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Break-Even Calculator

Find out how many units you need to sell to break even — and see instantly what changes if your costs or price change.

Your numbers

$

One-time costs: equipment, setup, initial inventory, etc.

$

Materials, packaging, per-unit labor — cost that scales with sales.

$

What you charge per unit.

Cost vs. revenue

Where each revenue line crosses its matching cost line is that scenario's break-even point. Add scenarios below and they'll appear here automatically, so you can see how each one shifts the picture relative to your baseline.

Compare “what if” scenarios — stack as many as you like

Each scenario starts from your baseline numbers above — change any field to see how the break-even point shifts.

Break-even isn't just “when do I stop losing money”

The number itself is simple — fixed costs divided by the difference between price and variable cost per unit. What trips people up is the categorizing, not the maths: is your own salary a fixed cost or should it come out of profit? Is a bulk discount on materials a variable cost change, or does it shift your fixed costs too? Get the categorization wrong and the break-even number will be technically calculated correctly and still mislead you.

The other thing this number doesn't tell you on its own: when you'll hit it. Break-even is about volume, not time — knowing you need to sell 400 units to break even is only useful once you also know whether you can realistically sell 400 units in a month, a quarter, or a year. Pair this number with a realistic sales timeline, not just the unit count.

What to actually do with the number

If your break-even point feels too high, there are really only three levers: raise the price, lower the variable cost per unit, or lower the fixed costs. Most people instinctively reach for the first one and stop there — but the fixed-cost lever (renegotiating a lease, dropping a tool subscription you don't need) is often the fastest one to pull, since it doesn't depend on convincing a single customer of anything.

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