Free calculator

Small Business Automation ROI Calculator

Estimate monthly time saved, net value, payback period and first-year return before buying Zapier, Make, n8n or another automation tool.

Promise: find out in under 60 seconds if one workflow is worth automating.
0.6xdefault first-year return on the sample workflow

Your workflow

How often the task happens.
Current manual time per task.
Use 50-80% unless the workflow is fully repeatable.
Use owner time, employee cost or billable rate.
Automation platform and paid add-ons.
One-time build, testing and documentation.
Monthly fixes, monitoring and edge cases.

Result

Net monthly value$0Enter your numbers to see whether this workflow should be automated now, cleaned up first, or left manual.
Hours saved / month0
Gross time value / month$0
Monthly cost after maintenance$0
Setup cost$0
Payback period--
First-year net value$0
Next action

Use the automation scorecard before building the workflow.

Score this workflow Compare automation platforms

How the calculator works

Formula

Monthly hours saved = runs per week x minutes per run / 60 x 4.33 x percent removed. Net monthly value = saved hours x hourly value - monthly tool cost - monthly maintenance hours x hourly value.

Use it honestly

This is a decision estimate, not a guarantee. If setup or maintenance is high, the workflow may need cleanup before automation.

SEO target: small business automation ROI calculator, automation savings calculator, workflow automation calculator.

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FAQ

What is a good automation ROI?

A practical small-business automation should usually pay back setup effort in less than three months or remove a meaningful operational risk.

Should every repetitive task be automated?

No. Automate work with a clear trigger, owner, inputs, exception path and success metric. Otherwise document or simplify the workflow first.