Free tool

Automation Savings Calculator: Calculate Time and Cost Savings

Seed Light built this free automation savings calculator to show what one repeated task costs you in time. It also shows the labour value a year of that time would release once software handles it.

Pick one weekly job and see the labour value a year of that time would release.

The task you want to automate

How many times the task is done a week

Count every run by everyone, not one person.

How long one run takes

Door to door, including the checking at the end.

What an hour of that person costs you

Pay plus the extras you carry on top of pay.

How much of the task software can take over

Out of 100. There is no universal percentage, so use what the task in front of you looks like. Most jobs keep a human check at the end.

Your result

Enter your numbers and your result will appear here. The calculation runs in your browser.

Talk through your result

Book a free 15-minute call and we will help you read the numbers and decide what is worth improving first.

We record the result band you reach, not the numbers you enter.

Free to use, with no sign up. The calculation runs in your browser, so the values you enter are not sent to our server or stored.

The maths

How this calculator works

01
Count the time the task takes now
Times a week multiplied by minutes each run. That is the raw weekly cost of the job, before anyone touches it.
02
Take out the part software can handle
Your share out of 100. A sensible build leaves a person to check the odd case, which is why very few tasks reach 100.
03
Turn the minutes into a year
Saved minutes a week, divided by sixty for hours, multiplied by fifty two weeks. That gives you the hours back.
04
Value those hours
Hours released multiplied by what an hour of that person costs you. That is labour value released, not cash saved. It becomes a financial benefit only when the capacity is used or the paid hours stop.

A worked example

A supplier types orders from email into its system forty times a week. Each one takes twelve minutes. Software can read the email and fill the order, leaving a person to check it. Example only. Replace these assumptions with your own numbers.

Times a week: 40
Minutes each run: 12
Time spent a week: 8 hours
Share software takes over: 70 in 100
Hours saved a week: 5.6 hours
Hours saved a year: 291 hours
Labour value released a year, at 1 unit an hour: 291 units

See how we build automations

Straight answers

Common questions

Common questions about the calculation and how to use the result.

The figure shows the labour value of the hours released by automation, rather than money saved automatically. Freed time becomes a financial benefit only when the business uses that capacity productively or avoids future hiring as a result.

There is no reliable percentage without examining the task. It depends on how consistent the inputs, decisions and exceptions are.

The cost of building the automation should be included whenever you are making an investment decision. Compare that cost with the calculator's result and your current figures so the potential labour value released is assessed against the actual investment required.

The automation savings calculator counts time only, so its figure is the floor. Repetitive manual work also produces errors, and errors cost the time needed to spot and correct them.

Review the inputs when the task, team or volume changes. Otherwise, a quarterly check is a practical reminder rather than a promise that the figure stays accurate for three months. Replace estimated times with observed times whenever better records become available.

Keep going