Commission Calculator
Real estate commission calculator for agents.
Figure your actual take-home on a deal, not just the gross. Split, cap, post-cap math, and per-deal fees, including the part most calculators skip: what happens once you hit your cap.
No signup required. Mobile, desktop, anywhere.
- Gross commission
- $12,000
- Brokerage split
- −$2,400
- Transaction + E&O
- −$500
What a real estate commission calculator actually does
At its simplest, a commission calculator turns a sale price into a paycheck: sale price times rate, done. That version is close to useless for a working agent, because the gross commission is not what you take home. It is the starting line.
The real question every agent is asking is "what do I actually keep on this deal?" A calculator built for agents handles the full chain, not just the multiplication.
What goes into your real take-home
The DashLoops Commission Calculator runs each step below and shows the itemized result.
- Gross commission
- Sale price times your commission percentage on your side of the deal. The starting line, not the paycheck.
- Referral fees
- If the client was referred to you, a percentage off the top. Some brokerages apply their split before the referral comes out, others after. Ask which way yours runs it.
- Your split
- The share that goes to you versus your brokerage, for example 70/30 or 80/20. The first number is almost always yours.
- Your cap
- The ceiling on what your brokerage collects from you in a set period, often a year, sometimes monthly. Once you hit it, the brokerage stops taking its percentage.
- Post-cap behavior
- What you keep once you have capped: typically close to 100% of your commission minus the per-deal fees.
- Per-deal fees
- Transaction fee, E&O insurance, franchise fee, whatever your brokerage charges per closing.
- Net to you
- The bottom line every agent actually cares about. The calculator surfaces this plus the itemized breakdown of where each dollar went.
The differentiator
Cap-aware math (the part most calculators miss)
A commission cap is a ceiling on what your brokerage collects from you in a set period, most often a year, though some brokerages run monthly cap periods. Once you have paid in your cap, the brokerage stops taking its percentage and you keep close to 100% of your commission for the rest of that period.
This is the single biggest thing a generic calculator gets wrong. It assumes your split is the same on deal number one and deal number twenty. It is not. A deal that nets you $9,600 in January might net you closer to $11,500 in November on the same gross, because the brokerage is no longer taking its split. The DashLoops calculator asks where you are in your cap, then does the pre-cap and post-cap math for you.
Illustrative figures, fully negotiable and for calculation only.
Gross commission income versus net
Gross commission income (GCI) is the total you generate before your brokerage takes its share. Net commission is what you actually keep after the split, the cap math, and the fees. Mixing them up is how agents budget for income they never see.
When a brokerage advertises agent earnings, they often quote GCI, because it is the bigger number. When you are planning your actual household budget, you need net. The gap between the two can be 20% to 40% depending on your split and cap, before you even get to self-employment tax.
How to use the DashLoops Commission Calculator
1. Enter the sale price and your commission percentage
The contract price, and your side of the deal. You enter the real number; the tool never assumes a rate.
2. Enter your split and cap progress
Your share versus the brokerage, your cap ceiling, and how much of it you have already paid in this period. The cap progress is what makes the result accurate.
3. Add your per-deal fees
Transaction fee, E&O, franchise fee, referral fee, whatever applies. The output is your net on this deal, plus how much of your cap remains after this closing.
A couple of honest notes on the current version. It does not carry brokerage presets, so you enter your own numbers rather than picking your brand from a list. You can enter as many splits as your situation needs, your team split and brokerage split together for example, and it applies a single cap (your brokerage cap or your team cap), with multiple-cap support coming in the months ahead. What it does today, it does cleanly and correctly.
How it fits the rest of your deal math
At a listing appointment you are answering two questions at once: what the seller nets, and what you earn representing them. The Seller's NETSheet calculator handles their net proceeds; the Commission Calculator handles your take-home. Run both and you walk in with a complete picture. For the background on a seller's costs, see the guide on how much seller closing costs run.
A bit about why we built this. We spent years on the brokerage-operations side, and over and over watched agents misjudge their own take-home because the tools they had stopped at the gross. The cap blindness was the worst of it. A calculator that knows about caps fixes a real problem, not a made-up one.
Common questions about commission math
- How do you calculate real estate commission?
- Multiply the sale price by your commission percentage on your side of the deal to get gross commission. Then subtract your brokerage's split share, account for your cap if you have one, and subtract per-deal fees to get your net. A commission calculator does the full chain for you.
- What is a commission cap in real estate?
- A commission cap is the maximum amount your brokerage will collect from you in splits over a set period, most often a year, though some brokerages cap monthly. Once you reach it, the brokerage stops taking its percentage and you keep close to 100% of your commission for the rest of that period, minus small per-deal fees.
- What is the difference between gross commission income and net commission?
- Gross commission income (GCI) is your total commission before your brokerage takes its cut. Net commission is what you actually keep after the split, cap math, and fees. GCI is the bigger, headline number. Net is what you budget your life around.
- How do real estate teams split commission?
- On a team, the commission usually splits twice: once between the agent and the team (a lead split), then again between the team and the brokerage. The exact structure varies by team. The DashLoops calculator lets you enter both splits so you can model the full stack; for now it applies a single cap (your brokerage cap or your team cap), with multiple-cap support coming in a future version.
- Is a 70/30 commission split good?
- It depends on what comes with it, especially whether there is a cap. A 70/30 with a reasonable cap can net you more over a full year than a higher split with no cap, because the capped plan stops taking once you have paid in. Run both structures through a calculator before deciding which is actually better for your volume.
- How much does an agent make on a $300,000 house?
- It depends entirely on your commission rate, split, and cap. As an illustrative example: on a $300,000 sale at 3% gross on your side, that is $9,000 gross commission. On an 80/20 split before cap you keep $7,200, then per-deal fees come out, netting roughly $6,700 to $7,000. If you have already capped for the year, you might keep closer to $8,700 on the same deal.
- Can I try the commission calculator for free?
- Yes. The DashLoops Commission Calculator is free to use with no account. Saving a calculation creates a free DashLoops account so your numbers are there next time. Paid tiers raise the limits and add print and share-by-link.
A note on commission language. Brokerage compensation is fully negotiable. It is not set by law, by NAR, by any MLS, or by DashLoops. Any specific commission percentages on this page are illustrative for calculation only, not normative. Post-August 2024, buyer-broker compensation is negotiated separately from listing-side compensation and cannot be advertised on an MLS. Always document compensation in the applicable signed agreements and on the settlement statement.
Stop guessing at your take-home
Open the Commission Calculator, enter your real figures, and see what you keep. Free, cap-aware, and it works on your phone between appointments.