Markup vs Margin Calculator — Convert, Price and Check Margins Free
Convert markup to margin and back, price for a target margin, add fees, tax, discounts and returns, or price a whole CSV. Free, private, runs in your browser.
What it does
This calculator turns any two of five numbers — cost, selling price, profit, markup % and margin % — into the other three. Type a cost of 50 and a markup of 60% and it fills in a price of 80, a profit of 30 and a margin of 37.5%.
It goes further than the basic conversion. It shows the “underpricing trap” in your own numbers, prices to a target margin, builds a per-unit profit breakdown after payment fees, marketplace fees, shipping, tax, discounts and returns, and prices a whole spreadsheet of products at once from a CSV.
Markup vs margin: the difference in one minute
Markup is profit as a share of cost. Margin is profit as a share of the selling price. The same sale gives two different percentages: buy something for 50 and sell it for 80, and the markup is 60% while the margin is 37.5%.
That gap is where underpricing comes from. If you want a 40% margin and add a 40% markup to your cost, you actually earn about 28.6%. To earn a 40% margin you need a markup of 66.67%. The tool highlights this whenever your markup is under 100%, and shows how much money per unit the mix-up costs. If you only need a quick percentage check, the percentage calculator covers it.
How it works
Solve mode. The two fields you edited most recently are treated as your inputs; everything else is calculated and shaded green. Markup and margin carry the same information, so they are never used as a pair. Impossible inputs are explained rather than silently corrected: a margin of 100% or more, a negative cost, or a profit larger than the price.
Fee-aware pricing. For the Fees tab the tool uses a closed-form solution instead of guessing. With payment fees, platform fees, returns and fixed costs in play, the price needed for a given net margin is found directly, then checked by running the price back through the full model. Tax can be inside the price, added on top, or ignored; the payment fee is charged on what the customer actually pays, and platform fees on the revenue you keep after refunds. Fee examples are only starting points, so check your own processor and marketplace rates.
Rounding. Suggested prices can be rounded up to .99, .95, .49, the nearest 0.05, or a whole number. Rounding always goes up, so a rounded price never falls below your target margin, and the effective margin after rounding is shown.
Everything stays local. Calculations run in your browser and nothing is uploaded. Imported CSV files are kept in your browser’s own storage so a refresh doesn’t lose them, and you can delete any file or clear everything from the Saved tab.
How to use it
- Solve tab: enter any two of cost, price, profit, markup or margin. Read the results, the underpricing warning and the target-price card. Set your target margin in the sidebar.
- Fees & discounts tab: enter your product cost and list price, then any shipping, discount, tax, payment fee, platform fee and return rate. Read the per-unit breakdown, the price that reaches your target net margin, and how much discounting you can afford.
- Bulk / CSV tab: drop in a CSV or paste rows with a name and cost, plus optional price and quantity. Check the detected columns, then sort by margin or filter to the rows that fall below your target.
- Export: download the results as CSV, copy them as tab-separated text for a spreadsheet, or send the table to another tool. Chart and summary can be downloaded or copied too.
If your product list came from a messy export, run it through the CSV cleaner first. Once your prices are set, the break-even calculator shows how many units you need to sell to cover fixed costs, and the invoice generator turns the final prices into a client-ready invoice.
Bulk CSV pricing
The importer handles commas, semicolons, tabs and pipes, quoted fields, line breaks inside quotes, Excel’s byte-order mark, and decimal commas such as “18,50”. Columns are matched by name (“Unit Cost”, “Selling Price”, “Qty”) and you can remap any of them. Rows with a bad number are skipped and listed with their row numbers rather than quietly dropped.
Results show markup, margin and a suggested price per row, plus blended margin and total profit across the file. Turn on “use the fee model” to price every row net of fees.
Frequently asked questions
What is the formula for markup and margin?
Markup = (price − cost) ÷ cost. Margin = (price − cost) ÷ price. To convert, margin = markup ÷ (100% + markup), and markup = margin ÷ (100% − margin). The Solve tab shows both directions in a table.
Why can’t I set a margin of 100%?
A 100% margin means a cost of zero, and the price needed would be infinite for any real cost. The calculator rejects it with an explanation. A margin of 100% can appear as a result when the cost is zero.
Should I price on markup or margin?
Most businesses set targets on margin because it is a share of revenue, so it lines up with what you actually keep from each sale. Markup is common in retail buying. Use whichever your business reports, but convert carefully. The underpricing warning exists because applying a margin target as a markup leaves money on the table.
Does it include payment processing and marketplace fees?
Yes, on the Fees & discounts tab. Enter percentage and fixed fees, shipping, tax treatment, discounts and returns, and it reports net margin per unit and the list price that reaches a target net margin. The fee examples provided are placeholders, so use your own current rates.
What happens to my imported CSV files?
They never leave your device. They are stored in your browser so they are still there after a refresh, and they can be removed one by one or all at once from the Saved tab. Clearing your browser data also removes them.
Can it handle a large product list?
Yes. It parses and prices tens of thousands of rows in well under a second. The on-screen table shows the first 1,000 rows, while CSV and copy exports include every row.