6 DoF
Cost per 15-minute learner session
$8.26
5-year Total Cost of Ownership$356,730
- Direct cash
- $2,400
- Absorbed staff
- $354,330
Planning tool
Understanding the five-year cost of VR.
Compare the cost of delivering the same number and duration of learner sessions across 6 DoF, Class Lab, and SVR. Change the assumptions to match your environment.
Why total cost matters
The headset has a price. Using it has a cost.
A VR programme can consume both direct cash and paid staff time. Hardware may create an invoice; supervision, IT/support, charging, cleaning, storage, and routine checking may instead be absorbed inside existing staffing. Both matter when comparing the cost of delivering learning.
This calculator is a planning tool, not a definitive cost claim. Major operational assumptions are visible or adjustable so schools, training organisations, and corporate learning teams can use figures that reflect their own environment.
Simple comparison
Simple 5-Year VR Cost Comparison
Compare the same number and duration of learner sessions over the same time period. Change the key assumptions to match your environment.
This is a planning tool, not a definitive cost claim.
Staff rate: $62.00/hr · IT rate: $46.50/hr (75%).
Built-in assumptions and capacity context
- Five-year analysis period and 15-minute learner sessions.
- Current utilisation: 12 sessions/device/active day across 180 active days/year. Defaults are 12 sessions and 180 days.
- Six hours of daily use would equal 24 sessions/day, or 4,320 sessions/device over a 180-day year.
- Current supervision targets: 6 DoF 2 users, Class Lab 30 users, and SVR 0. Effective concurrency never exceeds the headset count.
- SVR supervision 0 assumes one seated, self-directed learner while the teacher continues normal classroom instruction.
- Current IT/support hours per device/year: 6 DoF 15, Class Lab 6, and SVR 0. Defaults are 15, 6, and 0; annual totals scale with headset quantity.
- Current routine physical handling for all systems: 6 minutes per active day for each group of up to 30 devices.
- IT/support labour is currently 75% of the $62.00/hr instructor rate.
- SVR hardware uses the existing quantity-based volume-pricing curve.
Current calculation: 8,640 learner sessions per system per year and 43,200 over five years. For example, 1 headset used once per day for 180 active days delivers 180 learner sessions/year, or 900 over five years. The calculator changes cost assumptions, not the amount of learning being compared.
Use the Full Calculator to edit per-device IT/support, routine handling, labour-rate percentage, active days, and hardware/direct cash assumptions.
Five-year comparison
Cost of delivering the same number and duration of learner sessions
43,200 learner sessions per system over five years
Class Lab
Cost per 15-minute learner session
$4.18
5-year Total Cost of Ownership$180,560
- Direct cash
- $2,000
- Absorbed staff
- $178,560
SVR
Cost per 15-minute learner session
$0.24
5-year Total Cost of Ownership$10,538
- Direct cash
- $4,958
- Absorbed staff
- $5,580
Absorbed staff cost does not necessarily mean a new invoice or additional salary expense. It represents paid staff time consumed by supervision, IT/support, and routine device handling.
| Five-year comparison | 6 DoF | Class Lab | SVR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct cash cost (hardware) | $2,400 | $2,000 | $4,958 |
| Effective supervised users | 2 | 4 | No dedicated supervision |
| Supervision staff cost | $334,800 | $167,400 | $0 |
| IT/support hours per device/year | 15 | 6 | 0 |
| IT/support cost | $13,950 | $5,580 | $0 |
| Routine device-handling cost | $5,580 | $5,580 | $5,580 |
| Total absorbed staff cost | $354,330 | $178,560 | $5,580 |
| Learner sessions per year | 8,640 | 8,640 | 8,640 |
| Total learner sessions (5 years) | 43,200 | 43,200 | 43,200 |
| 5-year Total Cost of Ownership | $356,730 | $180,560 | $10,538 |
| Cost per 15-minute learner session | $8.26 | $4.18 | $0.24 |
Utilisation
Use it more. Pay less per learner.
Fixed costs are spread across more learning sessions as utilisation increases.
| System | Current · 12/day | Higher use · 24/day |
|---|---|---|
| 6 DoF | $8.26 | $8.00 |
| Class Lab | $4.18 | $4.03 |
| SVR | $0.24 | $0.12 |
Sensitivity check
Give the alternative the benefit of the doubt.
Lower utilisation and more generous 6 DoF supervision assumptions can be tested without changing the underlying comparison.
- 6 DoF
- $4.89
- SVR
- $0.49
- Calculated ratio
- 10×
Scenario: 6 sessions/device/day and a 6 DoF target of 5 concurrent users, capped at 4 by the available headsets.
What is not included
Comparable third-party content costs, professional development, optional MDM or platform subscriptions, breakage, replacement accessories, facilities or room costs, and other organisation-specific expenses are not included unless explicitly entered.
SVR includes more than the hardware.
SVR pricing includes a large offline learning-content library with a perpetual content licence. It also includes MySense-VR (MSVR), Sensible-VR’s offline authoring tool, allowing schools and organisations to create and use their own VR learning and training content without requiring an ongoing online platform or content-creation subscription.
MySense-VR is included with SVR. No separate authoring subscription is added in this calculator.
Explore MySense-VRChange the assumptions. The calculator should still make sense.The headset has a price. Using it has a cost.
Want to test your own assumptions?