Internet outage cost calculator

Enter your own numbers. The calculator multiplies hourly card sales you'd lose, plus idle labor, by how many hours you expect to be offline. We give no industry averages because a single average would mislead you. Use your own POS and ISP records.

Average sales per open hour ($)Use your POS reports: total sales ÷ open hours.Share of sales paid by card/digital (%)Cash sales usually continue during an outage.Share of card sales lost when offline (%)Customers who leave vs. wait, pay cash, or are processed in offline mode. Your estimate.Staff on shift who are idledPeople you still pay while they can’t work normally.Average hourly labor cost ($)Expected outage hours per year during open hoursCheck your ISP history/tickets. We don’t assume a national average.Annual cost of a backup connection ($)Enter a real quote to compare.

Estimated cost per outage hour: $245

Estimated annual outage cost: $1,960

Formula: (sales/hr × card share × lost share) + (staff × wage), × outage hours. Excludes spoilage, reputation, chargebacks, and online-order losses. Runs entirely in your browser; nothing is sent anywhere.

What it doesn't count

Spoiled inventory, customers who don't come back, online-order and delivery-platform penalties, and security or alarm systems that depend on the internet. If those matter for you, treat the result as a minimum.