AI ROI Calculator
Calculate the return on investment for AI automation projects. Determine payback period, annual cost savings, and time savings from implementing AI tools and workflows. This free calculator shows 12-month projections and compares manual processes against AI-powered automation.
Enter time savings
Input hours saved per week and your effective hourly rate.
Add AI costs
Include subscription fees and implementation costs.
View ROI projection
Get payback period, annual savings, and 12-month ROI percentage.
Calculate AI Automation ROI
Manual vs. AI Automation
Manual Process (12 months)
AI Automation (12 months)
How to Calculate AI ROI
AI ROI measures the financial return from implementing AI automation. The calculation compares time savings value against AI tool costs.
Annual Savings = Hours Saved Per Year × Hourly Rate
Annual Cost = Monthly Subscription × 12
Total Investment = Implementation Cost + Annual Cost
Understanding AI ROI
What is AI ROI?
AI ROI (Return on Investment) measures the financial benefit of implementing AI automation tools. It compares the value of time saved and efficiency gains against the costs of AI subscriptions and implementation. A positive ROI means the AI tool pays for itself through time savings and productivity improvements. Join our AI automation community to benchmark your ROI against 500+ builders shipping production systems.
What is a good AI ROI?
Good AI ROI benchmarks vary by use case:
- 200-400% first year: Typical for workflow automation (email drafting, data entry, scheduling)
- 400-800% first year: Advanced automation (customer support, content generation, analytics)
- 6-12 month payback: Standard for most AI tools with clear time savings
- 3-6 month payback: Exceptional ROI for high-volume repetitive tasks
If payback exceeds 18 months, reconsider the automation or negotiate pricing.
How do I calculate time savings accurately?
Track time savings with precision:
- Baseline measurement: Time manual process for 1 week before implementing AI
- Post-implementation tracking: Measure time spent after AI automation for 2-4 weeks
- Account for learning curve: Efficiency improves 20-40% after first month of AI tool usage
- Quality time vs. clock time: Include time saved on revisions and error correction
- Hidden time sinks: Context switching, searching, and tool management time
Use our AI Time Savings Calculator to quantify specific workflow improvements and validate your baseline measurements against industry benchmarks.
What costs should I include?
Complete cost accounting for AI ROI:
- Subscription fees: Monthly AI tool costs (ChatGPT, Claude, Jasper, etc.)
- Implementation costs: Setup time, training, workflow redesign, integration work
- Maintenance: Prompt engineering, monitoring, quality control
- API costs: Usage-based pricing for AI APIs (often variable based on volume)
- Opportunity cost: Team time spent learning and configuring AI tools
Don't include sunk costs (existing salaries, hardware). Only incremental costs matter for ROI. Compare LLM API pricing across providers using our LLM Cost Calculator to optimize your monthly subscription spend.
When does AI automation NOT make sense?
Skip AI automation if:
- Task volume is low: Less than 2 hours per week saved doesn't justify setup costs
- High-touch creativity required: Strategic thinking, nuanced judgment, relationship building
- Regulatory/compliance issues: Industries with strict human-in-loop requirements
- Rapidly changing processes: Automation becomes obsolete before payback period
- Quality degradation: AI output quality is significantly below human work