Please enter valid positive numbers for all fields.
Daily Burn Rate:$0.00
Monthly Burn Rate (Approx.):$0.00
Financial Runway:0 Days
function calculateBurnRate() {
// 1. Get DOM elements
var expenseInput = document.getElementById("periodExpense");
var durationInput = document.getElementById("periodDuration");
var cashInput = document.getElementById("cashBalance");
var resultBox = document.getElementById("resultDisplay");
var errorBox = document.getElementById("errorDisplay");
var dailySpan = document.getElementById("dailyBurnVal");
var monthlySpan = document.getElementById("monthlyBurnVal");
var runwaySpan = document.getElementById("runwayVal");
// 2. Parse values
var expenses = parseFloat(expenseInput.value);
var days = parseFloat(durationInput.value);
var cash = parseFloat(cashInput.value);
// 3. Validation logic
if (isNaN(expenses) || isNaN(days) || isNaN(cash) || days <= 0 || expenses < 0 || cash 0) {
runwayDays = cash / dailyBurn;
// Format runway logic
if (runwayDays 0 && runwayDays < 90) { // Less than 3 months
runwaySpan.style.color = "#e53e3e"; // Red warning
} else {
runwaySpan.style.color = "#38a169"; // Green safe
}
resultBox.style.display = "block";
}
Mastering Your Cash Flow: The Daily Burn Rate Calculator
For startups and small businesses, cash is oxygen. Understanding how fast your business consumes its cash reserves—known as your "burn rate"—is critical for survival. While many founders look at monthly burn, calculating your Daily Burn Rate offers a more granular view of your financial health, helping you make precise decisions about spending, hiring, and fundraising.
What is Daily Burn Rate?
The daily burn rate represents the amount of negative cash flow a company incurs every 24 hours. It is the metric that tells you exactly how much money leaves your bank account each day to cover operating expenses like payroll, rent, server costs, and marketing.
If your business is pre-revenue or spending more than it earns, you are "burning" cash. If you do not monitor this rate, you risk running out of money unexpectedly.
Formula:
Daily Burn Rate = (Total Operating Expenses over Period) ÷ (Number of Days in Period)
Why Use a Daily Burn Rate Calculator?
While monthly statements are useful, a daily calculator provides immediate context for your runway. It helps answer critical questions:
Runway Visibility: Exactly how many days can we survive without new revenue or funding?
Spending Impact: If we subscribe to a new SaaS tool costing $300/month, how does that impact our daily cash consumption?
Crisis Management: In tight financial times, every day counts. Knowing your daily burn helps in micro-managing cash flow during a crisis.
How to Calculate Your Burn Rate and Runway
To use the calculator above effectively, you need three key figures:
Total Expenses in Period: Sum up all money that left the company during a specific timeframe (usually the last month or quarter). Do not include one-off capital expenditures if you want to calculate "Operational Burn," but DO include them for "Gross Burn."
Duration of Period: The number of days associated with the expenses above (e.g., 30 days for last month).
Current Cash Balance: The total amount of liquid cash currently in your bank accounts.
The calculator divides your total expenses by the days to find the daily rate. It then divides your current cash balance by that daily rate to determine your Financial Runway—the timeline you have until the bank account hits zero.
Gross Burn vs. Net Burn
It is important to distinguish between the two types of burn:
Gross Burn: Total amount of money spent per month/day. This is what the calculator above primarily assesses if you input total expenses.
Net Burn: Total money spent minus total money earned (Revenue). If you are generating revenue, you can subtract your income from your expenses before entering the "Total Expenses" figure to see your Net Burn Rate.
How to Extend Your Runway
If the calculator shows a runway of less than 6 months, immediate action is usually required. You can extend runway by:
Cutting Variable Costs: Reduce marketing spend, travel, or software subscriptions.
Increasing Revenue: Focus on quick sales cycles or upfront payments.
Freezing Hiring: Payroll is often the largest component of daily burn.
Raising Capital: Use your burn rate data to show investors exactly how long their investment will last.