Calculate your profit margin with costs, revenue, and markup percentages
Your total sales or revenue
All your business expenses (COGS, overhead, fees)
Revenue minus all costs
Low margin (% of revenue kept as profit)
How much you added to your costs
This free profit margin calculator helps small businesses, freelancers, and side hustlers understand their true profitability. Enter your revenue and costs to instantly see your profit margin percentage.
| Industry | Typical Margin | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Software / SaaS | 70-85% | Low marginal costs once built |
| Consulting / Freelance | 50-80% | Primary cost is your time |
| Digital Products | 60-90% | Ebooks, courses, templates |
| Print on Demand | 15-35% | Base cost + platform fees eat margin |
| Retail / E-commerce | 5-20% | Competitive, high volume needed |
| Restaurants | 3-9% | High costs, thin margins |
A good profit margin varies by industry. Generally, 10% is considered average, 20% is good, and 30%+ is excellent. Service businesses often see 50%+ margins while retail typically runs 5-10%. Compare your margin to industry benchmarks for the most relevant guidance.
Gross margin only subtracts direct costs (cost of goods sold) from revenue. Net margin subtracts ALL expenses including rent, salaries, marketing, and taxes. Net margin is the "true" profit. This calculator shows net margin by default.
Profit margin percentage = (Revenue - Costs) / Revenue x 100. For example, if you sell a product for $100 and your total costs are $60, your profit is $40 and your margin is 40%. This calculator does this math automatically.
Markup is based on cost (how much you add to your cost). Margin is based on revenue (what percentage of the sale is profit). A 50% markup equals a 33% margin. A 100% markup (doubling your cost) equals a 50% margin.
Common reasons include: rising supplier costs, increased competition forcing lower prices, higher overhead expenses (rent, staff), inefficient operations, or offering too many discounts. Track your costs monthly to identify the specific cause.
Increase prices (test small increases first), reduce supplier costs (negotiate or find alternatives), cut unnecessary overhead, automate repetitive tasks, eliminate low-margin products, and focus on upselling higher-margin items.
Include ALL business costs: product costs, shipping, packaging, platform fees (eBay, Etsy, Amazon), payment processing fees (Stripe, PayPal), marketing spend, software subscriptions, and a portion of overhead like rent and utilities.
Short-term, a negative margin can be strategic (startup phase, aggressive customer acquisition). Long-term, it is unsustainable. If your margin is consistently negative, you need to either raise prices or drastically cut costs to survive.