Measure the volume
Pick a shape per zone, type the dimensions in whatever format you measured, and add areas until the whole project is covered. The engine sums cubic feet and converts to cubic yards on every keystroke.
The Dirt Calculator Toolset
All Dirt Calculators, One Home
One project, four answers: the volume engine measures any shape of area, the density table converts it to weight, the compaction buffer protects the finished grade, and the cost panel turns it into a budget — bags, truckloads, and delivery included. Every formula is printed on the page and every result updates live.
Free, no sign-up Live on every keystroke Assumptions in plain sight
Why This Toolset Exists
Ordering Dirt Is a Chain, Not a Single Number
Most “dirt calculators” online answer one question and stop: enter length, width, depth, receive a cubic-yard figure. But a real order is a chain — the area has a shape, the shape has a volume, the material has a density, the placement has a shrinkage, and the truck has a capacity the one-question sites never asked about. Break any link and the result is the same: a shortfall on delivery day, or a paid-for pile that outlives the project.
So this toolset answers the chain, not the link. The volume engine handles six shapes — including the ring around a tree and the trapezoid section of a driveway base — and sums as many zones as the project has. The density table locks each material to its real tons-per-yard figure instead of pretending all dirt weighs the same. The buffer slider protects the finished grade against compaction. And the cost panel closes the loop with bags, truckloads, and a regional delivery-fee range.
Everything runs in your browser, on your device, on every keystroke. No account, no email gate, no PDF behind a paywall — the calculators are the product, and they are free.
A system, not a single numberPhoto: UnsplashWhat “free” means here
No pro tier, no watermarked exports, no results held behind a signup. The site is funded by clearly separated advertising — the calculators themselves are never the thing being sold.
The Four Capabilities
Meet the Tools
Four capabilities, one workflow. Each one takes the previous answer as its input — which is why they live on the same page, and why the numbers never need re-typing.
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Multi-Shape Volume Engine
FeaturedThe flagship tool. Six geometry modes — rectangle, slope wedge, circle, triangle, ring, and trapezoid road section — each with smart inputs that accept 20, 20' 6", 20-6, or 240" and auto-calibrate on Enter. Add as many independent areas as the project has zones: front yard, back yard, and the ring around the oak all sum into one order quantity, with a per-area breakdown so you can see which zone is eating the dirt.
Open the Dirt Calculator- 6 shapes: rect, slope, circle, triangle, ring, road
- Unlimited areas summed into one total
- Smart inputs: 20 | 20' 6" | 20-6 | 240"
- Imperial / metric toggle, converting in place
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Material Density & Weight
Dirt is not dirt: loose mixed fill runs about 1.55 tons per cubic yard while screened topsoil is nearer 1.3 and compost barely reaches 1.0. The calculator locks each of the eleven material profiles — fill dirt, topsoil, sandy fill, clay, structural fill, compost mix, fill sand — to its own delivered density, so the weight and truckload count reflect what is actually arriving, not a generic guess.
See the Density Table- 11 product-specific density profiles
- Tons and tonnes from real ton/yd³ data
- Fill dirt vs. topsoil guidance built in
- Bags vs. bulk breakeven explained
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Compaction & Waste Buffer
Delivered dirt is loose; placed dirt compacts. A slider from 0% to 30% — with presets for granular, general residential, clay, and high-plasticity clay — inflates the order quantity so the finished grade is still correct after settling. The coverage chart shows how far a yard of material stretches at depths from 1 to 12 inches, which is the question every spread-first project actually asks.
Check the Coverage- 0–30% buffer slider with 4 presets
- Shrinkage allowances by soil type
- Coverage per yard at 1"–12" depths
- Base vs. buffered volume shown separately
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Cost, Bags & Logistics
Enter your supplier's price per cubic yard and the project total lands instantly. Prefer bags? Pick a retail size from 0.75 to 2.0 cu ft and get an exact bag count. The truckload panel converts the volume into pickup beds, single-axle, tandem, and tri-axle dumps — and the ZIP field maps your region to a typical delivery-fee range so the budget includes the truck, not just the dirt.
