Markup Calculator
Setting a Price by Working Backward From Cost
Markup is the most direct way retailers and wholesalers set prices: start with what an item costs, add a percentage on top, and that's the selling price. It's simpler than margin-based pricing but easy to misuse if you don't know the exact relationship between the two. This calculator handles all three directions — solving for selling price, the markup percentage itself, or the maximum cost that still hits a target price.
The Formula
Markup = ((Selling Price − Cost) / Cost) × 100
Cost = Selling Price / (1 + Markup / 100)
Where Markup Pricing Is Used
- Retail pricing — applying a standard markup percentage across a category of goods.
- Wholesale-to-retail transitions — figuring out the maximum you can pay a supplier while still hitting a target retail price.
- Service quoting — marking up materials or subcontractor costs to build a client-facing quote.
- Reverse-engineering competitor pricing — estimating a competitor's cost basis from their observed retail price and a typical industry markup.
Markup and Margin Diverge as the Percentage Grows
Markup and margin describe the same profit but are calculated on different bases — cost for markup, revenue for margin — so they only match at 0%. The gap between them widens the higher the percentage climbs.
| Markup | Equivalent margin |
|---|---|
| 10% | 9.09% |
| 25% | 20.00% |
| 50% | 33.33% |
| 100% | 50.00% |
| 200% | 66.67% |
How to Use This Calculator
- Choose a mode: Find Selling Price, Find Markup %, or Find Cost.
- For Find Selling Price, enter Cost ($) and Markup (%).
- For Find Markup %, enter Cost ($) and Selling Price ($).
- For Find Cost, enter Selling Price ($) and Markup (%).
- Select Calculate to see the result alongside the resulting profit.
Related Calculations
Check the resulting profitability with the Profit Margin Calculator, or use the Markdown Calculator when running a sale off that same price.