Calculate the profit margin and markup from cost and price, or find the selling price for a target margin.
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Choose the mode: from cost & price you get the margin and markup, or from cost & target margin you get the selling price.
Margin is measured against the selling price, markup against the cost — they differ. A 50% markup on cost equals a 33% margin on price.
Profit margin 33.33% · Markup 50% · Profit 50 £Real-estate and business calculations. Standard formulas for commissions, price per m², margins and markups. Instant in-browser calculation, no account, no data sent. Last updated: 11 July 2026 · gov.uk: set up a business.
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Margin is measured against the selling price, markup against the cost — two different views of the same profit:
At a cost of £100 and a price of £150: profit £50, margin = 50 ÷ 150 = 33%, and markup = 50 ÷ 100 = 50%.
Profit margin is profit expressed as a percentage of the selling price. Formula: (price − cost) ÷ price × 100. At a cost of £100 and price of £150, the margin is 33%.
Margin is measured against the selling price, markup against the cost. They are different values: a 50% markup on cost equals a margin of just 33% on price.
Subtract the cost from the selling price, divide by the price, then multiply by 100. For example, (150 − 100) ÷ 150 × 100 = 33.3%.
Subtract the cost from the price, divide by the cost, times 100. For example, (150 − 100) ÷ 100 × 100 = 50%. Markup is always higher than margin.
Divide the cost by (1 − margin/100). For a cost of £100 and a target margin of 30%: 100 ÷ (1 − 0.30) = 100 ÷ 0.70 ≈ £142.86.
It depends heavily on the sector: retail has thin margins (a few percent), while services or digital products can have margins of tens of percent. Compare with the sector average.
No. Margin on price is always below 100%, because profit cannot exceed the price. Markup on cost, however, can exceed 100% (for example on low-cost products).
Because both are percentages related to profit, but measured against different bases (price vs cost). The confusion leads to wrong pricing — use the correct formula for each.