Automation ROI calculator: what is manual work costing you?
Enter your numbers and see the yearly cost of repetitive work, what automating part of it could reclaim, and how long a build takes to pay back. It runs in your browser, needs no signup and sends nothing anywhere. It is an estimate based on what you enter, not a promise.
Start from an example (illustrative values, not benchmarks):
This is your assumption. Start conservative, then test it by timing one normal week of the task.
Use your own quote. Brainfy AI packages start at $1,997.
Hosting, AI usage, maintenance or a care plan.
Yearly cost of this manual work
$29,120
Estimated yearly reclaim at 40%
$11,648
about 6 hours per week back across your team
- Payback
- 5.2 months
- Net, year 1
- $5,263
- Net, 3 years
- $23,783
Illustrative estimate based on your inputs only. Actual results depend on your workflows, data and tools.
Book a Free Consultation Or take the 2-minute AI Readiness Assessment →How the automation ROI is calculated
Every number comes from the fields above. There are no hidden multipliers and no industry benchmarks built in.
- Yearly cost of the task = hours per week × people × hourly cost × 52
- Yearly reclaim = yearly cost × share automated
- Net, year 1 = yearly reclaim − one-time build cost − (monthly running cost × 12)
- Payback (months) = build cost ÷ (yearly reclaim ÷ 12 − monthly running cost)
- Net, 3 years = (yearly reclaim × 3) − build cost − (monthly running cost × 36)
Worked example (the pre-filled values)
8 hours a week × 2 people × $35 × 52 = $29,120 a year. Automating 40% reclaims $11,648. With a $3,997 build and $199 a month to run, year 1 nets $5,263 and the build pays back in about 5.2 months. These are example inputs, not a result any client achieved.
What this does not count
- Revenue upside, faster response times or fewer errors
- Time to review exceptions, train staff or change a process
- Software licences the workflow may need, and taxes
- Ramp-up: savings usually start after launch, not on day one
Ready to put real numbers on it? See fixed-fee pricing, how we automate workflows or follow up with leads automatically.
Where the savings come from, by type of automation
The formula above works for any repetitive task, and a measurable ROI estimate starts from time you can actually count. What changes between automation types is what you measure.
- Customer service, help desk and virtual-assistant automation
- Time per enquiry multiplied by the number a person currently answers. Count only the share a bot can answer from approved content.
- Sales and lead follow-up
- Hours on logging leads, chasing, reminders and proposal prep. Revenue from faster replies is not counted here.
- Content automation
- Drafting, formatting and scheduling time. Keep review time in, since a person should still approve what is published.
- Workflow and process automation
- Data entry, document handling and approvals: hours per week times people times hourly cost. This is where the calculator is most reliable.
- Intelligent automation (rules plus AI)
- Same arithmetic, plus review time for low-confidence outputs and monthly AI usage cost.
We do not publish typical percentages because they depend on your data and exceptions; time one normal week of the task and use that.
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