Break-Even Calculator
Break-even units and revenue from fixed costs, variable cost and price, scenarios side by side, with contribution margin, target-profit volume, safety margin.
How many units each scenario must sell to cover its fixed costs, at what revenue, and how far expected sales sit above that line — comparable across prices and cost structures.
Example: Fixed costs 50,000, variable cost 12, price 30 → contribution 18 per unit (60 %), break-even at 2,778 units or 83,340 in revenue; a 20,000 profit needs 3,889 units.
Each unit pays its own cost
and a share of the rent.
What contribution margin is, how the break-even point is found, what the target and safety figures add, and what the model leaves out.
The model
Costs are split into fixed (rent, salaries, tooling — the same whatever you sell) and variable (materials, packaging, fees — incurred per unit). Each unit sold contributes price minus variable cost towards the fixed costs; that is the contribution margin, also shown as a share of the price. Break-even is the volume at which contributions exactly cover fixed costs: fixed ÷ contribution margin, rounded up because units are whole. Multiply by the price for break-even revenue. A target profit is treated as an extra fixed amount to cover. If the price does not exceed the variable cost, no volume breaks even, and the page says so instead of dividing by zero.
Scenarios and margin of safety
Rows are independent scenarios — a higher price, a cheaper supplier, a bigger workshop — computed with the same rules so their break-even points can be compared on one line. With an expected volume entered, the page adds the profit at that volume and the margin of safety: how far expected sales sit above break-even, as a share of expected sales. A negative safety margin means the plan loses money at the expected volume.
What the model does not capture
A single product at a single price; step changes in fixed costs (a second machine at some volume); volume discounts on variable cost; taxes; the time value of money. For a product mix, run one scenario per product with its own share of the fixed costs, or use a blended contribution margin. Nothing you enter leaves the browser; the same four anonymous usage counts as the rest of the site apply.