Markup Calculator
Work out selling price, profit, markup, and margin from your cost. Enter a markup percent or a target price and see every figure with clear working.
🏷️ What is Markup?
Markup is the amount a business adds to the cost of a product or service to arrive at its selling price, expressed as a percentage of the cost. If a shop buys an item for 100 and sells it for 150, it has applied a 50% markup. Markup is the engine of cost-plus pricing, the most common pricing method in retail and wholesale, where a set percentage is added to the cost of every item to ensure each sale contributes profit.
Markup calculations are used everywhere goods change hands. Retailers set shelf prices by marking up wholesale costs. Manufacturers price finished goods above their production cost. Contractors add a markup to materials and labour to cover overheads and profit. Restaurants apply large markups to food and drink to cover the cost of premises and staff. In each case, the markup percentage links the known cost to the price the customer pays.
A common and costly misconception is that markup and margin are the same. They are not: markup measures profit against cost, while margin measures the same profit against the selling price. A 50% markup is only a 33.3% margin. A business that charges a 30% markup while believing it is earning a 30% margin will consistently fall short of its profit target. Understanding the difference is essential to pricing correctly.
This calculator works both ways. Enter a cost and a markup percentage to find the selling price, or enter a cost and a selling price to find the markup. Either way it reports the selling price, the profit, the markup percentage, and the profit margin together, with the full working shown so the pricing is transparent.
📐 Formula
📖 How to Use This Calculator
Steps
💡 Example Calculations
Example 1 — Set Price from Markup
A product costing 100 with a 50% markup
Example 2 — Find Markup from Price
A product costing 80 that sells for 120
Example 3 — A 25% Markup
A product costing 200 with a 25% markup
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
🔗 Related Calculators
What is markup?
Markup is the amount added to the cost of a product to set its selling price, expressed as a percentage of the cost. If an item costs 100 and sells for 150, the markup is 50, which is 50% of the cost. Markup is the basis of cost-plus pricing, where a fixed percentage is added to every item's cost.
How do you calculate markup?
Divide the profit by the cost and multiply by 100: markup % = (selling price − cost) / cost × 100. For a product costing 80 that sells for 120, the profit is 40, so the markup is 40 / 80 × 100 = 50%. To find the selling price from a markup, use price = cost × (1 + markup / 100).
What is the difference between markup and margin?
Markup is profit as a percentage of cost, while margin is profit as a percentage of selling price. For an item costing 100 and selling for 150, the profit is 50, giving a 50% markup but a 33.3% margin. Because the selling price is larger than the cost, the margin percentage is always smaller than the markup percentage.
How do you calculate selling price from markup?
Multiply the cost by one plus the markup as a decimal: price = cost × (1 + markup / 100). For a 25% markup on a product costing 200, the selling price is 200 × 1.25 = 250. The profit is the difference, here 50, and the margin is 50 / 250 = 20%.
How do you convert markup to margin?
Use margin = markup / (100 + markup) × 100. A 50% markup converts to 50 / 150 × 100 = 33.3% margin. To go the other way, use markup = margin / (100 − margin) × 100, so a 33.3% margin is a 50% markup. This calculator shows both figures at once so no conversion is needed.
What is a good markup percentage?
A good markup depends on the industry. Grocery retail often runs on markups of 10 to 15%, general retail commonly uses around 50%, and restaurants may mark food up 200 to 300%. The right markup must cover overheads, wastage, and desired profit while staying competitive. There is no single correct figure across all businesses.
What is cost-plus pricing?
Cost-plus pricing sets the selling price by adding a fixed markup percentage to the unit cost. If a product costs 40 to make and the business applies a 60% markup, the price is 40 × 1.6 = 64. It is simple and ensures every sale covers cost plus a margin, but it ignores demand and competitor pricing, so it is often combined with market research.
Can markup be more than 100%?
Yes. Markup can be any positive percentage, and values above 100% are common for products with low unit costs and high perceived value, such as jewellery, software, or restaurant drinks. A 200% markup means the selling price is three times the cost. Margin, by contrast, can never reach 100% because profit cannot exceed the selling price.
How do you calculate profit from cost and price?
Profit is simply the selling price minus the cost: profit = price − cost. For an item costing 80 sold for 120, the profit is 40. From there, markup is profit divided by cost and margin is profit divided by price, both times 100. This calculator computes all of these at once.
Why do markup and margin give different percentages?
They use different bases. Markup measures profit against the cost, while margin measures the same profit against the larger selling price. Dividing by a larger number gives a smaller percentage, so the margin is always lower than the markup for a profitable sale. Confusing the two can lead to underpricing and lost profit.