Beekeeping ROI Calculator
Does a few hives pay for itself, and when? Enter your hive count, startup cost, honey yield, price and running costs. You get a three-year net and the year the startup money comes back. Free, no signup, all math in your browser.
Every default is an editable estimate, not a promise — the middle of a published range. Replace them with your own numbers.
Startup
$1,500
Net, established year
$394
Startup paid back
Year 6
| Year | Revenue | Costs | Net | Running total incl. startup |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $0 | $350 | −$350 | −$1,850 |
| 2 | $900 | $506 | $394 | −$1,456 |
| 3 | $900 | $506 | $394 | −$1,062 |
Year 1 uses the first-year honey figure and no colony replacement (losses land over the first winter). Years 2–3 add the expected replacement cost: hives × loss rate × replacement cost. Not included: your time, jars and labels, an extractor, travel, tax, or any market-stall fees. Honey yield swings with forage and weather more than with anything you enter here.
Where the default numbers come from
Each default is the middle of a range we already publish, so the calculator says the same thing as the articles behind it:
- Honey yield — 45 lb, the middle of the 30–60 lb an established hive produces in a normal year; 0 lb in year one, the bottom of the 0–20 lb first-year range. Source: How much honey does one hive produce.
- Startup — $750 per hive ($1,000–2,000 to start with two hives), running cost — $175 per hive per year ($150–200), price — $10/lb (retail jars at $8–12/lb; bulk wholesale is nearer $2.96/lb), winter losses — 30% (20–40%), and replacement — $260 (US nucs asked $195–325 for spring 2026). Source: How much do beekeepers make.
The honest reading of the defaults: two hives selling retail honey cover their running costs from year two, and take several years to repay the startup money. The numbers that move the answer most are price per pound and how many colonies you lose each winter — and the only way to know yours is to write them down every season.
Planning to sell? Get the side-hustle plan.
The honest math, the records worth keeping, and a 90-day launch plan. 15 pages, one email.
Related tools and reading
How Much Do Beekeepers Make a Year?
Income by hive count, revenue stream, and the costs nobody mentions.
How Much Honey Does One Hive Produce?
The 30–60 lb average, and what moves it up or down by region and year.
Running bees as a business
Per-hive records, harvests and sales in one place.
Honey Moisture Calculator
Before you sell it: refractometer reading → fermentation risk and grade.
Replace the estimates with your own numbers
HiveSense keeps harvests, treatments and losses per hive, so next year you enter what your hives actually did instead of a range.
More free beekeeping tools