Percent Off Calculator
Instantly calculate sale prices, savings amounts, and stacked discounts. Three modes: percent off, find original price, or find what % off.
| Discount | You Save | You Pay |
|---|
How Percent Off Discounts Work
Calculating a percent off discount is one of the most common everyday math tasks โ used when shopping sales, comparing prices, evaluating coupons, and calculating tips. This calculator handles all the common scenarios: finding the sale price, working backwards from a sale price to find the original, and finding what percentage off a given price represents. For more advanced percentage calculations, see our Percentage Calculator.
The Core Formulas
Discount Amount = Original Price ร (Discount % / 100)
Sale Price = Original Price โ Discount Amount
Sale Price = Original Price ร (1 โ Discount% / 100)
Example: $120 at 25% off โ $120 ร 0.75 = $90.00 sale price, $30.00 saved
Original Price = Sale Price / (1 โ Discount% / 100)
Example: Paid $80 at 20% off โ $80 / 0.80 = $100 original price
Discount % = ((Original โ Sale) / Original) ร 100
Example: Was $120, now $90 โ ((120โ90)/120) ร 100 = 25% off
How Stacked Discounts Work
Stacked discounts are not simply added together. A 20% off followed by an additional 10% off does NOT equal 30% off โ it equals 28% off total. Each discount is applied to the running price after the previous discount. This is an important distinction when evaluating "extra X% off sale prices" coupons.
20% + 10% Stack
$100 item: $100 ร 0.80 = $80 then $80 ร 0.90 = $72. Total = 28% off, NOT 30% off.
50% + 20% Stack
$100 item: $100 ร 0.50 = $50 then $50 ร 0.80 = $40. Total = 60% off, NOT 70% off.
30% + 15% + 5% Stack
Three-way stack: each discount applies to the already-reduced price. Total effective discount is less than the sum of the three percentages.
Order Doesn't Matter
Mathematically, applying 20% then 10% gives the same result as 10% then 20%. Both equal 28% total off. Order of stackable discounts doesn't change the final price.
Percent Off vs Sales Tax
When shopping, taxes are usually applied to the sale price, not the original price. For example, a $100 item at 20% off = $80 sale price. If tax is 8%, you pay $80 ร 1.08 = $86.40 total. Toggle "Include Sales Tax" in this calculator to see the full total including tax. Our Sales Tax Calculator provides a detailed breakdown for any state or tax rate.
Common Discount Scenarios
Retail discounts follow common patterns: seasonal sales (Black Friday typically 20โ50% off, end-of-season clearance up to 70โ80% off); coupon stacking (store discount + manufacturer coupon + loyalty points); bulk discounts (buy 2 get 1 free = 33.3% off per item); and clearance pricing (original โ markdown โ final clearance, each a sequential reduction). Use our Percentage Calculator for more complex percentage scenarios.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about percent off calculations, stacked discounts, and sale prices
$150 ร 0.80 = $120. You save $30. Alternatively, find 20% of the price ($150 ร 0.20 = $30) and subtract it from the original ($150 โ $30 = $120). Quick mental math shortcut: 20% off means you pay 80% of the price. To find 20% quickly, find 10% (move decimal left one place) and double it: 10% of $150 = $15, so 20% = $30. Enter any price and discount in this calculator to see the result instantly. For other percentage calculations, use our Percentage Calculator.
Total % off = 1 โ (1 โ dโ) ร (1 โ dโ). For 20% and 10%: 1 โ 0.80 ร 0.90 = 1 โ 0.72 = 0.28 = 28%. This calculator's "Add Another Discount" feature shows the correct stacked calculation step by step. Retailers sometimes advertise "extra X% off" knowing consumers will incorrectly add them, making the deal seem better than it is.
Original Price = Sale Price / (1 โ Discount%/100). For example, if you paid $75 and the item was 25% off: $75 / (1 โ 0.25) = $75 / 0.75 = $100. This is useful when you see a sale price tag without the original price listed, or when trying to verify whether a "sale" is genuine. Switch to "Reverse" mode in this calculator to use it directly. Common mistake: don't divide the sale price by the discount percentage ($75 / 0.25 = $300 โ wrong). Always divide by the remaining percentage after discount. For percentage change calculations, visit our Percentage Calculator.
Sale Price = Original ร 0.50. Quick examples: $200 at 50% off = $100; $39.99 at 50% off = $20.00 (rounded); $1,499 at 50% off = $749.50. 50% is the easiest discount to calculate mentally since you simply halve the price. Note: "Buy one get one free" (BOGO) is also effectively 50% off โ you pay the price of one item and get two. However, if the two items have different prices, BOGO typically means the cheaper item is free, which may be less than 50% off total. Use our Basic Calculator for quick arithmetic checks.
$150 ร 0.80 = $120 sale price, then $120 ร 1.08 = $129.60 total. Toggle "Include Sales Tax" in this calculator to compute this automatically. Our Sales Tax Calculator provides a full breakdown by state, tax type, and item category.
% you pay = 100% โ % off. To convert to a multiplier: divide by 100. So 75% = 0.75 multiplier. Multiply the original price by the multiplier to get the sale price. For more percentage concepts, see our Percentage Calculator.
1 โ (2/3) = 33.33% off. You pay for 2 at full price and the 3rd is free, so you effectively pay 66.67% of the per-unit price. For "Buy 3 Get 1 Free" (pay for 3, get 4): effective discount = 1 โ (3/4) = 25% off. For "Buy 1 Get 1 Free" (BOGO): you pay 50% per item = 50% off. To find the effective % off for any bundle deal: % off = (free items / total items) ร 100. Switch to "What % Off?" mode in this calculator to verify by entering the combined original price and what you actually pay. For more calculation help, try our Basic Calculator.