Is this project actually worth doing?
A handful of questions, about two minutes. How many months until the cash you put in comes back, plus what that same cash and your own time could otherwise be worth over the same stretch — the part a CFO adds and an owner usually skips.
Free, and no card. There's a real chance this stops after two questions — a project that never pays back is a real answer, not a shortened one.
Informational only — not audit, attest, legal, tax, or investment advice. This is arithmetic on the figures you enter; it is only as good as they are.
The half of a feasibility check most owners skip
Most owners size up a new project by asking how long it takes to pay back — and stop there. That number alone hides the real question: what else that same cash, and that same slice of your own time, could have been doing instead. A CFO adds that second number as a matter of habit; an owner usually never gets to it.
This tool computes months to payback from your own figures, then prices the opportunity cost of the cash and the hours over that same stretch — each as a range, since nobody can honestly name one exact number for what a dollar or an hour would otherwise be worth. It never computes an internal rate of return: the hurdle rate that figure needs is arbitrary for a small business, and it misleads on cash flows this short.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the headline show months to payback instead of a rate of return?
Because payback months needs no guess about the future — it's just the cash you put in divided by the cash that comes back each month, so it stays exact. A rate of return like IRR needs a hurdle rate that's arbitrary for a small business, and it can be actively misleading on cash flows this short and irregular. This tool doesn't compute one.
What is the "opportunity cost" next to the payback figure?
What the same cash, and the hours you'd personally put in, could otherwise be worth over that same stretch of time. Most payback calculations stop at the project itself and never price what else that money and time could have done — this tool prices both, as a range, because nobody can name one exact number for the road not taken.
Why does it sometimes stop after two questions?
A project that never sends back positive cash each month has no payback horizon — there's nothing to price an opportunity cost against. That's a real answer, not a shortened one, so no further questions get asked.
Does this rank what could go wrong with the project?
No — that's a different exercise, with its own tool: the pre-mortem, which asks you to name the ways this could fail and ranks them by severity, likelihood and how early you'd know. This tool only prices cash and time already committed against what they could otherwise earn.
Do I need an account?
No. Every figure here is free with no email wall. Signing in only keeps the result so a later run can show you what moved.