Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) Calculator
Find the order size that keeps your yearly ordering and storage costs lowest, how many orders a year that means, and what it costs.
Delivery charges, admin time and paperwork for each order, whatever its size.
Storage space, insurance, damage and waste.
Best order size
775 units
- Orders a year
- 15.5
- Order about every
- 23.6 days
- Ordering and storage cost a year
- $1,549.19
Order about 775 units at a time, 15.5 times a year. At that size ordering and storage costs are equal, $774.60 each, and their total is as low as it goes.
How it's worked out
- Economic order quantity
√(2 × 12,000 × $50.00 ÷ $2.00)774.6 units - Orders a year
12,000 ÷ 774.615.49 - Ordering cost
15.49 × $50.00$774.60 - Storage cost
774.6 ÷ 2 average stock × $2.00$774.60
Other order sizes
| Order size | Orders a year | Cost a year |
|---|---|---|
| 387 | 31 | $1,937.39 |
| 581 | 20.7 | $1,613.70 |
| 775 | 15.5 | $1,549.19 |
| 1,162 | 10.3 | $1,678.35 |
| 1,549 | 7.7 | $1,936.35 |
- The total cost curve is flat near the best size, so rounding to a full pallet or case size costs very little.
How it is worked out
The ordering cost a year is (demand ÷ order size) × cost per order. The storage cost a year is (order size ÷ 2) × storage cost per unit, since stock runs down from a full order to nothing. The EOQ is the order size where the two are equal.
When to order
The EOQ says how much to order; the reorder point calculator says when.
Questions people ask
What is the EOQ for 12,000 units a year, 50 per order and 2 a year to store each unit?
About 775 units: √(2 × 12,000 × 50 ÷ 2). That's about 15.5 orders a year, roughly every 24 days.
What is the EOQ formula?
EOQ = √(2 × yearly demand × cost per order ÷ yearly storage cost per unit).
Why is that the cheapest size?
Bigger orders mean fewer orders but more stock sitting in storage. At the EOQ, the yearly ordering cost equals the yearly storage cost, and their total is at its lowest.
Do I have to order exactly that many?
No. The cost barely changes near the best size, so rounding to a full case or pallet is fine.
About this calculator
Formula and rules last checked 10 November 2026Written and tested by the CalculatorDex teamReport a problem