Why is the biggest margin not always the best craft?

A margin pays only as fast as the result sells. Profit a day is the margin times the estimated units sold a day on that auction house, so a thin margin on something that sells three hundred a day beats a fat one on something that sells three. Rank by Profit a day to see that order.

Crafting profit

Pick a market and a profession. Every recipe is ranked by what it earns at that market's prices right now. Enchantments make no item to sell, so they are costed on the enchants page instead. The crafts that also sell through the week, and the profession leading on each house, are in the gold meta.

On Normal Horde US right now, Mithril Casing (Engineering) makes the most per craft: about 4g 87s after the 5 percent auction house cut. 19 of 55 fully priced recipes make a profit.

Market: Normal Horde US. Address for this market: ahledger.com/crafting?market=forever/normal/horde/us

1MarketPrices come from the latest scans of this market.2ProfessionAll of them, or one.3Rank byMargin per craft, or that margin times what the market buys a day.4ShowFully priced recipes rank truthfully; every recipe shows what each craft needs.

▸How this is worked out

Reagents are priced at their median, the result at its median times the recipe's average yield, less the 5 percent auction house cut. A reagent with no price is named rather than counted as free. Deposits and the value of your own gathered materials are not in these numbers.

Sold/day is the estimated units of the result sold a day on this auction house over the last week, from consecutive scans; it leans low and is blank where too few hours of scans back it. Profit a day is the margin per unit times that: the most a crafter supplying the whole market could make. A fat margin on something that sells three a day is worth less than a thin one on something that sells three hundred.

What the margin leaves out.

