AI ROI Calculator: Is That Tool Worth It?
The ROI of an AI tool is simple to estimate: value the hours it saves at your loaded hourly cost, subtract the subscription, and compare. If the net is positive and the hours are real, the tool pays for itself.
- Monthly ROI
- 400.0%
- Value of hours saved (monthly)
- $1,000.00
- Net benefit per month
- $800.00
- Net benefit per year
- $9,600.00
How it works
Monthly ROI % = (Hours Saved x Loaded Hourly Cost - Tool Cost) / Tool Cost x 100
Estimate the hours the tool saves per month across everyone using it, and be conservative. Multiply by the loaded hourly cost of the people doing that work (salary plus taxes, benefits, and overhead, not the headline wage). Subtract the monthly subscription.
Hours saved only create financial value if they are redeployed into billable work, capacity for more clients, or avoided hiring. If saved time evaporates into slack, the ROI is theoretical.
Worked example
A tool that saves a bookkeeping team 20 hours a month, valued at a $50 loaded hourly cost, generates $1,000 of monthly value. At $200 a month the net benefit is $800 a month, $9,600 a year, a 400% monthly ROI.
Frequently asked questions
- What hourly cost should I use?
- The loaded cost, not the wage: salary plus employer taxes, benefits, and overhead, divided by annual hours. Our employee cost calculator produces this number.
- How do I estimate hours saved honestly?
- Time the task before and after for two weeks, or start with the vendor's claim cut in half. Measured pilots beat estimates.
- What ROI justifies adopting a tool?
- There is no universal bar, but many firms want the tool to pay for itself at least twice over (100%+ ROI) to cover implementation effort, training time, and the risk that savings estimates are optimistic.
AI bookkeeping tools to run this math on
Compare vendor-neutral rankings of core ledger and bookkeeping tools for accounting firms, matched on published specs.
Browse Core ledger and bookkeeping tools