Total Cost
Year 1 total
Build cost plus one year of ongoing cost — the first-year budget line.
- Unit
- money
- Where you enter it
- Computed; shown on the Total Cost tab.
What it means
The one-time build cost added to a single year of ongoing cost. It is the figure a budget holder approves for the first year and the peak of every annual cost chart, because the build lands entirely in year one.
Why it matters to the cost
Year one is where a low-build tool looks best and a homegrown framework looks worst; over a longer horizon the ongoing lines take over. Quoting only year one, or only the five-year figure, each tells half the story — the calculator shows both.
Typical values
For a 300-case suite: roughly $50,000–$100,000 for automation tools; around $100,000 for a manual baseline.
Typical values describe a category of tool — AI-native, codeless, script-based, homegrown, manual — never a named product. Why we do not price named products.
Where it appears in the model
Totals, per application
- Annual ongoing cost
- Run cost per year + Maintenance cost per year + Licensing and infrastructure (allocated)
- Year 1 total
- Build cost + Annual ongoing cost
- Analysis horizon
- Build cost + Annual ongoing cost × years in the horizon — the total over the horizon
Every name is a link to its definition. See the whole model.
Try it with your numbers
Year 1 total is a row in the calculator. Change it and every total on the page moves with it — free, in your browser, nothing to install.
See how year 1 total impacts the calculation of test automation costsLast reviewed 2026-09-15. All terms.