Business & Finance
Break-Even Revenue Calculator
Break-even is the single number that tells you whether a month is winnable before it starts. Enter your fixed monthly costs and your gross margin, and this calculator returns the revenue required to cover overhead, along with a daily target so you can track it as the month runs.
Estimates only. Verify important figures against your own records before acting on them. See our disclaimer.
What this calculator includes
What you enter
- Fixed monthly costs
- Gross margin
- Operating days per month (optional)
What you get back
- Break-even monthly revenue
- Daily revenue target
- Break-even annual revenue
- Weekly revenue target
- Gross profit per $1,000 of sales
How this calculation works
How this calculation works
Every dollar of revenue contributes its gross margin toward fixed costs. Break-even is the point where those contributions exactly cover overhead.
- Break-even monthly revenue = fixed monthly costs ÷ (gross margin ÷ 100)
- Daily revenue target = break-even monthly revenue ÷ operating days per month (30.42 by default)
- Weekly revenue target = break-even monthly revenue × 12 ÷ 52
- To include profit: (fixed costs + target profit) ÷ (gross margin ÷ 100)
What the result means
Break-even revenue is the sales you must book for gross margin to exactly cover fixed costs. The daily and weekly targets are that figure spread over the operating days you set, so you can track a month while it runs.
Common mistakes and assumptions
- Putting variable costs into fixed costs — fixed costs are what you pay whether or not you sell.
- Using net margin instead of gross margin, which understates the target.
- Using calendar days when you only trade some of them; set operating days per month.
Worked example
A shop carries $18,500 in fixed monthly costs, runs a 38% gross margin, and only sells on the 22 weekdays in a month.
- 1Break-even revenue = $18,500 ÷ 0.38 = $48,684.21 per month.
- 2Daily target = $48,684.21 ÷ 22 operating days = $2,213.83 per selling day.
- 3Left at the 30.42-day default instead, the same month works out to $1,600.30 per day.
- 4Every $1,000 booked contributes $380 toward that $18,500 of overhead.
Frequently asked questions
- What counts as a fixed cost?
- Anything that does not move with sales volume: rent, salaried staff, insurance, software, loan payments, and utilities. Materials, subcontractors, and hourly production labor belong in your margin instead.
- How do I find my gross margin?
- Take revenue minus direct costs, then divide by revenue. If a $10,000 job cost $6,200 in materials and production labor, the margin is 38%.
- Can I add a profit target?
- Yes — add the profit you want to your fixed costs before entering them. Covering $18,500 of overhead plus $5,000 of profit at 38% margin needs $61,842 in revenue.
- Why does the daily figure default to 30.42 days?
- 365 ÷ 12 = 30.42, so it smooths across long and short months. If you only sell on certain days, enter your real operating days per month — 22 for weekdays, 26 for six days a week — and the daily target adjusts.
Disclaimer
This calculator returns estimates based only on the values you enter. It does not account for taxes, financing terms, local regulations, or conditions specific to your operation, and it is not accounting, legal, tax, or investment advice. Confirm any figure that carries real cost before you rely on it.
Calculations run entirely in your browser and the numbers you type are never sent to us or stored. Read how Answerivo calculators are built.
Formulas and worked example last reviewed .