We’re trying to move away from just looking at per-user licensing costs and instead calculate what each automation actually costs us to run and maintain. The goal is to build an internal ROI calculator that models total cost of ownership when we’re comparing Make versus Zapier, accounting for setup time, maintenance, licensing, and other variables.
I know there are no-code builders out there, but I’m hesitant because every tool I’ve tried feels limited when it comes to handling more complex logic—things like conditional cost calculations based on usage patterns, integration fees, support costs, and time-to-deployment variations.
Has anyone successfully built a working TCO calculator in a no-code environment? And if so, what mattered most to get it right—clean data inputs, simplifying your calculation model, or something else?
I’m also wondering if the effort to build this is even worth it, or if we should just use a spreadsheet model instead. But spreadsheets change hands so often they become unreliable. A proper tool might be better for sharing and updating across the team.