Markup calculator
Price from cost, cost from price, or the markup hiding between them — with margin shown alongside, because they are not the same number.
A 50% markup on a $40 cost is a 33.3% margin — markup and margin describe the same $20 of profit against different bases.
The formulas
Markup % = (price − cost) ÷ cost × 100
Margin % = (price − cost) ÷ price × 100
Price = cost × (1 + markup ÷ 100) or cost ÷ (1 − margin ÷ 100)
One pool of profit, two denominators. Markup asks "how much did I add on top of what it cost me?" — margin asks "how much of the sale price do I keep?" Mixing them up always errs in the same painful direction: pricing for a "40% margin" by multiplying cost by 1.4 actually delivers a 28.6% margin. If you want margin, divide by (1 − margin); never multiply.
Markup ↔ margin conversion chart
| Markup | Margin |
|---|---|
| 10% | 9.1% |
| 15% | 13.0% |
| 20% | 16.7% |
| 25% | 20.0% |
| 30% | 23.1% |
| 40% | 28.6% |
| 50% | 33.3% |
| 75% | 42.9% |
| 100% | 50.0% |
| 200% | 66.7% |
The famous row is 100 ↔ 50: doubling your cost — keystone pricing — keeps half of every sale. Notice how the gap widens as numbers grow; at small markups the two are nearly interchangeable, which is exactly why the confusion survives. Jewelers know this row best, and it only holds if the cost under it is real, which is what jewelry inventory software works out for each design from the metal, stones and findings in it.
A worked example
A candle maker's true cost per unit is $11.20 — wax, wick, jar, label, and the 34 minutes of labor most spreadsheets forget. At a 120% markup she wholesales for $24.64 (a 54.5% margin, $13.44 profit). The boutique she sells to applies keystone and retails at $49.28. Every party priced with markup; every party's accountant will read it back as margin.
The number that quietly goes stale
A markup is only as honest as the cost under it — and cost moves. Your supplier reprices resin, freight jumps, and the "50% markup" you set in January is a 34% markup by June without a single price change on your side. That drift is invisible in a spreadsheet because the cost cell never updates itself. In inventory software the cost basis re-averages with every receipt, so the margin column on every item is live — the moment a supplier price erodes it, you see it, item by item, before the quarter does. A food maker feels this first: cocoa or flour reprices under a recipe that hasn't changed, which is why food manufacturing software costs each recipe from its ingredient prices.