Enter your fixed costs, variable costs, and selling price to find your exact break-even point in units and revenue.
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Break Even Calculator
Enter your fixed costs, variable costs, and selling price to find your exact break-even point in units and revenue.
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Break Even Analysis
Break Even Units
—
units to sell
Break Even Revenue
—
revenue needed
Contribution Margin
—
per unit
CM Ratio
—
% of price
Formulas Used
BEP Units = Fixed Costs ÷ (Price − Variable Cost)
BEP Revenue = Fixed Costs ÷ Contribution Margin Ratio
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What Is the Break-Even Point?
The break-even point is the exact number of units you need to sell (or revenue you need to generate) to cover all your costs — both fixed and variable. At the break-even point, profit is zero. Every unit sold above that point generates pure profit.
Understanding your break-even point is essential before launching a product, setting prices, or taking on debt. It tells you the minimum performance required for your business to survive — and how far above that minimum you currently operate.
📊 Real Business Example
A candle maker has $3,000/month in fixed costs (rent, equipment, insurance). Variable cost per candle: $8. Selling price: $22.
Selling 250 candles means $500 profit. Selling 300 means $1,200 profit. The math is clear once you know your break-even.
How to Use This Break-Even Calculator
Enter your fixed costs — costs that don't change with volume (rent, salaries, insurance, software subscriptions).
Enter your variable cost per unit — costs that scale with each sale (materials, direct labor, shipping).
Enter your selling price per unit — what customers pay per item or order.
The calculator shows break-even units, break-even revenue, and contribution margin per unit.
Frequently Asked Questions
The break-even point is the number of units you must sell (or revenue you must generate) for total revenue to equal total costs — resulting in zero profit or loss. Above the break-even point, you make money. Below it, you lose money.
Break-Even Units = Fixed Costs ÷ (Selling Price − Variable Cost Per Unit). The (Selling Price − Variable Cost) is called the Contribution Margin — what each sale contributes toward covering fixed costs.
Contribution margin is selling price minus variable cost per unit. It's what each sale 'contributes' to covering fixed costs. Once enough units are sold to cover all fixed costs, each unit's contribution margin becomes pure profit.
Four ways: (1) Increase selling price, (2) Reduce variable costs per unit, (3) Reduce fixed costs, (4) Shift to a higher-margin product mix. Reducing fixed costs is often most impactful because it shifts the break-even permanently lower.
Yes. Break-Even Revenue = Fixed Costs ÷ Contribution Margin Ratio. The CM ratio = Contribution Margin ÷ Selling Price. Our calculator shows both break-even units and break-even revenue automatically.
That's a negative contribution margin — you lose money on every unit sold. No amount of volume will make the business profitable. You must either raise prices or reduce variable costs before the business model is viable.
Break-even analysis lets you test pricing scenarios instantly. Raising prices by $2 might seem small, but if it reduces your break-even from 500 to 350 units, you achieve profitability with 30% less volume — dramatically reducing risk.
Margin of safety = (Current Sales − Break-Even Sales) / Current Sales × 100. If you're selling 400 units and break-even is 250, your margin of safety is 37.5% — sales could fall 37.5% before you lose money. Higher margin of safety = more business resilience.