Markup & Margin Calculator

A markup calculator connects unit cost, selling price and gross profit. This tool also calculates gross margin, solves a selling price from a target percentage, works backward from selling price to cost, and converts markup percentages to margin percentages.

Start with Cost & Selling Price when you know both amounts. Choose a solving mode when one value is missing. Each mode makes only the necessary fields editable; switching modes retains your other entries.

First find the profit per unit: selling price minus the selected unit cost. Divide that profit by cost and multiply by 100.

For an item costing 80 and selling for 100, gross profit is 20. Markup = 20 ÷ 80 × 100 = 25%. This says the selling price is 25% above the cost basis.

If additional direct costs are enabled, the denominator includes them. A base cost of 80 plus 5 in packaging makes total unit cost 85. Selling for 100 then gives profit 15 and markup approximately 17.65%.

A profit margin expresses profit as a percentage of revenue. For a single product, its selling price is the revenue per unit. Gross margin and net margin describe different levels of profit; they should not be treated as interchangeable.

This calculator uses only the base cost and flat additional direct costs you enter. It does not infer overhead, tax, financing costs or other business expenses. The result is a pricing calculation on that selected cost basis.

Gross margin (%) = (selling price − unit cost) ÷ selling price × 100.

With cost 80 and selling price 100, gross profit is 20 and margin = 20 ÷ 100 × 100 = 20%. The same transaction has 25% markup because markup divides by 80 instead.

Selling below cost is supported. Cost 120 and selling price 100 give a loss of 20, markup approximately −16.67% and margin −20%. Negative results remain negative rather than being recast as a positive profit.

Markup uses cost as the denominator. Gross margin uses selling price. Both start with the same gross profit, so the percentages answer different questions.

Markup asks how much profit sits on top of cost. Margin asks what share of selling price remains after the selected costs. A 50% markup is a 33.33% margin; a 50% margin requires a 100% markup on positive cost.

For positive profit and positive cost, markup exceeds margin because cost is the smaller denominator. The two are both zero at break-even when cost and selling price are equal and positive.

Let C be total unit cost, P selling price and G gross profit per unit. Then:

• G = P − C.
• Markup (%) = G ÷ C × 100.
• Margin (%) = G ÷ P × 100.

Zero denominators need separate handling. If cost is zero, markup is undefined. If selling price is zero, margin is undefined. A zero-cost item selling for 100 has profit 100 and margin 100%, while its markup remains undefined.

Inputs and results are retained at numerical precision, with rounding applied to display strings. Amounts and aggregate totals are limited to 1 trillion to keep the supported financial range explicit.

Selling price = total unit cost × (1 + markup ÷ 100). A cost of 80 with 25% markup gives 80 × 1.25 = 100. With 30% markup, the price is 104.

This is cost-plus arithmetic. It calculates the price implied by your chosen markup; it does not determine what customers will pay or an optimal market price.

Negative markups down to −100% can model selling below cost. A −100% markup on positive cost gives zero price, so gross margin becomes undefined. Markups below −100% would imply a negative selling price and are rejected.

Selling price = total unit cost ÷ (1 − target margin ÷ 100). For cost 80 and target margin 30%, calculate 80 ÷ 0.70 = 114.285714…: approximately 114.29.

The 30% margin is a share of the selling price, rather than a 30% addition to cost. Applying 30% markup instead would produce 104 and an achieved margin of approximately 23.08%.

The target-margin solver requires positive total cost and a target below 100%. At 100% the denominator is zero. With zero cost, use Cost & Selling Price to evaluate an explicit price instead of asking this solver to infer one.

For a known selling price and markup, total unit cost = selling price ÷ (1 + markup ÷ 100). A price of 100 and markup 25% give total cost 80.

For a known selling price and margin, total unit cost = selling price × (1 − margin ÷ 100). A price of 100 and margin 30% give total cost 70.

When extra direct costs are enabled in a reverse mode, they are included within the solved total cost. For example, total cost 80 with 5 in known additional costs leaves base cost 75. Additional costs cannot exceed the solved total, because that would imply a negative base cost.

The reverse-margin mode can evaluate 100% margin as zero cost. That is different from solving a selling price for positive cost at 100% target margin, which is not finite.

Margin = 100 × markup ÷ (100 + markup). To reverse it, markup = 100 × margin ÷ (100 − margin). Enter percentages as ordinary numbers: use 25 for 25%, not 0.25.

These conversions assume positive cost and selling price. Markup must exceed −100% and margin must stay below 100% for the corresponding finite positive-cost conversion.

Enable quantity to multiply the unrounded per-unit values. For cost 60, selling price 100 and 50 items sold, total revenue is 5,000, total direct cost 3,000 and total gross profit 2,000.

Identical units at the same price and cost keep the same markup and gross margin. Quantity changes totals, not those per-unit ratios. This model does not introduce volume discounts, returns or changing unit costs unless you change the inputs.

The optional discount scenario reduces the solved or entered selling price while leaving unit costs unchanged. It appears separately from the original result.

With cost 70, original price 100 and a 10% discount, the new price is 90 and profit 20. Revised margin = 20 ÷ 90 × 100 ≈ 22.22%, compared with the original 30%.

Discounts can turn a profitable sale into a loss. A 100% discount gives zero selling price; margin is then undefined. A target price is solved before the optional discount, so its original target percentage is not silently guaranteed after discounting.

When cost represents cost of goods sold, gross profit is sales revenue minus that cost. Net profit accounts for the other expenses required by the applicable reporting definition, which can include operating expenses, interest and taxes. Net margin uses net profit divided by revenue.

The SEC’s guide to financial statements distinguishes cost of sales from later operating and financing expenses. If you include additional selling expenses in this tool, its selected-cost pricing result can differ from gross profit in formal accounts.

This tool does not calculate net margin or classify your accounting expenses automatically. The cost breakdown and exported assumptions show exactly which entered amounts were used.