| Outsourced US SDR (CIENCE) | $6,999 plus performance bonus | about $84,000 plus bonus | Month to month, setup fee quoted on call | Teams that want humans without hiring |
| Outsourced SDR (SalesRoads) | $11,950 per 4 weeks | about $155,350 (13 cycles) | No long-term contract | Enterprise outbound with live calling |
| Offshore outsourced SDR (CIENCE) | $4,249 plus bonus | about $51,000 plus bonus | Month to month | Volume prospecting on a tighter budget |
| AI SDR (11x) | about $3,750 on annual billing | about $45,000 | Annual contract | Large teams that want a managed AI rollout |
| AI SDR (Sdrs) | $49, $149, $499 or $998 | $288 to $5,988 on yearly billing | Monthly, cancel anytime, no setup fee | Founders, small sales teams and agencies that need booked meetings |
For the full agency price list, including Leadium, Belkins and memoryBlue, see our outsourced SDR pricing breakdown. For every AI vendor side by side, see the AI SDR pricing comparison.
Is it cheaper to hire an SDR or use an AI SDR?
An AI SDR is cheaper by a wide margin. One in-house rep costs $111,000 or more in year one, while Sdrs Plus costs $149 a month, or $1,788 a year, and the Pro plan with the AI voice agent and full autopilot costs $499 a month. Even the most expensive AI SDR contracts, around $45,000 a year, cost less than half of one fully loaded hire.
The cost difference comes from the work an SDR actually spends time on. Most of a rep's week goes to building lists, researching accounts, writing first lines, sending follow-ups and chasing replies. Sdrs does that part: it pulls verified contacts from its B2B database, researches each prospect, writes and sends multi-step email, LinkedIn and X sequences, detects positive replies and inserts a calendar link, then syncs the meeting to HubSpot, Salesforce or Pipedrive. You can launch a campaign and see the leads and messages it writes for your market before you pay for a plan.
If your real gap is a calendar with no first meetings on it, our AI appointment setter page covers that job in detail, and outsourced SDR services from Sdrs explains how the software replaces an agency retainer.
When hiring an SDR is still worth the cost
A human SDR earns the salary in a few situations. If your buyers only respond to live phone conversations, if each first call needs real product knowledge before it reaches an account executive, or if you are building a sales team and want a promotion path into closing roles, a hire makes sense. Large enterprise deals with long buying committees also reward a rep who can work one account for months.
Many teams split the job. Software handles list building, research, first-touch outreach and booking, and the human rep spends the day on calls, follow-up with warm accounts and handoffs. That lets one rep cover the territory two would otherwise need, which is the cheapest way to get human judgment where it counts.
Frequently asked questions about SDR cost
How much does it cost to hire an SDR?
Hiring an SDR costs about $80,000 a year in median salary and commission, plus $30,000 to $80,000 in taxes, benefits, tools, recruiting and management, for a year-one total of roughly $110,000 to $160,000. Recruiting through an agency adds about 15 to 25 percent of first-year pay as a one-time fee.
How long does it take an SDR to ramp?
The average SDR takes 3.0 months to ramp to full productivity, according to The Bridge Group's 2025 report, the shortest ramp it has recorded since 2010. During ramp you pay full salary for partial output, which adds roughly a quarter of a year's compensation to the true cost of each hire.
How many meetings should an SDR book per month?
The median SDR quota is 10 held first meetings a month, based on The Bridge Group's 2025 survey. Quotas vary with deal size: reps selling to small businesses often book more, while enterprise reps book fewer, larger meetings. Divide total yearly cost by held meetings to get your cost per meeting.
Is an outsourced SDR cheaper than an in-house SDR?
Sometimes. A US rep from CIENCE costs about $84,000 a year plus a performance bonus, which is below the fully loaded cost of a hire, but SalesRoads charges about $155,350 a year for one dedicated rep. Offshore reps cost less. The saving is mostly in recruiting, ramp and turnover, which the agency carries.
What is the cheapest way to get SDR output?
The cheapest option is an AI SDR with a flat monthly price. Sdrs starts at $49 a month, billed monthly with no setup fee, and covers lead discovery, personalized outreach, reply handling and meeting booking. Offshore agency reps from about $4,249 a month and pay-per-meeting programs come next.