Markup Calculator
Add a markup to your cost to get the selling price, the profit per unit and the gross margin that markup really equals — with a conversion table.
Markup Calculator: with the default inputs, selling price is $100.00.
Everything it costs you to buy or make one unit, including freight in.
The percentage you add on top of cost. 100% means doubling the cost.
- Gross profit per unit
- $20.00
- Equivalent gross margin
- 20%The same profit expressed as a share of price — always smaller than the markup.
- Price multiplier
- 1.25Price ÷ cost. A 25% markup is a 1.25× multiplier.
- Total revenue
- $100.00
- Total gross profit
- $20.00
- In words
- Marking up $80.00 by 25% gives a price of $100.00: $20.00 of gross profit per unit, a 20% margin.
Assumptions
- Gross pricing only — no sales tax, VAT, discounts, returns or markdowns.
- Cost means the full landed cost of one unit, including inbound freight and duty.
- Markup is applied to cost; margin is derived from the resulting price.
- Your cost$8080%
- Gross profit$2020%
| Markup | Selling price | Profit per unit | Gross margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | $88.00 | $8.00 | 9.1% |
| 15% | $92.00 | $12.00 | 13% |
| 20% | $96.00 | $16.00 | 16.7% |
| 25% | $100.00 | $20.00 | 20% |
| 30% | $104.00 | $24.00 | 23.1% |
| 40% | $112.00 | $32.00 | 28.6% |
| 50% | $120.00 | $40.00 | 33.3% |
| 60% | $128.00 | $48.00 | 37.5% |
| 75% | $140.00 | $60.00 | 42.9% |
| 100% | $160.00 | $80.00 | 50% |
| 150% | $200.00 | $120.00 | 60% |
| 200% | $240.00 | $160.00 | 66.7% |
Margin = markup ÷ (1 + markup). Doubling the cost — a 100% markup, "keystone" pricing — is a 50% margin, not 100%.
How this is worked out
The formula
Selling price = cost × (1 + markup ÷ 100) Gross profit = price − cost = cost × markup ÷ 100 Gross margin % = profit ÷ price × 100 = markup ÷ (100 + markup) × 100 Inverse: markup = margin ÷ (1 − margin)
Open How it’s calculated above to see this worked through with your own numbers.
What you enter
- Unit cost
- Everything it costs you to buy or make one unit, including freight in.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 80
- Markup
- The percentage you add on top of cost. 100% means doubling the cost.a percentage · from 0 to 1000 · defaults to 25
- Units sold(under More options)
- Scales profit and revenue; leave at 1 for per-unit figures.0 or more · whole numbers only · defaults to 1
What you get back
- Selling pricemain answer
- Gross profit per unit
- Equivalent gross margin
- The same profit expressed as a share of price — always smaller than the markup.
- Price multiplier
- Price ÷ cost. A 25% markup is a 1.25× multiplier.
- Total revenue
- Total gross profit
- In words
What this assumes
- Gross pricing only — no sales tax, VAT, discounts, returns or markdowns.
- Cost means the full landed cost of one unit, including inbound freight and duty.
- Markup is applied to cost; margin is derived from the resulting price.
About this calculator
Markup is the percentage you add to what something cost you. It is how most shops, trades and distributors actually price: take the invoice, multiply, done. This calculator turns a cost and a markup into the price, the profit per unit, and — the part people get wrong — the gross margin that markup really delivers.
Markup is not margin
They measure the same dollars against different denominators. Markup divides profit by cost; margin divides it by price. Mark an $80 item up 25% and you sell it for $100: that is a $20 profit, which is 25% of cost but only 20% of the price. Margin is therefore always the smaller number, and the gap widens fast — a 100% markup is a 50% margin, a 200% markup a 67% margin.
This matters because the two languages get mixed in one conversation. Your accountant, your bank and your industry benchmarks all speak margin, because that is what the income statement shows. Your supplier, your point-of-sale system and your pricing spreadsheet usually speak markup. Someone told to "hit a 35% margin" who adds 35% to cost lands at 25.9% and wonders where the money went. To hit a 35% margin you need a 53.8% markup — the margin calculator, linked below, solves that direction.
How to use it
Enter the fully loaded unit cost — purchase price plus inbound freight, duty and any per-unit packaging — and the markup you intend to apply. The table shows what every common markup would do at your cost, which is the quickest way to sanity-check a price list. Set Units sold under More options to scale the per-unit figures into revenue and total gross profit.
Choosing a markup
There is no universal right answer, only a floor: your markup has to cover everything the gross-profit line pays for. Rent, wages, marketing, shrinkage, returns, card fees and your own salary all come out of gross profit, so a 20% markup in a business with 25% operating costs loses money on volume. Typical patterns: grocery 15–30%, hardware and industrial distribution 30–60%, restaurants 200–300% on food, apparel retail 100–150% (keystone or better), and specialty services wherever the market will bear.
What is not included here
This is gross pricing only — no sales tax or VAT (collected on top and passed through, so they never touch your margin), no volume discounts, and no allowance for the units you mark down or write off later. If half your inventory eventually sells at 30% off, your realised margin is well below the ticket margin, so price the ticket accordingly.
Frequently asked questions
▸How do I calculate markup?
Multiply the cost by 1 plus the markup as a decimal. An $80 cost with a 25% markup sells for 80 × 1.25 = $100. The profit is $20.
▸What is the difference between markup and margin?
Markup measures profit against cost, margin measures it against price. A 25% markup is a 20% margin; a 100% markup is a 50% margin. Margin is always the smaller figure.
▸What markup do I need for a 40% margin?
Markup = margin ÷ (1 − margin) = 0.40 ÷ 0.60 = 66.7%. Adding 40% to cost would only give you a 28.6% margin.
▸What is keystone pricing?
Doubling the cost — a 100% markup, which is a 50% gross margin. It is the traditional default in apparel and gift retail, where markdowns later eat a large slice of it.
▸Should markup include shipping and duty?
Put inbound freight, duty and per-unit packaging into the cost, then mark up. Outbound shipping to the customer is usually charged separately or treated as an operating expense.
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