Cost of ownership analysis (or total cost of ownership, TCO), is a business case designed especially to find the lifetime costs of acquiring, operating, and changing something.

Those who purchase or manage computing systems have had a high interest in cost of ownership since the 1980s, when the large difference between IT cost and IT purchase price became known. The five year cost of ownership for major computing systems can be five to eight times the hardware and software acquisition costs.

Today, however, TCO analysis is used to support acquisition and planning decisions for a wide range of assets that bring significant maintenance or operating costs across a usable life of several years or more. Total cost of ownership is used to support decisions involving computing systems, vehicles, laboratory and test equipment, medical equipment, manufacturing equipment, and private aircraft, for instance.

Good TCO analysis brings out the "hidden" or non-obvious ownership costs that might otherwise be overlooked in making purchase decisions or planning budgets.