What This Tool Does
Most businesses have no idea what AI automation really costs. They see a $29/month SaaS tool and think that's the bill. Then come the overages, add-ons, integration fees, and enterprise upgrades. This calculator shows you what DIY, SaaS, agency retainer, and Build & Transfer actually cost — including the hidden fees nobody advertises.
Cost Calculator
3-year total (developer time + tool costs)
3-year total (subscriptions + overages)
3-year total ($2,000/mo, no ownership)
3-year total (one-time + optional Care Plan)
How It Works
Step 1: Tell us about your team
Enter your headcount, roles, and current hourly rates. The calculator uses this to establish a baseline labor cost — because every hour your people spend on repetitive work is an hour they're not doing revenue-generating work.
Step 2: Map your current tools
List the SaaS tools you pay for monthly. CRM, project management, email, scheduling, accounting — everything. Most teams discover they're paying for 3-5 tools that do overlapping things, or worse, tools nobody uses anymore but still auto-renew.
Step 3: Define your automation needs
What workflows burn the most time? Lead follow-up? Invoice generation? Content distribution? Customer onboarding? Rank them by time drain and error rate.
Step 4: See all four cost models side-by-side
The calculator projects total cost of ownership for:
- DIY (you build and maintain everything)
- SaaS Stack (buy more tools, connect with native integrations)
- Agency Retainer (pay monthly for ongoing management)
- Build & Transfer (we build it, you own it, zero ongoing fees)
Why This Matters
A 10-person marketing agency was paying $800/month for a patchwork of SaaS tools — CRM, email automation, project management, reporting dashboards, and a form builder. Every year, two or three tools hiked prices. Every quarter, someone had to spend a weekend reconnecting broken Zaps.
They ran the numbers. Over three years, the SaaS stack would cost $31,200. A retainer agency quoted $2,000/month — $72,000 over three years. DIY looked cheap on paper until they priced their own developer time at $150/hour.
Build & Transfer came in at $17,500 one-time. No monthly fees. No lock-in. Full asset ownership.
Savings over 3 years: $14,000 vs. SaaS. $54,500 vs. retainer.
The kicker? The automation handled more than the old tool stack — it included AI-powered lead scoring, auto-generated proposals, and a unified reporting dashboard their previous setup couldn't produce.
What's Inside
- 4 pricing models compared across 1, 3, and 5-year horizons
- Hidden cost warnings for each model — setup fees, overage charges, maintenance, training, migration costs
- Labor cost inclusion because DIY isn't free when your time has value
- Download as PDF to share with your CFO, co-founder, or team
- Real-time adjustments — change assumptions and watch projections update instantly
Who It's For
- Business owners who suspect they're overspending on SaaS but can't prove it
- Operations managers building a business case for automation investment
- CFOs and finance leads evaluating whether to hire, buy tools, or build
- Agencies and consultancies comparing internal build vs. external partner costs
- Startups that need to automate before scaling headcount
Stop guessing what automation costs. Get the actual numbers for your business.
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