Enter your unit cost and selling price to see both figures side by side. For inventory-wide profitability, see the GMROI calculator , or the landed cost calculator to get an accurate unit cost first if you import or pay freight.
Markup & Margin Calculator
Margin · Markup
40.0% · 66.7%
Profit per unit: $8.00
How to use this number
If a supplier, a spreadsheet, or a pricing rule of thumb quotes a target as a "markup," don't read it as a margin, and vice versa — the gap between the two grows as the percentage gets larger. At low percentages (10-20%) the two numbers stay close; at high percentages (100%+) they diverge sharply.
For consistent pricing across a catalog, pick one metric — usually margin — and apply it uniformly, rather than mixing markup-based and margin-based pricing rules across different product lines.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between markup and margin?
Markup is profit as a percentage of cost: (Price − Cost) ÷ Cost × 100. Margin is profit as a percentage of the selling price: (Price − Cost) ÷ Price × 100. The two numbers are always different for the same sale — a 50% markup is a 33.3% margin, not a 50% margin.
Why does a 50% markup not equal a 50% margin?
Because they divide by different numbers. A $10 item marked up 50% sells for $15 — the $5 profit is 50% of the $10 cost (markup) but only 33.3% of the $15 price (margin). Mixing the two up is a common pricing mistake that leads to lower profit than intended.
Which one should I use for pricing decisions?
Margin is generally more useful for profitability targets, since it's a share of revenue and lines up with how most financial statements report gross margin. Markup is more common for setting a price from a known cost using a supplier or industry-standard multiplier.
Does this calculator save my numbers?
No. This is a client-side calculation only — nothing is sent to a server or saved. Refreshing the page resets it to the defaults.
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