Know what the work costs before you price it
In a service business, cost is hours. TimeTac shows what each project actually took. Try it free for 30 days.
Free Markup Calculator
Enter your cost and the markup you want, and see the selling price, the profit and the margin it produces.
Use the calculator to
- set a selling price from your cost and a target markup
- see the margin that a given markup actually delivers
- check whether a quoted price still covers what the work costs you
- compare pricing across products or services on the same basis
How the fields work
Cost: what the product or the work costs you, including materials, labour and overhead
Markup: the percentage you add on top of that cost
Margin: the share of the selling price that is profit. It fills in on its own, and you can type into it instead
Revenue and profit are calculated for you. Use gross or net figures consistently across cost and price, never a mix of both.
Markup and margin are not the same number.
Both describe the gap between cost and selling price. They divide it by different things, which is why the same deal produces two different percentages.
To go from a target margin to the markup you need: divide the margin by one minus the margin. A 40 % margin needs a 66.7 % markup.
- Markup is measured against your cost. Cost $40, price $48, so the markup is 20 %.
- Margin is measured against your selling price. The same $8 of profit against $48 is a margin of 16.7 %.
| Markup | Margin |
| 10 % | 9.1 % |
| 15 % | 13.0 % |
| 20 % | 16.7 % |
| 25 % | 20.0 % |
| 33 % | 25.0 % |
| 50 % | 33.3 % |
| 75 % | 42.9 % |
| 100 % | 50.0 % |
Frequently asked questions.
What is markup?
The amount you add to your cost to reach a selling price. Buy at $20, sell at $30, and the markup is $10, or 50 % of the cost.
What is the markup formula?
Markup percentage = (selling price − cost) ÷ cost × 100.
To go the other way, selling price = cost × (1 + markup ÷ 100).
What is the difference between markup and margin?
Markup is calculated against cost, margin against the selling price. The same transaction always shows a higher markup than margin.
What is a good markup percentage?
It depends on the industry, the competition and what your costs actually include. Retail commonly runs at 50 % and above, service businesses lower, and the figure only means something once overhead and unbilled time are in the cost.
Why can margin not exceed 100 %?
Margin is profit as a share of the selling price. Profit cannot be larger than the price it came from. Markup has no such ceiling and can run to 200 % or more.
