Don't know your startup's burn rate? Enter your bank balances and this free burn rate calculator derives your gross burn and net burn, projects your runway and zero-cash date, sizes your fundraising target, and checks whether your milestones are funded. No signup — everything runs 100% in your browser.
Planning estimates, not financial advice. Burn math is only as good as its inputs; talk to your accountant or CFO before making fundraising or spending decisions.
Startup-finance tool (cash burn). Not the OSRS game stat, not welding/PPE burn rates, not medical burn injuries.
1. Find your burn rate
From bank balances — for founders who don't know their burn yet. If you raised money mid-period, enter it so the math stays honest.
Gross burn
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Net burn
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Per day (net)
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Annualized (net)
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🔒 Private by design: this page makes zero network requests after loading. Your numbers never leave this browser.
2. Runway & zero-cash date
From the net burn above and your current cash on hand.
Runway
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Zero-cash date
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Health
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Zones follow the VC convention: under 12 months critical · 12–18 tight · 18–24 healthy · over 24 comfortable. Conventions, not laws.
3. Fundraising target
How much to raise for a given runway. Rule of thumb: 18–24 months per round.
Raise target
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Runway after raise
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Target = net burn × target months − cash on hand. Start fundraising ~6 months before your zero-cash date.
4. Scenario planner
Cut costs or grow revenue — see exactly how many months each lever buys.
Scenario
New net burn
Runway
Months gained
5. Milestone planner
Name the milestones that matter; the tool checks whether current cash funds each date at your burn.
Milestone
Target date
Milestone
Cash needed
Surplus / shortfall
Funded?
6. Burn multiple
Bessemer efficiency metric: net burn ÷ net new ARR. How many dollars burned per $1 of new ARR.
Already know your burn? This tool works backwards (balances → burn). If you already know payroll, costs and revenue and want month-by-month planning with hiring scenarios and compounding revenue growth, use our startup runway calculator instead — it simulates forward from known burn. Sizing a priced round or SAFE once you know the target? See the startup valuation calculator.
The burn rate formula
Net burn = (cash at start − cash at end + cash raised) ÷ months Gross burn = net burn + (total revenue ÷ months) Runway = cash on hand ÷ net burn
Net burn is the figure that actually drains the bank balance — it is what sets your runway. Gross burn shows total spending before revenue helps, which is why investors look at both. The "cash raised" term keeps the math honest: money raised mid-period inflates the end balance, and without adding it back you would understate the real burn.
A startup starts the quarter with $1,000,000 and ends with $700,000, raises nothing, and books $90,000 of revenue. Net burn is $100,000/mo ($3,285/day), gross burn $130,000/mo — revenue offsets $30,000/mo of spending. With $700,000 left, runway is 7.0 months (zero-cash date 2027-05-10). An 18-month fundraise target is $1,100,000; adding $600,000 of net new ARR gives a burn multiple of 2.0× (good). Try the cards above with your own balances.
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate burn rate?
Take your cash balance at the start of a period and at the end, add back any money you raised during the period, and divide by the number of months: net burn = (start cash − end cash + raised) ÷ months. Worked example: a startup goes from $1,000,000 to $700,000 over 3 months with no fundraise — ($1,000,000 − $700,000) ÷ 3 = $100,000 per month. That $100.0K/mo is the net burn rate: the true monthly drain on the bank balance. Enter your own balances in the calculator above to get yours.
What is the difference between gross burn and net burn?
Gross burn is everything going out the door each month — total spending. Net burn is gross burn minus revenue: the amount your bank balance actually drops. In the worked example, gross burn is $130.0K/mo of total outflows, revenue averages $30,000/mo, so net burn is $100.0K/mo. Investors care most about net burn because it sets the runway, but gross burn shows how efficient the operation is before revenue helps.
How do you calculate runway from burn rate?
Runway (months) = cash on hand ÷ net monthly burn. With $700,000 in the bank and a $100.0K/mo net burn, runway is $700,000 ÷ $100,000 = 7.0 months. If net burn is zero or negative — revenue covers all costs — the startup is "default alive" and runway is effectively infinite. The calculator above converts runway into an exact zero-cash date: 2027-05-10 for the example.
What is a good burn rate for a startup?
There is no universal good number — a $100K/month burn is fine with $2.4M in the bank (24 months of runway) and dangerous with $600K (6 months). Judge burn by the runway it buys: the venture-capital convention is 18–24 months after each raise, under 12 months is critical. A second lens is the burn multiple (net burn ÷ net new ARR): under 1× is excellent, 1–2× good, 2–3× expensive, over 3× unsustainable.
What is burn multiple?
Burn multiple = net burn ÷ net new ARR, a Bessemer Venture Partners efficiency metric: how many dollars you burn for each dollar of new annual recurring revenue. Example: $100.0K/mo net burn is $1.20M/yr per year; adding $600,000 of net new ARR gives a burn multiple of 2.0× — in the 1–2× "good" band. Under 1× is excellent, 2–3× means growth is getting expensive, over 3× is a red flag.
How much should my startup raise?
A common rule: raise enough for 18–24 months of runway, since hitting milestones takes ~18 months and fundraising itself takes 3–6. The math: raise target = net burn × target months − cash on hand. At $100.0K/mo burn with $700,000 in the bank, an 18-month target means $100,000 × 18 − $700,000 = $1,100,000 to raise (24 months: $1,700,000). Use the fundraising-target card above with your own numbers.
When should a startup start fundraising?
Start about 6 months before your projected zero-cash date — raising takes 3–6 months of pitching, diligence and legal work, and negotiating with 2 months of cash left destroys leverage. For the worked example (zero-cash date 2027-05-10), fundraising should be underway well before that. The runway card above shows your own zero-cash date from today's date.
Does raising money during the period change the burn calculation?
Yes — and ignoring it is the most common burn-rate mistake. If you raised $1M mid-period, your end balance is inflated by that $1M, so the raw (start − end) ÷ months understates the real burn. Add the raised amount back: net burn = (start − end + raised) ÷ months. The calculator has a dedicated "cash raised during period" field for exactly this.
How can we extend runway without raising money?
Two levers: cut costs or grow revenue. From the example ($100.0K/mo net burn, 7.0-month runway): cutting gross spend 20% drops net burn to $74,000/mo and stretches runway to 9.5 months (+2.5); growing revenue 50% drops net burn to $85,000/mo for 8.2 months (+1.2). Try your own cut/grow percentages in the scenario planner above — the gains are exact, not guesses.
What is the zero-cash date?
The calendar date your balance is projected to hit zero at the current net burn: today plus the runway in months. A 7.0-month runway measured from 2026-10-10 lands on 2027-05-10. Treat it as a planning marker, not a prophecy — burn moves as you hire, cut, or grow revenue, so re-run the numbers monthly.
How is this different from a startup runway calculator?
Direction. A startup runway calculator (like our startup runway calculator) takes your burn as a known input — payroll, costs, revenue — and simulates runway with hiring plans and compounding revenue growth. This burn rate calculator works backwards: it derives your gross and net burn from bank balances first, for founders who don't know their burn yet, then projects runway, sizes the fundraise and checks milestones. Use this one to find your burn; use that one to plan hires.
Is this financial advice?
No. This is a planning and arithmetic tool, not financial advice. Burn math is only as good as its inputs — balances, revenue timing and one-off costs are all estimates, and a single period can mislead if it contained unusual spending. Talk to your accountant or CFO before making fundraising or spending decisions.
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