Know the day your business starts making money
Every price you set draws a line: everything before it pays the bills, everything after it is yours. This calculator finds that line, in units and in revenue, and shows what moves it. Type your numbers, the answer is live.
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One line decides it: contribution margin
Every sale contributes the gap between its price and its variable cost. Sell a $120 service that costs $45 to deliver, and each sale contributes $75 toward fixed costs. Break-even is simply how many of those contributions it takes to cover the bills: fixed costs divided by contribution per unit.
That is why the two levers that move break-even fastest are price and variable cost, not volume. A 10 percent price increase often cuts the break-even point more than a 30 percent increase in sales effort, which is exactly the kind of decision this number exists to inform.
- Rent, insurance, and subscriptions
- Salaries you pay regardless of sales
- Loan payments and equipment leases
- Registered agent, licenses, accounting
- Marketing retainers and software seats
- Materials, inventory, and packaging
- Payment processing on each order
- Shipping and delivery per unit
- Contractor hours billed per job
- Sales commissions and referral fees
She knew her craft. The margin was the mystery
For two years I priced by feel and hoped the account balance meant something. Running the numbers took ten minutes: I was eleven orders a month short of actually earning anything. I raised prices, lost three clients, and made more money the very next month. The math was kinder than the fear.
Representative composite drawn from customer outcomes.
A number is not a decision. Ask what to do about it
Inside the platform, BosAI sees your real books, so break-even stops being a hypothetical.
My break-even is 107 units but we only sold 84 last month.
Would raising the price to $135 hurt us?
Watch it for me?
Break-even is a snapshot. Running the business is the film
Every number in this calculator lives somewhere in the operating system, updated by your real activity.
Books & Finance
Your real fixed and variable costs, categorized as they happen
CRM
The customers behind the units, who buys, repeats, and refers
Email & SMS Marketing
Move the volume line: campaigns that sell past break-even
Business Phone
AI answering that books the next sale while you deliver this one
Business Banking
Watch the cash story the chart predicts, in the same login
BosAI
Recalculates from live books and warns before the margin thins
Straight answers on the number that decides pricing
What is a break-even point?
The sales level where total revenue equals total cost, so profit is exactly zero. Below it every month ends in a loss, above it each additional sale is profit. It is the first number a lender, investor, or well-run set of books looks for.
What is the break-even formula?
Fixed costs ÷ (price per unit − variable cost per unit). The denominator is the contribution margin: what each sale contributes toward fixed costs. For break-even revenue, divide fixed costs by the contribution margin ratio instead.
I sell services, not units. Does this still work?
Yes. A "unit" is whatever you sell one of: a client engagement, a billable project, a monthly retainer. Use your average project price and the direct cost of delivering one, contractor hours, software, travel, and the math is identical.
Is breaking even the same as being profitable?
No, it is the doorway to it. Break-even ignores your own salary unless you put it in fixed costs, which you should, and it says nothing about cash timing: a profitable month can still be a cash-poor month if customers pay late. Pair it with banking and books that show the real cash story.
How do I lower my break-even point?
Three levers, in order of speed: raise price, cut variable cost per unit, cut fixed costs. Price is the strongest, a small increase flows entirely into contribution margin. Test the scenario in the calculator above before you commit, then tell the customers who matter through CRM segments rather than a blanket announcement.
What is a margin of safety?
How far current sales sit above break-even, usually as a percentage. Selling 120 units against a break-even of 100 gives a 17 percent margin of safety: demand can dip that far before losses start. Below roughly 15 percent, treat every fixed-cost increase as a decision, not a default.
How often should I recalculate?
Whenever price, costs, or product mix change, and at least quarterly. Rent renewals, processor fee changes, and new hires all quietly move the line. Inside the platform, BosAI recalculates it from live books so the answer is never stale.
You found the number. Now put it to work.
Connect real books, customers, and campaigns, and break-even becomes a line BosAI watches for you, not a worksheet you remember to redo.