Opportunity Cost Calculator
See what you give up financially by choosing one path over another: enter your amount, the return on your chosen option and the return you could have earned on the best alternative, then the calculator shows the foregone wealth over your chosen time horizon.
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years
Foregone wealth: what the best alternative would have earned above your chosen path
- 1
Chosen path future value
10,000 × (1 + 0.02)^10 = 12,189.94 - 2
Alternative path future value
10,000 × (1 + 0.07)^10 = 19,671.51 - 3
Opportunity cost
19,671.51 − 12,189.94 = 7,481.57
How does this calculator work?
Opportunity cost = Alt FV − Chosen FV = A × [(1+r_alt)^t − (1+r_chosen)^t]. Enter your amount, the return on what you chose (can be 0 for pure spending), the return on the best alternative, and the time horizon to see the compounding gap in future value.
Formula
How this is calculated
Opportunity cost is the value of the best foregone alternative — the return you could have earned if you had made a different choice. In finance, it is most visible when comparing investment paths: money parked in a low-yield account (or spent entirely) grows far less than the same amount invested in higher-returning assets over time, and compound growth magnifies that gap dramatically.
The calculator computes the future value of each path using continuous compound growth: FV = A × (1 + r)^t, where A is the starting amount, r is the annual rate of return, and t is the horizon in years. The opportunity cost is the difference in future values — the upper line on the chart is the alternative you gave up; the lower line is what your chosen path delivers.
This model assumes constant annual returns, which is an idealisation — actual investment returns vary year by year, involve fees and taxes, and carry risk. The rates entered are editable estimates; for a realistic comparison use historical average returns net of fees and inflation for the asset classes being compared.
Frequently asked questions
Opportunity cost is what you sacrifice by making one choice instead of another. If you spend £10,000 on a car instead of investing it at 7% annually, the opportunity cost after 10 years is roughly £9,700 — the extra wealth you would have had by investing.
Use the realistic net return of the best available alternative — for example, the long-run average of a global equity index fund (historically ~7–8% real, ~9–10% nominal in the US) or the current savings rate at the best available bank account. Be consistent: compare gross vs gross or net vs net.
Yes — if your chosen option earns more than the best alternative, the "opportunity cost" is negative, meaning you made the better financial choice. The calculator will show a negative figure in that scenario.
Also known as
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team. (2026). Opportunity Cost Calculator [Online calculator]. TG we-Calculate. https://we-calculate.com/calculator/opportunity-cost-calculator
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team. "Opportunity Cost Calculator." TG we-Calculate. 2026. https://we-calculate.com/calculator/opportunity-cost-calculator.
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team, "Opportunity Cost Calculator," TG we-Calculate, 2026. [Online]. Available: https://we-calculate.com/calculator/opportunity-cost-calculator
@misc{wecalculate_opportunity_cost_calculator, title = {Opportunity Cost Calculator}, author = {{TG we-Calculate Editorial Team}}, howpublished = {\url{https://we-calculate.com/calculator/opportunity-cost-calculator}}, year = {2026}, note = {TG we-Calculate} }
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