Loading
Exists to kill one specific expensive confusion: markup percentages and margin percentages describe the same dollars from different directions, and mixing them up systematically underprices.
Enter your numbers first, then use the niche guidance below to interpret the output against contractors, trades, resellers, and anyone who prices by adding a percentage to cost and reads results as margin..
Pricing goods and services accurately requires distinguishing clearly between markup percentage and gross profit margin. Conflating the two metrics is a common pricing error that can inadvertently erode business profitability and misalign sales targets.
This calculator computes dollar profit, markup percentage on cost, and gross profit margin on selling price from entered cost and selling prices. It accommodates situations where selling price is less than cost (negative margins and markups) and safely indicates unavailable results if a zero denominator is encountered.
Dollar profit is calculated as: Profit = Selling Price − Cost. Markup percentage on cost is: Markup (%) = (Profit / Cost) × 100. Gross profit margin on selling price is: Margin (%) = (Profit / Selling Price) × 100. If Cost is zero, markup percentage is unavailable due to division by zero; if Selling Price is zero, margin percentage is unavailable. Negative values are fully supported: when Selling Price is less than Cost, the calculator reflects the resulting dollar loss, negative markup, and negative gross margin.
A company purchases an item for a cost of $80.00 and establishes a selling price of $100.00, evaluating both the markup percentage on cost and the resulting gross margin on revenue.
Profit equals $100.00 − $80.00 = $20.00. The markup on cost is ($20.00 / $80.00) × 100 = 25.0%. The gross profit margin on selling price is ($20.00 / $100.00) × 100 = 20.0%. This confirms that a 25% markup on cost produces a 20% gross profit margin on sales.
Interpretation assumptions: Amounts and percentage assumptions here are illustrative planning inputs, not measured industry averages. Compare results with your own costs and records; any displayed threshold bands are illustrative and do not establish typical business performance.
They use different denominators: cost for markup, selling price for margin. Cost $80 and price $100 give 25% markup and 20% margin.
Markup is unavailable at zero cost; margin is unavailable at zero selling price. The other valid result and gross profit still display.
Verify the margins your pricing actually produces.
Bill the correctly priced job with progress draws handled.
Industry margin context for contracting businesses.
Focuses on food cost, labor scheduling, delivery platform fees, waste, rent, and the difference between menu-level and month-level margin.
Connects margin to occupancy, average daily rate, OTA commission, housekeeping load, utilities, amenities, and event or food revenue mix.
This calculator is a planning aid, not accounting or pricing advice. Competitive dynamics and contract terms also constrain pricing; the math here keeps your side of it honest.
Your results will appear here
Enter your inputs and calculate to see the result.