Discount Calculator
Enter a price and a percentage off to see your final cost and how much you save. Works for single discounts, stacked deals, BOGO promotions, and reverse lookups — instantly, in your browser.
You are saving $0 off the original price of $100.
How to Use This Calculator
Enter the original price
Type the price before any discount is applied — the number on the tag or listed on the website.
Enter the discount percentage
Type the percentage off. For a "30% off" sale, enter 30. For stacked deals, enter each percentage separately and the calculator applies them in order.
See your result
The calculator shows the discount amount, the final sale price, and your total savings. For reverse mode, enter the sale price and the discount to find the original price.
Who Uses a Discount Calculator?
Shoppers
You see "40% off" and want to know the actual dollar price before you walk up to the register. Or you're comparing two stores —one offers $30 off, another offers 20% off — and you want to know which is actually the better deal on a $120 item.
Retailers & Store Managers
Planning a promotion and need to confirm what a customer's final price will be after a storewide sale plus a loyalty coupon? Use this to verify your POS logic, or to design a deal that hits a target margin.
Budget-Conscious Families
Back-to-school season, holiday shopping, or just weekly grocery deals — quickly check whether the "sale" is worth switching brands or making an extra trip.
Small Business Owners
Buying supplies in bulk with a volume discount? Checking a supplier's invoice to make sure the negotiated rate was applied correctly? Reverse mode lets you calculate the implied discount from any two prices.
Students & Teachers
Percentage calculations are a foundational math topic. This calculator shows the formula and the result together, which makes it useful for checking homework or demonstrating how retail math works in a classroom setting.
Travel & Subscription Shoppers
Annual plan "save 20% vs. monthly" claims, hotel rate comparisons, and airfare discounts all involve the same math. Enter the two prices to find the real percentage difference.
Worked Examples
Each example shows the calculation the tool performs, so you can verify or adapt it for your own situation.
A $120 jacket is 25% off. What do you pay?
Formula: $120 × (1 − 0.25) = $90. Or: $120 × 0.25 = $30 off, then $120 − $30 = $90.
Clearance item is 30% off, plus you have a 20% coupon. Total saving on a $100 item?
The coupon applies to the $70 subtotal, not $100. 20% of $70 = $14 off. $70 − $14 = $56. Total real discount: $44 out of $100 = 44%.
A sale price is $68. The discount was 15%. What was the original price?
Formula: $68 ÷ (1 − 0.15) = $68 ÷ 0.85 = $80. Use this to verify that a discount was actually applied, or to recover the pre-sale price from an invoice.
Common Promotions — What They Actually Equal
Retailer promotion labels are designed to sound impressive. Here's what each one actually translates to in percentage-off terms, assuming all items have equal value.
| Promotion Label | Actual % Off |
|---|---|
| Buy 2 Get 1 Free | 33.3% off |
| Buy 1 Get 1 50% Off | 25% off |
| 30% off + extra 20% off | 44% off |
| Pay 3, Get 4th Free | 25% off |
Calculations assume equal item prices. If items differ in value, the effective discount changes — usually favouring the retailer.
The Stacked Discount Misconception
When a store advertises "an extra 20% off clearance items already marked 30% off," most people mentally add the two numbers and expect 50% off. That's not how sequential discounts work.
What people assume
30% + 20% = 50% off. On a $100 item, that's $50 saved and a final price of $50.
What actually happens
The 30% is applied first: $100 → $70. Then the 20% coupon applies to $70, not $100. That's $14 off, giving a final price of $56 — 44% off, not 50%.
The general formula for stacked discounts
For two discounts d₁ and d₂ (as decimals), the combined effective discount is:
Effective discount = 1 − (1 − d₁) × (1 − d₂)For 30% and 20%: 1 − (0.70 × 0.80) = 1 − 0.56 = 0.44 → 44% off. This works for any number of stacked discounts by chaining the multiplication.
The Rule of 100: Why Retailers Choose "% Off" vs. "$ Off"
This is a real pricing psychology principle used by retailers to make discounts feel larger than they are. Understanding it helps you compare deals objectively.
Percentage off sounds bigger
On a $15 item, "30% off" sounds more substantial than "$4.50 off" — even though they're identical. Retailers favour percentage language for low-priced goods because large-number percentages trigger a stronger reaction than small dollar amounts.
Dollar amounts feel more real
On a $2,000 laptop, "$400 off" is more compelling than "20% off" — even though they're the same. Dollar amounts anchor to tangible spending and feel like found money, while percentages require mental math that people often skip.
Tips for Getting Accurate Results
- →For BOGO deals, divide the free item's price by the total number of items purchased to get the equivalent per-item discount.
- →When comparing two deals with different base prices, convert both to dollar savings — not just percentages. 20% off $200 is better than 30% off $100.
- →Add your local sales tax rate after the discount to see your true final cost. Our Sales Tax Calculator handles this step.
- →For mail-in rebates, note that some states tax the pre-rebate price — the discount comes after the taxable transaction is complete.
What This Tool Doesn't Cover
- ×Mixed-price BOGO deals. When the two items in a BOGO aren't the same price, the saving depends on which item is "free" (usually the cheaper one). Calculate each item separately.
- ×Loyalty point redemptions. Points have variable cash value depending on the retailer's exchange rate. This tool assumes a straightforward cash discount.
- ×Currency conversion. All calculations are in a single currency. For cross-currency pricing, convert to one currency first.
- ×Item-specific tax exemptions. Sales tax is applied uniformly if included. Some product categories are taxed at reduced rates — check your local rules.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I calculate 30% off a price in my head?
Find 10% by moving the decimal point one place left. Multiply by 3 to get 30%. Subtract from the original. On $85: 10% = $8.50, times 3 = $25.50 off. Sale price = $59.50. It's faster than it sounds after a few tries.
What's the difference between "discount" and "markdown"?
They're often used interchangeably in retail, but technically a markdown is a permanent reduction in the selling price (the item is repriced on the shelf), while a discount is a temporary deduction applied at the point of sale. From a math standpoint, the calculation is identical.
If an item is on sale for 50% off and then an additional 10% off, is that the same as 60% off?
No — it works out to 55% off. On a $100 item: 50% off → $50. Then 10% off $50 → $45. You save $55 total, not $60. The second percentage always applies to the reduced price, so the combined saving is always less than the simple sum of the two rates.
How do I figure out what percentage one price is off another?
Subtract the sale price from the original, divide by the original, and multiply by 100. Example: original $80, sale price $60. ($80 − $60) ÷ $80 × 100 = 25% off. Use the reverse mode in the calculator to do this without manual arithmetic.
Is a "2/10 Net 30" trade discount the same math?
Yes. "2/10 Net 30" means a 2% discount is available if the invoice is paid within 10 days; otherwise the full amount is due in 30 days. Enter the invoice total and 2% into this calculator to see the discounted amount. It's a standard flat-percentage discount — no stacking involved.