Break-even Calculator
Find how many units must be sold to cover fixed costs.
Break-even quantity
- Contribution per unit (price − variable cost)
- Whole units required, if you can only sell whole units
Worked example
Fixed costs of 501, a selling price of 10 and a variable cost of 6 leave a contribution of 4 per unit. The break-even quantity is 501 ÷ 4 = 125.25 units. If only whole units can be sold, 126 are needed.
How we calculated this
Each unit sold contributes its selling price minus its variable cost towards the fixed costs. The break-even quantity is the fixed costs divided by that contribution. The mathematical value is the main result; the whole-units line rounds it up to the next whole number and appears only when the quantity is not already whole.
If the selling price is not higher than the variable cost, each unit adds nothing or loses money, so no break-even quantity exists and Numerila says so rather than showing a number. This is neutral business arithmetic on the figures you enter; it is not financial advice.
A result written as a plain number is exact. A result starting with “≈” has been rounded to 10 significant figures, because its exact decimal never ends or is too long to read comfortably. When an exact value is long, its full digits are shown underneath. The calculation itself is never rounded: only the display is.
What this result means
The result is the number of units at which the money each unit contributes (selling price minus variable cost) exactly covers the fixed costs. If only whole units can be sold, a whole-units figure is shown as well.
Common mistakes
- Using the total cost per unit instead of only the variable cost per unit: fixed costs are entered separately.
Assumptions and limitations
- If the selling price is not higher than the variable cost per unit, no break-even quantity exists and none is shown.
- This is neutral arithmetic on the figures you enter. It ignores taxes, changing prices and volume discounts, and it is not financial advice.