Free Break-Even Calculator
How it works
Enter your fixed costs, the price you charge per unit, and the variable cost of making or delivering one unit. The calculator finds your break-even point — the exact number of units you must sell before every cost is covered and profit begins.
Break-Even Calculator
Find exactly how many units you must sell before your business starts making profit.
1 Fixed costs
2 Per-unit numbers
3 Find your break-even point
🎯 Your break-even point
How the math works
Every sale contributes the gap between price and variable cost — the contribution margin — toward covering fixed costs. So break-even units = fixed costs ÷ (price − variable cost per unit), and break-even revenue is those units times the price. If the price is at or below the variable cost, the margin is zero or negative and no break-even exists: each sale loses money, so selling more only digs the hole deeper.
Everyday uses
- Pricing a new product: see how the break-even point moves when you raise or lower the price by a few dollars.
- Freelancers and consultants: treat one project as a “unit” and find how many projects a month covers your costs.
- Testing a side hustle: plug in rough numbers before you spend anything and see whether the idea can ever cover its costs.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as a fixed cost? Anything you pay whether or not you sell: rent, salaries, insurance, software subscriptions, loan payments. Costs that grow with each sale — materials, packaging, transaction fees — are variable instead.
Why are the units rounded up? You cannot sell a fraction of a unit. The exact figure might be 412.3 units; rounding up to 413 gives the first whole number of sales at which all fixed costs are fully covered.
Can I use this for a service business? Yes — define one “unit” as one client, project, or billable hour, the price as what you charge for it, and the variable cost as what delivering it directly costs you (subcontractors, per-project tools, travel).