Break-Even Calculator

Break-Even Calculator – Calculate Your Break-Even Point | FinanceCalculatr

Entry — Break-Even

Calculate how many units you need to sell to cover your costs and reach your break-even point. See your break-even sales, contribution margin, and estimated profit or loss.

Entry — Break-Even
$

Costs that generally don’t change with sales volume — rent, salaries, insurance, subscriptions.

Fixed costs can’t be negative.

$

Selling price must be greater than $0.

$

Costs that change per unit — materials, packaging, shipping, commissions.

Variable cost can’t be negative.

Profit & Loss at Expected Sales
Target Profit Calculator
$
Margin of Safety

Uses the expected units sold above to estimate how far you are above (or below) break-even.

Multi-Product Analysis (optional)

Add products to estimate a sales-mix-weighted contribution margin. Results depend heavily on your assumed mix.

ProductPriceVar. costMix %
ℹ️ How this works. This uses the standard contribution-margin break-even model — it assumes constant price and per-unit cost within the range you’re analyzing.
Break-even units
0
Break-even sales
$0
Price $0 − Var. cost $0 = Contribution margin $0
  • Fixed costs$0
  • Selling price per unit$0
  • Variable cost per unit$0
  • Contribution margin per unit$0
  • Contribution margin ratio0%
Revenue vs Total Cost
Line chart of revenue and total cost as units sold increase, with the break-even point marked where the lines cross.
Revenue Total cost Break-even point

Weigh Your Options

Compare Break-Even Scenarios

Edit the “Lower Costs” and “Higher Price” columns to test alternative assumptions against your current numbers.

ScenarioSelling PriceVariable CostFixed CostsBreak-Even Units
Current $0 $0 $0 0
Lower Costs $0 0
Higher Price $0 $0 0

The Math

Break-Even Formula

Break-even analysis rests on one core idea: how much of each sale is left over, after variable costs, to cover your fixed costs.

Contribution Margin = Selling Price − Variable Cost Break-Even Units = Fixed Costs ÷ Contribution Margin per Unit Break-Even Sales = Break-Even Units × Selling Price
  • Selling Price — what you charge per unit.
  • Variable Cost — cost that changes with each unit sold.
  • Fixed Costs — costs that don’t change with volume, within the relevant range.
  • Contribution Margin — what’s left from each sale to cover fixed costs and profit.

Worked Example

Break-Even Calculator Example

Fixed costs
$10,000
Selling price
$50
Variable cost
$30
Contribution margin
$50 − $30 = $20
Break-even units
$10,000 ÷ $20 = 500 units
Break-even sales
500 × $50 = $25,000

Selling fewer than 500 units means a loss under these assumptions; selling exactly 500 means $0 profit; selling more than 500 means each additional unit adds $20 of profit.

Understanding The Basics

What Is a Break-Even Point?

  • 01

    Where revenue equals total costs

    At the break-even point, total revenue exactly covers total costs — profit and loss are both $0.

  • 02

    Fixed costs

    Costs like rent and salaries that generally don’t move with sales volume.

  • 03

    Variable costs

    Costs like materials or commissions that scale with each unit sold.

  • 04

    Revenue

    Total sales — units sold multiplied by the selling price.

  • 05

    Contribution margin

    What each sale contributes toward fixed costs, and eventually, profit.

  • 06

    Profit

    What remains once fixed and variable costs are both fully covered.

A Key Distinction

Fixed Costs vs Variable Costs

Actual cost behavior depends on your specific business and the relevant range of activity — these are common examples, not universal rules.

Fixed Costs

  • Rent
  • Salaries
  • Insurance
  • Software subscriptions
  • Certain administrative expenses

Variable Costs

  • Materials
  • Packaging
  • Per-unit shipping
  • Sales commissions

Two Related Numbers

Break-Even Units vs Break-Even Sales

Break-even units is the number of individual units you need to sell.

Break-even sales is the revenue figure that corresponds to that unit count — break-even units multiplied by your selling price. In the worked example above, that’s 500 units and $25,000 in sales.

“Units tell you how much to sell. Sales revenue tells you what that looks like in dollars.”

Transparency

Break-Even Calculator Assumptions

  • 01

    Constant selling price

    The basic model assumes one selling price across all units in the relevant range.

  • 02

    Constant variable cost per unit

    Per-unit costs are assumed not to change with volume.

  • 03

    Constant fixed costs

    Fixed costs are assumed stable within the range being analyzed.

  • 04

    Sales measured in units

    The model assumes output can be reasonably counted in discrete units.

  • 05

    Constant product mix

    Multi-product analysis assumes your sales mix stays as entered.

  • 06

    Clean cost classification

    Costs are assumed to split cleanly into fixed and variable categories.

  • 07

    Real businesses are more complex

    Step costs, supplier price changes, discounts, taxes, seasonality, and capacity limits aren’t captured here.

Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

The break-even point is the level of sales at which total revenue equals total costs — profit is exactly zero at that point.
Divide total fixed costs by the contribution margin per unit (selling price minus variable cost per unit).
Contribution margin is the amount left from each sale, after variable costs, that goes toward covering fixed costs and then generating profit.
Fixed costs generally stay the same regardless of how many units you sell, like rent or salaries. Variable costs change with each unit sold, like materials or commissions.
The contribution margin becomes zero, meaning no amount of sales volume alone can cover fixed costs — a normal break-even point can’t be reached under those assumptions.
Break-even sales revenue is the total dollar amount of sales at the break-even point — break-even units multiplied by the selling price.
Generally, raising your selling price, lowering variable costs per unit, or reducing fixed costs will lower your break-even point, assuming other factors stay the same.
Add your desired profit to fixed costs, then divide by the contribution margin per unit — this gives the units needed to hit that specific profit target.
Yes, using a weighted-average contribution margin based on your assumed sales mix — though results depend heavily on how accurate that mix assumption is.
No. It’s an estimate based on the costs and prices you enter. Real businesses face changing costs, demand, and other factors not captured in a basic break-even model.

Find your own break-even point.

Free, fast, and no account required — run the calculator above with your own costs and pricing.

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