Turn "I'll automate that" into a number the client can't ignore.
Enter the manual work. Get yearly savings, payback period and a suggested fixed price. Export a one-page ROI proposal with your name on it. No signup, runs in your browser.
Client & project
Manual tasks being replaced
Costs & assumptions
Your branding (appears on the PDF)
Result
Add tasks on the left. Everything updates live. Export the PDF when the payback number makes you smile.
How to calculate the ROI of an automation
Most automation quotes are turned down for one reason: the client cannot see the payback. "This saves you time" is not a number. This calculator turns the manual task into money, and the arithmetic is simple enough to repeat by hand.
The five inputs
- Minutes per run. How long one person spends doing the task once. Time it, do not guess.
- Runs per week. How often it happens. A daily report is 5, an invoice batch might be 20.
- People doing it. If three staff each do it, multiply.
- Hourly cost. Fully loaded, not salary. A rough rule is salary divided by 1,600 hours, then add 25 to 30 percent for overhead.
- Error cost. Optional but persuasive: how often a mistake happens and what one mistake costs to fix or refund.
The formula
Yearly hours saved = minutes per run x runs per week x people x 48 weeks / 60.
Yearly savings = yearly hours saved x hourly cost + yearly error cost.
Payback period in months = build cost / (yearly savings / 12).
A task that takes 20 minutes, runs 10 times a week across 2 people at $35 an hour is 320 hours a year, or about $11,200. A $2,500 automation pays back in under 3 months. That is the sentence that closes the deal.
How to price the build
Do not price on hours. Price on a share of the first-year saving. Between 20 and 35 percent of year-one savings is normal for a fixed-price automation build: the client keeps most of the value, you are paid for the outcome rather than the time, and the payback period stays under six months, which is the threshold most managers accept without escalating. The calculator suggests a fixed price in this band and shows the resulting payback so you can move it up or down before the proposal goes out.
What to put in the proposal
- The five inputs, in the client's own numbers, so they cannot dispute them later.
- Yearly hours and dollars saved.
- Build price and payback in months.
- One line on what happens after: monitoring, fixes, who owns the workflow.
The PDF export at the top of this page produces exactly that on one page. Attach it to the Upwork proposal or the email and let the number do the talking.