Margin Calculator

Calculate profit margin and markup from cost and selling price, or find the price needed to hit a target margin.

⏱ Updated: 17 Sep 2026

Calculator

Free margin calculator: find profit margin and markup from cost and price, or the price needed for a target margin.

Required Price
Profit
Margin
%
Markup
%

Margin is profit as a percentage of the selling price; markup is profit as a percentage of the cost — the two numbers are always different for the same sale (except at 0%).

Enter a cost and selling price to calculate profit margin and markup, or switch modes to find the price needed to hit a target margin.

How to Use the Margin Calculator

Toggle between the two modes at the top — one solves margin and markup from a known price, the other works backward from a target margin to find the price you'd need to charge.

Margin and markup measure the exact same profit using two different denominators, and mixing them up is one of the most common pricing mistakes small businesses make. A 50% markup and a 50% margin are not the same price at all.

Margin = (Price − Cost) ÷ Price
Markup = (Price − Cost) ÷ Cost

Margin measures profit against the selling price — it answers "what share of each sale is profit?" Markup measures the same profit against cost — "how much did I add on top of what I paid?" A $60 item sold for $100 has a 40% margin but a 67% markup, from the identical $40 of profit, because the two formulas divide by different numbers.

Switch this tool to "target margin" mode and it flips the question around: tell it what margin you want, and it works out the selling price that would hit it, given your cost.