Free Break-even Calculator for Business
Free break-even calculator. Find your break-even point in units and revenue instantly. Includes break-even formula, Excel guide, and industry examples.
Profit Margin Calculator
Calculate profit margins from revenue and costs
Results Dashboard
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Enter your cost and selling price to see detailed margin analysis
Product Comparison
| Product | Cost | Price | Margin % | Profit | Actions |
|---|
Gross Margin
Net Margin
Markup %
Total Profit
ROI
Per-Unit Breakdown
Margin Gauge
Cost Breakdown
How to Use This Break-even Calculator
The break-even calculator does the formula instantly. What matters is entering the right numbers.
The Break-even Formula
The break-even point tells you exactly how many units you need to sell before your business stops losing money. Use this break-even calculator by entering your fixed costs, variable cost per unit, and selling price above — results appear instantly.
But understanding the math behind the break-even point formula matters. A restaurant needs to run the break-even calculator before they open. A Shopify seller needs it before they run their first ad. Once you're past break-even, your profit margin on each additional unit determines how fast you grow.
Say your fixed costs are $3,000/month. You sell candles at $25 each with $10 in variable costs. Contribution margin = $15. Run the break-even calculator: $3,000 ÷ $15 = 200 units.
Need break-even in revenue? The break-even calculator handles this too — it divides fixed costs by your contribution margin ratio (contribution margin ÷ selling price).
Break-even Analysis Example
A candle business running the break-even formula:
Sell 200 candles and you cover costs. Unit 201 is pure profit. Each unit beyond break-even contributes $15 to the bottom line.
Fixed vs. Variable Costs
Getting these two categories right is the whole game. Mis-classify them and your break-even calculator results will be wrong — and you'll commit to numbers you can't hit.
Fixed costs don't change with production volume. Enter them in the break-even calculator to see how they define your floor. Setting the right markup on your pricing ensures each unit's contribution margin is high enough to cover those fixed costs efficiently. You pay them whether you sell 1 unit or 10,000. Rent, insurance, salaried staff, equipment leases — these are your fixed costs. They define the floor you have to cover before you make anything.
Variable costs scale with every unit you make or sell. Raw materials, direct labor (hourly), shipping per order, payment processing fees, platform commissions. Each unit you produce adds these costs.
One common mistake: forgetting to include your own time. Solo founders often run break-even calculations without assigning a cost to their labor. Their break-even looks achievable — but they're working 60 hours a week for $0/hour to hit it.
Some costs are semi-variable — they're fixed up to a point, then jump. A warehouse lease is fixed until you need a bigger one. Model these as fixed at your current scale, then recalculate when you cross the threshold.
Fixed Costs
Variable Costs
When in doubt: if the cost disappears when you sell zero units, it's variable. If it stays, it's fixed.
Break-even Analysis in Excel
When you're modeling multiple products or pricing scenarios, Excel helps. For individual products or quick scenario checks, the break-even calculator above is faster.
Spreadsheet Setup
Build your break-even model with these columns:
Scenario or product name
Fixed Costs
Selling Price per Unit
Variable Cost per Unit
Contribution Margin = =(C2-D2)
Break-even Units = =(B2/E2)
Break-even Revenue = =(F2*C2)
Contribution Margin Ratio
💡 Scenario Testing
Use Excel's Data Table (What-If Analysis) to see break-even units at multiple price points simultaneously. Put selling prices along one axis, fixed cost scenarios along the other. You'll see exactly where your break-even is achievable — or start with the break-even calculator above to test scenarios one at a time, much faster.
Example: Three Pricing Scenarios
| Scenario | Price | Var Cost | CM | BEP Units |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | $20 | $10 | $10 | 300 |
| Base Case | $25 | $10 | $15 | 200 |
| Aggressive | $35 | $10 | $25 | 120 |
Fixed costs: $3,000. Price increase from $20 → $35 cuts break-even by 60%.
Build the Break-even Chart
In Excel, plot two lines:
Where the lines cross is your break-even point. Investors and partners understand this chart instantly — it's worth building for any pitch.
Break-even Calculator: Real Industry Examples
Same formula, very different numbers. Here's what the break-even calculator reveals in three industries.
Restaurant Break-even Calculator
Restaurants have razor-thin contribution margins because food cost is high and variable. Run the restaurant break-even calculator for a fast-casual doing $80K/month in revenue with 32% food costs:
The break-even calculator shows this restaurant is barely above break-even. One bad week and they're underwater. The lever that matters most: reduce food cost by 4 percentage points (from 32% to 28%) through menu engineering and waste reduction. New break-even drops to ~$73K — an $8K monthly buffer.
E-commerce Break-even Calculator
A Shopify seller with $15K in monthly fixed costs, selling at $65 with $28 in variable costs per order:
Ad spend is a fixed cost if you're running it every month. Always include it. Need to compare multiple products' profitability? Use the comparison calculator to rank them by contribution margin. A seller hitting 406 orders without ads but spending $8K/month on Meta is still losing money.
SaaS Break-even Calculator
SaaS economics are different — variable costs per user are near zero, so almost everything is fixed. Use the break-even calculator for a small SaaS at $49/month with $25K in monthly costs:
But SaaS has churn. At 3% monthly churn, you're losing ~16 subscribers per month at break-even. Factor that in — you need to acquire 16+ new subscribers every month just to stay flat, more to grow.
Five Ways to Lower Your Break-even
10% price increase on a product with $30 contribution margin adds $3 per unit. At 300 units/month, that's $900/month directly off your break-even requirement.
Every dollar off your variable cost raises contribution margin by a dollar. Negotiate supplier pricing, optimize packaging, switch to a cheaper payment processor.
Audit every software subscription, renegotiate rent, move to contract labor during slow periods. A 15% reduction in fixed costs cuts break-even by 15%.
Before adding headcount, opening a second location, or increasing ad spend, recalculate break-even. Know what you're committing to before you commit.
Annual break-even hides cash flow problems. A business that breaks even annually can still run out of cash in Q1. Calculate monthly and watch the trend.
Use the Break-even Calculator
Before You Commit
Run the break-even calculator before pricing, launching ads, or hiring. It's free and takes 30 seconds.
Open the Break-even Calculator — FreeFrequently Asked Questions
Common questions about the break-even calculator, formulas, and how to apply the results.