Pricing & Profit
Markup Calculator
Calculate profit, markup, and profit margin from your cost and selling price—even when a sale produces a loss.
Enter your values
The total cost of one product or service.
The amount charged to your customer.
Results
Markup
—
Enter cost and selling price to calculate markup.
Profit
—
Selling price less cost.
Profit margin
—
Profit as a percentage of selling price.
Results are estimates based on the values entered and are provided for general planning.
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Step by step
How to use the markup
- Enter the Cost of the product or service.
- Enter the Selling price.
- Read the markup on cost, the dollar profit, and the equivalent profit margin.
Method
How to calculate markup
Markup compares profit with cost, while profit margin compares the same profit with selling price. This calculator derives both measures from an entered cost and selling price.
Formula
Profit = Selling price − Cost Markup = Profit ÷ Cost × 100 Profit margin = Profit ÷ Selling price × 100
Assumptions
- Cost and selling price refer to the same unit or service.
- A selling price below cost is valid and produces negative profit, markup, and margin.
- The result does not add tax, transaction fees, discounts, or costs omitted from the cost input.
The price, profit, and margin calculations retain full numeric precision. Currency and percentages display two decimals.
How to interpret the result
Positive markup means selling price exceeds cost. Negative markup means the sale is below cost. When cost is zero, markup is not applicable because division by zero is undefined.
How markup affects selling price
Markup measures the amount added to cost as a percentage of that cost. A 40% markup means adding $40 for every $100 of entered cost.
When pricing a product, include the costs you need the selling price to recover. Leaving out fulfillment, commissions, or allocated overhead can make the displayed gross profit higher than the amount the business actually retains.
25%, 50%, and 100% markup compared
On a $40 cost: a 25% markup gives a $50 price, $10 profit, and a 20.00% margin; a 50% markup gives $60, $20 profit, and a 33.33% margin; a 100% markup gives $80, $40 profit, and a 50.00% margin.
Doubling cost is only a 50% margin. Markup always reads higher than margin on the same sale because it divides profit by the smaller number, cost. Quoting one when a supplier or partner means the other is a common and expensive mistake.
This calculator works from a known price. To go the other way — from a cost and a target markup or margin to a price — use the Selling Price Calculator.
Selling below cost and zero-cost items
A price below cost is a valid entry. Profit, markup, and margin all turn negative, which is useful for clearance, loss-leader, or promotional pricing checks. The two percentages still differ: a $100 cost sold at $80 is a −20.00% markup but a −25.00% margin.
When cost is $0 and the selling price is positive, markup is shown as N/A because markup divides by cost and division by zero has no value. It is not treated as 100% or as infinite. Margin can still be calculated: with no cost, the whole price is profit, so margin is 100.00%.
Markup and margin compared
Both percentages describe gross profit, but they divide it by different amounts.
| Measure | Formula | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Markup | Gross profit ÷ Cost × 100 | How much profit is added relative to cost. |
| Profit margin | Gross profit ÷ Selling price × 100 | How much of selling price remains after the entered cost. |
| Selling price | Cost × (1 + Markup ÷ 100) | The price produced by adding the selected markup to cost. |
Frequently asked questions
Which calculator do you need?
- Margin and markup are not interchangeable — see the margin view of the same price with the Profit Margin Calculator.
- Want to set a price directly from cost and a target markup? Use the Selling Price Calculator.
- Need to know how many units you must sell to cover fixed costs? Try the Break-Even Calculator.
- Unsure whether you need markup or margin? Read Markup vs Margin.
Keep calculating
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