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Payback Period Calculator

Estimate when ordinary, undiscounted cash flows recover the initial investment.

Estimate when ordinary, undiscounted cash flows recover the initial investment. Enter your own values below. The calculator shows the formula it uses, a graph and a step-by-step explanation of the result.

Also searched as: payback period, break-even time

Disclaimer

These tools are for education and general information. They do not provide financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. Confirm important decisions with a qualified professional.

How the calculation works

Formula

Payback = Period Before Recovery + (Unrecovered Investment / Cash Flow During Recovery Period)

Cash flows are entered in chronological order and occur at period end. Ordinary payback does not discount cash flows. Recovery within a positive period is linearly interpolated; no-payback cases are shown explicitly.

What you enter

  • Initial investment (time zero)
  • Future cash flows (period 1 onward)
  • Cash-flow frequency
  • Display currency (formatting only — no exchange-rate conversion)

What the results show

  • Ordinary payback period
  • Payback period (years)
  • Remaining unrecovered investment
  • Cash-flow frequency (periods per year)
  • Future cash-flow periods

Results are estimates based only on the values and assumptions you enter. Open the detailed analysis to see the graph, the step-by-step story and the stated assumptions, and use the report menu to print, save as PDF, export a schedule to CSV or share the inputs.

This calculator also produces a period-by-period schedule that can be exported as CSV.

Privacy note on share links: Copy Link and share actions place the values you entered in the web address. Anyone with the link can see them, and they may be kept in browser history or server logs. Do not share links that contain sensitive personal financial information.

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When to use this calculator

How long until the investment is recovered? Managers screening projects can use it to get a quick estimate from their own figures.

Worked example

With an initial investment of 50,000 and yearly cash flows of 15,000, 20,000 and 25,000, 35,000 is recovered after two years. The remaining 15,000 takes 15,000 / 25,000 = 0.6 of the third year, so payback is 2.6 years.

Illustrative figures in any currency. Enter your own values in the calculator above.