Cash Flow Calculator
Use our free cash flow calculator to quickly estimate your net cash flow for a period, based on key inputs like revenue, operating expenses, capital expenditures, and financing. Perfect for small business owners, freelancers, accountants, and financial planners.
Cash Flow Formula
Understanding cash flow tells you whether your business can meet obligations, invest in growth, and return value to owners. Use the calculator to spot shortfalls and plan financing or cost changes.
How this cash flow calculator works
This calculator aggregates cash inflows and outflows for the chosen period, applies working capital changes, subtracts capital spending and debt payments, and returns operating cash flow and free cash flow. It's designed to give a quick, actionable picture of liquidity before you do a detailed cash flow statement.
When to use this cash flow calculator
To project monthly or quarterly liquidity for small businesses
When planning capital purchases or equipment financing
For assessing whether new hires or leases are affordable
To estimate runway for startups and freelancers
To compare financing options and repayment impacts
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Typical Cash Flow Benchmarks by Business Type
Use these as broad references—replace with your own historicals for accuracy.
Low-margin retail/service
High-margin SaaS/digital
Light manufacturing
Professional services
These benchmarks help businesses see whether their cash flow performance is aligned with peers and where improvement is needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
It provides estimates based on the inputs you supply. Accuracy improves with precise revenue, expense, and working capital figures.
Profit is accounting income (accrual basis). Cash flow measures actual cash received and paid during the period.
Depreciation is a non-cash expense—exclude it from cash outflows but include CapEx (actual cash spent).
Model changes in working capital: increases in receivables reduce cash; increases in payables increase cash.
Yes—use projected cash flow to test debt service coverage and runway scenarios.
Yes—include owner withdrawals or owner's salary as cash outflows for realistic liquidity planning
Monthly at a minimum; weekly if cash is tight or you're scaling fast.
The calculator supports period-by-period inputs. For seasonal businesses, run monthly/quarterly forecasts to capture peaks and troughs.