Last updated: 2026-10-15
Moving from capex to opex means replacing a large upfront purchase (capital expenditure) with recurring operating costs, such as a monthly lease. For IT equipment, the shift keeps cash in the business, makes the budget predictable and moves the risk of ageing devices to a provider. The trade-off: the total paid over the contract is usually higher than the purchase price. IT leasing is the most common way to make that switch for laptops and phones.
This guide covers the decision side: when the move makes sense, what it does to your cash position, how lessees account for it in each country, and the steps to take. For depreciation schedules and rates, see our guide to computer depreciation.
What does moving from capex to opex mean for IT?
For IT, moving from capex to opex means you stop buying laptops, phones and servers as fixed assets and pay for their use instead, through a lease, a rental or a device-as-a-service subscription. The devices are no longer a one-off investment depreciated over several years: they become a monthly line in your operating budget, often bundled with warranty, repairs and renewal.
Capex: definition
Capex, or capital expenditure, is spending on assets the company will use for more than one financial year: machines, vehicles, buildings, furniture and IT equipment. The cash leaves the company on the day of purchase, while the cost reaches the profit and loss account gradually through depreciation. A purchase therefore weighs on cash flow well before the asset has paid for itself.
Opex: definition
Opex, or operating expenditure, covers the recurring costs needed to run the business day to day: salaries, rent, subscriptions, subcontracting, and leases or rentals. Opex is expensed in the period it is incurred. Some of it is controllable (tools, suppliers, service contracts) and some is not, but it always follows activity rather than requiring a single large payment upfront.
Capex vs opex for IT: the key differences
The difference between capex and opex in IT comes down to four things: when the cash goes out, how the cost appears in the accounts, who carries the risk of the device losing value, and how easily the fleet can grow or shrink. The table below compares the two models for a laptop fleet.
Criterion | Capex (buying) | Opex (leasing or subscription) |
|---|---|---|
Cash out | Full amount at purchase | Spread over the contract, usually monthly |
Accounting (local GAAP) | Fixed asset, depreciated over its useful life | Lease payments expensed as they fall due |
Residual value risk | Carried by the company (resale, wiping, disposal) | Carried by the lessor |
Warranty and repairs | Bought separately or handled internally | Often included in the contract |
Scaling up or down | New purchase for each hire, idle stock when people leave | Devices added or returned under contract terms |
Refresh cycle | Decided case by case, often delayed when cash is tight | Built into the contract, typically every 3 years |
Effect on EBITDA | Depreciation sits below EBITDA | Lease expense reduces EBITDA under most local GAAP |
Why switch from capex to opex?
Companies switch from capex to opex mainly to protect their cash. A growing company would rather spend its cash on hiring, product and sales than on assets that lose value every month. The other reasons follow from that: lower opportunity cost, more flexibility when headcount changes, a budget that is easier to forecast, and equipment that is renewed on a fixed schedule instead of when there is money left.
Preserving your cash flow
Buying equipment ties up cash on day one, and that cash only comes back over the years the asset is used. Leasing spreads the same need over the contract, so the cash position barely moves when you equip a new team. The risks attached to ownership, such as breakdowns, resale and end-of-life disposal, also move to a provider that specialises in them.
This matters most for companies that finance growth with equity or venture debt. Every amount locked in hardware is an amount that does not fund runway.
Limiting opportunity costs and improving flexibility
Opportunity cost is what the cash spent on equipment could have earned elsewhere in the business. When a company buys its laptops, that money is no longer available for a hire, a marketing campaign or a new market. Leasing frees it up, and it also makes the fleet easier to adjust when the company grows, restructures or opens an office abroad.
Owned assets are slow to adjust. When headcount drops, someone has to store, wipe, resell or recycle the surplus devices, and the residual value is rarely what the spreadsheet assumed.
Greater predictability
A lease turns an irregular series of purchases into a fixed monthly amount per device. Finance teams can forecast the IT budget from the hiring plan alone: one new employee equals one more monthly payment. There is no spike when a batch of laptops reaches end of life at the same time, and no surprise repair invoice in the middle of the year.
Constantly updated equipment
Most leasing contracts include a renewal at the end of the term, usually after three years for laptops. Employees work on current hardware, such as Apple's M5-generation MacBooks or recent Windows 11 laptops, instead of keeping ageing devices because the budget for replacements was not approved. Returned devices are refurbished and resold or donated, which extends their life.
Up-to-date equipment also affects security (supported operating systems and patches), productivity and how the company is perceived by candidates and clients.
Cash flow impact: buying vs leasing your laptops
Buying laptops means paying the full amount on day one, and the cash is tied up for the life of the devices. Leasing turns that purchase into fixed monthly payments, with no deposit, so the cash stays available for hiring and growth. The worked example below shows the gap month by month for a 50-laptop fleet over three years. See how IT equipment leasing works.
