Profit Margin Calculator
Enter what a job brings in and what it costs — see your profit, your true margin, and the markup it took to get there. Then flip it around: tell it the margin you want, and it tells you the price you should have charged.
Your numbers
What your margin actually measures
Margin answers one question: of every dollar a customer hands you, how many cents do you keep? A 28% margin means 28 cents of profit per dollar of revenue — the other 72 cents went to costs. That per-dollar framing is what makes margin so useful: it works the same whether you're looking at one $500 job or a $50,000 month, and it lets you compare jobs of totally different sizes on equal footing.
The number is only as honest as the cost you feed it. Put in just materials and parts and you get gross margin — useful for comparing jobs, but flattering, because it ignores the truck, the insurance, and the phone bill. Load the cost with each job's share of overhead and fees and you get something close to net margin — the number that decides whether the business actually works. Most owners who get an ugly surprise at tax time were managing to their gross margin all year.
The reverse tool on the left is the one worth bookmarking. Deciding a price by asking "what margin did I get?" after the fact is playing defense. Asking "what price hits the margin I need?" before you quote is playing offense — and the answer is always cost ÷ (1 − target margin), never cost × (1 + margin). That divide-not-multiply distinction quietly underprices thousands of businesses, and it's the same math every pricing calculator on this site is built on.
Gross margin vs. net margin — a worked example
A mobile detailer charges $500 for a full-detail package. Product, water, and fuel for the job run $110. Profit is $390 and the gross margin is 78% — looks fantastic. But spread across the month, each job also carries about $250 of overhead: van payment, insurance, equipment replacement, booking software, card fees, and the owner's base pay. Load that in and the per-job cost is $360, profit is $140, and the true margin is 28%.
Both numbers are real, and both are useful — for different jobs. Gross margin tells you which services pull their weight; loaded margin tells you whether the business does. The trap is quoting new work off the 78% while the bank account lives on the 28%. Run this calculator both ways and know both of your numbers.
Common margin mistakes
Confusing margin with markup. A 30% markup is not a 30% margin — it's a 23% margin. Markup is measured against cost, margin against price, and mixing them up always errs in the customer's favor. If you price by marking up materials and parts, our Markup Calculator shows exactly what margin each markup really delivers.
Managing to gross margin only. Every job looks profitable when overhead is invisible. If your gross margins are great and your bank account isn't, overhead is where the money went.
Multiplying instead of dividing for a target. Cost × 1.25 does not produce a 25% margin — it produces 20%. The five points you silently gave away on every job for a year are a vacation you didn't take.
Ignoring your own pay. A margin computed with free owner labor isn't profit — it's your unpaid wages wearing a costume. Pay yourself in the cost line first; the margin that's left is the real one.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between gross margin and net margin?
Gross subtracts only the job's direct costs; net subtracts everything, overhead included. Enter direct costs here for gross, loaded costs for something close to net — the same math works for both.
What's a good profit margin for a small business?
As general guidance for service businesses: 10% net is getting by, 15–25% is a healthy target, above 25% is strong. Materials-heavy and retail businesses often run thinner margins on higher volume.
Can a margin be more than 100%?
No — margin is a share of the price, so it can approach 100% but never pass it. Numbers over 100% mean you're computing markup, which is measured against cost and has no ceiling.
Why divide by (1 − margin) instead of multiplying by the margin?
Because margin is a share of the price, not the cost. Cost $100, target 25%: multiplying gives $125 (only a 20% margin); dividing by 0.75 gives $133.33, where the $33.33 profit is exactly 25% of the price.
Is this calculator really free?
Yes. No account, no email, no ads. It runs in your browser and the numbers you enter are never sent to us. We use basic traffic analytics, described in our privacy policy.
Estimates only: results are based on the numbers you enter. We work to keep the formulas accurate, but costs, taxes, and regulations vary by location — always verify your own numbers before making business decisions. MyPricingCalculator.com is not responsible for pricing or business decisions made with these tools.