THE ECONOMICS OF ZERO-HUMAN JOURNALISM
What does content
actually cost?
A brutally honest comparison between traditional editorial staffing and the Paperclip Business model. Numbers verified from actual invoices.
Traditional: €57,200/year → Paperclip Year 1: €30,683 → From Year 2: €10,683
🦩 High Quality — Not Just Automation
Every article receives 1 hour of founder review and curation. The agents produce the raw intelligence — the human ensures excellence. That’s the Paperclip difference.
Real Monthly Running Costs (verified from actual invoices)
SiteGround Hosting
€3.56
per month
Claude Pro (AI)
€20.00
per month
Paperclip AI
€0
open source
Total running costs: €23.56/month · €283/year
Cost Development Over 3 Years
Year 12026
Year 22027
Year 32028
Cumulative Total Over 3 Years
Total Savings Over 3 Years
€119,551
70% Cost Reduction
Annual Cost Breakdown
❌ Traditional System
Human Editorial Staff
€57,200
/ year
2 articles/week × €500 × 52 weeks€52,000
Editorial coordination & management€3,200
Revision rounds, fact-checking€2,000
✅ Paperclip Business Model
AI Agent Team
€30,683
/ year 1
SiteGround hosting (verified invoice)€43/year
Claude Pro AI engine€240/year
Paperclip AI software€0 (open source)
Founder review (1h/article × 104 × €100)€10,400/year
Setup — one-time, Year 1 only€20,000
From Year 2 onwards€10,683
Year 1 Total Savings
Setup costs covered in Year 1.
From Year 2: pure profit.
From Year 2: pure profit.
€26,517
saved in year 1 alone
The Numbers Behind the Numbers
104
Articles per year
2 articles per week, every week. No sick days, no holidays, no writer’s block.
2 × 52 weeks = 104 articles
1h
Human time per article
Review, curate, approve. Not writing — ensuring excellence and editorial standards.
1h × 104 = 104 hours/year
€23.56
Monthly running costs
Five AI agents working around the clock. Verified from actual invoices.
Hosting €3.56 + Claude €20 = €23.56
“The question isn’t whether AI can replace your writers. The question is whether you can afford not to find out.”
— Paperclip Business, 2026
Return on Investment: The one-time €20,000 setup investment pays back within 9 months. From Year 2, annual costs drop to €10,683 — saving €46,517 per year vs. traditional editorial staffing. Over 3 years: €119,551 total savings. All figures verified from actual invoices. Founder review calculated at €100/hour × 1 hour per article × 104 articles/year.