Profit Margin Calculator
Work out margin, markup, selling price, cost or profit from any two numbers you already have — then layer in payment fees, shipping and fixed costs to see the margin you actually keep and the units you need to break even.
- ✓ Solve for any unknown
- ✓ Margin and markup together
- ✓ Payment & platform fees
- ✓ Break-even units
- ✓ Any currency
Your numbers
Real-world deductions
Margin and markup are not the same number
This is the single most expensive mistake in small-business pricing. A 50% markup is only a 33.3% margin. Price a product believing you kept half of it and you have quietly given away a third of your profit on every sale.
margin = (price − cost) ÷ pricemarkup = (price − cost) ÷ costprice = cost ÷ (1 − margin)price = cost × (1 + markup)margin = markup ÷ (1 + markup)units = fixed costs ÷ profit per unitWorked example: a product costs 40 and you want a 45% margin. Dividing by 0.55 gives a price of 72.73, not the 58 you would get by adding 45% to cost. That difference is 14.73 per unit.
Why this beats a plain margin calculator
Solves in four directions
Give it any two of cost, price, margin or markup and it returns the rest. No separate page for each combination and no re-entering numbers.
Fees are subtracted
A 2.9% plus 0.30 processor fee, a marketplace commission or a shipping cost quietly eats margin. Enter them and see the margin you actually bank.
Break-even in the same view
Add your fixed costs for the month and get the number of units that covers them, calculated from net profit rather than gross.
Margin and markup side by side
Both figures appear together on every result, so a supplier quoting markup and a spreadsheet tracking margin stop contradicting each other.
Totals for a real order book
Enter units sold and get period revenue, total gross profit and total net profit, not just a single-unit figure.
Instant and private
Everything runs in your browser as you type. No account, no email wall, nothing stored, and your pricing never leaves the page.
How to use the profit margin calculator
- Pick what you are solving for
Setting a price from a target margin, converting a supplier markup, checking the margin on an existing price, or working backwards to the cost you can afford to pay.
- Enter your two known numbers
Unit cost means the landed cost of one item: the product plus duty, inbound freight and anything else that scales with volume.
- Add the deductions
Turn on the second panel for payment fees, a flat per-order charge, outbound shipping and packaging, then your fixed costs and units for the period.
- Compare gross with net
The headline number is gross margin. The row beneath shows what survives fees and shipping, and that is the figure your bank balance will agree with.
Markup to margin conversion table
Read this before you accept a supplier’s “keystone” or a distributor’s markup figure.
Markup → margin
| Markup | Margin | Price on cost 100 |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | 9.1% | 110.00 |
| 20% | 16.7% | 120.00 |
| 25% | 20.0% | 125.00 |
| 30% | 23.1% | 130.00 |
| 40% | 28.6% | 140.00 |
| 50% | 33.3% | 150.00 |
| 75% | 42.9% | 175.00 |
| 100% | 50.0% | 200.00 |
| 150% | 60.0% | 250.00 |
| 200% | 66.7% | 300.00 |
Margin → markup
| Margin | Markup | Price on cost 100 |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | 11.1% | 111.11 |
| 20% | 25.0% | 125.00 |
| 25% | 33.3% | 133.33 |
| 30% | 42.9% | 142.86 |
| 40% | 66.7% | 166.67 |
| 50% | 100.0% | 200.00 |
| 60% | 150.0% | 250.00 |
| 70% | 233.3% | 333.33 |
| 75% | 300.0% | 400.00 |
| 80% | 400.0% | 500.00 |
What margin should you be aiming for?
Typical ranges only. Your own numbers depend on volume, competition, overheads and how much of the work you do yourself.
| Business type | Typical gross margin | Typical net margin |
|---|---|---|
| Grocery & convenience | 25 to 30% | 1 to 3% |
| General retail | 35 to 50% | 3 to 7% |
| Restaurants (food) | 60 to 70% | 3 to 9% |
| Ecommerce & DTC brands | 40 to 60% | 5 to 12% |
| Professional services | 50 to 70% | 15 to 30% |
| Software & SaaS | 75 to 85% | 10 to 25% |
| Construction & trades | 20 to 35% | 4 to 10% |
What better margin discipline gets you
- ✓Prices that survive contact with fees. A 40% gross margin can land near 32% once a processor, a marketplace and a shipping label have taken their share.
- ✓Honest discounting. A 20% off promotion on a 30% margin product leaves 12.5%. Seeing that before you run the sale changes the offer.
- ✓Supplier negotiations with a number. Working backwards from price and target margin tells you the exact landed cost you can accept.
- ✓A break-even you can plan around. Fixed costs divided by net profit per unit is the sales target that keeps the lights on.
- ✓Product mix decisions. High revenue and low margin lines flatter the top line and starve the business. The comparison makes that obvious.
- ✓No more markup confusion. Everyone in the conversation ends up quoting the same number in the same units.
Profit margin calculator FAQs
What is the difference between margin and markup?
Both describe the same gross profit, but they divide it by different numbers. Margin divides profit by the selling price, markup divides it by the cost. On a product costing 40 and selling for 100, the profit is 60: that is a 60% margin but a 150% markup. Margin can never exceed 100%, while markup has no ceiling.
How do you calculate profit margin?
Subtract the cost from the selling price, divide the result by the selling price, then multiply by 100. A product that costs 40 and sells for 72.73 gives a profit of 32.73, and 32.73 divided by 72.73 is 0.45, or a 45% gross margin. Use landed cost rather than the invoice price so freight and duty are included.
How do I price a product to hit a target margin?
Divide the cost by one minus the margin expressed as a decimal. For a 45% margin on a cost of 40 the price is 40 divided by 0.55, which is 72.73. Adding 45% to the cost instead gives 58 and a real margin of only 31%, which is the mistake this formula exists to prevent.
How do I convert markup to margin?
Divide the markup by one plus the markup. A 50% markup becomes 0.5 divided by 1.5, which is 33.3% margin. Going the other way, divide the margin by one minus the margin: a 40% margin needs a 66.7% markup. The conversion tables above cover the common values.
What is a good profit margin?
It depends entirely on the model. Grocery runs on 1 to 3% net because volume is enormous; software often clears 75% or more gross because the marginal cost of another copy is near zero. As a rough rule for small businesses, a 10% net margin is respectable, 20% is strong and under 5% leaves no room for a bad quarter.
What is the difference between gross, operating and net margin?
Gross margin subtracts only the direct cost of what you sold. Operating margin also subtracts running costs such as rent, salaries and marketing. Net margin subtracts everything left, including interest and tax. This calculator works at the gross level, then lets you add fees, shipping and fixed costs to approach the operating picture.
Do payment processing fees count against margin?
Yes, and they are usually treated as a cost of sale. A typical online rate of 2.9% plus a flat 0.30 costs 3.20 on a 100 sale, which is 3.2 points of margin gone before shipping. On low-value items the flat portion hurts most, which is why order minimums and bundles exist.
How do I calculate break-even units?
Divide your fixed costs for the period by the profit you make on one unit after variable costs. If fixed costs are 2,000 a month and each unit nets 28.43 after fees and shipping, you break even at 71 units. Every unit after that contributes its full net profit.
Price it properly before you list it
Set the margin you need, let the calculator find the price, then check what survives fees and shipping.
Calculate my margin →