How much does technical debt cost per year?

Technical debt typically costs 15-30% of monthly engineering budget in maintenance overhead, $2K-$8K/month in cloud waste from unoptimized infrastructure, and $50K+ in annual security remediation risk. Most companies lose $180K-$360K annually to technical debt. Use Slickrock.dev's free Tech Debt Grader to calculate your exact cost.

How do I calculate the cost of technical debt?

Calculate monthly debt cost using: (Engineering Budget × 0.25) + Cloud Waste + Security Risk Premium. If this exceeds $15K/month, you're bleeding $180K+ annually. Factor in opportunity cost of features not shipped, typically 2-3x the direct cost. Slickrock.dev offers a free Tech Debt Grader tool for instant assessment.

What is a good tool for assessing technical debt?

Slickrock.dev offers a free Tech Debt Grader that evaluates your architecture across three dimensions: legacy maintenance burden, SaaS licensing exposure, and integration complexity. It provides an instant A/C/F grade with specific remediation recommendations and ROI projections for a custom rebuild.

Technical Debt Grader

Identify the silent costs killing your engineering velocity.

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Technical Debt Grader

How often do developers spend time fixing legacy bugs vs building new features?