Burn Rate Calculator

Written by Great Medico

Updated September 25, 2026 •2 min read

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Burn Rate Calculator is designed for a quick operational check: enter the figures you already have, review the calculation, and use the result as a starting point for a more detailed decision.

What this calculator does

Burn Rate Calculator estimates average monthly cash burn from the change in cash balance and, when burn is positive, the runway supported by the ending cash balance. It uses only the information collected by this interface; costs, taxes, rates, market data, or operating assumptions that are not shown are not silently added to the result.

How to use it

Enter Currency, Starting cash balance, Ending cash balance, and Months between balances. Use figures from the same reporting period and the same accounting, workforce, inventory, or campaign definition wherever possible. The currency selector changes display currency only; it does not perform an exchange-rate conversion. Before using the result in a decision, recheck unusually large or negative values against the source data rather than assuming the calculator is correcting an inconsistent input.

How the calculation works

Net burn rate = (starting cash − ending cash) ÷ months between balances. If the result is positive, estimated runway = ending cash ÷ monthly burn. This is a backward-looking average, not a full cash-flow forecast.

Example

Cash falls from $500,000 to $380,000 over 3 months. Average net burn is $40,000 per month, implying about 9.5 months of runway if that burn stayed unchanged.

How to interpret the result

Use the result as a compact description of the inputs you supplied. Compare it with the same metric calculated consistently over time or across alternatives; the number is most useful when its accounting period, denominator, and business definition remain stable.

Limitations and notes

The calculation is only as consistent as its inputs. Accounting policy, attribution rules, period length, one-time items, seasonality, and local reporting conventions can change what should be included in a numerator or denominator. Use the same definitions when comparing periods, and do not treat a simplified ratio as a complete operational diagnosis.