Margin & Markup Calculator
Enter what an item costs you and what you sell it for — see your profit, margin and markup instantly.
How to use this calculator
Enter the cost — what you pay to buy or make the item — and the sale price you charge the customer. The calculator instantly shows your profit in dollars, your profit margin as a percentage of the sale price, and your markup as a percentage of the cost. Drag either slider or type exact figures to see how a price change moves your numbers. Use it to set prices, check a supplier quote, or work backward from a target margin.
How this is calculated
The math is simple. Your profit is the sale price minus the cost. Your margin divides that profit by the sale price, so margin = profit ÷ price × 100. Your markup divides the same profit by the cost instead, so markup = profit ÷ cost × 100. Margin tells you what share of each sale you keep; markup tells you how much you added on top of cost. They use the same profit but a different base, which is why they are almost never equal.
A worked example
Say an item costs you $70 and you sell it for $100. Your profit is $30 either way. But the margin is $30 ÷ $100 = 30%, while the markup is $30 ÷ $70 = 42.9%. Same $30 of profit, two very different percentages — because margin measures profit against the larger sale price and markup measures it against the smaller cost. The base you divide by is always smaller for markup, so markup is always the bigger number. Confusing the two is one of the most common pricing errors: a shop owner who applies a 30% markup thinking it gives a 30% margin actually keeps only about 23% of each sale.
Margin vs markup at a glance
- Margin answers "how much of the sale price is profit?" — useful for understanding profitability and comparing products.
- Markup answers "how much did I add to the cost?" — useful when you set a price by marking cost up.
- Markup is always a larger percentage than margin for the same profit.
- To convert: margin = markup ÷ (1 + markup); markup = margin ÷ (1 − margin).
Tips for pricing
Pick the lens that matches the question you are asking. If you price by adding a percentage to cost, think in markup. If you report profitability to a partner or lender, think in margin. Whichever you use, be consistent so you do not accidentally under-price. Running a promotion? Our discount calculator shows how a price cut shrinks both your margin and your markup, so you can check a sale still leaves room for profit before you advertise it.
Educational estimate, not financial advice — see our disclaimer.