Developed and maintained by ProWorkstack · Development and review process
Would intake software pay for itself? Compare saved admin time and extra matters with software and setup costs.
Read the guide: Law Firm Intake Software ROI: Value Time Savings and Extra Cases
Your results
Enter your inputs and select Calculate.
How this calculator works
Annual time value = monthly inquiries × minutes saved ÷ 60 × labor rate × 12 × economic capture percentage. Additional money left after variable costs = monthly inquiries × conversion improvement ÷ 100 × money left after variable costs per retained matter × 12. First-year net benefit subtracts annual software cost and setup cost from those benefits. ROI divides first-year net benefit by first-year cost. Setup payback divides setup cost by positive ongoing annual net benefit, then multiplies by 12.
Worked example
120 inquiries, 12 minutes saved and a 30 labor rate produce 4,320 per year of captured time value at 50% capture. A 2-point conversion improvement with 1,500 money left after variable costs per matter adds 43,200. After 3,000 ongoing cost and 4,000 setup, first-year net benefit is 40,520 and ROI is 578.9%. Setup payback is about 1.1 months under constant benefits.
Assumptions
Defaults are illustrative. Assume steady inquiry volume, genuine additional conversions and ongoing benefits. Use money left after variable costs after additional delivery costs rather than the gross fee per case. Avoid counting the same productive time twice.
Interpreting your results
Time saved is not automatically cash saved. Adoption, ramp-up, maintenance, attribution and capacity constraints can change results. Zero costs make ROI undefined; no positive ongoing net benefit means no setup payback.
Calculation formulas
- annual_time_value
inquiries * minutes/60 * labor_rate * 12 * capture_pct/100- annual_added_contribution
inquiries * extra_conversion_pct/100 * contribution * 12- gross_benefit
annual_time_value + annual_added_contribution- recurring_cost
software_monthly * 12- net_recurring
gross_benefit - recurring_cost- year_one_cost
recurring_cost + setup- year_one_net
gross_benefit - year_one_cost- First-year value after costs
year_one_net- Annual benefit before software and setup costs
gross_benefit- Annual value after ongoing software costs
net_recurring- First-year return on costs
year_one_net / year_one_cost * 100- Time to recover setup cost
IF(net_recurring > 0, setup / net_recurring * 12, -1)
Maintained by ProWorkstack · Last reviewed: 2026-10-04 · Development and review process