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Burn Rate Calculator

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🎁 Free Excel Calculator

Know the month you run out of cash. Before your board asks.

A free Excel calculator that takes your cash balance, your revenue, and your monthly cost base — and returns gross burn, net burn, runway in months, and a 12-month closing cash forecast that shows exactly when the balance turns negative. Built by experienced finance professionals.

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  • Experienced finance professionals
  • Used by US startups & SMEs
  • Excel format
  • No credit card required
  • Updated 2026
Output — Your key metrics
Gross burn rate (per month)
$95,000
Net burn rate (per month)
$85,000
Cash burn % per month
17%
Month cash turns negative
Month 6
Runway
5 months
Simple division (cash ÷ last month's burn) says 5.9. Cost inflation takes a month off it.
Closing cash balance · next 8 months ($000)
0 415 -233 runway ends M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8
Cash on hand Funding shortfall Forecast runs 12 months in the file
Sample output: burn, runway, and the month the balance breaks
Try it now

Run your own numbers — instant, in your browser.

A quick browser version for a first read on gross burn, net burn, and runway. The Excel file adds the 12-month closing-cash forecast, cost inflation, and the fixed-vs-variable split.

Enter your numbers — results update as you type. Nothing is sent anywhere; the math runs entirely in your browser.

What's inside the file

An Excel file with three sheets and one job: tell you how long your cash lasts.

Three tabs you can open, edit, and run in ten minutes.

Cover sheet

Entity name, usage notes, and an index that links straight to the calculator and the forecast tab. Open it once, read it once, you are done.

Calculator sheet

Inputs on the left, outputs on the right. Cash and revenue, fixed costs, variable costs in — gross burn, net burn, runway months and cash burn % out. Yellow cells with blue text are the only ones you edit.

C1_Forecast sheet

A 12-month roll-forward: revenue, direct costs, indirect costs, monthly burn and closing cash. Includes a runway flag that switches off in the month your balance goes negative.

Inside the calculator

Three input blocks. Two growth rates. One runway number.

Cash and revenue at the top. Fixed costs — salaries, rent, software, legal, insurance — in the middle, with an inflation rate applied to them month by month. Variable costs — marketing, cloud, commissions, contractors — below, with their own growth rate. Totals and every output calculate themselves. Yellow cells are the only ones you ever touch.

Calculator — Input panel
Cash & Revenue
Start MonthJan-26
Opening Cash Balance / Funding500,000
Monthly Revenue / MRR10,000
Revenue Growth Rate (% / month)3.0%
Monthly Expenses — Fixed
Salaries & Benefits60,000
Office / Rent8,000
SaaS & Software Tools3,000
Legal & Compliance1,500
Insurance500
Total Fixed Costs73,000
Inflation (% / month)2.0%
Monthly Expenses — Variable
Marketing & Advertising2,000
Cloud / Infrastructure5,000
Sales Commissions8,000
R&D / Contractors7,000
Total Variable Costs22,000
Expense Growth (% / month)3.0%
You type here Calculated
Input panel: 16 fields, same colour convention as the file
The problem this solves

Most founders divide cash by last month's burn. That number is always too generous.

Runway is usually quoted from a single division done in someone's head: cash in the bank, divided by whatever last month's burn happened to be. It is fast, it is quotable, and it holds your cost base flat forever — which no cost base ever does. Salaries move, cloud spend follows usage, contractors get extended, insurance renews higher.

Cash in bank ÷ last month's net burn ($500K ÷ $85K)5.9 months
Same inputs, costs grown month by month5 months
Sample from the file. Fixed costs at 2%/month and variable at 3%/month cost almost a full month of runway — and the month your balance actually goes negative moves forward.

One month matters. It is the difference between opening a raise from strength and opening it while your bank balance is doing the negotiating for you. The point of this calculator is not to forecast your next three years. It is to make the one number your board, your bank, and your investors will all ask for defensible — and to show you which of the two levers, cost cuts or revenue growth, actually moves it.

How to use it

Four steps. Ten minutes.

A monthly discipline, not a setup project.

1

Cash & revenue

Start month, opening cash or funding in the bank, current monthly revenue or MRR, and the growth rate you would actually defend in a board meeting.

2

Fixed costs

Salaries, rent, software, legal, insurance — the costs that land whether you sell anything or not. Add one inflation rate and the model escalates them for you.

3

Variable costs

Marketing, cloud, commissions, contractors. These scale with activity, so they get their own growth rate rather than being lumped in with rent.

4

Read burn and runway

Gross burn, net burn, runway in months and cash burn % update instantly. The forecast tab shows the exact month closing cash turns negative.

Is this for you?

Honest qualification. No fluff.

This calculator is for you if:

  • You are an early-stage or expansion-stage business that wants a fast, high-level read on burn rate and runway.
  • You need a ballpark number to work from — not a fully custom, scenario-by-scenario model.
  • Your closing cash balance falls in most months.
  • You want to see whether cutting cost or growing revenue moves your runway more.
  • You know your monthly cost base well enough to split it into fixed and variable.

This is not for you if:

  • You are consistently profitable and cash-generative — runway is not your constraint.
  • You need multi-scenario fundraise modelling, cap table dilution, or waterfall analysis.
  • You need cohort-level SaaS metrics — CAC payback, LTV/CAC, net revenue retention.
  • You want live bank-feed automation rather than a monthly Excel discipline.
  • You need a lender-ready 13-week cash flow with weekly granularity — that is a different template.

This is a high-level calculator for a quick, ballpark burn rate and runway. For a detailed calculator built around your exact numbers, cost drivers, and scenarios, book a call with us and we'll build it with you.

Frequently Asked

Questions about the calculator, answered honestly.

What format is the calculator?
It is a Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) file with three sheets: Cover, Calculator, and C1_Forecast. It opens in Excel, Google Sheets (with import), and most spreadsheet tools. No macros and no add-ins.
What is the difference between gross burn and net burn?
Gross burn is your total monthly cash cost — fixed plus variable — before any revenue. Net burn is gross burn less monthly revenue, which is the amount your cash balance actually falls by each month. Runway is driven by net burn, but gross burn is what you control when you decide to cut. The calculator shows both, because a business with $95K gross burn and $85K net burn has a very different set of options from one with $85K gross burn and no revenue at all.
Why is my runway shorter in this calculator than in my own spreadsheet?
Because most quick calculations divide cash by last month's burn, which holds costs flat forever. This calculator escalates fixed costs by your inflation input and variable costs by your expense growth input, month by month, while also growing revenue. In the sample file that difference turns 5.9 months into 5 — and moves the month your balance goes negative forward by one.
Is this only for venture-backed startups?
No. It is a high-level, ballpark tool for any early-stage or expansion-stage business that is burning cash — venture-backed startups, founder-funded companies, and established businesses funding a loss-making expansion or working through a turnaround. If your closing cash balance falls in most months, it applies. For a detailed calculator built around your exact numbers and scenarios, book a call and we will build it with you.
Is this really free? Any catch?
Yes, free. We ask for your email so we can send the file and follow up if you have questions. No credit card. No upsell sequence. You can unsubscribe at any time.
What if I need runway managed and reported properly to investors?
EasePro's Fractional CFO Services include monthly burn and runway tracking, scenario planning ahead of a raise, and the investor reporting pack that sits on top of it. If you need weekly rather than monthly granularity, start with the Weekly Cash Decision Calculator instead.