Break-Even Calculator
Find how many units you must sell to cover your fixed costs, and the break-even revenue.
About this tool
Enter your fixed costs, the selling price per unit and the variable cost per unit. The calculator works out the contribution margin, the number of units you need to sell to break even and the matching sales revenue. Works in any currency.
Frequently asked questions
Divide fixed costs by the contribution margin per unit (price minus variable cost). With 40,000 of fixed costs, a price of 20 and variable cost of 12, break-even is 40,000 ÷ 8 = 5,000 units.
Divide fixed costs by the contribution margin ratio (margin ÷ price). In the example the ratio is 8 ÷ 20 = 40%, so break-even revenue is 40,000 ÷ 0.40 = 100,000.
You cannot sell part of a unit, and selling one unit fewer than the exact figure would still leave a loss. 1,000 of fixed costs with a margin of 3 gives 333.3, so you need 334 units.
Then each sale loses money and there is no break-even point. Raise the price or reduce the variable cost so each unit contributes to fixed costs.
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