Free tool · 60 seconds
Calculate your automation ROI.
Enter your team size, hourly cost, and the hours lost to repetitive work. The calculator returns the four numbers that matter: annual recovery, year-one net return, break-even week, and five-year value.
/ The math behind the hours
20 hrs/wk × $35 loaded cost × 52 wks
= $36,400 / year recovered
= $3,033 / month back to the team
Break-even on the build: week 10
A worked example. Yours is below.
The calculator
Your numbers, live.
Adjust the sliders —
results update instantly.
/ Your business details
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70%
/ AVG. TIME RECOVERED
Of hours spent on repetitive, rule-based tasks — the conservative end of industry benchmarks.
1–3 mo
/ TYPICAL PAYBACK
Simple automations pay back in weeks. Complex integrations land inside a quarter.
95%
/ FEWER ERRORS
Automated validation and quality controls remove the re-keying mistakes humans make.
Beyond cost savings
The value compounds.
Dollars are the floor, not the ceiling.
Time recovery
01Hours move from copy-paste to the strategic work your team was actually hired for — the part of the ROI no slider captures.
Error reduction
02Automated quality controls and validation cut human error by up to 95%. Fewer corrections, fewer refunds, fewer apologies.
Employee retention
03Teams that shed tedious work stay longer. Replacing one departure costs 50–200% of that salary — savings this calculator leaves out.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
How accurate is this ROI calculator?
It uses straight arithmetic on the numbers you enter: hours × employees × hourly cost × 52 weeks, with the build fee and ongoing AI costs subtracted. Industry benchmarks put automation's recovery at 60–80% of repetitive-task time — if you want a conservative estimate, enter about 70% of the hours your team really spends.
How quickly do businesses see ROI from AI automation?
Most of our builds break even between weeks 8 and 12. At the calculator's default inputs — 5 people, 10 hours a week, $35 an hour — break-even lands at week 5. Simple automations like data entry, email routing, and report generation often pay back in weeks; complex integrations take longer.
What types of tasks can AI automation replace?
Repetitive, rule-based work: data entry, invoice processing, customer email routing, report generation, scheduling, CRM updates, lead qualification, and document extraction. Tasks requiring judgment or creativity stay human-led — automation gives those hours back.
What does automation actually cost?
A typical AutomateNexus build is a one-time $7,500. After launch, the only recurring cost is the AI model provider — usually $30–$150 a month, paid directly to them. No retainer, no subscription, no per-seat fees. The calculator lets you adjust both numbers to match any quote.
Is AI automation only for large companies?
No — small and mid-sized businesses often see the highest ROI, because manual processes are a larger share of their costs. A 10-person team spending 20 hours a week on manual tasks recovers the equivalent of a part-time hire, every week, without adding headcount.
Where we go from here
Like your number?
Bring it to a free thirty-minute call. We pressure-test the assumptions against your real workflows and show you which build hits break-even fastest. If the math doesn't work, we'll say so.
No subscription.
No lock-in.
No surprise invoices.