01 Price your work
Pricing & profit margin calculator
Enter what one unit costs you and what you charge, or the margin you want to keep. See your margin, your markup and the profit on each sale.
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It runs in your browser, and JavaScript is turned off or blocked here. Turn it on to use the calculator, or work it out by hand with the formula and worked example below.
Your result
Enter a unit cost and a selling price, or switch to a target margin.
You will see
- Gross margin and markup, side by side
- Profit or loss on each unit
- The math with your numbers
Your figures stay in this browser tab. Nothing is saved or sent.
What to enter
- Unit cost
- What it costs you to make, buy or deliver one unit: materials or the product itself, packaging, inbound shipping, and direct labor if you count it per unit. Leave out rent and other costs you pay no matter how much you sell; the break-even calculator handles those.
- Selling price
- What the customer pays you for one unit, before any sales tax you collect.
- Target margin
- The share of the selling price you want to keep as gross profit, from 0% up to, but not including, 100%.
How it is calculated
- Profit per unit
- Selling price − Unit cost
- Margin
- Profit per unit ÷ Selling price
- Markup
- Profit per unit ÷ Unit cost
- Price for a target margin
- Unit cost ÷ (1 − Target margin)
Margin and markup start from the same profit but divide by different numbers. When you make a profit, markup is always the larger percentage.
This is gross margin on one unit. Overhead such as rent, salaries and software is not part of it.
Worked example
A product costs you $18.00 to make and you sell it for $30.00.
- Profit per unit
- $30.00 − $18.00 = $12.00
- Margin
- $12.00 ÷ $30.00 = 40%
- Markup
- $12.00 ÷ $18.00 = 66.7%
You keep $12.00 of every $30.00 sale before overhead: a 40% margin, which is the same as a 66.7% markup.
Common questions
What is the difference between markup and margin?
Both start from the profit on one unit. Markup divides it by your cost; margin divides it by the selling price. A product that costs $18.00 and sells for $30.00 earns $12.00: a 66.7% markup and a 40% margin.
Is a 50% markup the same as a 50% margin?
No. A 50% markup on an $18.00 cost gives a $27.00 price and a 33.3% margin. To keep a 50% margin you would charge $36.00, which is a 100% markup.
What is a good profit margin?
There is no single right number. It depends on your industry, your costs and how you sell. A more useful test is whether the profit on each sale, times the sales you can realistically make, covers your fixed costs. The break-even calculator shows how many sales that takes.
What if my price is below my cost?
The calculator shows the loss on each unit and a negative margin. Selling more at that price makes the total loss bigger, so the fix is a higher price or a lower unit cost.
Want a second look at your numbers?
Go Big Accounting prepares budgets and financial statements for small businesses, so you can see what each part of the business earns.