Break-Even Calculator
Find how many units (or how much revenue) you need to cover your fixed costs at a given price and variable cost per unit.
Quick answer: Find how many units (or how much revenue) you need to cover your fixed costs at a given price and variable cost per unit.
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Frequently asked questions
- What is the break-even point?
- The number of units you need to sell at a given price to recover your fixed costs. Below this point you lose money; above it, every additional sale is profit.
- What's the formula?
- Break-even units = fixed costs / (price per unit − variable cost per unit). The denominator is also called the contribution margin per unit.
- What if price equals variable cost?
- Then contribution margin is zero and you'll never break even — every sale recovers exactly its own variable cost but contributes nothing toward fixed costs. The calculator shows '∞' in that case.
- Should I include my salary in fixed costs?
- If you want to know when you start covering yourself: yes, include the salary you actually want to draw. If you want to know when the business covers its overhead: only include staff costs and exclude founder pay.
- What goes in variable cost per unit?
- Anything that scales with each unit sold: materials, manufacturing, packaging, shipping, payment processing fees, sales commissions.
- What goes in fixed costs?
- Anything that doesn't scale per unit: rent, software subscriptions, full-time salaries, insurance, base utilities.
- Are my numbers uploaded?
- No — every calculation runs locally in your browser.
- How does break-even affect pricing?
- If your break-even is too high to be realistic, you have three levers: cut fixed costs, cut variable cost per unit, or raise the price. The calculator makes it cheap to try each scenario.
- What's the difference between break-even units and break-even revenue?
- Units is the number of items sold. Revenue is units × price. Use revenue when items vary in price or you sell services.
- Does break-even include income tax?
- No — this is a pre-tax operating break-even. Tax kicks in only on profits, so it doesn't affect the break-even point itself.