Profit Margin & Markup Calculator
Educational estimate only. All amounts are calculated locally in your browser.
Margin and markup answer different questions from the same two numbers. Pick what you already know, and this calculator solves for the rest — including markup, which is often confused with margin.
Results
- Price
- —
- Cost
- —
- Margin
- —
- Markup
- —
What these results mean
Margin and markup measure the same dollar profit against two different bases. Margin tells you what share of the sale price is profit; markup tells you how much you added on top of cost. They converge toward each other at low percentages and diverge sharply at high ones.
Worked example
A $20 price with a $10 cost gives a 50% margin and a 100% markup — the same $10 of profit, described two different ways. Switch to "Cost and target margin," enter $10 cost and 50% target margin, and the calculator solves back to the same $20 price — that's the "mutual calculation" this page is for.
Common mistakes
- Using markup and margin interchangeably. A 100% markup is only a 50% margin, not 100% — confusing the two leads to under-pricing.
- Applying a target margin percentage as if it were a markup percentage when setting prices manually. If you want a 50% margin, the price is cost ÷ 0.5, not cost × 1.5 (that gives a 33% margin).
- Forgetting that this page's margin and markup are on cost alone — they don't include shipping, fees, ad spend, or returns. For those, use the full profit calculator.
FAQ
- Why does the calculator show "—" for markup?
- Markup divides profit by cost. If cost is entered as $0, markup is undefined (any profit over zero cost is an infinite percentage), so the calculator shows "—" instead of a misleading number.
- Can I solve for a negative margin?
- Yes — entering a cost higher than price, or a target margin above 100%, is computed as entered so you can see what selling below cost actually looks like.
- Why does "Price and target margin" sometimes show a very low or negative cost?
- If your target margin is close to or above 100%, the implied cost approaches or goes below zero — that's a signal the target margin isn't achievable at that price, not a calculator error.