Security Awareness Training ROI Calculator

Quantify whether your security awareness programme pays for itself by comparing the expected breach losses avoided against the annual training investment. Supply your baseline breach probability, average incident cost, and training spend, then adjust the probability reduction assumption to reveal net savings and ROI.

Subscription, platform, content licensing, and facilitation expenses for training employees each year.
Best estimate of suffering a material breach in the next 12 months before training impact.
Blended response, legal, regulatory, and business interruption cost for a single incident.
Optional. Defaults to 28% if blank, reflecting industry phishing-report benchmarks for mature programmes.

Security outcomes depend on culture, attack mix, and layered controls. Validate assumptions with your risk committee before committing budget.

Examples

  • $65,000 programme cost, 12% baseline probability, $1,800,000 breach impact, 28% reduction ⇒ Baseline expected loss: $216,000.00 USD • Post-training expected loss: $155,520.00 USD • Risk reduction achieved: $60,480.00 USD • Net annual savings after training spend: -$4,520.00 USD • ROI: -6.95% • Probability reduction applied: 3.36%
  • $48,000 cost, 18% probability, $2,400,000 impact, 35% reduction ⇒ Baseline expected loss: $432,000.00 USD • Post-training expected loss: $280,800.00 USD • Risk reduction achieved: $151,200.00 USD • Net annual savings after training spend: $103,200.00 USD • ROI: 215.00% • Probability reduction applied: 6.30%

FAQ

How do I account for multi-year benefits?

Run the calculator with your three- or five-year average breach impact and adjust the reduction percentage if you expect programme maturity to improve over time, then compare against multi-year subscription costs.

What if my insurance carrier subsidises training?

Subtract the subsidy from the annual cost before entering it so the ROI reflects your net cash outlay after credits or discounts.

Can I compare managed phishing services versus DIY content?

Yes. Plug in each option's annual cost and expected risk reduction to see which delivers higher avoided losses and ROI, holding breach impact constant.

Does this include productivity gains from fewer incidents?

Not directly. Add expected labour savings to the breach impact number so the avoided loss captures soft costs as well as hard dollar expenses.

Additional Information

  • Baseline breach probability can come from cyber insurance underwriting models, FAIR analyses, or historic incident rates across your portfolio.
  • Probability reduction represents behavioural change from phishing simulations, reporting cadence, and policy compliance uplift.
  • ROI is calculated on a risk-adjusted basis—positive values mean the avoided loss exceeds programme spend for the year.

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