Business Finance
Break-Even Calculator
Find exactly how many units you need to sell — and how much revenue to generate — to cover all your fixed and variable costs.
Rent, salaries, insurance — costs that don't change with output.
Materials, packaging, direct labour — costs per unit sold.
How many units to sell to hit a specific profit target.
🔒 All calculations happen instantly in your browser. No data is sent to any server.
How the calculation works
Contribution Margin per Unit = Selling Price − Variable Cost per Unit
Break-Even Units = Fixed Costs ÷ Contribution Margin per Unit
Break-Even Revenue = Break-Even Units × Selling Price
Units for Target Profit = (Fixed Costs + Target Profit) ÷ Contribution Margin per Unit
Example: Fixed costs $10,000 · Price $25 · Variable cost $10
Contribution margin = $15 · Break-even = 10,000 ÷ 15 = 667 units ($16,667 revenue)
Frequently Asked Questions
- The break-even point is the sales volume at which total revenue equals total costs — neither profit nor loss. Below it you're losing money; above it every additional unit generates profit equal to the contribution margin.
- Fixed costs stay the same regardless of output: rent, annual software licences, salaries of permanent staff, insurance, loan repayments, and depreciation. They don't change whether you sell 1 unit or 1,000.
- Variable costs change directly with production volume: raw materials, packaging, payment processing fees, direct commission, and shipping. Each additional unit adds exactly the variable cost per unit.
- Three ways: raise your selling price (increases contribution margin), reduce variable costs (also increases contribution margin), or cut fixed costs. Raising prices is typically the fastest lever.
- Contribution margin ratio = Contribution Margin ÷ Selling Price. It tells you what percentage of each sales dollar is available to cover fixed costs and then profit. A 60% CMR means $0.60 of every dollar sold contributes to fixed costs.
- Yes — especially useful for service businesses with no single unit price. Break-even revenue = Fixed Costs ÷ Contribution Margin Ratio. This calculator shows both automatically.