Break-Even Calculator
How many units must you sell to cover your costs?
Free break-even calculator: enter fixed costs, variable cost per unit and selling price to find your break-even point in units and revenue. Results are estimates for illustration only, not financial advice.
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About Break-Even Calculator
Every business idea eventually meets one question: how much do I have to sell before I stop losing money? The break-even point is the answer, the number of units where total revenue finally covers total costs, and every sale after that starts earning. Enter your fixed costs, your variable cost per unit, and your selling price, and this calculator returns the break-even in both units and revenue dollars, which is the number you can pin above your desk.
The concept doing the heavy lifting is contribution margin: price minus variable cost, the slice of each sale that actually attacks your fixed costs. A $40 product with $15 of variable cost contributes $25 per sale toward rent, salaries, and subscriptions. That reframing is powerful, because it turns vague “sell more” pressure into a concrete target, and it instantly reveals when the math can't work: if variable cost meets or beats the price, each sale deepens the hole, and the tool says so plainly instead of printing a fantasy number.
The most common mistake is an incomplete fixed-cost list. Founders remember rent and forget their own salary, the software subscriptions, insurance, and the payment-processor fees hiding in every transaction. Be thorough and slightly pessimistic; a break-even target built on honest costs is a plan, while one built on forgotten costs is a surprise. Results are estimates for illustration only and are not financial advice.
How to use Break-Even Calculator
- Enter your total fixed costs.
- Enter variable cost per unit and selling price per unit.
- Read your break-even point in units and revenue.
Why use this tool?
- Break-even in both units and revenue
- Warns you if the price can't ever break even
- Estimates for illustration only, not financial advice
Tips for best results
- Include your own salary or owner draw in fixed costs, “breakeven” that doesn't pay you isn't a real target.
- Watch contribution margin per unit, not just price: cutting variable cost by $2 can move break-even more than a price hike customers would notice.
- If the tool says you can never break even, the fix is one of three things: raise price, cut variable cost, or cut fixed costs, there is no fourth option.
- For seasonal businesses, compute break-even against your slow months' volume, not the annual average.
- Revisit the numbers quarterly; supplier price changes quietly move your break-even without telling you.