Markup & Margin Calculator
Set retail prices from cost. Enter any two of cost / markup % / margin % / selling price — get the other two plus profit. Browser-only.
What is this for?
You buy something for $40 and sell it for $60. Is that a 50% markup or a 33% margin? Both — they're describing the same trade from different sides. Markup is the increase expressed as a percentage of cost ($20 extra on $40 cost = 50% markup). Margin is the profit expressed as a percentage of revenue ($20 profit on $60 sale = 33.3% margin). They are not interchangeable, and confusing them is one of the most common mistakes in small-business pricing — a 30% markup is only a 23% margin, which means budgets built on "we'll keep 30%" fall short by a quarter.
This tool keeps cost, markup, margin and selling price in sync. Type in any field and the others recalculate, so you can do the price-setting math three ways: pick a markup (typical for trade-in / wholesale-to-retail flows), pick a margin (typical for SaaS / services where the target is revenue-side), or pick a final selling price and see what margin it implies.
The formulas
- Markup = (Price − Cost) ÷ Cost × 100
- Margin = (Price − Cost) ÷ Price × 100
- From markup to price: Price = Cost × (1 + Markup/100)
- From margin to price: Price = Cost ÷ (1 − Margin/100)
- From price to markup: Markup = (Price/Cost − 1) × 100
- From price to margin: Margin = (1 − Cost/Price) × 100
Useful conversion table
| Markup | Margin | Multiplier |
|---|---|---|
| 20% | 16.7% | ×1.20 |
| 25% | 20% | ×1.25 |
| 33.3% | 25% | ×1.33 |
| 50% | 33.3% | ×1.50 |
| 66.7% | 40% | ×1.67 |
| 100% | 50% | ×2.00 |
| 150% | 60% | ×2.50 |
| 200% | 66.7% | ×3.00 |
| 300% | 75% | ×4.00 |
Common gotchas
- Margin can never reach 100%. 100% margin means cost is zero. As margin approaches 100%, price approaches infinity. The tool clamps the input at 99.999%.
- "30% off" is different again. A 30% discount on a $100 selling price drops it to $70 — that's a markup/margin reduction relative to the listed price, not a cost-based markup. Use percentage-calculator for that.
- Markup ≠ profit margin in the accounting sense. Gross margin (used here) only deducts cost of goods sold. Operating margin and net margin deduct overheads, marketing, and tax — those need a full P&L, not this calculator.
- Trade conventions vary. US wholesale-to-retail often quotes keystone markup (100% markup = 50% margin). Restaurants often think in margin (typical food cost target: 28–32% of menu price). SaaS quotes gross margin near 80%.
- VAT / sales tax is separate. The selling price here is exclusive of tax. If your local price must be inclusive, multiply by (1 + tax-rate/100) after using this tool — or use vat-calculator.
- Bulk discounts and shipping shift the cost. The cost input should be your landed cost (purchase price + shipping + any duties), not the supplier's invoice number, or the resulting margin will be optimistic.
Pairs with
- vat-calculator — when you need to add or remove VAT/sales tax from the resulting price.
- currency-converter — for international supplier costs.
- invoice-generator — to ship the final priced line to a customer.
- percentage-calculator — for general percentage math (discounts off list price, etc.).