Toolivaro

Free Break-Even Calculator

Find how many units you must sell — and at what revenue — to cover your fixed costs, from price and variable cost.

The break-even calculator computes the point where your revenue exactly covers your costs: enter the selling price, the variable cost per unit, and your total fixed costs, and it returns the contribution margin per unit, the break-even quantity in units, and the break-even revenue. The method is standard: every unit sold contributes price minus variable cost toward fixed costs, so the break-even quantity is fixed costs divided by that contribution. If the price is at or below the variable cost, the calculator refuses to compute — every sale then adds a loss and no break-even point exists. The calculator assumes the business is break-even in the accounting sense (operating profit of zero) and does not include taxes, interest, or one-off items unless you fold them into fixed costs. Full decimal precision is kept internally; rounding applies only to displayed units and money. Everything runs locally in your browser — your numbers never leave your device and are never logged. Use this calculator when launching a product, evaluating a price change, or checking how many subscriptions or items you need to sell each month.

Processed locally in your browser

Selling price per unit.

Costs that change with each unit sold.

Monthly or period costs that do not change with volume.

How is the result calculated?

Subscription launch: price 25, variable cost 15, fixed 10,000

A software subscription sells for $25/month and costs $15/month to deliver (hosting and support). Each subscription contributes $10 toward fixed costs of $10,000/month (office, salaries, tools). Break-even is 10,000 / 10 = 1,000 subscriptions, which is $25,000 of monthly recurring revenue. Selling 900 subscriptions still loses $1,000/month even though the product is profitable per unit.

Example input and output
Input Value
price 25.00
variableCost 15.00
fixedCosts 10000.00
Result Contribution $10.00/unit · break-even 1,000 units · $25,000.00 revenue

What is the formula and its assumptions?

Contribution margin per unit

contribution = price − variable cost per unit

Formula terms
Symbol Meaning
price selling price per unit
variable cost per unit cost that changes with each unit sold

Break-even units

break-even units = fixed costs / contribution per unit

Formula terms
Symbol Meaning
fixed costs costs that do not change with volume (rent, salaries, software)
contribution per unit price minus variable cost per unit

Break-even revenue

break-even revenue = break-even units × price

Formula terms
Symbol Meaning
price selling price per unit

Equivalently, fixed costs divided by the contribution ratio. The result is revenue, not units — quoting the wrong one is a classic mistake.

What are the most common mistakes?

  • Forgetting non-obvious variable costs (payment fees, per-unit shipping) and ending up below true break-even.
  • Quoting break-even revenue as units or vice versa — they differ by the price.
  • Assuming fixed costs stay fixed forever; step costs (a second hire, more office space) change the break-even at scale.

What are the assumptions and limitations?

  • Assumes constant price, cost, and volume relationship — no bulk discounts, price elasticity, or taxes.
  • Break-even here means zero operating profit; it is not a cash-flow projection.
  • Results are planning estimates, not professional financial advice.

Where do the numbers come from?

Last reviewed August 4, 2026 · Version 1.0.0 · Toolivaro does not guarantee external content.

Frequently asked questions

What counts as a variable cost?

Variable costs change with volume: product materials, per-unit shipping, payment-processing fees, and per-customer hosting. Rent, salaries, and software subscriptions are fixed costs. Classifying a cost wrongly moves the break-even point materially.

What if my break-even is not a whole number?

The calculator keeps the exact result (for example 834.7 units). In practice you must sell the next whole unit — 835 — to pass the break-even point. The displayed value is rounded for reading, not for decision-making.

What does it mean if price is below variable cost?

That every sale loses money, so there is no break-even quantity — selling more only increases the loss. The calculator refuses to compute and explains this instead of returning a misleading number.

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