BREAK-EVEN CALCULATOR
How many readers do you need to cover the software bill?
Enter your monthly platform cost, the amount you keep per paid reader, and a possible conversion rate. The result shows the total audience needed for paid subscriptions to cover the bill.
At 5% conversion, 4 paid readers require an audience of 80 to cover $39/month.
The text file includes your inputs, the result, what it leaves out, and when we checked the sources. It is created on this device.
HOW THE NUMBER IS WORKED OUT
Two divisions, each rounded up
- 01
Paid readers needed. The monthly software bill is divided by the amount you keep from each paid reader, then rounded up to a whole reader. Part of a subscriber cannot pay, so 3.9 becomes 4.
- 02
Audience needed. That number of paid readers is divided by your conversion rate and rounded up again. At 5%, each paid reader needs an audience of 20.
- 03
What the audience includes. The result is your total list, free and paid readers together. It is not a count of extra readers on top of the paid group.
- 04
Edge cases. A $0 bill needs 0 readers. If the inputs would produce an audience too large to count reliably, the calculator shows a message instead of a number.
WORKED EXAMPLE
The starting inputs, step by step
These are the values the form opens with. They are example inputs, not a benchmark or a price quote for any platform.
- Inputs
- A $39 monthly software bill, $10 kept per paid reader each month, and 5% paid conversion.
- Paid readers
- $39 ÷ $10 = 3.9, rounded up to 4 paid readers. Four readers bring in $40, which covers the bill with $1 to spare.
- Audience
- 4 ÷ 5% = 80 readers in total: 4 paid and 76 free.
- Lower conversion
- At 2% conversion, the same 4 paid readers need an audience of 200. At 1%, they need 400. Halving the conversion rate roughly doubles the audience you need.
- Less kept per reader
- If you keep $8 instead of $10, you need 5 paid readers ($39 ÷ $8 = 4.875, rounded up) and an audience of 100 at 5%.
What this calculation leaves out
Payment fees, taxes, refunds, churn, discounts, and your time all reduce the amount available to pay for software.
The starting 5% conversion is an example, not an industry benchmark. Try a lower rate too. This is a target based on your inputs, not a prediction of how many readers will subscribe.
Enter what you keep, not the subscription price. The calculator does not deduct anything from the per-reader amount. If a platform takes a share of paid revenue or your payment processor charges a fee, subtract those first. For annual subscriptions, divide what you keep by 12.
The bill is treated as fixed. Many newsletter plans are priced by list size, so the audience this calculator returns may need a more expensive plan. Check that audience size in the platform cost calculator, then recalculate with the new bill.
It covers one month. Readers who cancel, seasonal sign-ups, and the time it takes to reach the audience are not modelled. Amounts are in US dollars.
YOUR NEXT STEP
Check the bill at the audience size you need.
Enter the audience figure in the platform cost calculator to see which of our checked plans cover it. If your platform takes a share of paid revenue, the percentage-fee calculator shows how much, and the newsletter cost guide separates the other costs.