Margin and markup calculator
Solve for cost, price, margin or markup and see both percentages side by side, plus bulk pricing from a pasted list of costs.
- Runs in your browser
- Nothing you enter is sent
- Free, no account
Margin
60.00%
solved
Markup
150.00%
solved
Cost
$40.00
Selling price
$100.00
Gross profit per unit
$60.00
Price multiplier
× 2.500
price ÷ cost
Margin
60.00%
profit ÷ price
Markup
150.00%
profit ÷ cost
- Cost of goods40.0%$40.00
- Gross profit60.0%$60.00
How the selling price splits. Margin is the green slice as a share of the whole bar.
Formula and working
Gross profit
profit = price − cost = 100 − 40 = $60.00
Margin (share of the selling price)
margin % = profit ÷ price × 100 = 60 ÷ 100 × 100 = 60.00%
Markup (share of the cost)
markup % = profit ÷ cost × 100 = 60 ÷ 40 × 100 = 150.00%
Price from a markup
price = cost × (1 + markup) = 40 × (1 + 1.5000) = $100.00
Converting between the two
margin = markup ÷ (1 + markup) · markup = margin ÷ (1 − margin) margin = 1.5000 ÷ (1 + 1.5000) = 0.6000 = 60.00% margin = 150.00% markup
The classic mistake: adding 30% to cost gives a 23.1% margin, not 30%. Retailers quote margin, suppliers quote markup, and the gap is real money.
Nothing pasted yet.
| Markup on cost | Equals margin | Price multiplier |
|---|---|---|
| 5% | 4.8% | × 1.05 |
| 10% | 9.1% | × 1.10 |
| 15% | 13.0% | × 1.15 |
| 20% | 16.7% | × 1.20 |
| 25% | 20.0% | × 1.25 |
| 30% | 23.1% | × 1.30 |
| 40% | 28.6% | × 1.40 |
| 50% | 33.3% | × 1.50 |
| 60% | 37.5% | × 1.60 |
| 75% | 42.9% | × 1.75 |
| 100% | 50.0% | × 2.00 |
| 150% | 60.0% | × 2.50 |
| 200% | 66.7% | × 3.00 |
| 300% | 75.0% | × 4.00 |
| 400% | 80.0% | × 5.00 |
Assumptions
- These are gross figures based on the cost of goods only. Overheads, salaries, rent, marketing, shipping, payment-processing fees, returns and write-offs all come out of the gross profit before anything reaches the bottom line.
- Prices are shown excluding sales tax or VAT. Add tax after pricing — margin should always be calculated on the net price.
- Margin is capped below 100% by definition, because profit is a share of the price. Markup has no ceiling: a 900% markup is a 90% margin.
- Bulk mode reads the last numeric field on each line as the cost and the first non-numeric field as the name, so both "Widget, 4.20" and a bare column of numbers work.
- Everything runs in this tab. Your cost prices are commercially sensitive and there is no server here to send them to.
The same profit, two different denominators
Margin and markup measure identical money against different bases. Both start from the same gross profit — selling price minus cost — and then divide it by something different:
margin % = profit ÷ selling price × 100
markup % = profit ÷ cost × 100Buy for 40, sell for 100. The profit is 60 either way. As a share of the 100 you took, that is a 60% margin. As a share of the 40 you spent, it is a 150% markup. Same transaction, two numbers, both correct, and the reason a supplier and an accountant can describe the same deal and appear to disagree by a factor of two and a half.
The mistake that costs real money
"We work on 30%" is ambiguous, and the ambiguity is expensive. Adding 30% to a cost of 70 gives a price of 91 and a margin of 23.1% — not 30%. To actually earn a 30% margin on that cost you have to price at 100, a markup of 42.9%.
On a business turning over a million, mistaking a 30% markup for a 30% margin is roughly 70,000 of gross profit that never existed. It is the single most common pricing error in small business, and it survives because both numbers sound reasonable.
Conversion table
| Markup on cost | Equals margin | Price multiplier |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | 9.1% | × 1.10 |
| 20% | 16.7% | × 1.20 |
| 25% | 20.0% | × 1.25 |
| 33.3% | 25.0% | × 1.33 |
| 50% | 33.3% | × 1.50 |
| 66.7% | 40.0% | × 1.67 |
| 100% | 50.0% | × 2.00 |
| 150% | 60.0% | × 2.50 |
| 233% | 70.0% | × 3.33 |
| 400% | 80.0% | × 5.00 |
The two conversions are margin = markup ÷ (1 + markup) and
markup = margin ÷ (1 − margin), both with the percentages expressed as decimals.
Why margin cannot exceed 100% and markup can
Margin's denominator is the price, and the cost has to fit inside that same price, so profit can approach the price but never reach it. Markup's denominator is the cost, which has no such relationship — a 5 item sold for 50 is a 900% markup and a 90% margin. That asymmetry is why high-margin sectors quote margin and low-cost sectors quote markup: each picks the number that sounds better.
Which one to use, and when
- Use markup to set a price. You start from a known cost and need a number to multiply by. Cost-plus pricing is markup by construction.
- Use margin to judge a business. Gross margin is comparable across products and against competitors, and it is what flows into a P&L. Investors, lenders and accountants all speak margin.
- Never mix them in one conversation. Agree which one you mean before agreeing the number.
Pricing a whole list at once
The bulk panel takes a pasted column of costs — with or without item names, comma, tab or semicolon separated — and prices every row at the margin or markup you have set. Each row comes back with its price, profit and both percentages, and the whole table exports to CSV, Excel or PDF. It reads the last numeric field on a line as the cost and the first non-numeric field as the name, so a straight copy-paste out of a spreadsheet column works without editing.
Gross, not net
Everything here is gross margin on the cost of goods. Out of that gross profit still come rent, salaries, marketing, shipping, payment-processing fees, returns, shrinkage and tax. A healthy gross margin and a negative net margin coexist very comfortably, which is why gross margin is a pricing tool rather than a verdict on the business.
Price on the net figure, before VAT or sales tax. Tax collected on behalf of an authority was never your revenue and must never appear in a margin calculation.
Your cost prices are not sent anywhere
Supplier costs are among the most commercially sensitive numbers a business has, and pasting a whole price list into a web form normally means uploading it. This page has no server. The pricing, the bulk table and the exports are all computed by JavaScript in your browser, and you can verify that by disconnecting from the network and watching everything continue to work.
Questions
What is the difference between margin and markup?
Both measure the same profit against a different base. Margin divides profit by the selling price; markup divides it by the cost. A 50% markup is a 33.3% margin — the numbers are only equal at zero.
How do I price for a target margin?
Divide the cost by one minus the margin. For a 40% margin on a cost of 30: 30 ÷ 0.60 = 50. Adding 40% to the cost instead gives 42, which is only a 28.6% margin.
Can I price a whole list at once?
Yes. Paste a column of costs — or "name, cost" lines from a spreadsheet — into the bulk panel and every row is priced at the margin or markup you set, with a CSV of the result.
Is this gross or net margin?
Gross, based on the cost of the goods only. Overheads, shipping, payment fees, returns and tax all come out of the gross profit before anything reaches the bottom line.
Do my cost prices leave my device?
No. Supplier costs are commercially sensitive and this page has no server to send them to — the arithmetic runs in your browser.