Break-Even Calculator
How many units to sell — or how much revenue to earn — to cover all costs.
100% in your browser — nothing uploadedCalculate the break-even point — units, revenue, and contribution margin
Decimals: use a period or a comma — 99.5 or 99,5.
How break-even analysis works and what the numbers tell you
The break-even point is the exact number of units you need to sell — or the revenue you need to earn — for total revenue to equal total costs, leaving zero profit and zero loss. Below it, you lose money on every day of operation. Above it, every additional sale is profit. It is the most fundamental number in any pricing decision, launch plan, or business case.
The formula is simple: divide your fixed costs by the contribution margin per unit. Fixed costs are expenses that do not change with sales volume — rent, salaries, insurance, software subscriptions. The contribution margin is the difference between the selling price and the variable cost per unit (materials, shipping, transaction fees — costs that scale with each sale). If your fixed costs are $10,000/month, your price is $50, and your variable cost is $25, each sale contributes $25 toward covering fixed costs, so you need 400 sales to break even.
The contribution margin ratio — contribution margin divided by price — tells you what percentage of each dollar of revenue goes toward covering fixed costs and eventually profit. A 50% margin ratio means half of every revenue dollar covers variable costs and the other half covers fixed costs (and then profit). Higher is better: it means you break even faster and each additional sale is more profitable.
Everything runs in your browser. No financial data is sent anywhere. The guide sections below show how to calculate the break-even point in Excel and SQL, which is useful for running the analysis across multiple products or scenarios at once.
Break-even formula and worked example
Break-even units = Fixed Costs / (Price per Unit - Variable Cost per Unit)
Example:
Fixed costs: $10,000/month
Price per unit: $50
Variable cost/unit: $25
Contribution margin: $50 - $25 = $25/unit
Break-even: $10,000 / $25 = 400 units
Break-even revenue: 400 × $50 = $20,000Break-even analysis in Excel or Google Sheets
A = fixed costs, B = variable cost/unit, C = price/unit
Contribution margin: =C2-B2
Contribution margin ratio: =(C2-B2)/C2*100
Break-even units: =CEILING(A2/(C2-B2), 1)
Break-even revenue: =CEILING(A2/(C2-B2), 1)*C2Break-even analysis in SQL
SELECT
product,
fixed_costs,
variable_cost,
price,
price - variable_cost AS contribution_margin,
ROUND((price - variable_cost) * 100.0
/ NULLIF(price, 0), 2) AS margin_ratio_pct,
CEILING(fixed_costs * 1.0
/ NULLIF(price - variable_cost, 0)) AS break_even_units,
CEILING(fixed_costs * 1.0
/ NULLIF(price - variable_cost, 0)) * price
AS break_even_revenue
FROM products
WHERE price > variable_cost;Reference tables
FAQ
What are fixed costs?
Costs that stay the same regardless of how many units you sell: rent, salaries, insurance, loan payments, software subscriptions. They exist whether you sell zero units or a million.
What are variable costs?
Costs that scale with each unit sold: raw materials, packaging, shipping, payment processing fees, sales commissions. If you sell one more unit, variable costs increase by the per-unit amount.
Is my financial data private?
Yes. All calculations run in your browser. No cost, price, or margin data is ever sent to a server.