→ Free tool
Commission Calculator
Work out what a sale pays — or what a plan will cost. Enter the sale amount, the commission rate, and any base pay to see the commission earned, the total pay, and the effective rate on sales, whether you're a rep checking a payout or an owner designing the plan.
Start from a template
→ The payout
$5,000 in commission on $50,000 of sales
This is a flat-rate payout. Real plans often add tiers (a higher rate above quota), accelerators, caps, or a draw against commission — model each tier as its own line, or the total, here. From the business side, the effective rate on sales (16.0%) is what to hold against your gross margin so commissions don't outrun profit.
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Save the current inputs as a scenario, then compare best, base, and worst side by side. Saved in this browser.
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<iframe src="https://planypals.com/embed/commission-calculator" title="Commission Calculator" width="100%" height="760" loading="lazy" style="border:1px solid #ddd3bf;max-width:760px"></iframe> <p style="font:13px/1.5 sans-serif">Free <a href="https://planypals.com/tools/commission-calculator">Commission Calculator by Planypals</a></p>
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Get a clean PDF of the commission and total pay — handy for a comp plan or a payout check.
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Calculations run entirely in your browser. Figures are estimates for planning, not financial advice.
The basic payout, and the number owners watch
At its simplest, commission is sales times a rate, and adding a base salary gives total pay. But the figure a business owner cares about is the effective rate on sales— total pay divided by the revenue that produced it. That's the number to hold against your gross margin, because a commission plan that pays out more than a sale contributes in margin turns growth into losses. Reps optimize for total pay; owners optimize for total pay as a share of margin.
Common commission structures
- Flat rate — one percentage on all sales; simple and predictable.
- Tiered — the rate rises as the rep clears thresholds, rewarding over-performance.
- Base plus commission — a salary floor with commission on top, common for longer sales cycles.
- Draw against commission — a guaranteed advance later netted against earnings.
For a tiered plan, calculate each band at its own rate and add them; for base-plus, enter the base here to see total pay and the effective rate. The goal is a plan reps find motivating and the business finds affordable.
Designing a plan that scales with margin
A commission rate should be set from the gross margin of what's sold, not picked in isolation. If a product carries a 40% gross margin, a 10% commission consumes a quarter of that margin before any other cost — workable, but a 25% commission would not be. Check the margin on what your team sells with the profit margin calculator before you set rates, so the plan rewards selling the right things at the right price.
Why comp belongs in the model
Sales compensation is usually one of the largest and fastest-growing lines in a plan, and it moves with revenue rather than staying fixed. Modeling it properly — rates, tiers, accelerators, and ramp for new hires — is what keeps a growth plan honest. A comp scheme that looks generous at today's volume can quietly break the model at scale, which is exactly the kind of thing our startup financial model surfaces before it becomes a payroll surprise.
→ Beyond the calculator
Model sales comp without breaking the plan
Commissions scale with revenue, so they belong in the model, not a side spreadsheet. We build the financial model that ties comp to margin and shows what your plan really costs as you grow.
Frequently asked questions
- Commission = sale amount × commission rate. A $50,000 sale at a 10% rate earns $5,000 in commission. If the rep also has a base salary or draw, total pay = base + commission. This calculator shows both, plus the effective rate on sales once the base is included.
- It depends on the role and the margin of what's sold. Inside-sales rates often run 5–15% of revenue; real estate is typically around 2.5–3% per side; high-ticket or low-margin products use lower rates, while high-margin software can support more. The right rate keeps total pay competitive for the rep while leaving enough gross margin for the business.
- Tiered plans pay a higher rate as a rep clears thresholds — for example 5% up to quota, then 8% above it, sometimes with an accelerator beyond stretch. To model a tiered plan here, calculate each tier's sales at its own rate and add them, or enter the blended total. Tiers reward over-performance without raising the rate on every deal.
- A draw is an advance on future commissions — the rep receives a guaranteed amount each period that's later deducted from what they earn. A 'recoverable' draw must be paid back if commissions fall short; a 'non-recoverable' one doesn't. Treat the draw like a base here to see total pay, but remember a recoverable draw is a loan, not extra compensation.
- Yes — it runs in your browser, nothing is stored, and there's no sign-up. When you're designing a compensation plan inside a financial model — making sure commissions scale with revenue without eroding margin — that's what our financial modeling service does.