Price the Project- $/yd³ input → instant project total
- Retail bag counts: 0.75 / 1 / 1.5 / 2 cu ft
- Truckloads in 4 standard capacities
- ZIP-based regional delivery-fee range
One project, four answersPhoto: UnsplashWhy the order matters
Volume answers "how much space?"; density answers "how much weight?"; the buffer answers "how much extra?"; cost answers "how much money?". A quote can pass one check and fail another — the chain exists so all four agree before the truck is booked.
How the Tools Chain1 2 3 4
One Project, Four Questions, One Workflow
A real dirt order moves through the toolset in the same order the questions arrive — each step hands its output to the next as an input, which is why the results never need to be re-typed or re-interpreted.
Convert to weight
Choose the material — fill dirt, screened topsoil, sand, compost — and its locked density turns the volume into tons and tonnes, the unit the quarry invoice actually uses.
Protect the grade
Slide the compaction buffer to match the soil: 10% for sandy fill, 15% for general work, up to 25% for high-plasticity clay. The buffered volume is the order quantity that still finishes at grade after settling.
Price the order
Enter the supplier's $/yd³, pick a bag size or truck capacity, and drop the ZIP for a regional delivery range — the budget panel assembles material, bags, trips, and freight into one comparable number.
Match the Tool to the Job
Three Kinds of Decision, Three Doors In
Visitors arrive with different jobs: measuring a project, verifying a quantity, or turning an estimate into an order. These are the categories that match — pick the one that sounds like you. Every link lands on the exact field or table that answers the question, not on a generic calculator page.
Three doors, one workflowPhoto: UnsplashCategory 01 · Measure & Estimate
You are turning a project into a volume
The upstream decisions: which shape each zone actually is, how deep the fill needs to go, and whether several areas should be ordered together. Get the geometry right and everything downstream is arithmetic; get it wrong and the truck leaves you a yard short on Friday afternoon.
- Six shape modesRectangle, slope, circle, triangle, ring, and road section — the geometry that matches the yard, not the geometry that is easiest to code.
- Multi-area summingAdd the front yard, the back yard, and the tree ring as separate areas; the order total sums them with a per-zone breakdown.
- Smart length inputsType 20, 20' 6", 20-6, or 240" — the field parses feet and inches leniently and shows a green preview before you commit.
- Quick presetsOne-tap starting points for a garden bed, lawn regrade, driveway base, and raised bed — then adjust to taste.
Category 02 · Adjust & Verify
You are checking the quantity before ordering
The verification decisions: how much extra the compaction will consume, what the weight means for delivery, and whether the number in the supplier's quote matches the number the math produces. This is where the order earns its accuracy.
- Compaction bufferA 0–30% slider with soil-type presets — because placed fill shrinks, and ordering the loose volume for a compacted job is the classic shortfall.
- Weight in tons & tonnesEleven materials locked to real delivered densities, so the tonnage on the invoice has a number to be checked against.
- Coverage chartSquare feet covered per cubic yard at every common depth — the fastest sanity check on any supplier's estimate.
- Worked exampleA real multi-zone yard calculated by hand, line by line, so the formula is checkable before you trust the tool.
Category 03 · Buy & Schedule
You are turning the estimate into an order
The downstream decisions: bulk or bags, how many truckloads, what the delivery fee looks like in your region, and the total on the check. A perfect volume still stalls if the logistics were never priced.
- Project costYour supplier's $/yd³ rolls into a material total instantly — compare it against any quote line by line.
- Bag conversion0.75 to 2.0 cu ft retail sizes with exact counts — and the bags-vs-bulk breakeven explained before you choose.
- Truckload countPickup bed, single-axle, tandem, tri-axle — know how many trips the order represents before you schedule them.
- Guides libraryThe reading behind the numbers — densities, compaction, coverage, and the ordering checklist that protects the budget.
Browse All
The Complete Tool Index
Every tool and reference section on the site — each one narrow, deep, and built on the same published density data as the flagship dirt calculator.
