Calculator
Automation Payback Calculator
See how many months an automation takes to pay for itself, and what it puts back in your pocket over the first year. No sign-up.
The automation
The return
A guide based on your inputs. Real returns depend on how consistently the automation runs and how you use the time it frees up.
How payback works
An automation has two costs: the one-off build, and a small monthly running cost for the software it sits on. Against that, it saves you time (hours a week you no longer spend on the task) and sometimes earns you money (faster follow-up wins more work, fewer errors mean fewer redos).
Payback is simply how long it takes the monthly benefit to cover the build cost. Most well-chosen automations for a small business pay for themselves inside two to four months, then keep paying every month after that.
The maths, in plain terms
- Value saved = hours saved per week x 4.33 weeks x your hourly value.
- Net monthly benefit = value saved + any extra revenue, minus the monthly running cost.
- Payback period = build cost divided by the net monthly benefit.
The hourly value is the honest lever here. Use what the time is genuinely worth - if it is your time as the owner, that is usually well above minimum wage once you account for what you would do with those hours instead.
What actually pays back fastest
The quickest wins are the boring, repetitive, every-week jobs: chasing invoices, re-typing the same data between systems, sending the same follow-ups by hand. Start by working out where your hours actually go with our time savings calculator, then size the return with the automation ROI calculator.
Workvolve builds these for Australian businesses on a fixed quote, usually live within two weeks, and you own everything we build. If you want to know what your best first automation would be, that is exactly what a strategy call is for.