Break-even Calculator
Find out how many units you need to sell to cover your costs, and how much cushion you currently have.
Example: A product with $50,000 in fixed costs, sold at $80 per unit with $30 variable cost per unit, breaks even at 1,000 units ($80,000 in revenue) — since each unit contributes $50 toward covering fixed costs. Selling 1,200 units gives a $10,000 profit and a 16.7% margin of safety above the break-even point.
Break-even analysis follows standard contribution margin accounting: fixed costs ÷ (price − variable cost per unit).
How this is calculated
Contribution margin is your selling price minus your variable cost per unit — what each sale actually contributes toward fixed costs. Break-even units is fixed costs divided by that contribution margin, rounded up to a whole unit. If you provide a current sales volume, margin of safety shows how far above or below that break-even point you currently are.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the break-even point?
- The point at which total revenue equals total costs — fixed costs plus variable costs — so you're neither making a profit nor a loss. Every unit sold beyond that point contributes directly to profit.
- What is contribution margin?
- The amount each unit sold contributes toward covering fixed costs, after variable costs are subtracted from the selling price. A higher contribution margin means fewer units are needed to break even.
- What is margin of safety?
- How far your current (or expected) sales volume is above the break-even point, in units and as a percentage. A larger margin of safety means more cushion before a sales downturn would push you into a loss. A negative margin of safety means you're currently selling below break-even.
- Why is break-even units rounded up?
- You can't sell a fraction of a unit, so the break-even unit count is rounded up to the next whole unit — the break-even revenue shown is the revenue at that rounded unit count, not a theoretical fractional one.
- Can I use this in my own app?
- Yes — every calculator on Stupidly Clever has a matching REST API and MCP tool that runs the same underlying logic.