Three ways to get an honest number.
Free tool, self-serve kit, or a board-ready TCO Review. Pick the shape that fits how the decision needs to be defended.
Every AI ROI calculator you have used was built by someone who benefits when the answer is yes. Ours is built by someone who benefits when the answer is right. Our public model says AI costs more than the person for 2 of the 12 roles we publish (HR Generalist and Operations Analyst) — if that gap does not exist in your deployment, we will say so. If it does, you save a budget cycle.
The three tiers
Calculator
The complete model, no login, PDF executive summary at the end. About four minutes.
- All 7 cost dimensions
- Role and level pre-fills
- Board-ready PDF export
- Open-source model
AI Business Case Kit
Self-serve toolkit for teams building their own case. You model it, we hand you the tooling to do it defensibly.
- Full model spreadsheet (all 7 dimensions)
- Board-deck template (12 slides)
- Worked examples across 12 roles
- Sensitivity-analysis playbook
- 90 days of email support
TCO Review
We run the model on your actual deployment and deliver a board-ready document. Two weeks, one number, defensible.
- Intake call and deployment discovery
- Model configured to your inputs
- 15–25 page TCO document (PDF)
- Sensitivity on your top 3 assumptions
- Reviewer call to walk the numbers
How the TCO Review actually runs
Week 1 · Intake
A 60-minute discovery call, then we collect the workload data, security posture and roles in scope. If the answers are already clear, we say so and refund the difference.
Week 2 · Model
Model configured to your inputs, run across every role in scope. Sensitivity analysis on the three assumptions that move the answer the most.
Delivery
15–25 page PDF, a copy of the configured model, and a 45-minute walkthrough for your finance or board sponsor. All figures are reproducible.
Who this is for
Anyone whose next AI budget request has to survive a CFO or an audit committee. The people who benefit most from a review are:
- CIOs approving a vendor deck that promises 80% savings and want to know what number they can actually defend
- Heads of ops evaluating replacement vs augmentation across a specific function
- Boards or investment committees who want an independent view before a large agentic deployment
- Founders raising on an "AI replaces the team" pitch and needing a defensible per-role figure
Frequently asked
What does the review actually deliver?
A 15–25 page document sized for a CFO or a board committee: fully-loaded employee cost per role, AI TCO across all seven cost dimensions, sensitivity to your top three assumptions, and a plain-English recommendation for each role. Plus the configured model — so anyone on your team can rerun it later.
Do you take vendor referral fees or equity?
No. The whole reason the review is worth doing is that it is not tied to a vendor. We do not accept referral, revenue-share or equity arrangements with any AI infrastructure or model provider.
How is this different from what a consultancy would produce?
A tier-1 consultancy delivers a slide deck built from interviews. We deliver a model, a document, and the configured spreadsheet. The number in the document is defensible because you can reproduce it, not because a partner signed off on it.
What if the review says "don't buy AI"?
Then that is the review. Two of the twelve roles in our public dataset come back that way at mid level (HR Generalist and Operations Analyst); more at junior levels. If yours land there, you have saved a budget cycle and a hiring reshuffle — which is worth a lot more than $5–15k.
Is the model open?
Yes. The methodology and code are on GitHub. You can audit every assumption before hiring us.
Talk to us before your next AI budget review.
30-minute intake call. If a $0 or $399 tier is the right fit, we will say so.
Email [email protected] →Independent advisory only. No vendor referral or equity relationships. See our methodology and the open-source model before you engage.