Profit Margin Calculator
Work out profit margin, markup and selling price from any two numbers, see your price with GST and how many units you need to break even. Then paste your whole price list and get a price for every product that hits your target margin. Free, no signup, nothing leaves your browser.
Supplier prices went up. Did your price list?
Most margin leaks are price lists that did not move when costs did. A free Make scenario can watch your supplier price sheet or purchase bills, recalculate every product, and email you the items that have dropped below your target margin, every week.
See how small businesses automate this Start free on MakeAffiliate link: if you sign up to Make through it, The Gantry may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Pricing hundreds of products from spreadsheets, with costs in one file and prices in another? Book a free 20-minute systems review.
How to calculate profit margin
Profit margin is profit as a share of the selling price: margin = (price − cost) ÷ price × 100. Sell for S$50 something that cost S$35 and the profit is S$15, so the margin is 15 ÷ 50 = 30%.
How to price for a target margin
Divide the cost by one minus the target margin: price = cost ÷ (1 − margin). For a 35% margin on a S$35 cost, that is 35 ÷ 0.65 = S$53.85. The common mistake is adding 35% to the cost (S$47.25), which gives a margin of only 25.9%. That gap is the difference between margin and markup, and across a whole price list it adds up to real money.
Gross margin and net margin
This calculator works out gross margin per product: the price minus the direct cost of the item. Net margin is what is left after every overhead (rent, salaries, software, interest) is paid, divided by total sales. A product can carry a healthy gross margin while the business still loses money, if the overheads are bigger than the total gross profit. The break-even box shows how many units a month cover your fixed costs.
Margins and GST
Work out margins on prices excluding GST. The GST you charge is collected for IRAS, not earned, and if you are GST-registered the GST on your purchases is normally claimed back, so the cost excluding GST is the right cost too. The calculator shows the GST-inclusive price separately, and "Show prices incl. GST" does the same for the whole list.
Margin to markup
| Margin | Markup needed |
|---|---|
| 10% | 11.11% |
| 15% | 17.65% |
| 20% | 25.00% |
| 25% | 33.33% |
| 30% | 42.86% |
| 35% | 53.85% |
| 40% | 66.67% |
| 50% | 100.00% |
Repricing more than a handful of products? Paste them into "Price a whole list" above with your target margin and a rounding rule, and download the new prices as a CSV for your POS, shop or accounting software.
Questions
What is a good profit margin? It depends on the trade and on how much overhead each sale has to carry. A distributor with low overheads can live on thinner gross margins than a shop paying high rent. Rather than a rule of thumb, check your margins against your own fixed costs with the break-even box.
What is the formula for selling price from cost and margin? Selling price = cost ÷ (1 − margin). For a 40% margin on a cost of 60, the price is 60 ÷ 0.6 = 100.
How do I convert markup to margin? Margin = markup ÷ (1 + markup). A 50% markup is a 33.3% margin, and a 100% markup is a 50% margin.
Can I calculate margins for my whole price list? Yes. Paste the list from Excel or Google Sheets, or upload a CSV, set your target margin and rounding, and download the repriced list. Everything runs in your browser.
More free tools that do the work: invoice and quotation generators, the timesheet calculator and the overdue invoice reminder writer.
