[peregrine]

A Hackathon cost less money than you'd think. Typically for a day long event you can rent the place, get 3 meals, drinks and snacks including time spent for 40-50 people for about $2k. Which for a business isn't really all that much.

Disclaimer I help organize the described at the bottom of the article.

[sycren]

I think it depends where, when and who you are organising it for. I organised a student hackathon in London last year and it cost about £4K/$6K but we had the venue free and some sponsors paying for a meal or two. We had 150 students at the event. If the venue wasn't free we would be looking at another £2K/$3K at the least. The numbers stack up very quickly.

[vishaldpatel]

Absolutely - the low cost per participant makes hackathons a great channel. $2k paid for by a single entity isn't insignificant. Your hackathons probably offer more to participants than others.