Startup Cost Calculator.

A startup cost calculator estimates the total amount of money you need to start a business. It separates one-time launch expenses (incorporation, equipment, branding, initial inventory) from monthly recurring expenses (rent, software, payroll, marketing), multiplies recurring costs by your runway months, and adds a contingency buffer for unexpected expenses. The output is the total capital you should raise or set aside before launching.

It depends entirely on the type of business. A solo consulting practice can launch for under $2,000. A typical SaaS launches for $5,000 to $50,000. An ecommerce brand needs $10,000 to $50,000 (mostly inventory). A small restaurant or café usually costs $80,000 to $400,000. A small manufacturing operation can run $50,000 to $500,000+. The pre-loaded industry presets in this calculator reflect 2026 ranges sourced from SBA, NerdWallet, and Chase small-business data.

One-time costs are paid once during launch: LLC filing, legal fees, branding and logo, equipment, initial inventory, security deposits, launch marketing. Recurring costs repeat every month: rent, utilities, insurance, software subscriptions, payroll, contractor fees, ongoing marketing, accounting, and office supplies. You need enough capital to cover all one-time costs plus several months of recurring costs before revenue catches up.

The general rule is 6 months minimum, 12 months ideal, 18 months for capital-intensive businesses. SaaS founders often raise 18 to 24 months because revenue ramps slowly. Service and consulting businesses can survive on 3 to 6 months because revenue starts almost immediately. Restaurants need 12+ months because the first 6 months almost always operate at a loss. Default to 6 months if you cannot decide.

The U.S. Small Business Administration recommends a contingency reserve of 10 to 20% of your total estimated startup costs. Use 10% for businesses with predictable costs (consulting, newsletter, SaaS). Use 15% for ecommerce, agencies, mobile apps. Use 20% for restaurants, retail, and manufacturing, anywhere build-out and permitting can blow past estimate. This is the single most-skipped step in startup budgeting and the most common cause of running out of money.

Six categories most first-time founders underestimate or forget: (1) sales tax registration and ongoing filing, (2) business insurance, especially professional indemnity and general liability, (3) payment processing fees (Stripe takes ~2.9% + 30¢ per transaction), (4) accounting and bookkeeping (you need this from month one), (5) software subscription creep (the average startup runs 20+ paid SaaS tools), (6) deposits. Landlords, utilities, and equipment leases all want one to three months upfront.

For investor decks and financing applications, yes. Pay yourself a market salary in payroll and the math works out honestly. For bootstrapped solo businesses, founders usually exclude their own pay from the calculator and treat the runway calculation as "how long can I personally survive without paying myself." Be explicit about which model you are using when sharing numbers.

Break-even = total fixed monthly cost ÷ (price − variable cost per unit). Simplified for indie founders: divide your monthly recurring burn by the average margin you make on each customer or order. The calculator approximates time-to-break-even as runway cost ÷ expected monthly revenue. Real break-even depends on gross margin, sales ramp, and seasonality. Use the calculator output as a starting point, then refine.

Pre-loaded ranges are calibrated against 2025 to 2026 published data from the U.S. Small Business Administration startup cost guidance, NerdWallet small business cost research, Chase small business knowledge center, NetSuite small business expense breakdowns, and LivePlan startup cost guides. Adjust them. Every business is unique. The presets are a sanity check, not gospel.

It does not model revenue ramp (your first 12 months of sales projection), tax liabilities (corporation tax, self-employment tax, sales tax remittance), debt servicing or loan repayments, or owner draws. For those, layer this calculator with a 12-month cash flow projection. Use the output here as your minimum capital required to open the doors.

Use this calculator to draft your initial number, then validate every line item with a real quote: get equipment quotes, lease term sheets, lawyer fee estimates, insurance quotes, and software pricing in writing. Lenders and investors expect documented assumptions, not industry averages. The tool gets you to a defensible first draft fast. The polish comes from quotes.

Yes. No signup, no email gate, no upsell. Built by FoundStep, the project management tool for solo developers and indie founders who want to ship products instead of abandoning them. We make our money on FoundStep subscriptions, not on selling your data.

Use your browser print-to-PDF for a hard copy, or screenshot the results for a deck. We deliberately do not store your numbers. There is no account, no database, nothing leaves your browser. If you want a saved budget that updates over time, copy the totals into your accounting tool or spreadsheet of choice.