Break-Even Calculator

How to use this calculator

1. Enter fixed costs per period — The calculator loads with a worked example already filled in, so you can see what a realistic set of figures looks like before replacing them with your own.
2. Fill in the remaining fields — Every field has a sensible default. Change the ones that apply to you and leave the rest.
3. Read the result — The answer updates as you type — there is nothing to submit. The rows beneath the headline show how it breaks down.
4. Expand the schedule — Where a year-by-year table is offered, open it. The breakdown over time usually shows something the single headline figure does not.
5. Share or print — Use the share button to copy a link with your figures already filled in, or print the result — the print stylesheet strips the navigation and adverts.

What this calculator works out

To use the Break-Even Calculator, enter your fixed costs per period, price per unit and variable cost per unit. The result — break-even units — updates as you type, with no button to press and nothing to submit. The calculation runs entirely in your browser, so the figures you enter are never sent anywhere.

How this is calculated

Margin is profit as a share of the selling price; markup is profit as a share of the cost. They are never the same number, and conflating them is how small retailers end up quietly unprofitable — pricing at cost plus 40% gives a 28.6% margin, not a 40% one.

A worked example

Take the values this page loads with:

• Fixed costs per period: $5,000.00
• Price per unit: $40.00
• Variable cost per unit: $22.00

On those figures the break-even units is 278. Broken down:

• Contribution per unit: 18.00
• Contribution margin: 45.00%
• Break-even revenue: 11,111.11
• Units per month for a 20% profit on fixed costs: 334
• Profit at double the break-even volume: 5,000.00

Change any field above and every figure here recalculates — these numbers are produced by the same formula the calculator runs, so they cannot drift apart from it.

What the figures mean

The headline figure answers the immediate question. These are the ones worth paying attention to:

• Contribution per unit — the figure worth watching when you change your inputs.
• Break-even revenue — the figure worth watching when you change your inputs.

Where a schedule is shown, expand it: the year-by-year breakdown usually reveals something the single headline number hides.

What this calculator assumes

Fixed costs stay flat and variable costs stay linear. In practice both step — bulk discounts cut the variable cost, and growth eventually forces fixed costs up.

Why it runs in your browser

Every calculation on this page is arithmetic, and arithmetic does not need a server. Running it locally means the result is instant, it keeps working if your connection drops, and — the part that matters — your salary, your debts and your medical measurements are never transmitted to us. There is no figure on our side to store, log or lose.

Where this calculator stops

A calculator applies the rules it is given to the figures you enter. It cannot see the rest of your circumstances, and real financial decisions are rarely decided by a single number.

Treat the result as a starting point for a conversation — with a lender, an accountant or an adviser — rather than as an answer. Where an institution will quote you a real figure, that figure is the one that counts: it will include fees, your credit profile and terms this page knows nothing about.

Keeping the figures current

The formula behind this page does not change, but the assumptions you should bring to it do — interest rates, inflation and market returns all move. Revisit the inputs rather than trusting a figure you calculated a year ago.