What Automation Actually Costs: Ops Automators catalogue benchmark
https://www.opsautomators.com/automation-cost-benchmark

Dataset version: 6cf8ea323a8a21a4df8551364c23996c9144d4da58ea2813518f6c0e2a8269b5
Methodology: v1.1; reviewed 2026-09-15

SCOPE
All entries in the current Ops Automators catalogue, including Integration Foundations & Plumbing. Each category/name entry has equal weight. These are tier-based build estimates, not invoices, delivered hours, demand, savings, or market prices.
No independent market survey or client-invoice data is used.

SOURCES
https://www.opsautomators.com/automation-catalogue
https://www.opsautomators.com/pricing
lib/automations.ts: automations, categories; lib/automationPricing.ts: getTier, tierSpec, tierBand, HOURLY_RATE (also re-exported by lib/automations.ts)

CALCULATIONS AND LIMITATIONS
price: Resolve each entry with getTier, then multiply each tier hour endpoint by HOURLY_RATE. Item-name overrides take precedence over category defaults, followed by the existing Workflow fallback.
median: Sort lower and upper endpoints separately. Take the middle value, or the arithmetic mean of the two middle values for an even count. No midpoint price is assigned to an item.
shares: Item count divided by all included entries, times 100. Display percentages rounded to one decimal place; JSON retains unrounded values.
categoryRange: Smallest lower price endpoint to largest upper price endpoint within the category. This does not imply every price between those endpoints is represented.
exclusions: No catalogue rows are excluded. Software subscriptions, hosting, API usage, ongoing maintenance, taxes, and customer staff time are not modeled in hours-times-rate estimates. Entries are not weighted by sales or project volume.
updates: Regenerated from the catalogue shipped with the site. The SHA-256 version identifies the exported rows and methodology version. Save the download to preserve a cited version; this URL follows the current catalogue.
Budget threshold: count rows with priceHigh <= 6000 USD; equality is included. Divide by all rows for the share.

CSV FIELD DICTIONARY (JSON MAPPINGS INCLUDED)
dataset_version: SHA-256 of JSON.stringify({ methodology: json.methodologyVersion, rows: json.rows }); identifies rows and methodology, not a collection date.
methodology_version: Version of the calculation and export definitions.
id: Category ID and catalogue name joined by a colon. One equally weighted observation per pair.
name: Catalogue entry name, unchanged from the local source.
category_id: Catalogue category ID (categoryId in JSON rows).
category: Catalogue category label (categoryName in JSON rows).
tier: Assigned tier code: S, M, L, or XL. Item-name override, then category default, then Workflow fallback.
tier_label: Published tier name (tierLabel in JSON rows).
hours_low: Lower estimated implementation labor hours for the assigned tier (hoursLow in JSON).
hours_high: Upper estimated implementation labor hours for the assigned tier (hoursHigh in JSON). Not elapsed delivery time.
price_low: hours_low multiplied by hourly_rate (priceLow in JSON). An estimate, not a paid price.
price_high: hours_high multiplied by hourly_rate (priceHigh in JSON). An estimate, not a guaranteed ceiling.
currency: USD for all price endpoints and the hourly rate.
hourly_rate: Published implementation labor rate in USD per hour (hourlyRate in JSON).
source_url: Public catalogue filtered by category and exact name search (sourceUrl in JSON).
description: Scope description copied from the catalogue. It describes listed work, not a verified delivery outcome.
systems: Systems text copied from the catalogue when supplied. Empty means unspecified, not no systems required.

CSV is UTF-8, comma-separated, with quoted fields and CRLF record separators. Embedded quotes are doubled. Formula-leading text is prefixed with an apostrophe for spreadsheet safety; JSON preserves the original strings.
JSON summary, tiers, and categories contain derived aggregates; rows contains the underlying observations. Price and hour medians pair independently calculated endpoints, not a confidence interval or a median invoice.

LICENSE
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
You may share and adapt this dataset, including commercially, with credit to Ops Automators, a link to the license, and an indication of any changes. This license applies to the benchmark dataset, including the evidence tables and CSV/JSON downloads; it does not cover website code, branding, or client deliverables.

CITATION
Ops Automators. What Automation Actually Costs. Dataset 6cf8ea323a8a21a4df8551364c23996c9144d4da58ea2813518f6c0e2a8269b5, methodology v1.1. https://www.opsautomators.com/automation-cost-benchmark. Add your access date and keep the CSV or JSON with this README.
The downloads follow the current catalogue; previous editions are not archived at these URLs.