Free calculator · client-side
Does this AI seat pay for itself?
Enter price, seats, and hours you would actually recover if the condition is true. We compute monthly value and payback months. You supply the hours — we do not invent them.
Result
Enter price, seats, hours, and hourly cost to see payback.
- Monthly cost
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- Monthly value
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- Payback months
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What the number means
Monthly value = hours/week × 4.33 × hourly cost (rounded). Payback months = monthly cost ÷ monthly value. A short payback does not mean “buy” if hours are fictional — only count hours you would recover when the condition is true.
Verdict rule used here: KEEP if payback ≤ 3 months and hours > 0; WAIT if 3 < payback ≤ 12; CUT / no thesis if hours = 0 or payback > 12. Adjust to your finance policy.
Skip if you cannot name a concrete condition (meetings losing decisions, glue work weekly, etc.). This is not a ranking of “best AI tools.” Prefer invoice spend over list price when you know it.
Operators often under-count recovered hours and over-count “AI might help someday.” Write the condition in one sentence before you trust the KEEP verdict. Finance usually wants cancel-by dates and an owner on the same row — that is what the $29 sheet is for once you outgrow a one-off calculator.
Related: Make review · Method · $29 working sheet (seats, spend, hours, payback, owner, cancel-by).
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