OTE Calculator
On-target earnings, or OTE, is the headline number in every sales job offer: base salary plus the variable pay you earn at exactly 100% of quota. Two offers with the same OTE can be worth very different amounts once you factor in how often the team actually hits quota. This calculator shows both the advertised OTE and the probability-adjusted expected pay, monthly and yearly, from three inputs.
Advertised OTE
Expected earnings
Quick Answer
A $60,000 base salary with $40,000 of variable pay at 100% quota gives an advertised OTE of $100000.00. At a 44% team hit rate, the realistic expectation is $77600.00 a year, or $6466.67 a month, which is $22,400 below the advertised figure. The calculator above is pre-filled with this exact run: click Calculate OTE to reproduce it.
Key takeaways
- OTE is base salary plus variable pay at exactly 100% quota. Only the base is guaranteed, so compare offers on expected pay, not the headline OTE.
- The team hit rate is the number that matters. Industry data puts the share of cloud sales reps hitting quota near 42-44% most quarters, so a $100,000 OTE often means roughly $76,000-$78,000 of expected pay.
- The tool prints figures without thousands separators (for example $100000.00). That is the calculator’s exact output format, not a typo.
- Hit rates above 200% are capped at 200%, and accelerators that pay above-quota rates are not modeled, so over-achievement pay is stated conservatively.
- Quick Answer
- How to use the OTE calculator
- The OTE formula, and the adjustment that makes it honest
- Worked example: a $60,000 base with $40,000 variable at a 44% hit rate
- The gap the tool is built for: advertised OTE vs expected pay
- What typical pay mixes look like by role
- How to compare two OTE offers
- What the top results miss
- Frequently asked questions
- Add This Calculator to Your Website
- References
How to use the OTE calculator
Enter the three numbers from the offer letter, then click Calculate OTE. The results stay hidden until you click.
- Base salary: your guaranteed annual pay. A base plus commission calculator can help you sanity-check the variable side of the offer before you enter it here.
- Variable pay at 100% quota: total commissions and target bonuses at exactly full attainment. If the offer quotes a commission rate instead of a dollar figure, multiply the rate by the quota to get this number first.
- Team quota hit rate: the share of reps on that team who actually hit quota. Ask the hiring manager for it. If they cannot give you the number, that is an answer in itself, and 100% only shows the advertised figure, not a forecast.
- Read both rows: the advertised OTE for the offer letter, and the expected earnings for your budget. The reality-check badge under the results states exactly how far apart they are.
- Copy or share: the buttons at the bottom of the results copy a plain-text summary you can paste into a spreadsheet or send to a recruiter.
The OTE formula, and the adjustment that makes it honest
Advertised OTE is simple addition: base salary plus variable pay at 100% attainment. The adjustment this calculator adds is expected earnings: base salary plus variable pay scaled by the team’s actual hit rate.
Expected earnings = Base salary + (Variable pay × Hit rate ÷ 100)
Monthly = Annual figure ÷ 12
The variable side often mixes two pieces: a target bonus (a percentage of base, for example 15% of a $70,000 base is $10,500) and a commission (a percentage of sales, for example 3% on a $500,000 quota is $15,000). Add them to the base and that $70,000 base becomes a $95,500 OTE, exactly as the standard formula in the AIHR guide to on-target earnings works it. Note that a one-off target bonus lands differently in your pocket than a recurring commission, so a bonus take-home pay calculator is worth a separate run if the variable pay is mostly bonus.
Worked example: a $60,000 base with $40,000 variable at a 44% hit rate
The pre-filled run is a $60,000 base salary plus $40,000 of variable pay at full quota, adjusted by a 44% team hit rate. Every row below is a verified run of the calculator above.
| Scenario (base / variable / hit rate) | Advertised OTE | Expected pay |
|---|---|---|
| Worked example: 60000 / 40000 / 44% | $100000.00 | $77600.00 |
| Full attainment: 80000 / 40000 / 100% | $120000.00 | $120000.00 |
| RepVue-typical: 50000 / 50000 / 43.5% | $100000.00 | $71750.00 |
| Paychex-style 65/35 split: 65000 / 35000 / 44% | $100000.00 | $80400.00 |
| Over-quota year: 70000 / 30000 / 150% | $100000.00 | $115000.00 |
The gap is the story. At a 44% hit rate, three different $100,000 OTE offers pay $77,600, $71,750 and $115,000 in expected earnings, a spread of $43,250 that the advertised figure hides completely:
The gap the tool is built for: advertised OTE vs expected pay
Most salespeople never earn the advertised OTE, and that is not a personal failure. It is the math of how quotas are set.
RepVue’s Cloud Sales Index, built from tens of thousands of rep ratings at cloud and software companies, has sat in a 42-44% band of reps hitting quota for multiple quarters, with the Q2 2026 reading at 43.60%. The Bridge Group’s 2026 survey of B2B sales leaders put account executive attainment at 48%, down from 51% two years earlier. Either way, on a typical team, more reps finish below the line than above it. That is why the calculator’s third input is the team’s hit rate rather than your personal confidence: a rep who believes they will beat the team average is usually wrong, and the 44% default keeps the estimate honest until you have real team data.
When the advertised OTE is attached to a quota almost nobody hits, salespeople call it FauxTE: an inflated headline number that exists to make the offer look bigger than the pay. Run the FauxTE test on any offer. Take the advertised OTE, divide it by the quota, and ask how the reps who closed that quota last year are actually paid. If the manager cannot tell you the team’s hit rate, treat the variable portion with deep suspicion and weight your comparison toward the base.
