A price rise only has to beat the volume it costs.
What matters isn’t revenue — it’s contribution: price minus the variable cost of each sale, multiplied by how many you sell. A higher price lifts the margin on every customer who stays. As long as the extra margin outweighs the customers you lose, you make more money on fewer sales — and you save the cost of serving the ones who left.
The counter-intuitive truth: because the increase falls straight to your margin, you can usually lose a surprising chunk of volume and still be ahead. This tool shows your break-even — the maximum volume you can lose — and compares it to the drop you actually fear.
- Variable cost
- What each extra sale costs you — materials, payment fees, fulfilment. Not rent or salaries.
- Contribution margin
- Price minus variable cost. The cash each sale contributes toward fixed costs and profit.
- Monthly contribution
- Contribution margin × volume. What you’re comparing before and after the price change.
- Break-even volume loss
- The most customers you can lose and still match today’s contribution.
Your unit economics today
The change you’re weighing
Pricing is the fastest lever on profit. Most founders pull it too late.
A price rise lands on the bottom line with no extra cost to deliver. The hard part is the how — which segments, how to frame it, when to grandfather, and what to say. I help founders price with confidence, and the first conversation is free.
Plan my price rise →How the math works (for the curious)
Everything runs on contribution margin, not revenue. Contribution margin = price − variable cost; monthly contribution = margin × volume. The new price is price × (1 + increase%), the new volume is volume × (1 − drop%), and the new margin is new price − variable cost. We compare new monthly contribution against old.
The key insight is the break-even volume loss — the most customers you can lose before the price rise stops paying off. Because the increase raises margin per unit, you need fewer units to make the same total contribution. The break-even loss is (1 − old margin ÷ new margin) × 100. If the volume you actually fear is below this number, the increase wins even with the customers you lose; the gap between the two is your cushion.
This is a single-period contribution view — it ignores fixed costs (which don’t change with the price) and second-order effects like churn timing, brand perception, or competitor response. It assumes variable cost per unit stays the same. If your new price would sit at or below variable cost, the tool warns you, because you’d lose money on every sale regardless of volume.
An estimate for planning — not accounting, tax, or financial advice. Uses the numbers you enter; a contribution-margin view that ignores fixed costs and longer-term effects. Nothing leaves your browser. Logic current as of June 2026.