How much do you need to sell before you start making money? Enter your fixed costs, variable costs, and price — and see your break-even point instantly.
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Knowing your break-even point is step one. Tracking actual revenue and costs in real time is what keeps you on the right side of it.
Your break-even point is the exact volume of sales at which your total revenue equals your total costs — you're not making money yet, but you're not losing it either. Every sale beyond the break-even point generates pure profit. Every sale below it is a loss.
It sounds simple, but most small business owners don't know their break-even number — and that makes it nearly impossible to price products correctly, set sales targets, evaluate whether a new hire makes financial sense, or decide if a business idea is viable in the first place.
Fixed costs stay constant regardless of how much you sell. Rent, salaries, insurance, and software subscriptions are fixed — you pay them whether you sell zero units or a thousand. These are the costs you need to cover before you make a single dollar of profit.
Variable costs scale directly with sales. Materials, production labor, shipping, and payment processing fees are variable — they only occur when you make a sale. The difference between your selling price and your variable cost per unit is called the contribution margin, and it's what pays down your fixed costs with every sale.
If you sell a product for $150 and it costs you $60 to produce and deliver, your contribution margin is $90 per unit — meaning every sale contributes $90 toward covering your fixed costs. If your total fixed costs are $11,500/month, you need to sell 128 units to break even ($11,500 ÷ $90 = 128).
This is why pricing decisions are so consequential. A 10% price decrease doesn't just reduce revenue by 10% — it compresses your contribution margin and requires you to sell significantly more units just to stay at break-even. The what-if scenarios in this calculator show you exactly how sensitive your break-even point is to changes in price, variable costs, and fixed costs.
Break-even analysis works just as well for service businesses as for product businesses — you just define "units" differently. A consulting firm might measure units as billable hours. A restaurant might measure covers served. A subscription business might measure active subscribers. The math is identical; only the unit definition changes.
CalcWonk tools are built for business owners who want real numbers, not ballpark guesses. Bookmark this page and revisit it whenever your costs or pricing change.