Hire someone, or wire it once?
The task keeps eating your week. One option costs a salary every year; the other costs a build once plus upkeep. Put in your real numbers and see where the lines cross.
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A hire's loaded hourly rate, or your own time's value if it's you doing it.
Rule-based, repetitive, digital tasks sit high on this slider. Judgment-heavy work sits low, and a hire may honestly win.
Three-year comparison, your numbers
Keep paying hourly
$0
Automate it
$0
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How the math works
The calculator prices the same task two ways over three years. These are the exact formulas it runs.
Keep paying hourly = hours a week × 52 × 3 × hourly cost
Automate it = build + upkeep × 36 + hourly total × (100% - share)
Payback month = build ÷ (hours × 4.33 × hourly cost × share - upkeep), rounded up
- Three years of 52 weeks. The task runs every week, with no raises, price changes, or second build.
- A person still does the rest. The automation side keeps paying your hourly cost for the share it can't handle. For a starting share, try the free Workflow Automation Score: its 0 to 100 score is the share of hours it says you could get back.
- No overhead added. Your hourly cost is used as typed, so load a hire's wage yourself. In June 2026, service businesses with 1 to 49 workers paid $27.39 an hour in wages plus $9.42 in benefits like paid leave, insurance, and Social Security: about 34% on top, before recruiting or training. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, checked Sep 2026.
- 4.33 weeks a month in the payback line (52 ÷ 12, rounded), counted as if the build ran on day one.
- Left out of both sides: the weeks before a build goes live, hiring and training, and your time managing either one. If one is big for you, add it to the build or the hourly cost.
Where the lines cross
Hourly work starts at $0 and climbs the same amount each month. The automation starts at the build price and climbs slower, paying only upkeep plus the part people still do. The month the two totals meet is the payback month in the verdict. If upkeep costs more than the work it replaces, they never meet.
The second crossover is volume: automation breaks even at (build + upkeep × 36) ÷ (156 × hourly cost × share) hours a week. The page doesn't print it; it's the same math solved for hours. Below it, the build never pays back inside three years.
A worked example
Say your office spends 5 hours a week on follow-up: quote reminders, booking confirmations, review requests. That hour costs $30 loaded. A build quote says $3,000 plus $50 a month, and you judge 70% of the steps follow fixed rules.
- Keep paying hourly: 5 × 52 × 3 = 780 hours. 780 × $30 = $23,400.
- Automate it: $3,000 build + $1,800 upkeep + the 30% still done by hand, 234 hours × $30 = $7,020. Total: $11,820.
- Automation saves $11,580 over three years.
- Payback: 5 × 4.33 × $30 × 70% = $454.65 of work a month, minus $50 upkeep, is $404.65. $3,000 ÷ $404.65 = 7.4, so month 8.
Now drop it to 1 hour a week: hourly costs $4,680, automating costs $6,204, and keeping it by hand wins by $1,524. The volume line here is (3,000 + 1,800) ÷ (156 × 30 × 0.7) = 1.47 hours a week. See it flip.
How to read your number
Find the payback month in the verdict, then your band. The cut points are my read, not an industry rule.
The volume carries it
The math isn't the risk now; the build is. Get a fixed quote, and ask what it leaves for a person.
Worth it if the task holds still
Good if the task will look the same for a year or two. If your software or process is about to change, wait.
Thin
A build that runs over or a lower share flips it. Slide the share down 10 points; if the verdict flips, keep it by hand.
The volume doesn't carry a build
At this size a person is the cheaper tool. Run it again when the hours grow.
When hiring is the right call
Some work shouldn't be automated at any volume. I'd rather say so before a call than after a build.
- Judgment work. Pricing a custom job, calming an upset customer, picking which lead is worth the drive. The share sits low and a person wins.
- Relationships. If people buy because they talk to you, automate the reminders around those talks, not the talks.
- Low volume. Under your break-even hours, the build never earns back its price.
- A task that keeps changing. You'd pay to rebuild the automation every time it does. Settle the steps first.
- You need a person, not a task done. A hire answers the phone, handles the odd case, and notices what's off.
And the saving is only cash if you'd otherwise pay for those hours. The automation ROI guide sizes returns the same honest way, and my automation work is there when the math says build.
Questions people ask
Is it cheaper to automate a task or hire someone for it? +
Automation is cheaper once the hours it takes over, times your hourly cost, outrun the build and upkeep. Below that volume, a person is cheaper. At $30 an hour, a 70% share, a $3,000 build, and $50 a month, the line is near 1.5 hours a week.
How do I work out when an automation pays for itself? +
Divide the build cost by the monthly saving and round up. The saving is hours a week × 4.33 × hourly cost × share, minus upkeep. At 5 hours, $30, 70%, and $50 upkeep, $3,000 ÷ $404.65 lands in month 8.
What hourly rate should I use for a hire? +
The loaded rate, since this calculator adds no overhead. June 2026 Bureau of Labor Statistics data put benefits at $9.42 an hour on top of $27.39 in wages at service businesses with 1 to 49 workers, about 34% more. Recruiting and training are extra.
If I automate part of someone's job, do I save their pay? +
Only if you stop paying for those hours or put them to paid use. If a salaried person gets time back and nothing fills it, you saved time, not cash. It's cash when it replaces a hire, overtime, or your own billable hours.
What tasks are worth automating first? +
Rule-based, repetitive, digital tasks done the same way every week: first replies to leads, booking confirmations, reminders, review requests, and chasing open quotes. Start with the one that eats the most hours.
Automation winning your math?
I build automations for service businesses: speed-to-lead, follow-up, reviews, CRM wiring. Fixed scope, documented, maintained. Free call, real plan either way.
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