AI Automation ROI Calculator
Adjust three sliders. See your monthly savings, 12-month ROI, and how fast automation pays for itself.
Adjust your numbers
Think: data entry, email follow-up, scheduling, copy-paste between tools
Salary + benefits ÷ 2,080. Use $35–$65 for staff, $75–$120 for business owner
Include anyone who spends time on the manual workflows above
Your estimated results — updates live
Monthly savings
$3,803
12-month ROI
356%
Breakeven
2.6 months
Applies a 65% automation rate — realistic mid-point for repetitive workflows. Automatable hours: 6.5 hrs/week per employee.
ROI and breakeven vs. a $10,000 implementation cost (typical done-for-you build). Annual savings: $45,630.
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Book a Free AI Audit →How the calculation works
Monthly savings = (hours/week × 65%) × 4.33 weeks/month × hourly cost × employees. The 65% factor is the realistic mid-point of how much repetitive task time automation can handle — tasks requiring judgment, relationships, or creative work aren't counted.
12-month ROI = ((annual savings − $10,000) ÷ $10,000) × 100. We use $10,000 as the baseline — typical for a done-for-you small-business automation project.
Breakeven = $10,000 ÷ monthly savings. The number of months until savings cover the build cost.
Common questions
What counts as a "manual task" I can automate?
Anything repetitive, rules-based, and high-volume: data entry, email follow-up sequences, scheduling, invoice processing, report generation, lead routing, CRM updates, customer support triage. If you do the same thing more than 10 times a week, it's probably automatable.
Is $10,000 a realistic implementation cost?
For a single focused workflow (e.g., automated lead follow-up or quote generation), $8,000–$15,000 is typical for a done-for-you build. Simpler automations using no-code tools like Make or n8n can run $2,000–$5,000. The calculator uses $10,000 as a mid-range starting point.
Why is the ROI sometimes negative?
If you have a small team doing few manual hours at low hourly rates, year-one savings may not exceed the build cost. That means you should either start with a lower-cost tool (Make, Zapier) or tackle a higher-value workflow first — like sales qualification, where speed of response directly affects revenue.
Does this include ongoing tool costs?
No — the calculator shows first-year ROI against a one-time build cost. In practice, most automation tools cost $50–$300/month to run. Factor those in by subtracting $1,200–$3,600 from your annual savings estimate.
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