Markup Calculator
Set a price from markup on cost, or check the markup in an existing price.
Your result
Enter a positive cost and your target markup to see a selling price, profit and equivalent margin.
Check the math
Markup measures profit against cost. Margin measures the same profit against selling price. Set selling price applies your target markup to cost and rounds the price to cents; the displayed profit and percentages then use that rounded price. Find markup works backward from a cost and price you already know.
Example 1
Set a price with 25% markup
Start with $80.00 cost. A 25.00% markup adds $20.00, giving a $100.00 selling price. The $20.00 profit is 25% of cost but only 20% of selling price.
- Selling price
- $100.00
- Profit
- $20.00
- Margin
- 20.00%
Example 2
Find markup from an existing price
An item costs $60.00 and sells for $100.00. Its $40.00 profit divided by $60.00 gives 66.67% markup. Divide that same profit by the $100.00 price and the margin is 40.00%.
- Profit
- $40.00
- Markup
- 66.67%
- Margin
- 40.00%
Before you calculate
Assumptions & limits
- Use cost and price for the same item, service or batch, in the same currency. Display is USD; no conversion is performed. Only the costs you enter are included.
- Money inputs and the rounded selling price are limited to 999999999.99. Set selling price requires positive cost. Find markup accepts zero cost or zero price and reports the corresponding percentage as undefined.
- Target markup accepts 0–10000.00%, with up to two decimal places. Use decimal numbers without commas, signs, currency symbols or a percent sign. This target limit does not cap reverse-calculated markup.
- Selling price is rounded to the nearest cent before profit and percentages are calculated. Percentage results use two decimal places. Midpoint ties round away from zero; rounded zero has no minus sign.
- This is a pricing calculation, not an estimate of demand or a guarantee that a price covers every business expense. Sales taxes, fees, overhead and discounts are not automatically added.
Keep in mind
Common mix-ups
25% markup is not 25% margin
Check which denominator your pricing target uses: cost for markup, selling price for margin. The worked examples above show why the percentages differ.
A target may change when rounded to cents
At $0.01 cost, a 50% target produces an unrounded $0.015 price. Rounding to $0.02 gives $0.01 profit: actual markup is 100% and margin is 50%. Both results use the price you can charge.
A positive markup may still omit expenses
If your cost excludes delivery, payment fees or overhead, the displayed profit excludes them too. Choose a cost basis appropriate to your decision.
Sources & calculation notes
Explains why markup uses cost and gross margin percentage uses selling price. The input limits and cent-rounding rules above are choices made for this tool.
Calculation and input rules checked: . Engineering validation; no professional accounting review is claimed.