Manufacturing Profit Calculator (ISK)
Estimate build cost, market fees, profit margin, and ISK/hour for a single production batch.
How to use this EVE Online industry calculator
Industry in EVE Online is all about turning information into profit. The players who consistently make ISK are usually the ones who track every input: minerals, blueprint efficiency, taxes, job fees, hauling, and market friction. This calculator helps you estimate whether a manufacturing batch is worth building before you sink time and capital into it.
The tool is intentionally straightforward: you provide costs and expected sale price, and it returns your net profit, margin, break-even price, and ISK per hour. That gives you a quick go/no-go decision for production planning.
What each field means
Production inputs
- Blueprint Runs: Number of runs in your planned job batch.
- Units Produced per Run: Output quantity for each run (varies by item and blueprint).
- Manufacturing Time per Run: Time needed for one run after your time bonuses.
Cost inputs
- Raw Material Cost per Run: Total mineral/component cost for one run before reductions.
- Material Reduction %: Combined savings from ME research and structure rigs/bonuses.
- Industry Job Cost per Run: Installation/job fee portion per run in your chosen system.
- Job Cost Reduction %: Any discount from structure role bonus or setup.
- Other Batch Costs: Hauling, fuel, collateral losses, packaging, or other overhead.
Market inputs
- Sell Price per Unit: Realistic expected sale value (not always top listed price).
- Broker Fee %: Listing fee paid on market order placement/modification.
- Sales Tax %: Tax paid when the order sells.
Formulas used by the calculator
Total Units = Runs × Units per Run
Effective Material Cost per Run = Material Cost per Run × (1 − Material Reduction%)
Effective Job Cost per Run = Job Cost per Run × (1 − Job Reduction%)
Total Build Cost = (Effective Material + Effective Job) × Runs + Other Costs
Gross Revenue = Total Units × Sell Price per Unit
Market Fees = Gross Revenue × (Broker Fee% + Sales Tax%)
Net Profit = (Gross Revenue − Market Fees) − Total Build Cost
Practical workflow for better industry decisions
- Start with a candidate item and check recent market volume in your target trade hub or regional market.
- Estimate realistic actual buy costs for materials, not idealized prices from old snapshots.
- Enter your taxes and broker rates based on your standings and skills.
- Run the calculator and inspect ISK/hour, not just absolute profit.
- Compare multiple products and queue only the strongest opportunities.
Common mistakes that kill margins
- Ignoring market fees and assuming gross revenue equals take-home ISK.
- Using optimistic sell prices that only apply to tiny quantities.
- Not pricing in logistics and failed order updates.
- Building items with low daily volume that trap capital for weeks.
- Comparing products by profit per unit instead of profit per hour and slot utilization.
Advanced notes for experienced industrialists
This page focuses on straightforward manufacturing economics. For deeper planning, you can extend the same model to invention chains, reactions, and multi-step component production. In those cases, treat each stage as a separate mini-business and roll forward the output cost basis. The same principles still apply: measure true cost, adjust for fees, and optimize throughput.
If you are operating at scale, consider maintaining a target minimum margin (for example, 8–15%) plus a minimum ISK/hour threshold. This avoids filling slots with “technically profitable” jobs that underperform compared to alternative builds.
Final takeaway
Industry profit in EVE is less about luck and more about disciplined math. A simple calculator like this gives you a repeatable process: evaluate, compare, queue, and review. Use it before every major production run, and your wallet balance will reflect better decisions over time.