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Break-Even Calculator

When do you stop bleeding?

Break-even is the most-asked question in early-stage operating and the most-mis-answered. Plug in fixed costs, variable cost per unit, and price per unit. Get units, dollars, and months. Layer in seasonality if your industry has it.

BE = FC / CM
Units to break even
25%+
Healthy safety margin
<18mo
Target time to BE
40%
Of SMBs miss month one BE
Break-Even Units Per Month
0
Units required each month to cover fixed and variable cost. Anything above this is profit.
Safety Margin Status
0.0% above break-even
Below BE Close 0-25% Safe 25%+
Above Break-Even
SaaS

Sets sensible defaults for the inputs below.

$35,000

Rent, salaries, insurance, fixed software, base utilities. Costs that hit even at zero sales.

Industry: $30K-50K /mo
$18

Direct material, payment processing, sales commission, fulfillment cost per sale.

Industry: $10-25
$150

What the customer pays per unit, seat, visit, or transaction. Net of discounts.

Industry: $80-300
280

Average monthly volume right now. Use last month or a rolling 3-month average.

Industry: 200-400 /mo
4.0%

How fast unit volume trends month over month. Use trailing 6-month average growth.

Industry: 3-6% /mo
Break-Even Revenue
$42,000
Monthly revenue needed to cover all costs.
Current Monthly P/L
+$2,000
Profit (or loss) at your current unit volume.
Units To Go
0
Extra units per month needed to hit break-even.
Months To Break-Even
Now
Time to reach BE at current growth rate.
Cost vs Revenue at Volume
Total cost Revenue Fixed only Break-even
Break-Even At 280 units
What if you raised price by $X?
Tug the slider. Watch break-even fall.
+$0
New Price
$150
Per unit, after the bump.
New Break-Even Units
280
Units to cover costs at new price.
Suggested Increase
$0
Price bump that covers the unit gap at your current volume.
How You Stack Against Your Industry
Industry median You
Contribution Margin Price minus variable cost, as % of price
88%
Fixed Cost Share Fixed cost as % of break-even revenue
83%
Break-Even Volume Units per month needed to break even
265 u
Safety Margin % volume above break-even (higher is better)
6%
Monthly Growth Trailing unit-volume growth rate
4.0%
Sensitivity: which lever moves break-even the most?
Modeled against your current inputs
Operator Playbook
1 Pull the price lever before the volume lever. A 5% price increase moves break-even more than a 10% spike in unit volume, and it preserves working capital instead of consuming it.
2 Cut variable cost second. Renegotiate suppliers, kill payment-processing fees, automate fulfillment. Every dollar shaved off variable cost lifts contribution margin one-for-one.
3 Fixed cost cuts hurt less than they help. Subleasing space, swapping enterprise software for Nirvani, killing dead-weight roles. Each $1,000 of fixed cuts is roughly 10 units of break-even relief at $100 contribution per unit.
4 Beware the volume trap. "We just need to sell more" hides a structurally broken contribution margin. If your margin is below 30%, no amount of volume saves you. Fix the unit economics first.
5 Set a 25% safety margin target. Operating exactly at break-even means one bad month is insolvency. 25% above BE buys you a runway when (not if) the next surprise hits.

Free Detailed Report

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We'll send you a 4-page PDF with your numbers, your industry benchmarks, the three specific levers most likely to move break-even, and a 30-minute strategy slot with the founder if you want one.

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How this calculator works

What formula is this using?
Three steps. First, contribution per unit equals price - variable cost. Second, break-even units equals fixed cost / contribution per unit. Third, break-even revenue is break-even units x price. Time-to-BE uses compound growth on your current volume against that unit target. Safety margin is (current units - BE units) / BE units, expressed as a percent above (or below) break-even.
Why does contribution margin matter more than gross margin?
Gross margin lumps fixed-allocated costs into the cost of delivery, which fights you when you're trying to figure out incremental economics. Contribution margin isolates only the variable side, so you can see how each additional unit sold actually contributes to covering fixed cost. Break-even math only works when you separate those two buckets.
How accurate are the industry benchmarks?
Defaults are blended from public SMB cost-structure surveys (NFIB, SCORE, Sageworks RMA), industry-specific margin reports (NRA for restaurants, ABA for law, NADA for auto), and Nirvani's own deployment data across 200+ SMB clients. They're medians, not means. Your numbers will vary by region, niche, and channel mix. Use them as a sanity check, not a ceiling.
My business has multiple products at different prices. What do I plug in?
Use a weighted-average price and a weighted-average variable cost across your product mix, weighted by unit volume. The math still holds. If your mix shifts a lot month-to-month, run the calculator three times (low-mix, mid-mix, high-mix) and use the worst case for planning. The high case becomes your stretch target.
What if my industry is seasonal?
Use trailing-twelve-month average units for "current units sold" instead of last month. Then run the calculator a second time with peak-month units to confirm you clear BE comfortably in the high season. Seasonal businesses break even on an annualized basis, not a monthly one. If your low season is structurally below BE, the cash you bank in peak season has to carry the gap.
Time-to-break-even shows "never". Why?
Two possible reasons. One, your monthly growth rate is zero or negative, in which case you'll never grow into break-even and need to either raise price, cut cost, or change the model. Two, your contribution margin is zero or negative, meaning each additional sale loses money. No amount of growth fixes negative contribution. Cut variable cost or raise price before chasing volume.
What's in the detailed PDF report?
Four pages: (1) Your numbers, with sensitivity table and cost-vs-revenue chart. (2) Your industry benchmarks, side by side with your inputs. (3) The three levers most likely to move your break-even (specific to your inputs). (4) A 90-day implementation roadmap. No marketing fluff. You'll receive it within 2 minutes of submitting the form.