whirrwork

Free calculator · about 2 minutes

Buy, rent or hire?

Buy the robot, rent it by the month, or pay someone to do the job? Pick a job and we fill in sourced prices (with receipts). Add your own quotes and costs, and see the totals, the break-even point and the maths.

On your numbers

Buy costs the least over 36 months.

Cheapest

Buy

$37,750

total over 36 months

Average per month
$1,049

Low end of: $37,750–$55,000 / unit · tinymobilerobots.us · as of 2026-10-25 · US

Rent (RaaS / lease)

$45,000

total over 36 months

Average per month
$1,250

Low end of: $15,000 / year · unf.edu · as of 2023-01 · US

  • Buying beats renting after about 31 months (2.5 years), if the robot lasts that long.
$0$11,250$22,500$33,750$45,00009182736monthsbreak-even ≈ month 31$37,750$45,000
  • Buy
  • Rent (RaaS / lease)
Cumulative cost, before any resale value. Straight lines because the inputs are flat monthly costs.

Before you trust this

  • You haven't added upkeep for buying. Robots are rarely free to keep; a service plan alone can change the answer.
  • You haven't added staff time. When you buy or rent, someone on your side runs the robot; a service includes that.
  • The rent receipt mentions a setup, installation or enrolment fee. Add it under running costs.
Show the maths
Buy: $37,750 + ($0 + 0 h × $0) × 36 − $0 = $37,750
Rent (RaaS / lease): $0 + ($1,250 + 0 h × $0) × 36 = $45,000

This is arithmetic on your inputs and the receipts shown, not a quote and not a Whirrwork estimate. Real quotes vary with terms, volume, location and tax.

Next steps

Change your numbers

Buy

You pay once and own the robot. You also pay to keep it running and someone on your side runs it.

Rent (RaaS / lease)

A monthly fee to use the robot yourself, usually with maintenance included. You still run it.

Hire a service

A company brings the robot (or the people) and does the job. You pay per job, per acre, per visit…

No sourced price for this option and job. Type a quote you have, or leave it empty.

Where in each sourced range?
Add your running costs (makes buying honest)
Start again

Nothing is stored. Your numbers live only in this page's address.

How the maths works

Every option is a one-off cost plus a monthly cost, added up over the period you pick. No interest, no inflation, no guesses of ours.

  • Buy: purchase price + (upkeep + staff hours × wage) × months − resale value.
  • Rent (RaaS / lease): setup fee + (monthly fee + staff hours × wage) × months. A yearly fee is divided by 12.
  • Hire a service: service price × how much you need a month × months. The provider's operator is included in their price.
  • Break-even is the month when buying has cost the same as the alternative: purchase price ÷ the monthly saving. Resale is ignored here.

What this leaves out

  • Financing, interest and tax. A lease can be cheaper or dearer than it looks once those are in.
  • Capacity. One robot may not cover your volume, and a service can scale up on a busy week.
  • Downtime, training, and the robot wearing out before the period ends.
  • Prices on public pages are often list or 'from' prices. Your quote may differ.

Which sourced prices count as buy, rent or service was decided by hand (77 receipts, checked 2026-10-27). Read: Robots as a service, explained

Put this calculator on your site A small card, free, no cookies or scripts. It opens this tool. 
<iframe src="https://whirrwork.com/embed/tool/buy-rent-or-hire/" width="100%" height="320" style="border:0;max-width:520px" loading="lazy" title="Buy, rent or hire? (Whirrwork)"></iframe>

For agents: the same maths as JSON, with every receipt. GET /api/v1/buy-rent-or-hire?job=commercial-floor-scrubbing&months=36