How many units you must sell to cover fixed costs — and to hit a profit target.
Business Cost Calculator
Add up start-up and running costs to see monthly spend, first-year cost and cash runway.
Runs in your browser — nothing you enter is sent to our servers
How it works
- Start-up = sum of one-off costs × (1 + contingency).
- Monthly running cost = monthly costs + annual costs ÷ 12.
- First-year total = start-up + 12 × monthly running cost.
- Cash runway = (cash available − start-up) ÷ (monthly running cost − monthly revenue). If revenue covers your costs, runway is unlimited.
Example
A mobile coffee business needs a R65,000 coffee machine and R18,000 of other equipment, plus R4,500/month for a stall, R2,800/month for stock and R3,600/year insurance. With a 15% contingency, start-up is R95,450 and running costs are R7,600/month. With R150,000 in the bank and no revenue yet, cash lasts about 7.2 months.
Next step: see how much you need to sell with the break-even calculator.
Frequently asked questions
What should I include in start-up costs?
Anything you pay once before or when you open: registration, equipment, initial stock, a website, signage, deposits on premises, and professional fees. Running costs are what you pay every month or year to keep going.
What is cash runway?
How many months your cash will last at your current net monthly spend (running costs minus revenue). It is a key number for any new business.
Should I add a contingency?
Yes. Costs are almost always higher than planned. Many people add 10–20% to their start-up estimate. The calculator adds your chosen contingency to one-off costs.
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