Enter fixed costs, price and variable cost per unit to see the units and dollars needed to break even, plus months from monthly sales.
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Every product has two kinds of cost. Fixed costs are the money you spend whether you sell anything or not — rent, salaries, equipment, subscriptions. Variable costs are the money spent on each individual unit — materials, packaging, per-unit shipping. The difference between the selling price and the variable cost per unit is the contribution margin: the part of each sale that is left over to pay off the fixed costs.
The break-even point is the number of units you must sell so that total revenue exactly equals total cost — profit is zero. Below that number you lose money; above it, every additional unit sold becomes profit. It is the single most common first question when pricing a product or launching a business.
Fixed costs are expenses that do not change with the number of units produced — rent, salaries, insurance, equipment, monthly software subscriptions. Variable costs are the costs that scale with every unit — raw materials, packaging, per-unit shipping, commissions. If a cost depends on volume, treat it as variable; if it is the same whether you sell 1 unit or 1,000, it is fixed.
The margin of safety is how far actual (or projected) sales are above the break-even point, expressed in units or dollars. A large margin of safety means the business can absorb slower sales, a price cut or a cost increase without falling into losses. A small or negative margin means you are operating close to the red line.
No. Break-even is the threshold where you stop losing money; profitability is what happens above that threshold. Two businesses with the same break-even point can be very different: one with a high price per unit reaches it in few units but earns a large profit per unit, while a low-price business needs far more volume for the same result.
No. Every figure is computed by JavaScript in your browser tab and disappears when you close the page. Nothing is stored, transmitted or shared — safe to use for sensitive business numbers.
If you just finished with Break-Even Calculator, the natural next steps are ROI Calculator, Discount Calculator, VAT Reverse Calculator, or browse every tool in Cross-border Finance.