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Break-even calculator

Find out how many units you must sell — and the sales revenue needed — to cover all your business costs.

Résultat
400 unités
Quantité à vendre pour atteindre le point mort
20 000 €
Chiffre d'affaires au seuil de rentabilité
Marge sur coût variable par unité : 30 € (60.0 %)

À propos de cet outil

Why use this tool

The break-even calculator answers the most important question for any founder or small-business owner: how much do I need to sell before I stop losing money? Whether you run an e-commerce store, a food truck, a SaaS side project or a consulting practice, the break-even point tells you where revenue finally covers every dollar going out. Lenders, SBA loan officers and investors expect to see this number in any business plan, and it's the fastest sanity check on a new pricing idea.

How it works

Break-even analysis uses three inputs: fixed costs for the period (rent, insurance, software subscriptions, salaried staff, equipment depreciation), the selling price per unit, and the variable cost per unit (materials, packaging, payment processing fees, shipping). Price minus variable cost gives the contribution margin — the amount each sale contributes toward covering fixed costs. Dividing total fixed costs by the contribution margin gives break-even units; multiplying that by price gives break-even revenue in dollars.

Real example

A Brooklyn candle maker carries $12,000 in annual fixed costs (studio rent, insurance, Shopify plan, ads). Each candle sells for $50 and costs $20 in wax, jars and shipping, leaving a $30 contribution margin, or a 60% margin rate. Break-even is $12,000 ÷ $30 = 400 candles a year, roughly 34 per month, or $20,000 in sales. Candle number 401 puts $30 straight into profit.

Practical tips

Always run the numbers excluding sales tax — tax you collect belongs to the state, not to your business. Recalculate whenever something material changes: a rent increase, a new hire, a jump in freight costs, or a standing discount code. Raising price lowers the break-even point far faster than trimming variable costs by the same percentage, because it improves margin on every single unit. Watch payment processing and marketplace fees, which are variable costs that quietly erode margin: Stripe, Etsy and Amazon fees can easily take 3% to 15% of each sale. Finally, compare the break-even volume to realistic demand and your production capacity; if you can't physically make or sell that many units, the business model needs rework, not more hustle.

Disclaimer

This calculator gives a simplified estimate based on a single product or an average order. Multi-product businesses should use a weighted average margin. Income taxes, owner compensation, loan repayments and seasonality are not modelled. This tool has no accounting or contractual value and does not replace advice from a CPA or financial advisor.

Frequently asked questions

What exactly is the break-even point?
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The break-even point is the sales level at which total revenue exactly equals total costs — fixed plus variable. At that point your profit is zero: you're neither losing nor making money. Every unit sold beyond break-even adds profit equal to the contribution margin per unit, which is why the first sale past break-even is so much more valuable than the first sale of the year.
What's the difference between fixed and variable costs?
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Fixed costs don't change with sales volume: rent, insurance, software subscriptions, salaried staff and equipment depreciation. Variable costs scale with each unit sold: materials, packaging, shipping, payment processing and per-order fulfillment. Some costs are mixed — a phone plan with overage, for example — so split them into their fixed base and their usage-driven part before entering the numbers.
Should I include sales tax in the price?
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No. Enter prices excluding sales tax. Sales tax you collect from customers is remitted to the state and is never your revenue. In states with no sales tax on your category, or for B2B sales with a resale certificate, your listed price and your net price will simply be the same figure.
How can I lower my break-even point?
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There are three levers: raise the price, cut the variable cost per unit (supplier negotiation, bulk purchasing, cheaper packaging), or reduce fixed costs (smaller space, cancel unused SaaS, move to contractors). Price is the strongest lever — a 10% price increase improves contribution margin far more than a 10% reduction in materials cost, because it applies to every unit with no operational change.
Does this work for a service business or SaaS?
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Yes. Replace the unit with a billable hour, a day rate, or a monthly subscription. Selling price becomes your rate or MRR per customer, and variable cost covers what you spend per client: hosting, contractor time, travel, third-party licenses. The result tells you how many clients or subscriptions you need to cover overhead — a key metric before hiring or signing a lease.