Gold Price Calculator — 24K, 22K, 21K & 18K Gold Value per Gram

Gold is quoted internationally in US dollars per troy ounce, and one troy ounce equals 31.1035 grams. Almost nobody buys a full ounce at the jeweller, so the first thing our calculator does is convert the ounce quote into a price per gram: spot price divided by 31.1035. That single number is the backbone of every retail gold price in the world, from a souq in Dubai to a family jeweller in Mumbai or a bullion dealer in Frankfurt.

The second step is purity. Jewellery is rarely pure gold, because 24K is too soft for daily wear. Multiplying the per-gram price by the purity factor of your karat gives the pure metal content of the item: 24K is 0.999, 22K is 0.916, 21K is 0.875, 18K is 0.750 and 14K is 0.585. Multiply again by the weight of the piece and you have its intrinsic metal value.

The third step is what shops add on top: making charges (labour and design), and any sales tax or VAT that applies where you live. The calculator lets you enter both, so the final number on screen is close to what you would actually be asked to pay at the counter — or, if you are selling, what you should expect to be offered before the dealer's margin.

Karat is a purity scale out of 24. The higher the karat, the more pure gold in the alloy, the softer and yellower the metal, and the higher the price per gram. What people call "normal" gold is different in each market, which is why comparing prices across borders without adjusting for karat is misleading.

Making charges are the cost of turning bullion into a finished piece. They are known as ujra or masna'iya in the Gulf and Egypt, as majoori or making charges in India and Pakistan, as façon in French markets and as Fertigungskosten in Germany. They can be quoted as a fixed amount per gram, as a percentage of the metal value, or bundled invisibly into a per-gram retail price.

For simple chains and plain bands, making charges are usually modest. For hand-worked, stone-set or branded pieces they can add a substantial share of the total. This matters most when you sell: making charges are almost never recovered. A dealer buying your gold back pays for metal content only, which is precisely the number the calculator shows as "metal value". Comparing that figure with the price you originally paid is the fastest way to understand the real cost of a piece of jewellery.

Tax is the second reason the same gram of 22K gold costs different amounts in different cities. The Gulf states apply VAT at rates around 5%, while investment-grade bullion is often exempt. India applies GST on both the metal and the making charge, plus import duty that is baked into the domestic reference rate. The European Union treats investment gold as VAT-exempt but taxes jewellery at the standard national rate, which can exceed 20%. In the United States, sales tax varies state by state and some states exempt bullion entirely.

Enter your local rate in the tax field and the calculator applies it after the metal value and before you compare with a shop quote. If your local dealer's price is far above what you see here even after tax and making charges, you are looking at a retail premium — always ask for it to be itemised.

Grams are the international standard, but traditional units still dominate conversation in many markets, and prices are quoted in them daily. One tola, the standard unit across India, Pakistan and the Gulf's South Asian community, equals 11.6638 grams. One bhori or vori in Bangladesh equals 11.664 grams. One baht in Thailand equals 15.244 grams of 96.5% gold. One mithqal in Iran equals 4.6083 grams.

To use any of these, convert to grams first and enter the gram figure. If a Karachi jeweller quotes you a price per tola of 22K gold, multiply 11.6638 by the per-gram 22K figure the calculator shows and compare — the difference is the dealer's premium plus local duty.

Before buying, price the item by metal content first, then negotiate the making charge as a separate line. Before selling old jewellery, weigh each piece on a digital scale, check the karat stamp, and calculate the scrap value so you can walk into the shop with a number in mind. For inheritance, insurance or zakat, run every piece through the calculator and keep a dated record — gold moves daily and a valuation is only meaningful with a timestamp.

For investors, use the calculator to compare formats. A 10 gram bar, a 1 ounce coin and a 22K necklace of identical weight hold different amounts of pure gold and carry very different premiums. The calculator makes the comparison honest by reducing everything to the same measure: the value of the pure metal you are actually buying.

The spot price used here updates continuously through the global trading day, driven by the US dollar, real interest rates, central bank buying, inflation expectations and safe-haven demand during geopolitical stress. A quiet day may move gold a fraction of a percent; a central bank surprise can move it several percent within hours.

Retail shops usually reprice once or twice a day rather than tick by tick, so a shop quote may lag the live market slightly in either direction. Use the calculator as your reference for what the metal is genuinely worth right now, then judge the shop's spread against it.