ESHow much does it really cost to automate a process?
Updated October 27, 2026 · NouCodi
"How much does it cost to automate this?" is a trick question: it is almost never just a tool subscription. The real cost has four parts, plus a fifth that almost nobody calculates: the cost of not doing it.
1. The tools (every month)
To connect apps or automate reminders, the most widely used tools cost roughly this on their entry plans with annual billing (prices checked on each vendor's website on October 26, 2026; they change often):
| Tool | What for | From, per month |
|---|---|---|
| Make | Connecting apps and automating steps | ≈ $9–12 (free plan available) |
| Zapier | Connecting apps and automating steps | ≈ $20 (free plan available) |
| n8n (cloud) | More complex automations | ≈ €20 |
| Power Automate Premium | Automating in Microsoft 365 | ≈ $15 per user |
| ChatGPT Business, Claude Team | AI with a business account | ≈ $20 per user |
| Forms (Google, Microsoft) | Capturing data on the spot | Free or included |
Before you sign up for anything, check what you already pay for: many invoicing, CRM or email tools come with automation or AI features nobody has turned on.
2. Setup (one time)
This is the work of designing the automation, configuring it and testing it with real cases. In our roadmaps we start from these hour ranges:
- Low effort, 2 to 8 hours: turning on a feature you already have or a simple automatic reminder.
- Medium effort, 8 to 24 hours: connecting two apps or setting up an AI draft reviewed by a person.
- High effort, 24 to 80 hours: switching software, multi-step integrations or sensitive data.
3. Your team's time
The people who run the process today need to explain how it works, test the new way and get used to it. It is not much, but it is real: count a few hours per person in the first weeks.
4. Maintenance
Apps change, a form gets updated, a case nobody expected shows up. An automation needs someone to check on it from time to time. With a good design, that is little time each month; without it, it is the reason so many automations get abandoned.
5. The cost of not doing it
The math that matters most is the process as it runs today: minutes per run × runs per month × hourly cost of whoever does it. A made-up example: a 30-minute step that happens 40 times a month is 20 hours; at €20 an hour, that is €400 a month, €4,800 a year. If a €40-a-month automation with 16 hours of setup removes half of that time, it pays for itself within weeks.
How to know in your case
With your team's real times and frequencies. That is what we do in the audit: we measure each process, calculate the savings of each improvement with its assumptions in plain view and give you the order in which to apply them. You can get a first estimate with the calculator on our home page.