Not really… Zero cost that is… You gotta compare apples to apples…
You’re using ferts / nutes in that hydroton, that would be in a soil mix by default. Its really not a straight comparison unless you average it out a little.
I would compare the cost of say 3-5 grows with the same media, avg the cost of media plus nutrients.
You’ll use more nutes in 5 grows in hydroton or rockwool, than I would in soil. And I recycle the hell outta my soil, so I use other nutes to recharge it before reusing it. Its not really a linear comparison, because hydroton is inert otherwise and even crappy soil would provide some kind of nutrition for a little while.
So, the higher initial cost of soil is not factoring in the initial nutes that are in it.
Soil can be reused forever as well, if you care for it. No Till obviously is one way, but you can use soil like hydroton as well, only difference is I am recharging while re-composting for the next usage while you just add the nutes to the reservoir after cleaning the hydroton off.
That being said, I’ve bought bagged soil, bulk perlite, bulk compost / mushroom soil and generally make my own mix in the end. It would be a hell of a job figuring out my cost per sq ft / cu ft with the varying volumes (a yard of compost, 4cu ft of perlite, etc). Then broken down into what I use for my mix. Not up for that math this early. LOL