Markup & Margin Calculator
Convert between markup and margin, price for a target profit, and see the profit at any price point. The calculator that untangles markup vs margin. Free.
Markup and margin are the same profit expressed on different bases — markup on cost, margin on price — and confusing them silently misprices products: a "50% markup" is a 33% margin, not 50%. This calculator converts both directions and prices to a target.
Enter cost and either markup, margin, or desired profit per unit; get the selling price, the profit, and the margin at that price. It also handles the retail reality of discounts: what a 20% off sale does to a 40%-margin product.
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Pricing Calculator
Calculate freelance project pricing with labor, overhead, profit margin, and milestones.
Industry reference rates are approximate averages from multiple sources. Actual rates vary by location, experience, and specialization. Use as a starting point for pricing.
How freelance pricing works — illustrated
This calculator builds a project price from the bottom up: labor cost (your hourly rate × hours), plus overhead, plus a profit margin applied to that subtotal. The formula is total = (rate × hours + overhead) × (1 + margin%), and the tool then derives the metrics that matter for quoting: effective hourly rate, daily rate, and per-milestone payments. The same project can be priced three ways — cost-plus, value-based, or anchored to competitor rates — and the difference between a $125/hr cost-plus quote and a value-based quote often exceeds 50%. Getting the build-up right matters because your effective hourly rate (total ÷ hours) is what tells you whether the project actually pays your target income.
Cost-plus starts from your costs and adds margin — transparent and reproducible, which is why this tool uses it. Value-based prices the outcome instead, and competitor pricing anchors to the market range. The stacked bar shows a real build-up: $5,400 labor + $600 overhead + $1,500 profit = $7,500 total.
Maya, a freelance UX designer in Austin, is quoting a 60-hour redesign. Her rate is $90/hr, she has $600 of overhead (software subscriptions and a contractor), and she wants a 25% profit margin, paid across 3 milestones.
- Labor cost:$90/hr × 60 hrs = $5,400
- Subtotal:$5,400 + $600 overhead = $6,000
- Profit and total:$6,000 × 25% = $1,500 → total price = $7,500
- Derived rates:Effective hourly $125/hr ($7,500 ÷ 60h) · daily rate $1,000/day · 3 milestones of $2,500 each
About this markup calculator
This page covers markup vs margin formula, margin to markup conversion, price for target margin calculator, retail markup pricing — all the same underlying task as markup calculator. The tool above is FreeToolHub's pricing calculator embedded in full: every feature works right here, and nothing you process is uploaded to any server.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between markup and margin?
Markup is profit divided by cost; margin is profit divided by selling price. A product costing $60 sold at $100 has $40 markup (67% on cost) and a 40% margin (on price). Pricing with "a 40% markup" when you meant 40% margin leaves money on the table — the calculator converts either input into the correct price.
How do I price for a target profit margin?
Price = cost ÷ (1 − target margin). For a $60 product at a 40% target margin: $60 ÷ 0.6 = $100. Verify the result covers payment processing and returns — those costs sit between gross margin and net margin, and they are the usual reason planned margins fail to appear in the bank account.