Three examples, including the awkward ones
All numbers below are our illustrative assumptions in USD. They are not provider prices, observed failure rates or customer case studies. Each example uses $25 per hour, four setup hours, $50 in setup cash and 0% cash realization.
| Scenario | Replies | Minutes: manual / AI total | Tool bill | Labor-value balance | Cash change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Worth the time | 400 | 6 / 3.5 | $100.00 | $316.67 | -$100.00 |
| Close call | 100 | 6 / 5 | $40.00 | $1.67 | -$40.00 |
| More work, not less | 400 | 6 / 8 | $100.00 | -$433.33 | -$100.00 |
Worth the time: 400 replies take six minutes each manually. With AI, every reply uses one minute of handling and one minute of review; 25% then need a full six-minute rewrite. That averages 3.5 minutes per reply. The monthly economic balance is $316.67, but the first month falls to $166.67 after $150 of setup time and cash. Actual first-month extra cash spending is $150.
Close call: 100 replies, a 50% rewrite rate and a $40 tool bill leave only $1.67 per month in modeled labor value. Recovering $150 of setup takes 90 months if those inputs hold. A positive number alone is a poor reason to subscribe.
More work, not less: two minutes of handling, three of review and a 50% full-rewrite rate make the AI workflow take eight minutes per reply. Faster draft generation has not made the whole job faster.
How the calculation works
Count the same finished replies in both workflows. AI handling and review happen on every reply. Rejected drafts add a complete manual rewrite; we do not erase time already spent on them.
- AI minutes per reply = handling + review + (rewrite percentage × manual minutes).
- Net hours freed = replies × (manual minutes − AI minutes) ÷ 60.
- Monthly labor-value balance = net hours freed × hourly rate − recurring AI cost.
- Monthly cash change = positive freed labor value × cash-realization percentage − recurring AI cost.
- First-month economic balance subtracts setup hours × hourly rate and setup cash. First-month cash change subtracts setup cash only.
A positive balance favors AI at your inputs; a negative one favors the manual workflow. Monthly economic break-even divides the recurring bill by positive labor value saved per reply, rounded up to a whole reply. Setup payback divides the one-off cost by a positive monthly balance. If that balance is zero or negative, payback is not reached. Zero recurring cost requires zero replies to cover that bill; it does not establish useful output or recover setup.
The threshold holds price, review time and rewrite rate fixed. It does not automatically add seats, reprice usage tiers or check plan capacity when reply volume increases. A 0.5-month payback is an economic estimate assuming even work, not the date a provider refunds your payment.
Freed time is useful. It is not always cash.
If your salaried team finishes earlier but your payroll stays the same, leave cash realization at 0%. You have gained capacity and paid an additional tool bill. That capacity might be valuable, but this calculator does not invent sales to turn it into revenue.
If fewer paid contractor or overtime hours credibly lower a bill, enter only that share. We do not convert additional work into an automatic cash loss either: overtime or other extra bills belong in the recurring cost input. Do not count the same saved labor twice.
Replace the examples with a small timed trial
Choose comparable, routine enquiries and agree what counts as a finished, correct answer. Record the manual time, hands-on AI time, review time and whether a full rewrite was needed. Keep difficult cases in the sample. Enter the observed average and then rerun the calculator with slower review and more rewrites to see how fragile the result is.
This is a budget model for human-reviewed draft replies, not autonomous support, a quality rating or a promise of savings. It excludes the cost of incorrect answers, lost customers, legal consequences, taxes and revenue gains. A draft that fails your quality requirements is not made acceptable by a positive ROI estimate. Use an appropriate, permitted workflow for any customer information.
For a service that answers customers on its own, use our AI support platform cost comparison to check seats, billable outcomes, commitments and handoffs. Keep those provider-defined units separate from the draft replies modeled here.
Enter your actual all-in incremental monthly quote, including usage and integrations, rather than a headline seat price. For wider costs, see the AI Price Index; for the scope of our estimates, read our methodology. Report a formula or usability problem with the inputs that produced it.