Workflow automation decision tool

Workflow Automation ROI: Is This Process Worth Automating?

Built for n8n, Make, and Zapier workflows—not warehouse machinery or generic software ROI. Run it before you scope a solution or ask for a quote. It turns one process’s real volume and cost into a payback period, so the project is killed or approved while that decision is still free.

The calculator starts empty and reports only what you enter. If a value is missing it says so instead of guessing. Strategic benefits are shown separately and never used to inflate the financial ROI.

Try a preset case

10 example scenarios by business type — some pay off, some don't. Pick one to see the full result.

0 of 16 values entered

Process volume

3 of 3 still missing

Describe one real process: how much of it there is, and what the person doing it costs. Enter each in whatever unit you already track — the calculator converts.

How much of this work is there?

Count the volume by

Switching converts the figure you have entered rather than clearing it.

tasks

How many times this process runs in a week — typically 50–500 for a single process. A week counts as 5 working days.

min

Hands-on handling time from start to done, excluding waiting. Most manual back-office tasks land between 3 and 30 minutes.

What does the person doing it cost?

They are paid by

Switching converts the figure you have entered rather than clearing it.

$

Salary plus taxes, benefits, and overhead — usually 1.25–1.4× the raw wage. Commonly $20–$60 an hour.

Enter the pay and this becomes the hourly rate every figure below is built from.

Labor cost per week—Needs task volume, time per task, and the worker's pay
Time spent per week—Needs task volume and time per task
Employees needed—Needs task volume and time per task

Step 1 of 4

Process Volume

How to use this calculator

Work through the four steps for one real workflow. Every field starts blank and nothing is assumed on your behalf, so enter 0 where zero is the real answer — no software cost, no review time. The counter in the step bar tracks how many of the sixteen values are in. Stay in step view for a guided path, or switch to full screen to edit everything at once.

  1. Process volume

    Enter how much of this work there is and what the person doing it is paid. Both the task volume and the pay accept whichever unit you already track — per hour, day, week, or month — and switching unit converts the figure instead of clearing it. Pay is reduced to an hourly rate, shown under the field, because every figure downstream is built from it. The summary fills in one figure at a time as each input arrives, showing time, headcount, and labor cost for the period you chose.

  2. Automation readiness

    Rate how well-documented and stable the process is, how much of it follows clear rules versus judgment calls, and how often exceptions come up. Optionally flag strategic benefits like compliance, scaling, or consistency—those are shown separately and never inflate the ROI number.

  3. Proposed automation

    Describe a realistic build: what share of the work you can automate, how much your team will actually use it, how much human review stays in the loop, and the setup, software, and maintenance costs involved.

  4. Conclusions

    Once every value is in, you get a recommendation plus Conservative / Expected / Optimistic scenarios, and can copy the assessment or request a quote. Until then this step lists exactly which values are still missing and jumps you to each one. Use Full screen anytime to see every step on one page.

Before the numbers

A return only means something once the workflow is a sensible thing to hand over at all. If you are not sure yet, the automation fit assessment asks whether the process is a good candidate and which parts of it can run unattended — questions this calculator assumes you have already answered.

Before the process

One step earlier again: if you are not sure which workflow to be costing in the first place, the automation and CRM blueprint by business model works out what is worth building first for how your business makes money — and names the systems and the CRM that sit under it.