This AI automation ROI calculator shows the real annual cost of a repetitive manual task and what you’d save by automating part of it. Enter hours per week, the number of people, a fully-loaded hourly cost and how much of the work can be automated, and the savings update instantly.
Use it to build a quick, defensible business case for automating research, reporting, document review, outreach or admin work.
How to calculate automation ROI
The annual cost of a task is hours per week × number of people × working weeks per year × fully-loaded hourly cost. The saving is that figure multiplied by the share of the work that can realistically be automated. This calculator uses 47 working weeks per year to allow for holidays and leave.
ROI then compares that saving against the cost of the automation itself — software, setup and oversight.
What is a fully-loaded hourly cost?
A fully-loaded cost is the true hourly cost of an employee — salary plus benefits, taxes, software, office space and other overhead — not just the base wage. It’s usually 1.25 to 1.4 times the base hourly rate, so using base salary alone understates the real cost of manual work (and therefore the saving).
Turning the estimate into action
Repetitive, rules-based and document-heavy tasks automate well — often 50–80%. Judgement-heavy work automates less, but AI agents can still handle the gathering, drafting and monitoring around it, leaving a human to sign off. The presets above model common scenarios for research, legal, RevOps and operations teams.