What typical pay mixes look like by role
The split between base and variable is the second number that changes what an offer is worth, and it varies sharply by role.
- Account executives (SMB to enterprise): usually 50/50, half base and half variable. Role benchmarks put median OTE around $120,000 for SMB AEs, $160,000 for mid-market and $230,000 for enterprise, all at roughly that split.
- Sales development reps: safer, around 60-70% base and 30-40% variable, with median OTE near $80,000. SDRs control less of the close, so more of their pay is guaranteed.
- Senior and enterprise reps: can skew more variable than 50/50, because their influence over deals is higher and the payouts justify the risk.
The practical rule: the bigger the variable share, the more the hit rate decides your real pay. A 50/50 plan at a 44% hit rate pays 72% of the advertised OTE, while a 70/30 plan at the same hit rate pays 83%. That difference is exactly what the chart above shows, and it is why a lower OTE with a safer mix can beat a flashier offer.
How to compare two OTE offers
Never compare the advertised OTEs. Run each offer through the calculator with its own base, variable and team hit rate, and compare the expected earnings.
Offer A: $100,000 advertised
$60,000 base + $40,000 variable, 44% team hit rate.
Expected: $77600.00 ($6466.67/month)
Offer B: $100,000 advertised
$75,000 base + $25,000 variable, 60% team hit rate.
Expected: $90000.00 ($7500.00/month)
Both offers advertise $100,000, but Offer B pays $12,400 more in expected earnings and guarantees $15,000 more base. The higher base and the better hit rate both point the same way, which is the pattern to look for. Bigger quotas also mean bigger deals, so an average deal size calculator is a useful cross-check on whether the quota behind the OTE is remotely achievable. And if you want to gross up a bonus check to see what the variable portion looks like after withholding, that is a separate run worth doing before you sign.
What the top results miss
Most pages ranking for this keyword explain OTE well and compute nothing, while the few tools stop at the easy half of the math:
- AIHR’s on-target earnings guide: the cleanest definition of the three components and a correct $95,500 worked example. Gap: a glossary page with no tool and no hit-rate adjustment anywhere.
- Calculator.city’s OTE calculator: a working tool with base, variable and quota attainment up to 200%. Gap: it asks for your personal attainment, which is the number everyone overestimates, and it gives no monthly figures, no copy or share, and no benchmark for what a realistic hit rate looks like.
- SparrowCRM’s OTE benchmarks: the best role-by-role pay-mix table in the set, from SDR 70/30 splits to enterprise AE medians. Gap: medians are not your team, and there is no tool to plug your own offer into.
- Paychex’s employer guide: sound employer-side framing with a clear $65,000 plus $35,000 example. Gap: written for the company setting the plan, with nothing a candidate can compute their own offer against.
- Salesforce’s OTE explainer: useful capped vs uncapped examples. Gap: explainer only, no calculator, no attainment reality check.
- HiPeople’s OTE glossary: broad coverage of commissions, bonuses and profit sharing. Gap: it folds benefits and stock options into OTE, which muddies the standard cash-compensation definition most sources use, and offers no tool.
- The gap this page fills: the team hit rate as the central input instead of personal optimism, monthly and yearly figures side by side, a reality-check badge stating the gap in dollars, and copy and share so the number can go straight into an offer comparison.
Frequently asked questions
On-target earnings: the total cash compensation you would earn in a year if you hit exactly 100% of your sales quota. It is base salary plus target commissions and bonuses.
No. Only the base salary is guaranteed. The variable portion is paid only when you meet or exceed your targets, which is why the hit-rate adjustment matters.
Because quotas are usually set so that fewer than half of reps hit them. RepVue's Cloud Sales Index has held in a 42-44% band of reps hitting quota for multiple quarters, and the Bridge Group's 2026 survey put account executive attainment at 48%. The advertised OTE assumes 100% attainment, which most reps never reach.
Account executives usually see 50/50, half base and half variable. Sales development reps skew safer, around 60 to 70% base and 30 to 40% variable. The bigger the variable share, the more the hit rate decides your real pay.
Sales slang for an inflated advertised OTE attached to a quota almost nobody hits. Probability-adjusting with the team's actual hit rate exposes it: if the expected earnings come out far below the headline figure, the quota is the problem, not the rep.
Do not compare the advertised OTEs. For each offer, compute base plus (variable times team hit rate) and compare those expected earnings, as the comparison section above shows. Weight the guaranteed base more heavily when a manager cannot share the team's hit rate.
Usually OTE means cash compensation: base plus variable. Benefits, retirement matches and equity are normally quoted separately, so keep them out of the variable input in this calculator.
The tool caps the hit rate at 200% and does not model accelerators, which pay above-quota deals at higher commission rates. If your plan has them, the expected earnings here are conservative for strong years. Enter 200% as the ceiling rather than your true attainment.
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References
- Paychex. What Is OTE (On-Target Earnings)? Employer Guide. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Salesforce. What is On Target Earnings (OTE) in Sales? Accessed October 23, 2026.
- AIHR. On-Target Earnings. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- SparrowCRM. What is OTE in Sales? Formula, Benchmarks and Examples. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- DealHub. On-Target Earnings (OTE). Accessed October 23, 2026.
- HiPeople. On-Target Earnings: Definition, OTE Model, Examples. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- QuotaPath. 57% of SaaS Sales Reps Missed Quota in Q2 2025 (RepVue Cloud Sales Index data). Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Eubrics. What Percentage of Reps Hit Quota, and What the Best Teams Do Differently. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- Lative. How to Set Quotas for SaaS Sales Reps. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- AeolusGTM. Sales Quota Attainment Statistics 2026. Accessed October 23, 2026.