Non-Disclosure Agreement Cost Calculator

This calculator builds up total NDA preparation cost from three attorney-billable phases, each scaled by the agreement's complexity tier (template, custom unilateral, custom mutual, or complex multi-party). Drafting hours start from a base figure per tier (1, 4, 6, or 12 hours) and add 2 extra hours per additional jurisdiction beyond the first plus 1.5 hours per additional party beyond two, capturing the real added legwork of multi-state or multi-party agreements. Review cost assumes every other party's counsel spends between 0.5 and 3 hours reviewing the document depending on complexity, multiplied across all parties besides your own. Negotiation cost is driven by an expected number of redline rounds per complexity tier (0 to 4 rounds), each estimated at 1.5 hours of attorney time.

All three phases are billed at your specified hourly rate and summed into total preparation cost, which is also divided evenly across parties and amortized over the NDA's term for an annual-cost view. Separately, the calculator estimates the financial stakes if the NDA is breached: an exposure factor (0.3, 0.5, or 0.8, rising with the number of parties who could potentially leak the information) is applied against the stated trade secret value to estimate breach damages, and a litigation cost estimate is scaled by complexity tier and by jurisdiction count. These breach-side figures are rough industry-pattern estimates, not case-specific legal predictions — actual damages and litigation costs in a real trade-secret dispute depend heavily on jurisdiction, provable harm, and whether injunctive relief is sought, so use these numbers only to gauge how much drafting rigor an NDA deserves, never as a substitute for counsel's assessment of your specific risk.