What does the profit calculator measure?
This calculator turns unit cost, selling price, quantity, and operating expenses into total revenue, gross profit, net profit, gross margin, net margin, and markup. Gross profit covers only the product cost. Net profit also subtracts operating overhead for the period. All math runs in your browser.
Markup expresses profit as a share of cost, while margin expresses profit as a share of revenue. To solve markup from cost alone, use the markup calculator. To express bottom-line profit as a percentage of revenue after all expenses, try the net profit margin calculator. For the sales volume where revenue first covers fixed and variable costs, use the break-even calculator. To solve for all five sales variables from any two known inputs, use the sales calculator.
Profit formulas
Start with revenue and separate direct product cost from operating expenses:
Margin and markup convert those dollar results into percentages:
Worked example
A seller buys one unit for $100, sells it for $150, and records $10 in operating expenses.
- Total revenue: $150 × 1 = $150
- Gross profit: ($150 − $100) × 1 = $50
- Total cost: ($100 × 1) + $10 = $110
- Net profit: $150 − $110 = $40
- Gross margin: $50 ÷ $150 = 33.33%
- Markup: ($150 − $100) ÷ $100 = 50%
Gross profit vs net profit
Gross profit answers whether the product itself is priced above direct cost. Net profit answers whether the business keeps money after overhead such as rent, payroll, and marketing. A positive gross profit with negative net profit usually means operating expenses are too high for current volume or pricing.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between markup and gross margin?
Why include operating expenses separately?
Can net profit be negative?
Are results stored on a server?
Resources and references
The formulas and methods in this calculator were checked against these independent sources.