How Does the ROI Calculator on the Pricing Page Work?

The interactive ROI calculator on kompwatch.com/pricing estimates how much time and money KompWatch saves your team compared to manual competitor monitoring. Here's what each input means, how the math works, and why the numbers are conservative.

The Three Inputs

Competitors you track (1–50, default 5) The number of direct rivals you actively monitor — pricing pages, feature pages, blog posts, job listings. Move the slider to match your actual list. This input also determines which plan is recommended in the results panel.

Hours per week spent on manual monitoring (0–20 hrs, default 3 hrs) The time your team currently spends checking competitor websites, reading competitor newsletters, and manually pulling screenshots or notes. Include all team members who do this work. The default of 3 hrs/week is the median we see across small SaaS teams monitoring 3–7 competitors.

Loaded hourly rate ($25–$200/hr, default $75/hr) The fully-loaded cost of the person or team doing the monitoring — salary plus benefits, employer taxes, and overhead. $75/hr is the industry median for a product marketing manager or competitive intelligence analyst. Adjust to reflect your actual team cost.

How the Savings Are Calculated

1. Monthly manual hours = hours/week × 4.33 (standard weeks-per-month conversion: 52 weeks ÷ 12 months)
2. Hours saved per month = monthly manual hours × 80% (KompWatch's automation ratio — see note below)
3. Dollars saved per month = hours saved × hourly rate
4. Dollars saved per year = dollars saved per month × 12
5. Net monthly savings = dollars saved per month − plan cost
6. ROI multiple = dollars saved per month ÷ plan cost
7. Payback period = (plan cost ÷ dollars saved per month) × 30 days

Why 80%? Is That Realistic?

KompWatch claims it replaces approximately 80% of manual monitoring time — not 100%, and intentionally less than the 90–95% claimed by enterprise competitors like Crayon.

The 20% gap accounts for:

• Strategic analysis and synthesis that still requires human judgment
• Internal follow-up discussions when a high-severity change is detected
• Setup time for new competitors and selector tuning

This is a conservative estimate. Most teams report saving more than 80% of their prior manual time, but the calculator uses the lower figure so the estimate is defensible in a budget conversation.

What Does the Recommended Plan Mean?

The calculator recommends a plan based solely on your competitor count:

The recommendation does not factor in hourly rate or hours per week — those inputs only affect the savings estimate, not the plan recommendation.

My Savings Look Very High — Is That Right?

For teams with a dedicated competitive intelligence role ($75–100/hr loaded, 5–8 hrs/week), the annual savings figure can reach $10K–$30K. That's accurate: KompWatch replaces a meaningful portion of skilled analyst time that was previously spent on manual webpage checking.

If the number feels high, the most common cause is an overestimated hours/week input. Many teams initially think they spend 5–8 hours/week on competitor research, then realize upon reflection it's closer to 2–3 hrs/week. Adjust the slider down to see a more conservative estimate.

Can I Share These Numbers With My Manager?

The calculator is designed to help you build a business case, but the output is an estimate based on your inputs — not measured data from your account. For numbers backed by your actual KompWatch usage, use the Shareable ROI Report (Pro/Team): go to kompwatch.com/reports/roi to generate a report with your real change volume, hours saved, and severity breakdown. That report is shareable via link and is more credible in a stakeholder conversation.

See Proving the ROI of Competitive Intelligence for a full guide on making the business case.

Questions? Email support@kompwatch.com and we'll respond within 24 hours.