The Cost was a San Francisco Bay Area band active between 1999 and 2003. They released an album, Chimera (2002), on Lookout! Records, an EP on New Disorder Records, a split 7" with Canadian punk band d.b.s., and were featured on several compilations over the years. They toured extensively on the west coast, mainly in the Pacific Northwest, and also across the United States. The Cost played their last show at Berkeley's 924 Gilman Street, the venue they called home, on July 5, 2003.
Members of The Cost later played in Communique and Middle-Aged Queers. Guitarist Sean McArdle went on to record and release solo material.