Free calculator
Free break-even calculator
Break-even answers one question: how much must you sell before the business stops losing money? Enter your monthly fixed costs, what you charge, and what each sale costs you to deliver.
Last updated: September 2026
Cover your fixed costs first
= Rs. 150k
= Rs. 2.5k
- Contribution per unit
- Rs. 1,600.00
- Break-even units / month
- 94
- Break-even revenue / month
- Rs. 234,375.00
- Current volume vs break-even
- 96%
How the formula works
Break-even units = fixed costs divided by contribution per unit. Contribution per unit is price minus variable cost. If contribution is zero or negative, no volume ever reaches break-even, which is the single most important early warning in business modeling.
Worked example
Fixed costs are Rs. 150,000 per month. Each product sells at Rs. 2,500 with Rs. 900 of variable cost, contributing Rs. 1,600. 94 units per month covers fixed costs, about Rs. 235,000 of revenue. Selling 90 today means you are 96 percent of the way there.
What affects the result
The break-even point moves every time price, variable cost, or fixed cost changes. Raising price or cutting variable costs lowers the units required. Fixed costs set the bar: a fixed-cost-heavy business needs volume and has little slack in slow months. Treat break-even as a living number, not a one-time milestone, and check it against your realized margins after discounts and refunds.
Common mistakes
- Leaving out semi-fixed costs such as part-time staff that step up with volume.
- Using list price instead of realized price after discounts.
- Forgetting that variable costs often include payment fees of 2 to 3 percent.
- Treating break-even as a one-time milestone; it moves whenever costs or prices move.
Frequently asked questions
Is break-even the same as profitability?
It is the threshold. Past break-even every additional unit contributes profit equal to its contribution margin.
How does investment fit in?
Break-even here covers ongoing operations. Recovering an initial investment takes longer; the full app computes investment recovery separately.
What if I have multiple products?
Use a weighted average contribution based on your sales mix, or model each stream separately in the full app.
What is the break-even formula?
Break-even units = fixed costs / (price − variable cost per unit). Break-even revenue is that unit count times your price.
Related tools
Results are arithmetic on the numbers you enter, not predictions. Validate important figures with an accountant before making financial commitments.