NPV Calculator — Net Present Value & Discounted Cash Flow CalculatorNPV = Σ[CFₜ/(1+r)ᵗ] − C₀ · DCF · IRR · WACC · Capital Budgeting
Use this free NPV Calculator to instantly compute the Net Present Value (NPV) of any investment or project by discounting all future cash flows to their present value using the standard NPV formula: NPV = Σ [CFₜ / (1 + r)ᵗ] − C₀ — where CFₜ is the cash flow in period t, r is the discount rate (WACC or required rate of return), t is the time period (year), and C₀ is the initial investment (Year 0 cash outflow). Enter your initial investment, discount rate, and up to multiple years of projected cash flows to compute: Net Present Value (NPV) · Present Value (PV) of each cash flow period · cumulative discounted cash flow (DCF) schedule · investment payback period · NPV decision rule — accept (NPV > 0) or reject (NPV < 0).
Net Present Value (NPV) is the gold standard capital budgeting technique in corporate finance and investment analysis — directly measuring the value created or destroyed by an investment in today's dollars. A positive NPV (NPV > 0) confirms the investment generates returns above the cost of capital (WACC) and creates shareholder value; a negative NPV (NPV < 0) signals the investment destroys value and should be rejected. This NPV and DCF calculator is trusted for: CapEx project evaluation and capital allocation decisions, real estate investment and property development NPV analysis, startup and venture capital investment valuation, M&A due diligence and business acquisition pricing, renewable energy project feasibility (solar, wind NPV), and comparing mutually exclusive projects using NPV vs IRR. Always use NPV alongside IRR, MIRR, and Profitability Index (PI) for complete investment appraisal and financial decision-making.
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NPV Calculator — The Dollar Value of All Future Cash Flows in Today's Money
Net Present Value is the sum of all future cash flows discounted to the present, minus the initial investment. A positive NPV means the investment creates value above the required return; negative NPV means it destroys value. An investment costing $100,000 that generates $30,000/year for 5 years at a 10% discount rate has an NPV of $13,724 — the investment creates $13,724 of value in present value terms. The NPV calculator accepts irregular cash flows in each period, not just annuities, covering real-world projects where cash flows vary year by year.
Discount rate selection is the most judgment-intensive aspect of NPV analysis. The discount rate should reflect the opportunity cost of capital — what could be earned on an alternative investment of similar risk. For corporate capital budgeting, the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) is standard. For personal investments, your expected portfolio return serves as a benchmark. The NPV calculator lets you run sensitivity analysis by computing NPV at multiple discount rates, showing how much the decision changes with your rate assumption.
NPV and IRR sometimes give contradictory rankings for mutually exclusive projects, and in these cases NPV is the more reliable metric. A project with higher NPV creates more absolute value even if a competing project has higher IRR. IRR can be misleading when projects have different scales or different time distributions of cash flows. When two projects look close on IRR, run the NPV comparison — the project with higher NPV is the correct choice for maximizing shareholder value.