Margin & Markup Calculator
Enter a cost and selling price to see profit, margin (profit over price), and markup (profit over cost) side by side.
Inputs
Results
- Profit
- 20
- Margin
- 20%
- Markup
- 25%
Margin is profit over price; markup is profit over cost — that's why they differ.
How margin and markup differ
Enter a cost and a selling price to see profit, margin (profit over price), and markup (profit over cost) side by side.
Margin vs. markup
Margin divides profit by the selling price; markup divides the same profit by the cost. The two match only when profit is zero, and grow further apart as the profit percentage increases.
Common uses
- Price a product to hit a target margin.
- Check whether a markup convention matches the margin your finance team expects.
- Compare pricing strategies across products with different costs.
Worked example
A product costing $80 sold for $100 has $20 profit: a 20% margin (20/100) but a 25% markup (20/80) — the same profit, two different percentages.
Calculation notes
All math runs in your browser; the cost and price you enter are never sent anywhere.
FAQ
Why are margin and markup different for the same sale?
Margin is profit divided by price; markup is the same profit divided by cost. Since price is always higher than cost when there's a profit, markup is always the larger percentage.
What if cost is 0?
Markup would be undefined (division by zero), so the calculator shows a symbol for infinite markup instead of a number.
Which one should I use to set my price?
If your target is a percentage of revenue, use margin. If your target is a markup over cost (common in retail and manufacturing), use markup — plugging the same profit into the wrong formula will misprice the product.