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Financial Calculators

Break-Even Calculator

Find how many units you must sell to cover your fixed costs, and how many more you need to reach a profit target. Useful for pricing, launching a product or testing a business idea.

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Rent, salaries, software and other costs that do not change with volume.

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Break-even units600exact: 600
Break-even sales
$30,000.00
Contribution per unit
$20.00
Contribution margin ratio
40%
Units for target profit
900
Step-by-step working
  1. Contribution per unit = $50.00 − $30.00 = $20.00
  2. Break-even units = $12,000.00 ÷ $20.00 = 600 → round up to 600
  3. With target profit: ($12,000.00 + $6,000.00) ÷ $20.00 = 900

How to use the Break-Even Calculator

  1. Enter your fixed costs for the period.
  2. Enter the price and variable cost per unit.
  3. Optionally add a profit target.
  4. Press Calculate.

Formula

Break-even units = Fixed costs ÷ (Price − Variable cost)

Break-even sales = Fixed costs ÷ Contribution margin ratio

Examples

  • Fixed 12,000, price 50, variable 30: 12,000 ÷ 20 = 600 units (30,000 in sales); 900 units for a 6,000 profit.

Frequently asked questions

What counts as a variable cost?

Anything that rises with each unit sold: materials, packaging, shipping, payment fees and sales commissions.

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