A 2023 study published by Stepsize found that over 52 percent of engineering teams spend at least one full day per week addressing technical debt, while 66 percent said tech debt significantly slowed down their roadmap delivery. Despite this, only a minority had systems in place to quantify or justify the cost of that debt to leadership.
This calculator is designed for SaaS CTOs, VPs of Engineering, Heads of Product, and technical founders who want to finally answer the question: how much is tech debt really costing us?
Built around a framework used by Logiciel’s delivery teams, this tool helps mid-market product teams and growth-stage startups:
Estimate the monthly financial burden of engineering inefficiencies
Identify which debt areas are causing the most friction
Visualize long-term velocity loss and missed opportunity cost
Prioritize which debt to address based on impact and effort
The Business Impact of Technical Debt
Technical debt is not just a software problem. It compounds into systemic losses across:
Engineering efficiency: 30 to 40 percent of developer time is lost to rework, context switching, or navigating fragile systems
Revenue delivery: Delayed features and unstable releases affect monetization and churn
Onboarding: New engineers take 2x longer to ramp in high-debt codebases
Team morale: Developer satisfaction plummets when fire-fighting becomes the norm
Stripe’s Developer Coefficient study found that developer inefficiency costs the global economy over $85 billion annually. When you translate that into your team’s burn, you realize the cost is not theoretical.
How the Calculator Works
This calculator uses a hybrid estimation method combining real inputs and heuristic benchmarks drawn from Logiciel’s engineering audits. It is intentionally simplified for busy technical leaders to get a directional estimate fast.
Step 1: Input Your Variables
Team size (engineers only)
Average engineer salary
Estimated percentage of time spent on rework or workaround
Average delay in weeks per key feature due to tech debt
Infrastructure inefficiencies (e.g. slow CI/CD, cloud cost waste)
QA or testing time absorbed by fragile or legacy systems
Step 2: Calculate Technical Debt Cost
The calculator will generate:
Monthly and annual dollar cost of your tech debt
Per engineer cost burden
Opportunity cost of feature delays
Technical Debt Ratio (TDR) = cost to fix / cost to build
Step 3: Visualize the Impact
Results are visualized in a 12-month cost projection that shows how unchecked debt compounds and slows team velocity over time.
Download the Technical Debt Calculator Template (Excel)
How to Use the Calculator:
Enter your team data: Input the number of engineers, average salary, and percentage of time lost to tech debt.
Estimate feature delay impact: Add how many weeks features are delayed and the expected weekly revenue impact.
Include QA inefficiencies: Add hours spent per sprint fixing legacy issues instead of building new tests.
Let formulas do the math: The sheet automatically calculates:
Monthly and annual cost of tech debt
Cost of feature delays
QA maintenance costs
Technical Debt Ratio (TDR) based on your inputs
Interpret the results: Use these insights to build a business case for addressing high-cost technical debt areas first.
The spreadsheet is fully editable and designed for engineering or product leaders to customize during sprint planning or technical roadmap reviews.
Calculation Examples
Example 1: Mid-Market SaaS with 12 Engineers
Average salary: $140,000
Time lost to tech debt: 20 percent
Cost of technical debt: $336,000/year
Delay cost from 4 missed features: $80,000 in ARR
Total annual drag: $416,000
Example 2: Seed Stage Startup with 5 Engineers
Salary: $120,000
Debt time: 30 percent (legacy MVP)
Feature delays: 2 features over 3 months
Estimated tech debt cost: $180,000/year
In both cases, the calculator gives a reliable range to align stakeholders around.
Technical Debt Ratio: A Key Metric
The Technical Debt Ratio (TDR) is one of the most important benchmarks.
TDR = Cost to fix debt / Cost to build system
Industry benchmarks:
TDR below 0.2 = manageable
TDR 0.25 to 0.4 = concerning
TDR above 0.4 = urgent priority
Logiciel clients typically start between 0.3 to 0.5 and see improvement within 2 quarters.
Prioritization Matrix for Engineering Leaders
Once you quantify the cost, the next challenge is deciding where to focus. Use this prioritization matrix:
Impact Cost Action
High Low Address immediately
High High Plan strategically
Low Low Defer, monitor
Low High Consider removing entirely
Mapping your backlog using this matrix helps align engineering, product, and finance on trade-offs.
Case Study: HealthTech Company Saves $420K Using This Framework
A healthtech platform with a team of 15 engineers was consistently missing roadmap features and struggling to integrate with enterprise clients. A Logiciel-led audit revealed that 35 percent of dev time was consumed by debt-related issues.
Using the calculator, the company estimated a $420,000/year drag. Specific friction points included:
Delayed patient analytics features
Fragile CI/CD environments
Legacy components with brittle tests
Logiciel helped them refactor the critical paths while introducing auto-regression testing and AI-based profiling. Over two quarters:
Feature throughput increased 45 percent
Time-to-market dropped by 38 percent
Their Series B pitch included technical efficiency metrics, helping close the round faster
Why This Matters for Your Funding and Product Velocity
VCs increasingly care about tech operations. When debt is visible and quantified, it becomes a lever for narrative control:
Prepares you for due diligence on scalability
Shows maturity around risk management
Highlights engineering ROI from capital
One client used this calculator to justify a $200K internal tooling budget increase by proving the trade-off with release velocity.
Embed Debt Estimates Into Your Sprint Planning
Make this calculator a monthly habit. During backlog grooming:
Estimate debt cost on large stories
Tag issues with estimated impact
Share cumulative drag in sprint retros
This shifts tech debt from a passive burden into an active planning input.
Try the Calculator or Book a Free Audit
Want a second opinion on your TDR? Or help modeling scenarios before your next roadmap planning session?
[Download the Excel calculator] or [schedule a free technical audit] with Logiciel’s product-engineering leadership.
We’ll help you:
Benchmark your current velocity losses
Create a high-ROI debt reduction roadmap
Integrate AI tools to prevent new debt from creeping in
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