Break-even calculator
The point where you stop losing money. Enter your fixed costs, your price, and what each sale costs you to deliver.
Estimate only. Figures update as you type. Not tax advice — see the note at the bottom of this page.
Contribution margin does the work
Every sale contributes the difference between its price and its variable cost toward covering fixed costs. Divide fixed costs by that contribution and you have the number of sales required before anything counts as profit. If contribution is zero or negative, no volume saves you — selling more simply loses more, which the calculator will tell you plainly.
Margin of safety
This is how far sales can fall before you're losing money. A thin margin of safety means a modest downturn puts you underwater, which matters more than the break-even figure itself when deciding whether a plan is prudent.
Freelancers have fixed costs too
It's easy to think of this as a product-business calculation, but it applies to service work. Your fixed costs are software, insurance, subscriptions, and the personal draw you need to live on. Your unit is a project or a billable day. The arithmetic is identical.
Common questions
What counts as a fixed cost?
Anything you pay regardless of how much you sell: rent, insurance, software subscriptions, base salaries. Variable costs scale with each sale.
What if my price is below my variable cost?
Then every sale deepens the loss and there's no break-even point. The price or the cost has to change.
Should my own pay be a fixed cost?
For a realistic picture, yes. Excluding what you need to live on produces a break-even point that keeps the business alive but not you.