💼 Sales Commission Calculator
Calculate total sales commission, over-quota accelerators, base salary, and on-target earnings (OTE) with interactive quota tracking. 100% free.
What Sales Commission Calculator Does
This calculator models a quota-based commission plan: a base salary, a standard rate paid on sales up to quota, and an accelerator rate paid on everything above it. It returns the split between the two, total commission, total earnings, quota attainment, and the effective rate across all sales.
That structure is not the same as the tiered band calculators that dominate this search. A cumulative band plan pays 5% on the first $50,000, 7% on the next $50,000 and so on, regardless of any target. A quota plan has one number that matters — the target — and pays a higher rate past it precisely to make over-performance disproportionately rewarding. Both are called "tiered" in casual use and they behave differently; this tool does the second.
One consequence worth seeing before you trust any commission figure: the effective rate is not the rate in your plan document. On the default inputs the standard rate is 8.5% and the accelerator 12%, but the blended rate actually earned is 9.67% at 150% of quota, rising to 10.83% at 300%. The rate you are "on" is only the rate you earn at exactly 100% attainment.
How to Use Sales Commission Calculator
- Enter your annual base salary and closed sales revenue
- Input your standard commission percentage rate
- Optionally specify a sales quota and over-quota accelerator rate
- View your total compensation, commission breakdown, and quota attainment %
Formula Used by Sales Commission Calculator
Commission with a quota accelerator
If sales > quota: commission = (quota × rate) + ((sales − quota) × accelerator). Otherwise: commission = sales × rate
- rate
- Standard commission rate, paid on sales up to quota
- accelerator
- Higher rate paid only on the portion above quota
- quota
- The sales target. Set it to zero and the plan becomes a flat rate on all sales
Worked example
The defaults: $45,000 base, $150,000 closed, 8.5% standard rate, $100,000 quota, 12% accelerator.
- Attainment: 150,000 ÷ 100,000 = 150%
- On quota: 100,000 × 8.5% = $8,500
- Above quota: (150,000 − 100,000) × 12% = $6,000
- Commission: 8,500 + 6,000 = $14,500
- Total earnings: 45,000 + 14,500 = $59,500
Result: $14,500 of commission on $59,500 total. Note the plan is continuous at quota — a dollar either side of the target pays within a cent of the same amount — because the accelerator applies only to the excess, not retroactively to everything.
Effective commission rate
effective rate = total commission ÷ total sales
- effective rate
- The blended rate actually earned across all sales, as opposed to either headline rate
Worked example
The same $14,500 of commission on $150,000 of sales.
- 14,500 ÷ 150,000 = 0.09667
Result: 9.67% — between the 8.5% standard rate and the 12% accelerator, and closer to the standard rate because two thirds of the sales fell below quota. This is the number to compare against another offer's headline rate.
On-target earnings and pay mix
OTE = base + (quota × rate); pay mix = base ÷ OTE : commission ÷ OTE
- OTE
- On-target earnings — what the plan pays at exactly 100% of quota, and the figure a sales offer is usually quoted at
- pay mix
- The split between guaranteed and at-risk pay
Worked example
The default plan at exactly 100% attainment.
- Commission at quota: 100,000 × 8.5% = $8,500
- OTE: 45,000 + 8,500 = $53,500
- Mix: 45,000 ÷ 53,500 = 84%, commission 16%
Result: An 84/16 pay mix. That is a very base-heavy plan by sales standards — quota-carrying roles commonly run 50/50 or 60/40 — so these defaults describe something closer to account management than to new-business sales.
Earnings Across the Attainment Range
$45,000 base, $100,000 quota, 8.5% standard, 12% accelerator. The effective rate column is the one that is not in the plan document.
| Sales closed | Quota attainment | Commission | Total earnings | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | 50% | $4,250 | $49,250 | 8.50% |
| $75,000 | 75% | $6,375 | $51,375 | 8.50% |
| $100,000 | 100% | $8,500 | $53,500 | 8.50% |
| $125,000 | 125% | $11,500 | $56,500 | 9.20% |
| $150,000 | 150% | $14,500 | $59,500 | 9.67% |
| $200,000 | 200% | $20,500 | $65,500 | 10.25% |
| $300,000 | 300% | $32,500 | $77,500 | 10.83% |
Two Plan Shapes Both Called "Tiered"
The distinction that decides which calculator you need. This tool models the second.