55 recipes · 19 above water · Normal Horde US

Craft	Cost	Value	Margin	Return	Sold/day	Profit/day	Reagents
Mithril Casing Engineering 175	35s 97c	5g 22s 50c	4g 86s 53c	1353%	-	-	3 × Mithril Bar
Truesilver Bar Alchemy 200	11s 99c	95s	83s 1c	692%	-	-	1 × Mithril Bar
Solid Weightstone Blacksmithing 135	10s	71s 25c	61s 25c	613%	-	-	1 × Solid Stone
Savory Deviate Delight Cooking 85	9s 93c	51s 29c	41s 36c	417%	-	-	1 × Deviate Fish, 1 × Mild Spices
Solid Grinding Stone Blacksmithing 135	40s	75s 5c	35s 5c	88%	-	-	4 × Solid Stone
Heavy Crocolisk Stew Cooking 120	3s	37s 53c	34s 53c	1151%	-	-	2 × Tender Crocolisk Meat, 1 × Soothing Spices
Savory Whimsyfin Delight Cooking 85	14s 93c	47s 49c	32s 56c	218%	-	-	1 × Mild Spices, 1 × Whimsyfin
Rough Bronze Leggings Blacksmithing 95	90s	1g 10s 20c	20s 20c	22%	-	-	6 × Bronze Bar
Blackmouth Oil Alchemy 40	4s	18s 3c	14s 3c	351%	-	-	2 × Oily Blackmouth, 1 × Empty Vial
Minor Mageblood Elixir Alchemy	8s 94c	14s 25c	5s 31c	59%	-	-	2 × Mageroyal, 1 × Empty Vial
Fire Oil Alchemy 110 · makes 2	2s 98c	7s 60c	4s 62c	155%	-	-	2 × Firefin Snapper, 1 × Empty Vial
Soothing Turtle Bisque Cooking 175	2s	4s 75c	2s 75c	138%	-	-	1 × Soothing Spices, 1 × Turtle Meat
Crab Cake Cooking 75	11s	13s 30c	2s 30c	21%	-	-	1 × Crawler Meat, 1 × Mild Spices
Roasted Kodo Meat Cooking 35 · makes 2	1s 63c	3s 23c	1s 60c	98%	-	-	1 × Kodo Meat, 1 × Mild Spices
Scorpid Surprise Cooking 20	58c	1s 89c	1s 31c	226%	-	-	1 × Scorpid Stinger
Roasted Boar Meat Cooking 5	3s 75c	4s 75c	1s	27%	-	-	1 × Chunk of Boar Meat
Mithril Head Trout Cooking 175	1s 50c	1s 90c	40c	27%	-	-	1 × Raw Mithril Head Trout
Bristle Whisker Catfish Cooking 100	65c	95c	30c	46%	-	-	1 × Raw Bristle Whisker Catfish
Longjaw Mud Snapper Cooking 50	1s 74c	1s 76c	2c	1%	-	-	1 × Raw Longjaw Mud Snapper
Rough Weightstone Blacksmithing	1s	95c	-5c	-5%	-	-	1 × Rough Stone
Basic Campfire Kit Cooking	1s	95c	-5c	-5%	-	-	1 × Simple Wood
Rockscale Cod Cooking 150	1s	95c	-5c	-5%	-	-	1 × Raw Rockscale Cod
Slitherskin Mackerel Cooking 5	1s	95c	-5c	-5%	-	-	1 × Raw Slitherskin Mackerel
Rough Sharpening Stone Blacksmithing	1s	48c	-52c	-52%	-	-	1 × Rough Stone
Crispy Bat Wing Cooking 5	1s 51c	95c	-56c	-37%	-	-	1 × Meaty Bat Wing, 1 × Mild Spices
Rough Blasting Powder Engineering	1s	29c	-71c	-71%	-	-	1 × Rough Stone
Smoked Bear Meat Cooking 40	1s 21c	38c	-83c	-69%	-	-	1 × Bear Meat
Elixir of Minor Force Alchemy	1s 26c	29c	-97c	-77%	-	-	1 × Empty Vial, 1 × Silverleaf
Anti-Venom First Aid 40 · makes 3	2s	91c	-1s 9c	-54%	-	-	1 × Small Venom Sac
Smoked Sagefish Cooking 80	10s 93c	9s 45c	-1s 48c	-14%	-	-	1 × Mild Spices, 1 × Raw Sagefish
Strider Stew Cooking 50 · makes 2	2s	46c	-1s 54c	-77%	-	-	1 × Shiny Red Apple, 1 × Strider Meat
Elixir of Minor Strength Alchemy 15	31s 26c	29s 43c	-1s 83c	-6%	-	-	1 × Earthroot, 1 × Empty Vial, 1 × Silverleaf
Brilliant Smallfish Cooking 5	3s 50c	94c	-2s 56c	-73%	-	-	1 × Raw Brilliant Smallfish
Rainbow Fin Albacore Cooking 50	4s	95c	-3s 5c	-76%	-	-	1 × Raw Rainbow Fin Albacore
Reagent Bot Engineering	7s 80c	4s 74c	-3s 6c	-39%	-	-	1 × Copper Tube, 1 × Handful of Copper Bolts
Cured Light Hide Leatherworking 10	9s 60c	3s 95c	-5s 65c	-59%	-	-	1 × Light Hide, 1 × Salt
Elixir of Minor Agility Alchemy 40	53s 26c	47s 50c	-5s 76c	-11%	-	-	1 × Empty Vial, 1 × Silverleaf, 1 × Swiftthistle
Crude Scope Engineering 50	8s 68c	2s 6c	-6s 62c	-76%	-	-	1 × Copper Tube, 1 × Handful of Copper Bolts, 1 × Malachite
Twice-Spiced Raptor Slice Cooking 75	13s 82c	95c	-12s 87c	-93%	-	-	2 × Mild Spices, 1 × Raptor Flesh
Cured Medium Hide Leatherworking 50	50s 60c	28s 98c	-21s 62c	-43%	-	-	1 × Medium Hide, 1 × Salt
Practice Lock Engineering 75	23s 60c	95c	-22s 65c	-96%	-	-	2 × Handful of Copper Bolts, 1 × Bronze Bar, 1 × Weak Flux
Aquadynamic Fish Attractor Engineering 110 · makes 3	32s 7c	2s 85c	-29s 22c	-91%	-	-	2 × Bronze Bar, 1 × Coarse Blasting Powder, 1 × Nightcrawlers
Heavy Blasting Powder Engineering 85	50s	18s 52c	-31s 48c	-63%	-	-	1 × Heavy Stone
Lesser Discolored Healing Potion Alchemy 45	33s	95c	-32s 5c	-97%	-	-	1 × Briarthorn, 1 × Empty Vial, 1 × Murloc Eye
Draught of Water Breathing Alchemy 80	40s 96c	2s 14c	-38s 82c	-95%	-	-	2 × Blackmouth Oil, 1 × Empty Vial, 1 × Stranglekelp
Herb Baked Egg Cooking 5	40s 92c	95c	-39s 97c	-98%	-	-	1 × Mild Spices, 1 × Small Egg
Elixir of Wisdom Alchemy 80	64s 97c	22s 79c	-42s 18c	-65%	-	-	2 × Briarthorn, 1 × Empty Vial, 1 × Mageroyal
Rough Bronze Shoulders Blacksmithing 75	79s 19c	33s 25c	-45s 94c	-58%	-	-	5 × Bronze Bar, 1 × Coarse Grinding Stone, 1 × Shadowgem
Tin Bar Mining 10	48s 99c	1s 90c	-47s 9c	-96%	-	-	1 × Tin Ore
Patterned Bronze Bracers Blacksmithing 120	77s	5s 70c	-71s 30c	-93%	-	-	5 × Bronze Bar, 2 × Coarse Grinding Stone
Truesilver Skeleton Key Blacksmithing 135 · makes 2	1g 79s	95s	-84s	-47%	-	-	1 × Solid Grinding Stone, 1 × Truesilver Bar
Rough Bronze Cuirass Blacksmithing 105	1g 5s	9s 50c	-95s 50c	-91%	-	-	7 × Bronze Bar
Dig Rat Stew Cooking 90 · makes 2	1g 97c	3s 80c	-97s 17c	-96%	-	-	1 × Dig Rat
Golden Rod Blacksmithing 90	2g 12s	93s 10c	-1g 18s 90c	-56%	-	-	2 × Coarse Grinding Stone, 1 × Gold Bar
Cured Heavy Hide Leatherworking 95	6g 5s 80c	4g 78s 80c	-1g 27s	-21%	-	-	3 × Salt, 1 × Heavy Hide

Download as CSV · Deposits and the value of your own gathered materials are not in these numbers.

Common questions

What is the most profitable craft in WoW Forever right now?: On Normal Horde US right now, Mithril Casing (Engineering) makes the most per craft: about 4g 87s after the 5 percent auction house cut. 19 of 55 fully priced recipes make a profit.
How is crafting profit calculated?: Each reagent is priced at its median on the market, and the result at its median times the recipe's average yield, less the 5 percent auction house cut. A reagent with no price is named rather than counted as free. Deposits and the value of materials you gather yourself are not in the numbers.
Why is the biggest margin not always the best craft?: A margin pays only as fast as the result sells. Profit a day is the margin times the estimated units sold a day on that auction house, so a thin margin on something that sells three hundred a day beats a fat one on something that sells three. Rank by Profit a day to see that order.