Estimate the cost of an event

New model rolling out. Until pay-as-you-go billing is enabled on your account, nothing is counted. Credit prices and the unit cost of each service are published at shop.boothx.org/plans: this article gives the method, not the prices.

A BoothX event costs nothing as long as it stays on the booth. As soon as you turn on an online service (gallery, sharing, AI), part of the usage may exceed the free quotas. Here is how to estimate it before you write your quote.

Step 1: what's free

First, cross off everything that costs nothing, whatever the size of the event:

A 100% paper service, or one where you hand over the files on a USB drive, consumes nothing.

Step 2: pay-as-you-go services and their quotas

Quotas are per account and per month, shared across all your booths and all your events that month. The quotas that actually apply to your account are shown in the app's usage panel; they may change.

Step 3: estimate the volumes

Write down the event figures:

Then calculate:

• photos in gallery = S × p
• storage = S × p × t (in MB, divide by 1024 for GB)
• bandwidth = S × p × t × v
• emails = S × e
• SMS = S × s
• AI = a

Step 4: subtract the remaining quotas

For each service: overage = max(0, volume − quota remaining this month).

Watch the remaining quota: if you have already run other events this month, part of the quota is used up. The usage panel shows it.

Step 5: convert to credits

For each service: credits = overage × service unit cost, with the unit cost published on the pricing page. Add them up, then convert to euros using the credit price.

Full example

A wedding, with no other event that month. You turn on the online gallery and email; no SMS, no AI.

Calculation:

Result: this wedding stays within the free quotas. Cost in credits: 0.

What if you add SMS?

With s = 0.3: SMS = 150 × 0.3 = 45. Since the SMS quota is zero, all 45 SMS are overage: credits = 45 × SMS unit cost. That is the amount to plan for, and possibly to bill back.

And a large three-day trade show?

With S = 900, p = 1, t = 3, v = 2, e = 0.4:

• gallery: 900 photos, overage 900 − 200 = 700 photos;
• storage: 2700 MB ≈ 2.6 GB, overage ≈ 1.6 GB;
• bandwidth: 5400 MB ≈ 5.3 GB, overage ≈ 0.3 GB;
• emails: 360, overage 360 − 100 = 260.

Multiply each overage by the published unit cost and add them up: that is the show's online services budget.

Lower the bill

• Upload the layout only (p = 1) rather than every photo.
• Reduce the size of uploaded files (t): a photo meant for a phone doesn't need full resolution.
• Favor the QR code and email over SMS.
• Delete the gallery on the announced date: the storage is freed.
• Group events wisely: quotas are monthly; a busy month goes over faster.

Pass it on in your quote

• A flat “Online gallery and sharing” line, based on your estimate, plus a margin.
• Or a pay-as-you-go line, billed after the event based on the usage panel.

Credits are prepaid: top up before the event if your estimate exceeds the quotas. See Free quotas and credits.

Frequently asked questions

Do quotas roll over from one month to the next? No, they renew each period.

How is usage counted offline? It is recorded on the booth and sent when the network comes back, with no double counting. See Offline operation.

Do the mosaic or the guestbook add a cost? No, as long as you don't upload their files: tile printing and PDF export are free.