Worked example: 50 laptops over 3 years
Over three years, a 50-laptop fleet bought outright needs much more cash upfront but costs less in total than the same fleet leased, and the cash gap only closes after about 31 months. All values below are indexed: the purchase price of one laptop equals 100. They are hypotheses to show the mechanics, not market or Fleet prices, so apply them to your own quotes.
Purchase price (hypothesis): base 100 per laptop, paid in month 1, so 5,000 for the 50-laptop fleet.
Lease payment (hypothesis): 3.2% of the purchase price per laptop per month, over 36 months.
Resale value after 3 years (hypothesis): 15% of the purchase price, before the cost of wiping and reselling.
Cost of capital (hypothesis): 10% per year, used to discount the lease payments.
Cumulative cash out per laptop (purchase price = 100) | Buying | Leasing | Cash kept by leasing |
|---|---|---|---|
Month 1 | 100 | 3.2 | 96.8 |
Month 12 | 100 | 38.4 | 61.6 |
Month 24 | 100 | 76.8 | 23.2 |
Month 36 | 100 | 115.2 | -15.2 |
Month 36, after resale | 85 | 115.2 | -30.2 |
Multiply by 50 for the whole fleet. Three findings come out of this example. In month 1, leasing keeps almost the full purchase price (96.8% of it) in the bank, and the company still has more cash than with a purchase for about two and a half years. Over the full term, the lease costs more in nominal terms: 15% more than the purchase price, and about 35% more if the company actually manages to resell the devices for 15% of their value. Discounting changes the picture: at a 10% annual cost of capital, the 36 lease payments are worth about 101 today, roughly the purchase price.
Is opex leasing more expensive than buying?
In nominal terms, yes: the sum of the lease payments is usually higher than the purchase price, because it includes financing and the lessor's margin. The comparison is only fair if the purchase scenario also includes everything the lease covers: extended warranty, repairs, replacement devices, logistics, data wiping, resale and the staff time spent on all of it.
Two questions decide the case. What return does your company earn on the cash it keeps, compared with the extra cost of the lease? And how much does owning the fleet really cost once you add the services above? A scale-up whose cash funds growth will usually find the lease worth it; a profitable company with surplus cash and an in-house IT team may not.
What the example does not show
The P&L effect is different from the cash effect. When you buy, each laptop reaches the P&L as about 33 of depreciation per year (on the base of 100), below EBITDA. When you lease under local GAAP, the 38.4 of yearly payments per laptop is an operating expense that reduces EBITDA. Companies valued or financed on an EBITDA multiple should model this before switching, ideally with their accountant.
How is IT leasing treated in each country?
How a lease appears in the accounts depends on the framework your company reports under. In most local GAAPs (France, Germany for typical operating leases, Spain for operating leases), lease payments are expensed and the devices stay off the lessee's balance sheet. IFRS 16, US GAAP (ASC 842) and, from 2026, UK FRS 102 put most leases on the balance sheet, with exemptions that often cover laptops.
Framework | Country | Lessee treatment of an IT lease | What it means for the decision |
|---|---|---|---|
PCG | France | Rental and leasing payments are recorded as expenses (account 612 for crédit-bail, 613 for rentals); leasing commitments are disclosed in the notes | Full opex treatment in the statutory accounts |
HGB | Germany | Under the leasing decrees, the lessor usually keeps the asset when the basic term is between 40% and 90% of the useful life and no favourable option exists | Opex treatment for typical contracts; check the attribution with your Steuerberater, as computer hardware has had an optional one-year useful life for tax since 2021 |
PGC | Spain | Operating leases are expensed; finance leases (arrendamiento financiero) are recognised as an asset and a liability | Opex only if the contract qualifies as an operating lease |
FRS 102 | UK | For periods starting on or after 1 January 2026, most leases go on the balance sheet, with exemptions for short-term and low-value leases | Cash benefit unchanged; accounting benefit depends on the low-value exemption |
IFRS 16 | Groups reporting under IFRS | Right-of-use asset and lease liability, unless the lease is short-term or of a low-value asset such as a computer | Laptop leases often qualify for the exemption and stay expensed |
ASC 842 | US | Operating leases go on the balance sheet, but the P&L shows a single straight-line lease cost | Cash benefit unchanged; balance sheet grows |
The cash effect of leasing is the same in every country: what changes is how the contract appears in the financial statements. This page focuses on the capex vs opex decision; depreciation rates and capitalisation thresholds are covered in our computer depreciation guide. Have your chartered accountant review the classification of your contract before you sign.
How to turn some capex into opex?