Dirt Volume Calculator
Six shapes, multi-area, live on every keystroke.
Quick Answer
The 30-second version of the whole method.
Formula & Worked Example
Volume ÷ 27, shown on a real yard.
Shape Guide
The formula behind each of the six modes.
Material Densities
Eleven profiles with tons per cubic yard.
Coverage Chart
Sq ft per yard at 1"–12" depths.
Cost Guide
Material, delivery, and bags-vs-bulk pricing.
Dirt FAQ
The questions homeowners ask before ordering.
Dirt Guides
The reading that explains why each number moves.
Standalone Calculators
Specialized Calculators for the Rest of the Project
Beyond the flagship volume engine, dedicated tools for the adjacent materials — topsoil, gravel, sand, mulch, and compost — are on the way. Each one will live on its own page with its own density tables and worked examples.
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Topsoil CalculatorPlanned
Screened and unscreened topsoil with lawn-depth presets and seed-bed coverage rates.
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Gravel CalculatorPlanned
Driveway and drainage aggregate with compaction factors by stone size.
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Sand CalculatorPlanned
Fill sand, paver base, and playground sand with per-product densities.
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Mulch CalculatorPlanned
Bark, hardwood, and rubber mulch with depth-by-use-case guidance.
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Compost CalculatorPlanned
Garden-mix and amendment volumes for beds, topdressing, and tilling.
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Road Base CalculatorPlanned
Base course and sub-base tonnage for driveways and access lanes.
These standalone tools pair with the free dirt calculator on the Dirt Calculator homepage, which handles the complete volume-to-cost workflow — six shapes, multi-area summing, density, compaction, and price — in one pass. Start there for whole-project estimates, then drop into the specialized calculators for the material-specific decisions as they launch.
FAQ
Questions About the Calculators
How the tools run, which data the numbers follow, and how the workflow fits together.
Are the calculators free to use?
Every tool on the site is completely free, runs in your browser, and requires no account or sign-up. Results update as you type, and the formulas and density tables are printed on the page so any number can be re-derived by hand.
Do the tools work in metric and imperial?
Yes. The unit toggle switches every input and output together — feet to meters, cubic yards to cubic meters, tons to tonnes — and converts the values you already entered so the geometry never changes behind your back.
Where do the density numbers come from?
Each material profile uses a typical loose delivered density in short tons per cubic yard — 1.55 for mixed fill, 1.3 for screened topsoil, 1.0 for compost mix, and so on. Real density varies with moisture and source, so treat the tonnage as a planning figure and confirm with your supplier for load-bearing or permitted work.
How accurate is the compaction buffer?
The presets (10% granular, 15% general, 20% clay, 25% high-plasticity clay) reflect common shrinkage ranges for residential placement. Mechanical compaction to a spec density can exceed them — a geotechnical or structural requirement should come from an engineer, not a slider.
Can I calculate several areas at once?
Yes. Tap '+ Add another area' for each independent zone — the front yard, the back yard, the ring around a tree — and the calculator sums every area into one order quantity with a per-area breakdown table, so one truck delivery covers the whole project.
Should I order by the yard or by the ton?
Most landscape suppliers price dirt by the cubic yard; some quarries price by the ton. The calculator shows both volume and weight, so you can match whichever unit the supplier quotes — just confirm whether their 'yard' is a loose or compacted yard.
When do bags beat bulk delivery?
Bags win under roughly half a cubic yard, when access is too tight for a truck, or when you need a specific blend. Above that, bulk delivery is usually a third to a half of the per-yard bag price — the cost section on the homepage works the breakeven with real numbers.
What does the ZIP code field do?
It maps the first digit of a US ZIP to a regional delivery-fee range, so the budget includes the truck and not just the material. It is a planning estimate only — actual fees depend on distance, load size, and the supplier's zone map, so always confirm with the yard.
Start With the Volume
Pick a shape, type the dimensions, and watch the yards, tons, bags, truckloads, and project cost line up in real time — then call the supplier once, with a number you can defend.