Break-Even Point Calculator
Find out exactly how many units you need to sell before you start turning a profit.
How to use this tool
- 1Enter your total fixed costs.
- 2Enter the price per unit.
- 3Enter the variable cost per unit.
- 4Read your break-even point in both units and revenue.
About this tool
Before launching a product or taking on a piece of work, the break-even point turns a vague hope of profitability into a concrete number you can test against reality. This calculator takes your fixed costs, your price per unit and your variable cost per unit, and returns how many units must be sold to cover everything, along with the revenue that represents and the contribution margin on each sale. The contribution margin is the figure worth watching: if it is thin, small changes in cost swing the break-even point dramatically. If the variable cost is above the price, the tool says so plainly rather than returning a nonsense number, because at that point no volume will make the maths work.
Frequently Asked Questions
What counts as a fixed cost?
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Costs that do not change with production volume, such as rent, software subscriptions or salaries.
What if my variable cost is higher than my price?
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The calculator shows that break-even is unreachable at that pricing — a sign the price or the cost structure needs adjusting.
What is contribution margin?
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Price minus variable cost — the amount each sale contributes toward covering your fixed costs.