Choice Business Advisors

FREE CALCULATOR

Break-even calculator

Find out how much you need to sell each month to cover your costs, then see that target per week and per day. A small what-if row shows what a change in price or costs would do.

Your numbers

Monthly fixed costs

Costs that stay about the same each month, whatever you sell.

What a typical customer pays per sale, job, or order.
Cost of each sale

Costs that come with every sale: materials, food, card fees, delivery app commissions.

How to read this

Sales needed
How much you need to sell in a month to cover your fixed costs and the cost of each sale. Below this line, the month loses money.
Number of sales
The same target counted in sales at your average price. Turning it into a weekly or daily number makes it easier to follow.
What if
Small changes to price or costs move the target. The row shows how far, using your own numbers.

A worked example

Fixed costs are $3,000 a month, the average sale is $50, and each sale costs $20 in materials and fees. Each sale leaves $30, which is 60% of the price.

$3,000 divided by 60% is $5,000 a month, or 100 sales. Open 20 days a month, that is 5 sales, or $250, a day.

Example figures, not client figures.

FAQ

Questions about break-even

What does break-even mean?

It is the amount you need to sell in a month to cover all your costs, with nothing gained and nothing lost. Sales above that point start to leave a profit.

Should my own pay be part of fixed costs?

If you pay yourself a regular amount, include it. Otherwise the break-even point only tells you when the business covers its bills, not when it also pays you.

What if my sales change a lot by season?

Run the calculator with a slow month’s numbers and again with a busy month’s. The difference shows how much the busy months need to carry.

Does the calculator save my numbers?

No. The calculation happens in your browser, and nothing you enter is stored or sent. You can print the result or save it as a PDF.

Choice Business Advisors

Tell us about your business.

We’ll talk through what you need and put together a proposal.