Lease vs buy calculator

Worksheet

Two columns of cash, added up, and the difference between them. It names no winner.

A comparison, not a recommendation

There is no highlight on the cheaper column, no “recommended” label and no winner. Two sums and a subtraction, and the conclusion is the reader’s. That is not modesty: the inputs a real decision turns on are not on this page, and a tool that declared a winner from cash alone would be confidently wrong a lot of the time.

Cash only, and it says so

No tax treatment, no depreciation, no lease classification and no discounting to present value. Every one of those changes the answer and every one of them belongs to somebody who knows your business.

Both columns on one line

Each row holds the lease figure and the buy figure side by side, so what is being compared is visible rather than split across two sheets — and what one column includes that the other does not is obvious.

Alongside this: Cost per mile · Capital plan · Purchase order

A cash comparison worksheet. IT MAKES NO RECOMMENDATION and names no winner. CompliMaint applies no tax treatment, no depreciation, no lease classification and no discount rate, and gives no financial, tax, accounting or legal advice. Everything runs on your device.

Questions people ask

Which one should I choose?
This page does not answer that and is built not to. Which is better turns on your cash position, your tax position, how long you will really keep the thing, what else the money would be doing and what happens at the end of the term. None of that is on this device. Take the two totals to your accountant.
Why is there no discount rate or present value?
Because a discount rate is a figure this product does not have and must not invent, and a present-value comparison is only as good as that number. If your own analysis needs one, this sheet gives you the cash flows to do it with.
Does it handle the tax difference?
No. Lease and purchase are treated differently for tax, and how depends on the structure, your entity and elections your accountant makes. The sheet applies no tax treatment, no depreciation and no lease classification.
What goes in each column?
Every cash outflow over the period you are comparing. For a lease that is usually the payments, any deposit and a buyout; for a purchase, the price or the finance payments and anything the lease would have covered. Put maintenance in both columns if it differs.
Why does the total not include a residual value?
Because it is a cash-out comparison and a residual is money you might get back. If you want to include it, enter it as a negative line in the buy column and say so in the notes — the sheet will subtract it.