Profit Calculator
Find your profit, profit margin and markup. Enter total revenue and cost, or switch to per unit mode to set a selling price, buying cost, quantity and discount. You can also reverse solve the revenue or cost needed to hit a target margin.
Formula
Worked example
Selling 45 units at $33 each that cost $25: revenue = 33 × 45 = $1,485, cost = 25 × 45 = $1,125, profit = $360. That is $8 per unit, a 24.2% margin and a 32% markup.
Profit, margin and markup
Profit is a dollar amount, what is left after you subtract total cost from total revenue. Profit margin expresses that same result as a percentage of revenue, which makes deals of different sizes easy to compare. Markup is the close cousin that measures profit against cost instead of revenue, so for the same sale the markup percentage is always larger than the margin. A $400 profit on $1,000 of revenue is a 40% margin but a 66.7% markup, because the cost base ($600) is smaller than the revenue base. Pricing teams set markup; finance teams report margin, and this calculator shows both from a single set of numbers.
Per unit, quantity and discounts
Switch to per unit mode when you know the selling price, the buying cost and how many units you sold. The calculator multiplies each by the quantity to build revenue and total cost, and reports the profit on every unit so you can see the contribution of one sale. A discount field knocks a percentage off the selling price before anything is calculated, which is the honest way to see what a promotion does to your margin. Selling 45 boxes at $33 that cost $25 each returns $8 of profit per box and $360 in total, but a 10% discount on the price quietly cuts that per unit profit and the whole margin with it.
Reverse solving for price or cost
Sometimes you start from the answer. The find revenue mode takes the profit you want and the margin you want, then tells you the revenue you must charge: revenue equals profit divided by the margin fraction. The find cost mode takes a known revenue and a target margin and returns the cost ceiling you must stay under to keep that margin, since cost equals revenue minus margin times revenue. Both are useful when quoting work or negotiating a supplier price, because they turn a margin goal into a concrete number you can act on rather than a percentage you hope to hit.
Choosing which cost to include
The margin you get depends on which costs you count. Using only the direct cost of goods sold gives gross profit margin; subtracting operating expenses, interest and taxes as well gives the much smaller net profit margin. Be consistent about what cost means each time, otherwise comparisons across products or periods become meaningless. This calculator treats whatever cost you enter as the full cost, so the margin and markup reflect exactly the costs you choose to include.
Reading a profit margin
| Margin | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Negative | Loss, costs exceed revenue |
| 0% | Break-even, revenue equals cost |
| 1-10% | Low, thin profit on each sale |
| 10-20% | Moderate, a healthy cushion for many businesses |
| Over 20% | High, a large share of revenue is kept |
Typical margins vary widely by industry; these bands are a rough guide.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate profit?
Subtract total cost from total revenue. If you took in $1,000 and spent $600, your profit is 1000 − 600 = $400. A positive result is a profit; a negative result is a loss. In per unit mode the calculator builds revenue and cost from price, cost and quantity for you.
How do I calculate profit margin and markup?
Margin is profit divided by revenue times 100, so $400 on $1,000 of revenue is a 40% margin. Markup is profit divided by cost times 100, so the same $400 on $600 of cost is a 66.7% markup. Margin is always measured against the sale price, markup against the purchase price.
What is the difference between profit, margin and markup?
Profit is a dollar amount. Margin is profit as a percentage of revenue, and markup is profit as a percentage of cost. Profit tells you how much you made; margin tells you how efficiently you turned sales into that profit; markup is the number you add on top of cost to set a price.
How do I find the price needed for a target margin?
Use the find revenue mode. Enter the profit you want and the margin you want, and the calculator divides profit by the margin fraction to give the revenue you must charge. The find cost mode does the reverse, returning the cost you must stay under to keep a margin on a known revenue.