Margin, markup and profit in one place
Profit is what is left from a sale after paying for what you sold: price minus cost. Gross margin expresses that profit as a percentage of the selling price, which makes it easy to compare products and businesses of different sizes. Markup expresses the same profit as a percentage of the cost, which is how many shops set their prices.
The formulas
- Profit = selling price − cost
- Margin % = profit ÷ selling price × 100
- Markup % = profit ÷ cost × 100
- Price for a target margin = cost ÷ (1 − margin)
- Price for a target markup = cost × (1 + markup)
Margin vs markup at a glance
| Markup | Margin |
|---|---|
| 25% | 20% |
| 50% | 33.3% |
| 100% | 50% |
| 200% | 66.7% |
If you price with a markup but report on margins, convert carefully: a "50% markup" is only a 33% margin. The markup calculator converts between the two.
Know your price? Put it on a professional invoice, free.
Found your margin? The break-even calculator shows how many sales it takes to cover your fixed costs at that price.