Business
Break-even point calculator
Find out how many units you must sell to cover your costs. Enter fixed costs, price per unit, and variable cost per unit to see your break-even point.
- Break-even units
- 1,000
- Break-even revenue
- $25,000.00
- Contribution / unit
- $10.00
Each unit contributes (price − variable cost) toward fixed costs. Break-even is where those contributions exactly cover fixed costs.
What break-even actually tells you
The break-even point is the sales volume at which total revenue exactly equals total costs — no profit, no loss. Below it you lose money; above it you profit. It’s one of the most useful sanity checks in business: before launching a product or setting a price, knowing how many you need to sell to cover costs turns a hopeful guess into a testable target.
Fixed vs variable costs
Break-even hinges on splitting costs into two kinds — see fixed vs variable costs. To understand pricing, costs, and profit in depth, explore the Business subject.
Frequently asked questions
- How do you calculate the break-even point?
- Divide fixed costs by the contribution margin per unit (price minus variable cost per unit). If fixed costs are $10,000 and each unit contributes $10, you break even at 1,000 units. This tool does it as you type.
- What is the contribution margin?
- The contribution margin per unit is the selling price minus the variable cost of making one unit. It’s the amount each sale "contributes" toward covering your fixed costs — and, once fixed costs are covered, toward profit.
- What if there is no break-even point?
- If the price is at or below the variable cost per unit, every sale loses money, so no volume can ever cover the fixed costs. The tool flags this — the fix is to raise the price or reduce the variable cost.
- Is it free and private?
- Yes — nothing is stored and there’s no sign-up. It all runs in your browser.