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Set profitable selling prices in seconds with our free price calculator. Enter your cost and markup percentage to instantly calculate your selling price and profit per unit.
Setting the right price is one of the most important decisions any seller makes, and this free price calculator makes the math effortless. You only need two numbers to get started: what the item costs you, and the markup percentage you want to earn.
The calculator runs entirely in your browser, so your numbers never leave your device and results appear instantly. Use it as often as you like while planning products, quotes, or menus.
Before trusting any number a calculator gives you, it helps to understand the four building blocks of every pricing decision. Mixing these up is the single most common source of pricing errors, so let us define each one clearly.
The price is the amount of money a customer pays you for a product or service. It is the number on the tag, the quote, or the checkout screen. Your price is the most visible part of your business: it signals quality, positions you against competitors, and directly determines your revenue. Choose it deliberately, because every other financial outcome flows from it.
The cost is the amount of money you spend to make the sale possible. For a retailer, cost is mostly the wholesale price paid to suppliers. For a maker, it includes raw materials and the labor to assemble each unit. For a service business, it includes wages, travel, and consumables. A frequent mistake is counting only the obvious cost, such as the wholesale price, while ignoring packaging, transaction fees, shipping, and a share of overhead like rent and utilities. Your true per-unit cost is almost always higher than the sticker cost of materials alone, and pricing from an understated cost quietly erases profit on every sale.
The markup is the percentage you add to your cost to arrive at your selling price. If an item costs you $50 and you apply a 40 percent markup, you add $20 and sell it for $70. Markup is calculated on cost, which makes it intuitive: it answers the question, how much do I add on top of what I paid? Most day-to-day pricing conversations use markup because it is easy to apply.
The margin, usually called profit margin, is the percentage of the selling price that is profit. Using the same numbers, the $20 profit on a $70 selling price is a 28.6 percent margin. Margin is calculated on price, and it answers a different question: of every dollar the customer pays me, how many cents do I keep? Investors, accountants, and lenders almost always speak in margins.
The distinction matters because the two percentages are never equal for the same sale. A 40 percent markup produces a 28.6 percent margin, and a 100 percent markup, which means doubling your money, produces a 50 percent margin. Knowing how to move between the two keeps you fluent whether you are setting a price or reading a financial statement.
Pricing also has a psychological dimension worth remembering. Prices ending in 9 tend to feel like bargains, round numbers signal premium quality, and a slightly higher price can even increase demand for luxury goods because the price itself communicates status. Your markup strategy should reflect not only your costs but also how you want customers to perceive what you sell.
The mathematics behind the calculator is simple, and learning it lets you estimate prices mentally or double-check any result. Three related formulas cover everything you need.
The core price formula is: Price = Cost × (1 + Markup / 100)
Your profit per unit follows directly: Profit = Price − Cost
And to express that profit as a margin on the selling price: Margin (%) = (Profit / Price) × 100
Here are two worked examples showing every step of the calculation.
Worked example 1: handmade candles. Suppose wax, fragrance, the jar, and packaging cost you $8.00 per candle in total, and you want a 150 percent markup, a typical level for giftable handmade goods. Apply the formula: Price = $8.00 × (1 + 150 / 100) = $8.00 × 2.50 = $20.00. Your profit is $20.00 − $8.00 = $12.00 per candle. Your margin is ($12.00 / $20.00) × 100 = 60 percent. Notice how a 150 percent markup and a 60 percent margin describe the same $12 profit from different angles: markup looks at cost, while margin looks at price.
Worked example 2: reselling phone accessories. You buy wireless earbuds wholesale at $18.50 per unit, and after shipping and marketplace fees your true cost is $22.00. You choose a 65 percent markup. Price = $22.00 × (1 + 65 / 100) = $22.00 × 1.65 = $36.30. Profit = $36.30 − $22.00 = $14.30 per unit. Margin = ($14.30 / $36.30) × 100 = 39.4 percent. If the marketplace then charges a 10 percent selling fee on the $36.30 price, that is another $3.63, and your real profit falls to $10.67. This is why fees belong inside your cost figure before you apply markup, not as an afterthought.
