Profit Margin & Markup Calculator

Enter your cost and price to instantly find your profit margin, markup, and profit per sale — or set a target margin to get the selling price you should charge.

Enter your numbers

Enter cost and price to find margin, markup, and profit

What the product or service costs you

What you charge the customer

Set more than 1 to see totals for the whole order

Your results
Profit Margin
33.3%
Markup
50.0%
Selling Price$30.00
Profit per unit$10.00
Put this price on an invoice
How it breaks down
Cost$20.00
+ Profit (50.0% markup)$10.00
= Selling Price$30.00

Margin = profit ÷ price ($10.00 ÷ $30.00 = 33.3%). Markup = profit ÷ cost ($10.00 ÷ $20.00 = 50.0%).

Pricing & margin tips

Margin and markup are not the same: a 50% markup on a $20 cost is only a 33% margin. Always confirm which one a client or supplier means.

Price to margin, not markup. Margin tells you what share of each sale you actually keep after the cost of goods.

Factor in payment processing fees (around 3%) and refunds when setting your target margin so your real profit isn't eaten away.

Round up to clean price points ($29 instead of $28.40) once you've hit your target margin — customers rarely notice and it adds straight profit.

Review margins quarterly. When supplier costs rise, update your prices instead of quietly absorbing the hit.

Markup to Margin Conversion

The same profit looks bigger as a markup than as a margin. Use this table to translate between the two at a glance.

10% markup9.1%
15% markup13%
20% markup16.7%
25% markup20%
30% markup23.1%
40% markup28.6%
50% markup33.3%
75% markup42.9%
100% markup50%
150% markup60%
200% markup66.7%

Frequently Asked Questions

Margin and markup measure the same profit against different bases. Markup is profit as a percentage of cost: (Price − Cost) ÷ Cost. Margin is profit as a percentage of the selling price: (Price − Cost) ÷ Price. Because the selling price is always larger than the cost, the margin percentage is always smaller than the markup percentage. For example, buying at $20 and selling at $30 is a 50% markup but only a 33.3% margin.

Profit margin is your profit divided by your selling price, times 100. First find profit: Selling Price − Cost. Then divide by the selling price and multiply by 100. If you sell an item for $50 that cost you $30, your profit is $20, and your margin is $20 ÷ $50 = 40%. Margin tells you what share of every dollar of revenue you actually keep.

Markup is your profit divided by your cost, times 100. Take the profit (Selling Price − Cost), divide it by the cost, and multiply by 100. If an item costs you $30 and you sell it for $50, the profit is $20, and the markup is $20 ÷ $30 = 66.7%. Markup is how much you add on top of cost to set your price.

Divide your cost by (1 − margin as a decimal). For a 40% target margin on a $30 item: $30 ÷ (1 − 0.40) = $30 ÷ 0.60 = $50. This calculator does it for you — pick 'I want a target margin %', enter your cost and the margin, and it returns the price you need to charge.

It varies by industry. Retail and grocery often run on thin margins of 5–15%, restaurants typically 10–15%, while software, consulting, and digital products can reach 60–80%. As a rough guide, a net margin of 10% is considered average, 20% is healthy, and 5% is low. Service businesses and product businesses differ a lot, so compare against your own industry rather than a single benchmark.

Set your price using markup (it's applied to a cost you already know), but evaluate your business using margin (it tells you what you keep per sale). The danger is confusing the two: a retailer who thinks a 30% markup gives a 30% margin is actually only earning a 23% margin. When in doubt, calculate both — this tool shows them side by side from a single cost and price.

Yes. Enter a quantity and the calculator multiplies your per-unit cost, revenue, and profit across the whole order, so you can see total profit on a batch or wholesale deal. The margin and markup percentages stay the same regardless of quantity since they're per-unit ratios.

Yes. Markup has no upper limit — a 200% markup means you sell at three times your cost. Margin, however, can never reach 100% because profit can't exceed the selling price. A 200% markup equals a 66.7% margin. That asymmetry is exactly why the two numbers must not be used interchangeably.

Price it right, then get paid

Once you've set a profitable price, PineBill turns it into a professional invoice, tracks payments, and sends reminders so you collect every dollar of that margin.

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