Markup and margin are both ways of describing the relationship between cost and selling price, but they're calculated differently and it's a common source of pricing mistakes to confuse them. Markup is profit as a percentage of cost; margin is profit as a percentage of the selling price.
This calculator keeps cost, markup, margin, and selling price all in sync — change any one of markup or margin, and the resulting selling price and profit update instantly.
Understanding the distinction matters because the same dollar profit produces a different-looking percentage depending on which measure you quote — a 50% markup on cost is actually a 33.3% margin on the selling price, which can lead to real pricing errors if the two are mixed up.
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This kind of task shows up constantly in everyday writing, coding, design, and admin work, which is exactly why a dedicated, focused tool saves so much back-and-forth.
A tool that does one job well, without a cluttered interface or unrelated features competing for attention, tends to be faster to use than a heavier all-in-one app.
If you find yourself needing this conversion or calculation often, keeping this page open in a tab is usually faster than digging through a bigger software suite's menus.
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If you find yourself needing this often, keeping this page open in a tab is usually faster than digging through a bigger software suite's menus.
Many people discover a tool like this the first time they need it for a specific task, then come back to it regularly afterward once they know it exists.
Frequently asked questions
What's the actual difference between markup and margin?
Markup divides profit by cost; margin divides profit by selling price — they describe the same profit in dollars but produce different percentages because the denominators differ.
Which one should I use when pricing?
Margin is generally more useful for understanding overall profitability relative to revenue, while markup is often simpler for quickly setting a price from a known cost.