Enter your equipment, integration, and labor numbers to see payback period, 3- and 5-year net savings, and the break-even utilization your project actually needs to clear zero.
The arm/machine price only — integration is a separate line below
Tooling, installation, commissioning — one-time
The hours you're assuming the machine displaces
Wage + payroll taxes + benefits + workers' comp, not just wage
Comfortable margin if utilization comes in under plan
Cumulative cash position
| Year | Cash position |
|---|---|
| 0 | -$70,000 |
| 1 | -$15,760 |
| 2 | $38,480 |
| 3 | $92,720 |
| 4 | $146,960 |
| 5 | $201,200 |
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Most automation ROI estimates only report a payback period, which assumes your hours-saved estimate is exactly right. Break-even utilization answers a different question: how far can your utilization estimate miss before the project stops paying for itself?
A project with a fast payback but a break-even utilization near 100% has almost no margin for error. A project with a slower payback but a break-even utilization under 50% can absorb a real shortfall in actual hours displaced and still pay for itself.
Break-even utilization is the share of the labor hours you assumed the machine displaces that must actually be displaced for the project to clear zero over your horizon. A payback period assumes your utilization estimate is correct. Break-even utilization tells you how wrong that estimate can be before the project stops paying for itself — which is usually the real risk in an automation purchase.
Total benefit (labor hours displaced × fully-loaded hourly cost) minus total cost (equipment or subscription, integration, and annual maintenance), over a horizon you choose. This calculator runs that math live as you change inputs, plus the break-even utilization and payback period most ROI estimates skip.
Use whichever structure you would actually sign. A capital purchase puts the full equipment cost up front; a Robots-as-a-Service or lease subscription spreads it monthly but usually costs more over the full term. Toggle between them here to see how each changes payback period and break-even utilization.
Wage plus payroll taxes, benefits, workers' compensation, and the recruiting/backfill cost of the role — not just the hourly wage. Using the wage alone typically understates fully-loaded cost by 25–40%, which overstates how long the project takes to pay back.
Yes. Integration is entered as a separate one-time cost from the equipment or subscription price, and annual maintenance is entered as its own recurring cost — both feed directly into payback period and break-even utilization.