Work out markup in every direction — and see the margin it really gives you. Cost and price give you markup % and margin % together, a target markup gives you the price to charge or the cost you can pay, and the conversion table underneath translates markup to margin for the common values. Everything updates live in your browser; the defaults are the worked example.
Markup vs margin, in one line: markup is profit ÷ cost, margin is profit ÷ price — the same profit measured against two different bases, which is why markup is always the bigger number.
Reverse — start from a target markupThe maths: profit = price − cost. Markup % = profit ÷ cost × 100. Margin % = profit ÷ price × 100. Price from markup = cost × (1 + markup). Cost from markup = price ÷ (1 + markup). Margin from markup = markup ÷ (1 + markup).
Set a target markup plus a cost and a price to solve both ways.
The classic pricing mistake is treating markup and margin as the same number: a 50% markup is only a 33.33% margin, and a 100% markup is a 50% margin — margin can never reach 100% while markup has no ceiling. Zero or empty cost or price shows a dash instead of dividing by zero.
Computed live from margin = markup ÷ (1 + markup). Read it before quoting a “margin” that is really a markup — the two columns are never equal.
| Markup % | Margin % | Price on a $100 cost | Profit on that sale |
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Markup and margin from cost and price, the price for a target markup, the cost you can pay, and a live markup-to-margin conversion table.
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Calculate markup % and margin % together from cost and selling price, find the price a cost needs at a target markup, find the most you can pay for an item at a target markup and a set price, and convert between markup and margin with a live table built from margin = markup ÷ (1 + markup).
An item costs $60 and sells for $100, so profit is $40. Markup is $40 ÷ $60 × 100 = 66.67%, while margin is $40 ÷ $100 × 100 = 40% — the same $40, two different answers. At a 50% target markup the same $60 cost prices at $60 × 1.50 = $90, and a $90 price at 50% markup can carry a cost of $90 ÷ 1.50 = $60. The bridge formula checks out on the table: a 100% markup is a 100 ÷ 200 = 50% margin, and a 25% markup is a 25 ÷ 125 = 20% margin.
Profit = price − cost. Markup % = profit ÷ cost × 100. Margin % = profit ÷ price × 100. Price from a target markup = cost × (1 + markup as a decimal). Cost from a target markup = price ÷ (1 + markup as a decimal). The bridge between the two measures is margin = markup ÷ (1 + markup), with both as decimals — so the conversion table is computed live from that formula rather than typed in, and the margin implied by any markup you enter is always consistent with it. Markup has no ceiling (a $1 cost sold at $101 is a 10,000% markup); margin is capped below 100% because profit cannot exceed the price unless the cost is negative.
The denominator. Markup divides profit by cost; margin divides profit by price. A $40 profit on a $60 cost sold at $100 is 66.67% markup but 40% margin. Because price is always bigger than cost (when there is a profit), margin is always the smaller number — and the two are never interchangeable, even though they are confused constantly.
Margin = markup ÷ (1 + markup), using decimals: a 50% markup gives 0.50 ÷ 1.50 = 33.33% margin, and a 100% markup gives 1 ÷ 2 = 50% margin. The conversion table on the page is computed from exactly this formula for the common values — 10%, 20%, 25%, 33.33%, 50% and 100% markup.
Doubling your cost means the price is twice the cost, so the profit is exactly half the price: cost $50, price $100, profit $50, and $50 ÷ $100 = 50% margin. To get a 50% MARGIN you need the 100% markup; to get a 100% margin you would need zero cost, which is why margin never reaches it.
There is no universal right markup — it has to cover overhead, fees, discounting and unsold stock on top of the unit cost, and it varies enormously by trade. Work it backwards from the margin you actually need: pick the margin, read the equivalent markup off the conversion table (or the margin stat in the reverse results), then check the resulting price against what customers will pay.
Yes — sell below cost and both markup and margin go negative: a $100 cost sold at $60 is a −40% markup and a −66.67% margin. The calculator shows the negative figures rather than hiding a loss, which is what you want when you are clearing stock deliberately and need to know exactly what it costs you.
Keystone is the specific retail convention of doubling the cost — a 100% markup, which is a 50% margin. A 50% markup is only a 33.33% margin, well below keystone. The naming confusion is exactly why this page shows both percentages on every calculation.
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