AI ROI calculator.
Work out what automating one task with AI is worth before you spend on it. The AI ROI calculator asks what automation assessments ask: how often the task is done, how long it takes, what errors cost, how much AI takes on and how much people still check. It shows the hours and money freed at full use and, with your costs, the month it pays back.
- Volume, handling time and errors: your own figures
- Counts review time and ramp-up, not only savings
- Payback month by month over three years
A worked example
- Items a month
- 2,000
- Minutes each
- 6
- Cost of an hour
- $40
- AI handles
- About half
- Checked by a person
- A sample, about a quarter, 2 min
- Cost to build
- $20,000
$44,000
Value a year at full use
1,100
Hours freed a year
about 8 months
Payback, with ramp-up
Made-up answers, to show what the tool returns. Use your own below.
Your task, your numbers.
1The work
How many times a month is this task done?
Count the items: invoices matched, tickets answered, orders entered, applications checked.
How the numbers work.
Every figure comes from what you enter. The calculator adds only two fixed numbers, a full-time year and the three-year horizon, both below.
Hours today
Items a month × minutes each, plus the time spent fixing the items that go wrong (items × the share needing a fix × minutes to fix one).
Hours after
People keep handling the share AI does not take on, fixes included. For the share AI handles, the only time left is review: the share a person checks × minutes per check.
Value at full use
Hours freed × the full cost of an hour, plus errors avoided × the cost of an error beyond its fix. Errors count as avoided only on items a person reviews.
Ramp-up and payback
Use rises evenly until AI handles its full share, at the month you chose. Each month adds that month’s value less the running cost; payback is the first month the running total passes the build cost.
Capacity, not cash
Hours freed ÷ 1,920 (48 weeks of 40 hours) gives the full-time roles of capacity. It turns into money only when the time goes to other work, so treat it as capacity, not a headcount to cut.
Free AI readiness audit.
Five days of real work tells you more than any proposal. Pick operations, finance or support, and see which three tasks an agent could take off that team.
What you hold when it ends
Free, 5 days
- A map of how the department's work gets done today
- The three tasks where an agent saves the most hours
- A fixed price and a timeline for the first one
The task map and the plan are yours to keep, even if another team builds the agent.
AI ROI calculator questions.
What people ask before and after using it.
How do I calculate the ROI of AI automation?
Start from the work itself: how often the task is done, how long each one takes and how often one needs fixing. Take the share AI can handle, add back the time people spend checking its work, and price the hours freed at the full cost of an hour. Then spread the gain over a ramp-up and set it against the build and running costs to find the payback month. The calculator on this page does exactly that with your figures.
What hourly cost should I enter?
The full cost of an hour of the people who do the task: salary plus benefits, payroll taxes, equipment and office costs, divided by the hours they work. If you only have a salary figure, the value will come out lower than it really is.
How much of a task can AI automate?
It depends on the task. Work that follows rules and reads documents, such as data entry, invoice matching or first replies to customers, can often be taken on in large part. Work that needs judgment usually keeps a person in charge, with AI preparing the draft. Pick the share you believe for your task; a free AI readiness audit can check it against your real process.
Does freeing hours mean cutting staff?
Not necessarily, and the calculator does not assume it. Most teams use the time for work that was waiting, such as faster replies to customers, more follow-ups or better checks. The value is still real: it is work done without hiring.
Free project estimate
Check the numbers on your real process.
Our free AI readiness audit looks at one department for five days and tells you which tasks automation can take on, with the hours to back it up. A founder replies within 4 business hours.
What you get back
- An indicative budget range
- A realistic timeline
- What moves the cost up or down
- A reply within 4 business hours
- Answered by a founder
- NDA on request, before you share details
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