Startup cost calculator

Other ways to calculate startup cost

Cheapest way to open

Cheapest = must-have items at their lowest price + one month of must-have monthly costs, with no LLC and no ads

When you want the least cash that gets you to a first sale. Optional lines (a trademark, a scheduling app, a second machine) wait until sales pay for them.

Monthly burn before sales

Monthly burn = monthly costs + monthly ad budget

When you're working out how long your savings last before the business pays its own bills. Savings ÷ monthly burn is your runway in months; the profitability calculator adds growth and stock to it.

Sales to cover the first year

Sales needed = first-year cost ÷ share of each sale you keep after product cost and fees

When you want a first-year sales target. At a 50% margin, a $2,000 first year needs $4,000 of sales. The break-even calculator does it month by month.

Where every price comes from

Each business loads the cost table from its own step-by-step guide. Every line is priced from the page that sells it or sets it: supplier pages such as CandleScience and Uline, platform price lists such as Shopify, Etsy and Stripe, and government fee schedules such as the IRS, the USPTO and each state's business filing office. Each line in the calculator links to its source.

Your own numbers stay yours: the ad budget, your year-one sales and any quantity you change are your inputs, not averages. Where a guide names a city or state for a permit, such as Austin food permits or Portland's mobile washer fee, the calculator keeps it, so check your own city's fee before you budget.

How to start a business for less

• Sell before you stock. Print on demand and dropshipping charge for a product only when a customer orders it.
• Start where listing is cheap. An Etsy listing costs $0.20, and a site on Replo's Free plan costs nothing to start.
• Wait on the LLC. You're a sole proprietor by default when you start selling, and an EIN from the IRS is free.
• Buy used where it's safe. A used Canon EOS R50 costs $599–$669 on MPB, and a refurbished snack machine costs $2,195 against $5,775 for a new combo.
• Pay yearly for tools you'll keep. Shopify Basic is $29 a month billed yearly and $39 month to month.

How to calculate startup cost: a worked example

A candle maker buys the guide's first batch, sells from a free site, forms an LLC in Texas and spends $200 a month on ads.

• Supplies: soy wax $28.93, fragrance oil $30.77, 12 mason jars $9.06, 100 wicks $9.19 and 200 roll labels $63 come to $140.95.
• LLC in Texas: the certificate of formation is $300, so up front is $140.95 + $300 = $440.95.
• Monthly: no store plan, so the only monthly cost is ads at $200, or $2,400 for the year.
• First year: $440.95 + 12 × $200 = $2,840.95, before fees on sales.
• Add $5,000 of year-one sales over 200 orders paid by card through Stripe at 2.9% + 30¢: $145 + $60 = $205 in fees, so $3,045.95 in all.

The candle business costs about $2,841 in its first year before sales, and $3,046 with fees on $5,000 of sales. The cheapest way to open it is the $141 of supplies alone.

What does it cost to start each business?

On the guides' own lists, the range is wide: a consulting or tutoring business opens for $11, a candle business for $141, a food truck for about $20,000 with a bare trailer, and a 20-washer laundromat for about $91,000 before the lease. The table below is each guide's list as the calculator loads it, before ads, an LLC or fees on sales.

The column to watch is monthly. It decides how long your savings last before the business pays its own bills, and it's where most savings hide: a scheduling app or a store plan can usually wait until the first customers arrive.

Read the guide for your business

• Sell products online: clothing brand, online business, dropshipping business, ecommerce business, jewelry business, t-shirt business, print on demand business, candle business, sticker business, skincare line.
• Food and drink: vending machine business, coffee business, food truck business, catering business, bakery business.
• Home and local services: cleaning business, landscaping business, lawn care business, laundromat business, car detailing business, pressure washing business, handyman business, painting business.
• Skills and people: photography business, consulting business, bookkeeping business, dog walking business, tutoring business, daycare business, trucking business.

Each guide walks through opening the business step by step, with its full cost table and a 30-day plan.