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Free tool

Profit Leak Analyzer

Find quiet costs and assumptions eating your margin.

Cashflow·Free to use, no signup required

Inputs

Real profit

$9,000.00

Margin

30.0%

Sales to break even

14

At your avg selling price

Cost ranking

  • Team / freelancers$12,000.00 · 57.1%
  • Tax burden$5,500.00 · 26.2%
  • Software$1,200.00 · 5.7%
  • Gateway fees$900.00 · 4.3%
  • Misc$800.00 · 3.8%
  • Refunds$600.00 · 2.9%

Biggest leak: Team / freelancers. Address this first for the largest margin impact.

What this tool does

The Profit Leak Analyzer takes your monthly revenue and the major cost buckets — team, software, tax, gateway fees, refunds, miscellaneous — and ranks them by share of total cost.

It tells you the real profit, your margin, the number of sales required to break even, and which cost is the biggest leak.

Who it is for

Founders running on intuition who want a sober monthly view.

Service businesses where freelancer or agency fees can quietly outpace revenue growth.

Anyone whose bank balance feels lower than the income statement suggests it should.

How it works

  1. Enter monthly revenue and your average selling price.
  2. Fill in cost buckets honestly — if you are not sure, use a conservative estimate rather than zero.
  3. Set the refund rate as a percentage of revenue, not a dollar amount.
  4. Read the cost ranking and address the top item first.

What your results mean

Real profit is revenue minus every cost bucket including refunds and tax burden — the true bottom line for the period.

Sales-to-break-even shows how many units at your average selling price need to land to cover total monthly costs.

The biggest leak is the cost line with the largest absolute value — usually team or tax for service businesses, software or refunds for product businesses.

Common mistakes to avoid

  • Leaving the tax burden field at zero. Tax is a cost even if it has not been paid yet.
  • Underestimating refund rate by using last month's number instead of a rolling average.
  • Forgetting that one-off contractor work belongs in the team line, not miscellaneous.

Frequently asked questions

Why does the tool focus on monthly cost rather than annual?
Monthly is the cycle most small businesses think and operate in — payroll, subscriptions, and gateway statements all settle monthly. Annual numbers hide seasonality.
Should I include my own salary in the team cost?
Yes if you actually pay yourself a salary. Otherwise it understates the true cost of the business and inflates margin.
How does this differ from accounting software?
Accounting software is a system of record. This tool is a planning lens — fast inputs, immediate ranking, no journal entries. Use both for different purposes.

How to use this tool

Enter your real numbers where you have them, and use the defaults as a starting point everywhere else. The tighter your inputs, the more useful the result.

When professional advice helps

Use the result to frame the question, not to settle it. For binding decisions, confirm specifics with a qualified professional in your jurisdiction. See how this tool works for what it does and doesn't model.

Related guides

More on this topic

Tell the difference between profit on paper and money in the bank.