Turning capex into opex starts with an audit, not a contract. List the equipment you own and plan to buy, model the cash and P&L impact of leasing it, check how your accounting framework will classify the contract, then compare offers on the total service delivered, not only on the monthly payment. Move in waves, starting with new hires and devices due for renewal.
Map your current and planned equipment. List devices by type, age and owner, and add the purchases in your hiring plan for the next 12 to 24 months.
Decide what to keep as capex. Long-life assets with stable usage, or devices already fully depreciated, may be cheaper to keep. Laptops and phones, renewed every three years, are the usual candidates for opex.
Model cash and P&L side by side. Rebuild the worked example above with your own figures, your cost of capital and your real resale values.
Check the accounting classification. Confirm with your accountant whether the contract will be treated as an operating lease, a finance lease or a right-of-use asset in your framework.
Compare offers on the full service. Include warranty, repairs, replacement devices, delivery, security management and end-of-life handling, as well as exit terms.
Plan the transition. Lease devices for new hires first, then replace owned devices as they reach end of life, and decide whether to resell or keep the existing fleet.
The contract terms deserve a closer read than the monthly figure: our guide to understanding IT leasing contracts covers duration, early termination and end-of-term options.
Practical box: checklist before moving IT spend to opex
Before signing a first lease, check that the financial case, the accounting treatment and the operational process are all covered. Most failed transitions come from one missing item: an EBITDA covenant nobody modelled, a purchase scenario costed without services, or no process for devices returned by leavers.
Cost of capital or expected return on the cash kept, agreed with the CFO
Purchase scenario costed with warranty, repairs, logistics, wiping and staff time
Realistic resale value for owned devices, based on past disposals
EBITDA impact modelled and checked against bank covenants or investor reporting
Contract classification confirmed by your accountant (PCG, HGB, PGC, FRS 102, IFRS 16 or ASC 842)
Exit clauses checked: early return, lost or damaged devices, end-of-term buyout
Process for new hires, leavers and device returns defined before the first order
Move your IT budget from capex to opex with Fleet
Switching to opex raises practical questions as much as financial ones: comparing a monthly payment with a purchase that excludes warranty and repairs, modelling the EBITDA effect, checking how the contract is classified, and organising returns when people leave. Each step can be handled in-house, but each one adds time, risk and cost for the finance and IT teams.
Fleet manages the full device lifecycle in one platform, across 150+ countries, from ordering a laptop to its second life:
Fixed monthly budget: devices are paid for through a monthly subscription with no upfront investment, so IT costs move to opex.
Warranty and repairs included: full warranty coverage, repairs and a loaner device for the whole contract.
Renewal and second life: devices are renewed every three years, and Fleet handles refurbishment, resale or donation.
Real-time visibility: every device, its user and its status are tracked in the Cockpit dashboard.
Delivery for new hires: devices are delivered to employees in 3 to 5 working days.
More than 2,000 companies already manage over 100,000 devices with Fleet. Check our pricing, see why companies choose Fleet, or book a demo to model your own move from capex to opex.
FAQ
The questions below are the ones finance teams ask most often when they compare buying and leasing IT equipment, from accounting classification to the effect on EBITDA. Each answer stands on its own, so it can be shared with a founder, an auditor or a board member without the rest of the guide.
Is leasing capex or opex?
It depends on the type of lease and the accounting framework. An operating lease or rental is usually opex under local GAAP such as the French PCG or German HGB. Finance leases, and most leases under IFRS 16, ASC 842 and FRS 102 from 2026, are recognised on the balance sheet, although leases of low-value assets like computers can often still be expensed.
Are laptops capex or opex?
Purchased laptops are generally capex: they are used for more than a year and depreciated over their useful life, often three years. Some countries allow small items to be expensed directly below a capitalisation threshold. Leased or rented laptops are generally opex, subject to the classification rules of your framework.
Does moving from capex to opex reduce EBITDA?
Under most local GAAP, yes. Lease payments are operating expenses deducted before EBITDA, whereas depreciation on purchased equipment sits below it. Under IFRS 16 and FRS 102 from 2026, leases recognised on the balance sheet are split into depreciation and interest, so EBITDA is not reduced, unless the low-value or short-term exemption applies.
What are the disadvantages of switching to opex?
The total paid over the contract is usually higher than the purchase price, you do not own the equipment at the end, and early termination can carry fees. Under local GAAP, EBITDA is also lower. These drawbacks are often offset by the cash kept, the services included and the absence of resale and disposal work.
Conclusion
Moving IT spend from capex to opex is first a cash decision: it keeps money available for growth and turns hardware into a predictable monthly cost, at the price of a higher nominal total. The right answer depends on your cost of capital, the services the purchase scenario really requires, and how your accounting framework classifies the contract.
See how Fleet handles this in practice
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