Two conversions are worth memorizing. To turn a markup into the equivalent margin, divide the markup by one plus the markup using decimals: 0.40 / 1.40 = 28.57 percent. To turn a margin into the markup that produces it, divide the margin by one minus the margin: 0.30 / 0.70 = 42.86 percent markup. Keep these handy and you will never confuse the pair again.
Example 1: pricing a café menu item. A neighborhood café wants to add a blueberry muffin to its menu. Ingredients cost $0.85 per muffin, the liner and bag add $0.15, and the owner allocates $0.40 of labor and overhead per muffin, for a true cost of $1.40. Cafés commonly target food costs of 25 to 30 percent of the menu price, which implies a markup of roughly 230 to 300 percent. Choosing a 250 percent markup: Price = $1.40 × (1 + 250 / 100) = $1.40 × 3.50 = $4.90. The owner rounds to a customer-friendly $4.95. Profit per muffin is $3.55, a 71.7 percent margin that leaves room for slow days, waste, and the occasional free sample. Rounding the computed price to a familiar price point is standard practice: the formula gives you the anchor, and customer psychology fine-tunes it.
Example 2: quoting freelance design work. A freelance designer estimates a logo project will take 12 hours. Her target effective rate is $45 per hour, so her labor cost is $540. She adds $60 for stock assets and software, bringing the true cost to $600. She wants a 35 percent markup to cover revisions, admin time, and profit: Price = $600 × 1.35 = $810. She quotes the client $810, or a round $800. If the client negotiates, she knows her floor: anything above $600 keeps the project profitable, and she can calculate exactly how much margin each requested discount gives away. The same formula prices services and physical products alike; only the definition of cost changes.
Even experienced sellers make these five pricing mistakes. Avoiding them protects profit you have already earned on paper.
Keep refining your numbers with these free tools: our Markup Calculator for markup-focused pricing, the Margin Calculator for margin targets, the Discount Calculator for sale prices, the Sales Tax Calculator for tax-inclusive totals, and the List Price Markdown Calculator for markdown planning. You can browse all 80+ free tools in our Financial Calculators hub.
This page provides a free price calculator that computes selling price from cost and markup percentage using the formula Price = Cost × (1 + Markup / 100), with profit per unit calculated as Price − Cost. Key definitions: price is the customer-facing selling amount; cost is the total per-unit expense; markup is profit expressed as a percentage of cost; margin is profit expressed as a percentage of selling price. The page includes step-by-step usage instructions, two worked formula examples, two practical examples covering café menu pricing and freelance service quoting, five common pricing mistakes to avoid, links to related calculators, and eight frequently asked questions. Last updated October 8, 2026.
Quick answers to the most common questions about calculating prices, markup, and profit.
Multiply your cost by one plus the markup expressed as a decimal. For a $50 cost and 40 percent markup, the price is $50 times 1.40, which equals $70. The formula is: Price = Cost x (1 + Markup / 100).
Markup is profit as a percentage of cost, while margin is profit as a percentage of selling price. A $50 item sold for $70 has a 40 percent markup but only a 28.6 percent margin. Margin is always lower than the equivalent markup.
Divide the markup by one plus the markup, using decimals. A 40 percent markup converts to 0.40 divided by 1.40, which is 28.57 percent margin. To convert the other way, divide the margin by one minus the margin.
It depends on the industry. Retail commonly uses 50 to 100 percent markup, restaurants target about 300 percent on food cost, and services vary widely. Research competitors, know your true costs, and test what your market will accept.
Divide your cost by one minus the target margin expressed as a decimal. For a $50 cost and a 30 percent margin target, the price is $50 divided by (1 – 0.30), which equals $71.43.
No. This calculator works with pre-tax prices and does not apply discounts. Use our sales tax calculator to add tax to a price, and our discount calculator to model sale prices.
Yes. Enter your total cost of delivering the service, including labor, materials, travel, and overhead, then apply your markup. Freelancers often use it to turn an hourly cost into a fixed project price.
The most common cause is forgetting hidden costs such as packaging, payment processing fees, shipping, and overhead. Add every per-unit cost into the cost field before applying your markup, and the profit figure will match reality.
Cite this page: Sigma Calculator. “Price Calculator.” https://sigmacalculator.net/financial-calculators/price-calculator/. Accessed October 8, 2026.
Last updated: October 8, 2026