Estimate the sales needed to cover your small business’s fixed and variable costs. Enter a price and cost per unit, or variable costs as a percentage of sales, to calculate break-even units or revenue for one period. Add a profit target and planned sales to explore the result, then print or download your analysis. The model assumes stable costs and pricing; it does not forecast demand, cash flow or tax.
Free, no sign-up · USD · Monthly, quarterly or annual planning · Reviewed Oct. 9, 2026
Keep fixed costs and planned sales in the same period.
Enter costs and your pricing model, then calculate.
Find the sales required to cover costs, explore a profit target and check your plan against the threshold.
Inputs stay in this page’s memory and clear on refresh. This tool does not send financial values to analytics or include them in URLs.
Use a single month, quarter or year. Identify fixed costs and variable costs separately, split mixed costs and avoid counting one cost twice. The selected period only labels your figures; changing it does not prorate or annualize them.
In unit mode, contribution is selling price minus variable cost per unit. Divide by price for the contribution ratio. In revenue mode, contribution ratio is one minus variable costs as a share of sales. A positive ratio is needed to cover positive fixed costs.
Divide fixed costs by unit contribution or the contribution ratio. Add the profit target to fixed costs for target sales. Round unit requirements upward to whole units or revenue requirements upward to cents. For planned percentage-mode sales, variable costs round to cents.
The SBA’s break-even guidance describes the unit and sales formulas and why mixed costs need separate fixed and variable portions. This tool uses those planning principles without applying a sales buffer automatically.
A $50 selling price minus $20 variable cost leaves $30 contribution per unit, or 60% of revenue. With $3,000 monthly fixed costs, 100 units produce $5,000 revenue and cover costs. At 140 units, $7,000 revenue less $2,800 variable costs and $3,000 fixed costs leaves $1,200 modeled profit before tax. A $1,500 profit target requires 150 units and $7,500 sales.
With $6,000 monthly fixed costs and variable costs at 40% of sales, the contribution ratio is 60%. Break-even revenue is $10,000. To earn $3,000 modeled profit before tax, required sales are $15,000: $15,000 sales minus $6,000 variable costs and $6,000 fixed costs leaves $3,000 profit.
Illustrations, not client results or evidence of achievable sales. Load either checked example in the calculator.
For one stable product or service price, divide fixed costs by selling price minus variable cost per unit. For revenue planning, divide fixed costs by the contribution-margin ratio: one minus variable costs as a share of sales. Keep costs and sales in one consistent period. The result is a planning estimate of cost coverage, not a demand forecast.
Fixed costs stay constant within the sales range and period modeled, such as rent or a fixed salary. Variable costs change with sales, such as materials, packaging or commissions. Mixed costs have both components; split them and count each amount once. A cost that changes after a capacity threshold needs a separate scenario.
Yes. Choose % of sales and enter the aggregate variable cost percentage. With $6,000 fixed costs and 40% variable costs, 60% of sales remains to cover fixed costs, so theoretical break-even revenue is $10,000. The mode assumes the ratio stays stable; it does not model changes in product mix.
The contribution margin is zero or negative. With positive fixed costs, no finite sales level covers those costs under the entered assumptions. With zero fixed costs, zero sales cover zero costs, but sales do not create positive contribution. Review pricing and cost assumptions before setting a positive profit target.
Unit mode treats units as indivisible. If theoretical break-even is 100.2 units, you need 101 whole units to cover the modeled costs. The calculator shows the theoretical threshold and the revenue from the rounded-up whole-unit quantity separately. Revenue mode rounds its required sales threshold upward to cents.
Yes. A profit target adds to fixed costs before dividing by contribution. Optional planned units or revenue show modeled profit or loss and a signed margin of safety relative to theoretical break-even revenue. Blank planned sales skips the forecast; an entered zero is a zero-sales scenario.
It means planned revenue is below theoretical break-even revenue in the positive-contribution model. The percentage divides that signed difference by positive planned revenue. At zero planned sales, the percentage is unavailable. If contribution is zero or negative, this calculator does not report a margin-of-safety measure.
The calculator includes only the fixed and variable costs you enter. It does not calculate tax, debt-principal schedules, financing recovery or cash-flow timing. Owner draws, asset purchases and loan principal are not automatically operating expenses. Classification and timing require separate review; a profitable scenario can still lack cash.
Yes. The complete result, print/browser Save PDF and text download are free without an account or email. Entries stay in this page’s memory and clear on refresh. Tool analytics records named actions and a fixed tool identifier without your financial inputs. Save the analysis before leaving.
Planning estimate in USD for one consistent period. Assumes fixed costs remain constant and price/variable costs or the aggregate variable-cost ratio remain stable. Includes only entered costs and excludes tax estimates, cash-flow timing, financing recovery, demand and capacity forecasts, changing sales mix and step costs. A modeled break-even result does not establish business viability.
Published and maintained by IntegraFin Tax & Accounting. Product and source review: October 9, 2026. No tax-year rates are used. Review the model when pricing, costs, capacity or sales mix changes. Tool limits are shown in the form; extreme required sales outside the safe calculation range cannot be produced. No individual professional assurance is claimed.