Albion Refining Profit Calculator
Enter your raw material cost and refined sell price - the ledger handles return rates, focus, station fees and market tax, and tells you if the forge is worth lighting.
| Line item | Per craft | Gross | Returned | Net used | Net cost |
|---|
How to use the refining calculator
- Pick your resource and tier. The recipe (raw + lower-tier refined per craft) and the bonus city fill in automatically.
- Enter prices from the in-game market - what you actually pay for raw and lower-tier refined, and what the refined resource really sells for.
- Set your return rate with one tap: base (15.25%), base + focus (43.5%), bonus city (36.7%), or bonus city + focus (53.9%) - or a custom value.
- Add your numbers: refine count, focus cost per craft (shown in the refining window), and the station's usage fee if any.
- Read the reckoning: net profit, profit per refined unit, margin, profit per focus, and the two break-even prices.
Worked example
100× T5 metal bars refined in Thetford (the bar bonus city): raw ore at 480, T4 bars at 1,100, T5 bars selling at 4,200, no Premium, instant sell. Recipe per bar: 3× T5 ore + 1× T4 bar; return rate 36.7%.
net cost = 100 × (1.899 × 480 + 0.633 × 1,100) = 160,782 silver
revenue = 100 × 4,200 × (1 − 0.04) = 403,200 silver
net profit = 403,200 − 160,782 = +242,418 silver
Margin ≈ 150% on costs - the city bonus doing its work. The same craft outside the bonus city (15.25% return) nets noticeably less; flip the preset chips to see the difference instantly.
How the refining math works
Albion refining turns raw resources into refined ones at a fixed recipe per tier - for example, one Tier 5 metal bar takes 3× Tier 5 ore plus 1× Tier 4 bar. On top of the recipe sits the resource return rate (RRR): a fraction of everything you put in comes straight back to your inventory.
net inputs = recipe × (1 − RRR)
profit = sell × qty × (1 − tax) − net input cost − fees
profit per focus = profit ÷ focus used
Return rate presets: 15.25 % base in any royal city, 36.7 % in the city specialised for that resource, 43.5 % / 53.9 % with focus - computed from the production-bonus formula documented in Albion Free Market's return-rate analysis, with city specialisations per the official wiki (archived). Market tax structure (2.5 % setup fee on placed orders, 4 % sales tax halved by Premium) follows the community-verified tax worked examples. Values last verified October 2026 - every preset is editable if a patch changes them.
Reading the break-even prices
The break-even sell price is the lowest refined price that still covers your net material cost, station fee and taxes. The break-even raw price is the highest price you can pay per ore/wood/hide/fiber/rock before the craft stops being profitable at your sell price. If market prices sit between the two, you have margin - if not, pick a different tier or city.
Limitations. Returns are probabilistic per craft but average out over a batch; the reuse model assumes you re-use returned materials continuously. Enchanted refining (.1–.3) additionally needs enchanted materials of the tier below. Station fees are excluded unless you enter them.
Refining questions, answered
How does the city bonus work in refining?
Each royal city specialises in one refined resource - Thetford in metal bars, Fort Sterling in planks, Martlock in leather, Lymhurst in cloth, Bridgewatch in stone blocks. Refining that resource in its specialised city raises the resource return rate from the base 15.25 % to 36.7 %, so more than a third of your inputs come back to you - which typically dwarfs every other saving in the calculation.
The bonus applies automatically at the refinery; you just have to be in the right city. See the full city bonus guide for the complete table and formula.
Is focus worth using for refining?
Usually yes, but only if you value it correctly. Focus raises the return rate from 15.25 % to 43.5 % (or 36.7 % to 53.9 % in a bonus city), so it saves a large amount of raw material per craft. The calculator shows profit per focus point so you can compare refining against other focus sinks - if another activity earns more silver per focus, spend it there.
Focus cost per craft also drops sharply as your refining specialization rises (every 10,000 focus-efficiency halves the cost), so high-spec refiners get far more profit per focus.
Do I need to enter market prices myself?
Yes - and that is deliberate. AlbionForge has no live market feed: you type the prices you can actually buy and sell at (from the in-game market), which is more accurate than any delayed third-party feed. Nothing you enter is uploaded anywhere; every calculation runs in your browser.
How many raw resources does one refined bar take?
From Tier 4 up, every refine takes 2–5 raw resources of its own tier plus exactly one refined resource of the tier below: T4 = 2 raw + 1 × T3, T5 = 3 raw + 1 × T4, T6 = 4 + 1, T7 and T8 = 5 + 1. The calculator fills these automatically from the tier you pick, and they are editable if a patch changes them.
Keep the ledger going
- Crafting instead? Use the Albion crafting profit calculator.
- Moving goods between cities? The transport arbitrage calculator prices the trip.
- Upgrading artifact gear to .1/.2/.3? See the enchanting calculator.
Maintained by AlbionForge · Numbers last verified October 2026 · Methodology & sources · Calculations run entirely in your browser (privacy note) · Found an error? Tell us.