Tools
Tech Debt Cost Calculator
The Tech Debt Cost Calculator turns eight screens of inputs about your team, stack, and spend into an annual dollar estimate of what technical debt costs a software company. The estimate is split into seven categories, each classified the way a diligence memo would treat it (GATE, PRICE, THESIS, or LEVER), with a five-year cost of inaction.
Context
How much hold period remains on this asset?
This answer does not change your estimate. It changes the interpretation shown with your result.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
- What is the Tech Debt Cost Calculator?
A self-serve estimator. It turns inputs about your engineering team, spend, and operating posture into an annual dollar estimate of technical debt cost. The estimate is split across seven categories (engineering time lost to maintenance, architecture drag, license waste, cloud waste, staffing exposure, security risk, and incident cost), each classified GATE, PRICE, THESIS, or LEVER.
- How accurate is the estimate?
It is an educated estimate, not an audit. The coefficients come from published industry research (Stripe, DORA, Flexera, CISQ, IBM, SHRM) applied to your self-reported inputs, so treat the output as directional. The conservative-to-aggressive band shows how wide that uncertainty is.
- What do GATE, PRICE, THESIS, and LEVER mean?
They are the four deal actions CCA assigns every diligence finding. GATE means resolve or protect before close. PRICE means it changes the offer. THESIS means it changes what the value-creation plan can achieve. LEVER means it is a quantified opportunity for the hold period.
- What information do I need before starting?
Rough figures are enough: engineering headcount, approximate software and cloud spend, and a sense of how the team spends its week. Every optional field has a sensible industry default.
- Is the result free?
Yes. The headline number shows immediately. Your name and work email open the category breakdown and recommendations, and Sujit will send a written read on request. There is no sales pitch and no obligation.
- How is this different from the PRISM scorecard?
The PRISM Technology Readiness Scorecard scores maturity across five dimensions and returns a readiness band. This calculator prices the debt in dollars. Run both: the scorecard tells you where the risk sits, the calculator tells you what it costs.