Free online calculator · No signup · UK & Australia
Automation vs Hire Comparator
Deciding whether to hire for repetitive work or automate it? Compare the fully-loaded cost of each path over your chosen horizon, and see when tooling pays back.
Quick answer
Enter the task volume, minutes saved per task, and the cost of hiring versus building tooling. The tool returns hours saved, the equivalent headcount, the cost of each path over your horizon, the cheaper option and the break-even month.
1 · Workload
Tasks & capacity
2 · AI / tooling
Investment
3 · Outcome
Hire vs automate
Hours saved / month
0
FTE equivalent
0
Hire cost (horizon)
£0
AI cost (horizon)
£0
Cheaper path
—
Break-even months
—
Difference over horizon: £0
How to use this calculator
- 1 Fill in the labelled inputs for your scenario (costs, sizes, rates or distances).
- 2 Read the live outputs — totals, ratios and recommendations update as you type.
- 3 Stress-test a worse case (lower conversion, higher freight, denser cartons) before you commit budget.
- 4 Share the page URL with your team, then productise the workflow with Samvara when you are ready.
Useful? Share this free calculator with your ops or commercial team.
Frequently asked questions
Should I automate or hire for repetitive work?
If tooling pays back inside your planning horizon and the process is stable, automation usually wins. If volume is low or the work keeps changing, hiring can be cheaper. This tool shows the break-even month for your numbers.
What should the loaded FTE cost include?
Salary plus on-costs (pension, NI or super, benefits) and a share of management and tooling overhead — typically 1.2–1.4× base salary.
What does break-even mean here?
The month at which cumulative tooling cost (setup plus monthly) equals the cost of the staff it replaces. Beyond it, automation is cheaper each month.