Free Break-Even Point Calculator
Find out how many units you need to sell before you start making a profit. No signup required. Enter your fixed costs, variable cost per unit, and selling price, and Encarmo calculates your break-even point instantly.
Break-Even Results
Sales needed to cover 100% of costs
How to find your break-even point in 5 steps
Enter your fixed costs
Add up costs that stay the same regardless of sales volume, like rent, salaries, insurance, and loan payments, for the period you're measuring.
Enter your variable cost per unit
The cost to produce or deliver one unit, including materials, direct labor, packaging, and shipping.
Enter your selling price per unit
What you charge the customer for one unit.
Review your contribution margin
Encarmo calculates how much of each sale is left after variable costs, before fixed costs are covered.
Check your break-even point
Encarmo shows how many units, and how much revenue, you need before covering fixed costs and starting to profit.
What is a break-even point?
A break-even point is the sales volume at which total revenue exactly equals total costs, the point where a business is neither making a profit nor losing money. Sell fewer units than that, and the business is operating at a loss. Sell more, and every additional unit adds to profit.
The three numbers behind break-even
Fixed costs — What doesn't change
Costs that stay the same regardless of sales volume, such as rent, salaried wages, insurance, and loan payments. These get paid whether the business sells one unit or one thousand.
Variable costs — What scales with sales
Costs that rise and fall directly with each unit produced or sold, such as materials, direct labor, and packaging. Total variable cost moves with volume.
Contribution margin — What's left to work with
What remains from each sale after variable costs are covered. This is the amount that goes toward paying off fixed costs, and eventually, profit.
A simple break-even calculation
Illustrative monthly manufacturing scenario:
| Fixed costs (monthly) | $8,000 |
| Selling price per unit | $40 |
| Variable cost per unit | $24 |
| Contribution margin per unit | $40 − $24 = $16 |
| Contribution margin ratio | $16 ÷ $40 = 40% |
| Break-even point (units) | $8,000 ÷ $16 = 500 units |
| Break-even point (revenue) | 500 × $40 = $20,000 |
At 500 units ($20,000 in revenue), total contribution margin (500 × $16 = $8,000) exactly covers fixed costs. Below 500 units, the business operates at a loss; above it, each additional unit adds $16 of profit.
Break-even point vs. profit margin: what's the difference?
| Break-Even Point | Profit Margin | |
|---|---|---|
| Shows | The sales volume needed to cover costs | How much profit is made per sale, above break-even |
| Answers | How many units before I stop losing money? | How profitable is each sale? |
| Covers | Fixed costs, variable costs, price | Revenue and profit, as a percentage |
| Frequency | Calculated once per cost/price structure, revisited when either changes | Tracked continuously, per sale or per period |
Why break-even analysis matters
Pricing decisions
Testing a new selling price shows immediately how many more or fewer units are needed to break even.
Loan and investor conversations
Lenders and investors use break-even analysis to judge how realistic a sales forecast is before committing money.
New product launches
Before launching a new product, break-even analysis shows the minimum sales volume needed to justify the cost of building it.
Cost-cutting priorities
Lowering fixed costs or variable costs both lower the break-even point, so this shows which lever moves the number furthest.
Why use Encarmo's free break-even point calculator
Completely free, no limits
Run unlimited calculations with no paywall or watermark.
No signup required
Get your break-even number immediately as a guest.
Instant contribution margin and ratio
See the per-unit and percentage view without a separate calculation.
Break-even in units and revenue
Both figures calculated together, since teams ask for it either way.
Clean, downloadable summary
Download the numbers to share with a co-founder, lender, or investor.
Questions people ask us
Clear, direct answers on methodology, formulas, and usage.
Is this break-even calculator really free?
What is the difference between break-even point and profit?
What counts as a fixed cost?
What counts as a variable cost?
Can break-even point be calculated in revenue instead of units?
What if my variable cost is higher than my selling price?
Does break-even analysis include taxes?
How often should I recalculate my break-even point?
Do I need accounting software to use this?
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