In SQL, gross profit for the whole period is ROUND(SUM(revenue) - SUM(cogs), 2) over the monthly table. On the sample data it returns 12,88,800.
Gross profit = Revenue − Cost of goods sold
What you need
Gross profit is revenue minus the cost of the goods you sold in the same period. You need these columns, here from the sample file monthly.csv:
- revenue: revenue (net of discounts)
- cogs: cost of goods sold
CREATE TABLE monthly (
month TEXT, -- 'YYYY-MM'
revenue INTEGER,
cogs INTEGER
);Step by step
- Load monthly.csv into a table called monthly. The table only needs the month column and the columns below.
- Run the first query to get one row per month.
- Run the whole-period query. It adds up each column first and divides once; averaging the monthly results gives a different, usually wrong, answer.
The queries
SELECT
month,
ROUND(revenue - cogs, 2) AS gross_profit
FROM monthly
ORDER BY month;SELECT ROUND(SUM(revenue) - SUM(cogs), 2) AS gross_profit
FROM monthly;What you should get
Run against the sample data, the code above returns these values:
| Month | revenue | cogs | gross_profit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-01 | 4,12,000 | 2,26,600 | ₹1,85,400 |
| 2026-02 | 4,38,500 | 2,36,800 | ₹2,01,700 |
| 2026-03 | 4,71,200 | 2,59,200 | ₹2,12,000 |
| 2026-04 | 4,55,800 | 2,55,200 | ₹2,00,600 |
| 2026-05 | 5,02,300 | 2,71,200 | ₹2,31,100 |
| 2026-06 | 5,48,900 | 2,90,900 | ₹2,58,000 |
| Whole period | 28,28,700 | 15,39,900 | ₹12,88,800 |
₹28,28,700 − ₹15,39,900 = ₹12,88,800
Notes for SQL
- Integer columns divide as integers in PostgreSQL, SQLite and SQL Server, so 3 / 4 gives 0. Multiplying by 1.0 (or 100.0) first makes the division decimal.
- NULLIF(x, 0) turns a zero denominator into NULL, so the query returns NULL for that row instead of failing with a division-by-zero error.
- Tested on SQLite and DuckDB. SUM, NULLIF and ROUND work the same in PostgreSQL, MySQL and BigQuery; SQL Server uses TOP instead of LIMIT where a query has one.
Where gross profit misleads
- COGS must match the period of the revenue: the cost of the goods that were sold, not of the goods you bought this month.
- Returns reduce revenue; the returned stock, if resellable, reduces COGS too. Handle both or neither.
- Payment gateway fees and shipping are often left out of COGS. That is fine, but then contribution margin is the better guide to unit economics.
The full explanation, with a calculator, is on the Gross profit page.
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- Python and SQL for data analysis, side by side — 3 min read
- How to find out what changed in your sales data — 2 min read
About the data on this page
The figures come from a small made-up dataset, printed above in full so you can check every number by hand. Download it as monthly.csv. The results are computed from those rows when the page is built, and the Excel formulas, SQL and Python on these pages are run against the same rows before publishing, so the code and the answers agree.
To get these numbers from your own data without writing formulas, try AnalyzeIt: ask in plain words and it shows the working behind every figure.
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