# PLM Total Cost of Ownership Calculator

> Source: https://netray.co/tools/plm-total-cost-of-ownership-calculator
> Publisher: Netray (netray.co), AI and integration engineering for ERP and manufacturing systems.
> Section: Free Tools

## Short answer

Add up licences, viewer seats, hosting, admin staff, implementation, ERP integration and training to see the true multi-year cost of a PLM system.

## Category

engineering-plm

## Audience

- Engineering manager
- CIO
- PLM administrator

## Tool

**Kind:** calculator

**Currency:** $

**Inputs:**

#### Full authoring or change users

**Key:** users

**Type:** number

**Default:** 25

**Min:** 0

**Step:** 1

**Unit:** users

#### Annual licence per full user

**Key:** lic

**Type:** number

**Default:** 3600

**Min:** 0

**Step:** 100

**Unit:** $/user/year

#### Viewer or approver-only users

**Key:** viewers

**Type:** number

**Default:** 150

**Min:** 0

**Step:** 5

**Unit:** users

#### Annual price per viewer user

**Key:** vprice

**Type:** number

**Default:** 480

**Min:** 0

**Step:** 20

**Unit:** $/user/year

#### Annual hosting, infrastructure or cloud fees

**Key:** hosting

**Type:** number

**Default:** 12000

**Min:** 0

**Step:** 500

**Unit:** $/year

#### Admin and support FTE

**Key:** admin_fte

**Type:** number

**Default:** 0.5

**Min:** 0

**Step:** 0.25

**Unit:** FTE

#### Loaded cost per admin FTE

**Key:** admin_cost

**Type:** number

**Default:** 110000

**Min:** 0

**Step:** 5000

**Unit:** $/year

#### Implementation and configuration (one time)

**Key:** impl

**Type:** number

**Default:** 180000

**Min:** 0

**Step:** 5000

**Unit:** $

#### ERP and CAD integration (one time)

**Key:** integ

**Type:** number

**Default:** 90000

**Min:** 0

**Step:** 5000

**Unit:** $

#### Training per user (one time)

**Key:** train

**Type:** number

**Default:** 600

**Min:** 0

**Step:** 50

**Unit:** $/user

#### Horizon

**Key:** years

**Type:** slider

**Default:** 5

**Min:** 1

**Max:** 10

**Step:** 1

**Unit:** years

**Outputs:**

#### Annual licence cost

**Key:** annual_license

**Expr:** users * lic + viewers * vprice

**Format:** currency

#### Annual admin cost

**Key:** annual_admin

**Expr:** admin_fte * admin_cost

**Format:** currency

#### Annual run cost

**Key:** annual_run

**Expr:** annual_license + hosting + annual_admin

**Format:** currency

**Primary:** true

#### One-time cost

**Key:** one_time

**Expr:** impl + integ + train * (users + viewers)

**Format:** currency

#### Total cost of ownership over horizon

**Key:** tco

**Expr:** one_time + annual_run * years

**Format:** currency

**Primary:** true

#### Cost per user per year

**Key:** per_user

**Expr:** tco / years / (users + viewers)

**Format:** currency

#### One-time share of TCO

**Key:** one_time_share

**Expr:** one_time / tco * 100

**Format:** percent

**Chart:**

#### Cumulative PLM cost by horizon

**Type:** line

**X:** years

**From:** 1

**To:** 10

**Steps:** 10

**Series:**

- tco

**Disclaimer:** Figures are your own assumptions. Obtain vendor quotes for licence, support and cloud fees, and add upgrade and data migration costs if they apply.

## Content

**Intro:** Most PLM business cases show the licence line and little else. This calculator forces the full picture: viewer seats, hosting, administrators, implementation, ERP and CAD integration, and training, spread over a multi-year horizon.

**Sections:**

#### How to use it

**Body:** Separate users who author and approve changes from those who only view drawings and BOMs, since vendors often price them differently. Add hosting if the system is cloud or runs on your infrastructure, the share of an administrator it needs, and the one-time costs for implementation, integration and training. Set the horizon you plan to run the system for.

#### The formulas

**Body:** Annual run cost is full users times licence plus viewers times viewer price plus hosting plus administrator FTE times loaded cost. One-time cost is implementation plus integration plus training per user times total users. Total cost of ownership is one-time cost plus annual run cost times years.

#### Reading the result

**Body:** The cost per user per year helps compare options with different pricing shapes. A high one-time share means the project risk is up front, while a low one-time share means the decision is mostly a subscription commitment. In the chart, the line's intercept is the one-time cost and its slope is the annual run cost.

#### Common mistakes

**Body:** Leaving out ERP integration is the most common omission, since the BOM and change flow usually have to connect to ERP. Another is ignoring the cost of data migration from spreadsheets and legacy systems. Smaller teams should also compare against ERP-native BOM and document control before committing to a separate PLM.

**Cta:** If you are weighing PLM against what your ERP already does, Netray can review your change process and integration needs and tell you honestly whether you need a separate system.

**Faq:**

#### What is usually missing from PLM cost estimates?

**Answer:** Integration with ERP and CAD, data migration, internal project time, ongoing administration and training for new joiners. These often match or exceed the first-year licence cost.

#### Should I include internal staff time on the project?

**Answer:** Yes, if you want an honest total. Add internal project hours at loaded cost to the implementation field, even though it is not an invoice, because it competes with other engineering work.

#### Is subscription cheaper than perpetual licensing?

**Answer:** Not necessarily. Subscription lowers upfront cost but accumulates over time. Use the horizon slider and compare the same period for both pricing models, adding maintenance fees for perpetual.

#### How many viewers should I count?

**Answer:** Count people who need to open current drawings, BOMs or change records: production, quality, purchasing and service. Suppliers with portal access may be priced separately.

## Search terms

plm total cost of ownership, plm cost calculator, plm licensing cost, plm implementation cost, plm tco, plm business case, cost of plm system, plm vs erp document control cost

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