Hire vs. Automate
Should you hire someone
or automate it?
Compare the true 3-year cost of a hire vs. automation. See the crossover point and which path builds more leverage.
3-Year Verdict
3-Year Total Cost
Hire
Automate
3-Year Savings
Payback Period
Hours Freed/Week
Remaining Manual
The Catch
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What This Calculator Can't Tell You
- - Whether the tasks require judgment that automation can't replicate
- - The second-order effects of adding a person (culture, management overhead, new capabilities)
- - The optimal hybrid: which 30% to automate and which 70% to hire for
The calculator shows the cost comparison. The analysis shows the structural decision - not just hire vs automate, but what to build and in what order.
Dig Deeper
This decision affects your capacity ceiling. See where your current structure caps your revenue - and whether this hire or automation moves it.
Find Your Capacity Ceiling ->How do you compare the cost of hiring versus automating a task?
Comparing hiring with automating means putting the fully loaded cost of a person next to the setup and tool costs of automation over the same period. This calculator loads salary with 35% overhead over 3 years, prices automation as your setup hours times your hourly rate plus monthly tools, and reports the cheaper path, payback weeks and hours freed.
How do I read my hire vs. automate verdict?
The verdict picks whichever path has the lower 3-year total. Hire cost is salary plus 35% overhead, times three years. Automation cost is setup time at your hourly rate plus three years of tools. Payback shows weeks until setup is recovered, and hours freed equals your weekly hours times the automatable share.