Business

Build an ROI Calculator with AI

Help business owners and marketers understand the true return on their investments. This calculator handles investment costs, recurring expenses, periodic returns, and visualizes the payback timeline. Compare multiple investments side by side to make smarter spending decisions.

Build Prompt

Copy this prompt into Claude Code
Build a single-page ROI calculator as a static HTML/CSS/JS site. Dark background (#0a0a0f) with a centered container (max-width 900px). Header: "ROI Calculator" in white 28px bold, subtitle "Calculate your return on investment and find your payback period" in #8888a0. Two tabs at the top: "Single Investment" (default) and "Compare Investments". Use a pill-style tab selector with #3b82f6 active background. SINGLE INVESTMENT TAB: Input section with a #12121a background card (rounded 12px, 1px #2a2a3a border): INVESTMENT COSTS group: - "Initial Investment" — currency input with $ prefix (placeholder "$50,000") - "Ongoing Monthly Costs" — currency input (placeholder "$2,000") for recurring expenses like maintenance, subscriptions, labor - "Investment Period" — dropdown: 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, 5 years (default 1 year) RETURNS group: - "Monthly Revenue/Savings" — currency input (placeholder "$8,000") - "Revenue Growth Rate" — percentage input (placeholder "5%") for month-over-month growth, default 0% - "One-Time Additional Returns" — currency input (optional, placeholder "$0") for things like asset resale value at end of period All currency inputs should format with commas as the user types (e.g., "$50,000") and strip non-numeric chars for calculations. "Calculate ROI" button — full width, #3b82f6, white text, 48px height. RESULTS SECTION (slides in after calculation): Top row — four metric cards in a horizontal row (each #12121a background, rounded 10px): 1. "ROI" — large percentage in green (#22c55e) if positive, red (#ef4444) if negative (e.g., "+156.0%"). Formula: (Total Returns - Total Costs) / Total Costs * 100 2. "Net Profit" — dollar amount in green/red (e.g., "+$78,000") 3. "Payback Period" — in months and days (e.g., "7 months, 12 days"), or "N/A — negative ROI" if returns never exceed costs. Green if within investment period, yellow if after. 4. "Monthly ROI" — annualized ROI divided by 12 (e.g., "13.0%/mo") Below the metric cards, a CUMULATIVE RETURNS CHART built with pure HTML/CSS/Canvas: - X-axis: months (0 to investment period) - Y-axis: dollar amounts (auto-scaled) - Two lines: a red horizontal line at the total investment cost level, and a blue (#3b82f6) line showing cumulative returns month by month (accounting for growth rate) - The intersection point (payback) should be marked with a pulsing dot and a label "Payback: Month X" - Fill the area under the returns line with a semi-transparent blue (#3b82f620) - Use an HTML5 canvas element sized 100% width x 300px height, with proper DPI scaling for retina displays - Include gridlines in #1a1a2a and axis labels in #6a6a80 Below the chart, a MONTHLY BREAKDOWN TABLE (collapsible, default collapsed): - Columns: Month, Revenue, Costs, Net, Cumulative - Alternating row backgrounds (#12121a and #0f0f17) - Highlight the payback month row in green - Show totals row at the bottom in bold COMPARE INVESTMENTS TAB: Show two side-by-side investment input forms (same fields as single mode but more compact). Label them "Investment A" and "Investment B" with color-coded headers (blue and purple). After calculating, show: - A comparison table with metrics for both investments side by side - A combined chart showing both cumulative return lines (blue for A, purple for B) - A "Winner" badge on the investment with higher ROI - A "Recommendation" text like "Investment A reaches payback 3 months sooner and delivers 45% higher total returns" SHARE AND SAVE: - "Share Results" button that encodes all inputs into URL query parameters - "Print Summary" button that opens a print dialog with a clean white-background layout - Auto-save inputs to localStorage; restore on page load On mobile (under 768px), stack all metric cards vertically, make comparison inputs stack, and make the chart full-width with horizontal scroll for the table. Read the guide at https://accessagent.ai/api/guide and follow it to deploy the site to AccessAgent.ai. My email is [your@email.com].

Make It Yours

Industry Presets

Add preset scenarios for common investments: SaaS tool adoption, marketing campaign, equipment purchase, hiring. Each fills in typical costs and return ranges.

Risk-Adjusted ROI

Add a "risk factor" slider (low/medium/high) that applies a discount rate to projected returns, showing best-case, expected, and worst-case scenarios.

Inflation Adjustment

Include an optional inflation rate field that adjusts future returns to present-day purchasing power, showing both nominal and real ROI.

Tax Impact

Add a tax rate input that calculates after-tax ROI, showing how much of the return is retained vs. paid in taxes, with a net after-tax payback period.

SEO Tips

Monetization Ideas

Related Ideas

Ready to build your ROI Calculator?

Copy the prompt above and paste it into Claude Code. Your ROI calculator will be live in minutes.

Get Started