These numbers change every month. Track them continuously.
API bills grow, vendors reprice, automations silently break. EvidentROI tracks your net dollar ROI in real time and generates board-ready PDF reports your CFO can present as-is.
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How this calculator works
The math is deliberately simple, because that's what boards want. We convert time saved into dollars, subtract what you pay for the AI tools, and express the result as a return on that spend.
Net AI ROI = (Labor value recovered − AI spend) ÷ AI spend × 100
Labor value recovered = hours saved per week × 4.33 (average weeks per month) × your fully-loaded labor cost per hour. Fully-loaded means salary plus benefits, taxes, and overhead — typically 1.25–1.4× base pay.
Payback period shows how many days into the month your automations take to cover their own cost. A 7-day payback means roughly 75% of the month is pure net value.
This is a snapshot. Real AI spend drifts — usage-based API pricing grows with adoption, and automations degrade or break without anyone noticing. That's the problem EvidentROI solves with continuous tracking.
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate ROI on AI automation?
Take the labor value your automations recover (hours saved per week × 4.33 weeks × fully-loaded hourly cost), subtract your total monthly AI spend, then divide by that spend. Example: 40 hours/week saved at $50/hour recovers $8,660/month. Against $2,000/month in AI spend, that's $6,660 net value and a 333% ROI.
What should I include in AI automation spend?
Every recurring cost tied to the automation: platform subscriptions (Zapier, Make, n8n, Power Automate), API usage fees (Anthropic, OpenAI), per-operation charges, hosting for self-hosted tools, and dedicated maintenance time converted to dollars. Leaving out API usage and maintenance time is the most common way companies overstate their AI ROI.
What is a good ROI for AI automation?
Healthy automations typically return 200–500% monthly — every dollar of AI spend recovers three to six dollars of labor value. Below 100%, the automation costs more than it saves and should be reviewed. Most companies can't answer this at all: Forrester found fewer than 1 in 3 AI decision-makers can tie AI value to the P&L, and MIT research found 95% of GenAI pilots fail to demonstrate ROI.
How do I present AI ROI to the board or CFO?
Boards want net dollars, not activity metrics. Present three numbers: total monthly AI spend, labor value recovered, and net monthly value — and show the trend over time, not a single snapshot. Flag any automation whose costs are rising faster than its savings. Skip vanity metrics like "tasks automated" — they don't translate to the P&L.
Why track AI ROI continuously instead of calculating it once?
AI costs drift. Usage-based pricing means API bills grow as adoption grows, vendors change pricing, and automations silently break. A one-time calculation is out of date within a month. Continuous tracking catches cost escalations early, gives you current numbers at every board meeting, and shows which automations to scale and which to cut.