| Cumulative bands | Quota with accelerator | |
|---|---|---|
| How it pays | A different rate on each block of volume | One rate up to target, a higher rate above it |
| Reference point | Fixed dollar thresholds | A quota that is reset each period |
| Typical setting | Retail, real estate, channel sales | Enterprise and SaaS quota-carrying roles |
| What "attainment" means | Not usually tracked | The central metric — the plan is built around 100% |
| Modeled here | Only as a special case: set quota to 0 for a flat rate | Yes |
Plan Features This Calculator Does Not Model
Each of these appears in real commission plans and each changes the payout materially.
| Feature | What it does | Effect on the number above |
|---|---|---|
| Threshold or cliff | Pays nothing until a minimum attainment, often 50-70% | Low-attainment rows above would be $0, not a pro-rated amount |
| Recoverable draw | Advance against future commission, repaid from later earnings | Smooths income but creates a debt if quota is missed |
| Non-recoverable draw | Guaranteed minimum that is not repaid | Raises earnings at low attainment |
| Cap | Ceiling on total commission or attainment | Flattens the top rows entirely |
| Clawback | Commission reversed if a customer churns or refunds | Reduces earnings after they were paid |
| Margin-based commission | Rate applied to gross profit, not revenue | A discounted deal pays far less than the revenue suggests |
| Multi-rate splits | New business, renewal and expansion paid at different rates | Requires running this once per revenue type |
How to Read Your Result
Commissions are contractual, not statutory
The US Department of Labor states plainly that the Fair Labor Standards Act does not require the payment of commissions. Everything about your plan — the rate, the quota, whether a draw is recoverable, when commission is considered earned, what happens if you leave before it is paid — comes from the agreement, not from federal law. That makes the document the entire protection, and the clause that matters most is usually not the rate: it is the definition of when a commission is earned, because a plan that treats commission as earned on cash collection rather than on signature can defer or eliminate a payout you have already booked.
State rules layer on top, and some are specific
Commissions are wages under most state laws, which brings timing, final-paycheque and deduction protections that the FLSA does not provide. Some states go further and regulate the agreement itself — California, which Google's related searches for this term single out, requires commission arrangements to be in a written contract. If your plan is a slide deck and a verbal understanding, the jurisdiction you work in may already have something to say about that.
What the accelerator is actually for
Paying 12% above quota and 8.5% below it is not generosity; it is a deliberate change in the marginal incentive. Below target every extra dollar is worth 8.5 cents, above it 12 cents, so the plan pays most for the behavior that is hardest to motivate — continuing to sell after the target is already met. It also means a rep who lands at 99% and one who lands at 101% earn almost identically here, because this structure has no cliff. Many real plans deliberately add one, and that changes the incentive near the target completely.
Revenue commission and margin commission are different jobs
This calculator applies the rate to closed revenue. If your plan pays on gross profit instead, a deal discounted 20% does not cost you 20% of the commission — it costs a far larger share, because the discount comes almost entirely out of the margin the rate is applied to. Sales organizations move from revenue to margin commission precisely to stop discounting, and a rep comparing two offers on headline rate alone will misjudge which pays more.
Limitations & Accuracy Notes
- Two rates only: a standard rate up to quota and an accelerator above it. Plans with three or more attainment tiers need to be run piecewise.
- No threshold or cliff. Real plans frequently pay nothing below a minimum attainment, which would zero out the lower rows of the table above.
- No draw handling, recoverable or otherwise, and no cap, clawback, or split-credit logic.
- Commission is applied to revenue, not gross margin, and there is no separate treatment of new business, renewals and expansion.
- Single period only. There is no quarterly or annual roll-up, no year-to-date attainment, and no carry-over of over-performance into the next period.
- Pre-tax. In the US, commission is supplemental wages and is commonly withheld at a flat supplemental rate that differs from the withholding on your salary, so the amount that reaches your account will not match the figure here.
- Nothing here is legal advice about your plan. The calculator computes what a plan of this shape would pay; what you are owed is determined by your written agreement and your state's wage law.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is sales commission calculated?
What is a commission accelerator?
What does OTE (On-Target Earnings) mean?
What is a commission cap and should I worry about one?
What is a draw against commission?
Should commission be on revenue or on margin?
What is a clawback?
Is commission usually taxed differently?
Is my sales data stored?
References & Further Reading
- U.S. Department of Labor — Commissions — Federal position: a commission may be paid in addition to or instead of a salary, and the FLSA does not require the payment of commissions at all
- California DLSE — The Laws Relating to the Time, Manner and Payment of Wages — State guide to the Labor Code provisions governing when and how wages including commissions must be paid