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Cost of goods sold (COGS) calculator

Compute cost of goods sold from beginning inventory, purchases and ending inventory.

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Need Cost of goods sold? The Cost of goods sold (COGS) calculator derives it from Beginning inventory, Purchases, Ending inventory in one step. For instance, with Beginning inventory = $20,000.00, Purchases = $50,000.00 and Ending inventory = $15,000.00 it returns Cost of goods sold = $55,000.00.

How to use it

  1. Enter your values: Beginning inventory, Purchases, Ending inventory.
  2. Read the result instantly: Cost of goods sold.

Frequently asked questions

What does the Cost of goods sold (COGS) calculator actually compute?

It takes Beginning inventory, Purchases and Ending inventory and derives Cost of goods sold from them. The calculation is live as you type, so the result updates on every change.

What information do I need to provide?

3 values: Beginning inventory ($), Purchases ($) and Ending inventory ($). Nothing else is required — no account, no file upload.

Can you show a worked example?

With Beginning inventory = $20,000.00, Purchases = $50,000.00 and Ending inventory = $15,000.00, the calculator returns Cost of goods sold = $55,000.00. Those figures come from running this exact tool, so you can reproduce them by entering the same values.

What happens if I enter larger values?

It moves a lot. Using Beginning inventory = $40,000.00, Purchases = $100,000.00 and Ending inventory = $30,000.00 instead, Cost of goods sold goes from $55,000.00 to $110,000.00 — which is why it is worth testing a few scenarios rather than trusting a single figure.

What does it give for smaller values?

Scaled down to Beginning inventory = $10,000.00, Purchases = $25,000.00 and Ending inventory = $7,500.00, Cost of goods sold comes out at $27,500.00. The relationship is worth checking at both ends before you rely on a single result.

When would I actually use this?

Running the week: issuing an invoice or a quote, knowing what is in stock and what to reorder, and seeing whether cash covers what is due.

What is the most common mistake?

Reading profit as cash. A profitable month with sixty-day payment terms can still leave the account empty — the two numbers answer different questions.

What is the difference between the Cost of goods sold (COGS) calculator and the GMROI calculator?

This one returns Cost of goods sold; the GMROI calculator returns GMROI. That is the whole difference — open the one whose figure you need.

Is there a tool for the next step?

Sell-through rate calculator is the closest one after this: Compute the sell-through rate — the share of received stock that sold.

What else is worth having open alongside it?

Inventory period calculator and Quick ratio calculator — they come up in the same task often enough to be worth a second tab.

Further reading

All guides →
ExplainerCost of Goods Sold Is What Left the Shelf, Not What You BoughtOpening stock 40,000, purchases 120,000, closing stock 35,000 — the cost of goods sold is 125,000, and it is larger than the purchases because the shelf gave up 5,000 of what was already there.ExplainerA 30 % Sell-Through Is Excellent or Alarming, and the Missing Word Is "When"120 units sold out of 400 received is 30 %. Whether that is a success depends entirely on how long it took, and the rate on its own does not carry the answer.ExplainerThe Count Says 48,200 and the Books Say 50,000A gap of 1,800 is a shrinkage rate of 3.6 %. The percentage is the number that travels; the absolute figure is the one that pays for the fix.ExplainerFour Points of Service Level Cost 41 % More StockGoing from a 95 % service level to 99 % raises the z-score from 1.645 to 2.326 and the safety stock from 346 units to 488. The last few points of availability are the expensive ones.ComparisonFIFO vs LIFO: What Actually Changes, and What Does NotFIFO and LIFO are assumptions about which cost you attach to a sale, not about which box leaves the warehouse. Worked through identical purchases and sales, they move cost of sales, inventory, profit and tax — but operating cash before tax is identical to the cent.ExplainerThe Gross Margin Is the Ceiling on Every Other Margin200,000 of revenue less 120,000 of cost of sales is 80,000 of gross profit and a 40 % margin. Everything the business spends after that comes out of the 80,000 — and out of nowhere else.