The increasing demand for online courses requires efficient and low cost production. Since the decision to develop online courses is often affected by financial factors, it is becoming increasingly important to determine, upfront, the cost of online course production. Many of the programs and educators interested in developing online courses underestimate the costs involved in developing and producing an online course. Efficient and reasonable cost estimates can assist institutions and educators to realize the costs of putting a course online and thus can improve strategic planning and budgeting processes. In an effort to facilitate, streamline, and improve the cost estimation process for online course development, the Center for Learning Technologies at Old Dominion University (ODU) has designed a web-based cost estimate system. This online tool enables our institution to determine the estimated costs involved in online course development. (Contains 1 table and 4 figures.)