Chatbot ROI calculator
Tickets deflected, handling time and agent cost, as a monthly saving.
FreeRuns in your browserNo signupUpdated 2026-10-29
Net saving per month
$2,480
$2,880 gross, minus the bot's running cost
Payback
2.4 mo
Months to recover the build cost
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Tickets deflected per month | 1,200 |
| Agent hours saved per month | 160 h (about 1.00 FTE) |
| Gross saving per month | $2,880 |
| First-year net (after build and running costs) | $23,760 |
| First-year return on spend | 220%Strong |
Deflection is the number that decides this. Start at 20 to 40% for a bot limited to common questions and raise it only once you have measured it.
About this tool
How it works and how to read the result.
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AI agents & chatbots
AI assistants that answer, act and hand over when needed.
See the serviceWhat it does
A chatbot ROI calculator shows whether a support bot would pay for itself. You enter monthly tickets, the share the bot can resolve alone, the minutes an agent spends per ticket, and the agent's hourly cost. The page works out agent hours saved, the gross and net monthly saving once the bot's running cost is taken off, and how many months it takes to recover the build cost. Everything is calculated in your browser.
How to use it
- Enter your monthly ticket or chat volume from your helpdesk reports.
- Set the deflection slider to the share of tickets the bot could close without a person. Be conservative.
- Enter average handling time and the fully loaded hourly cost of an agent, including benefits and tools.
- Add the bot's monthly running cost and the one-time build cost.
- Read the net saving and payback, then copy the summary.
How to read the result
Say you handle 3,000 tickets a month, the bot resolves 40%, each ticket takes 8 minutes and an agent costs $18 an hour. That deflects 1,200 tickets, saves 160 agent hours, and is worth $2,880 a month gross. With a $400 monthly running cost, the net saving is $2,480. A $6,000 build pays back in about 2.4 months, and the first-year net is $23,760.
Watch the deflection figure. At 15% the same setup saves $1,080 gross and $680 net, and payback stretches to nearly 9 months. The build cost matters less than most people expect; the running cost and the deflection rate decide the outcome.
If net saving is negative, the bot costs more to run than it saves. Narrow it to the highest-volume question types or cut the running cost before building.
We build and measure support bots as part of our AI agents work. For process automation outside support, see the automation hours-saved calculator.
Questions
Frequently asked.
What is a realistic deflection rate?
For a bot limited to well-documented questions such as order status, opening hours or password resets, 20 to 40% of conversations end without a human is common. Higher figures are possible with a good knowledge base, but start low and raise the number only after measuring it in your own helpdesk.
What should the running cost include?
Everything that recurs: the chat platform subscription, model API usage, hosting, and a share of someone's time to review transcripts and update answers each month. Leaving out the review time is the most common way these calculations come out too rosy.
Does a saving mean I can cut staff?
Not directly. Hours saved become money only if the time is reused for higher-value work, if overtime or temp cover drops, or if you avoid hiring as volume grows. Treat the saving as capacity first and decide separately what to do with it.
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