Calculators
ROAS Calculator
Work out return on ad spend, the ROAS you need to break even, and whether a campaign is actually making a profit.
- Runs in your browser
- Nothing uploaded
The tool
Enter what you spent and what the ads brought in. Add your margin to see whether that ROAS is profitable.
Everything you enter stays on your own machine. Nothing is sent to us or to anyone else, which you can confirm in your browser network tab.
What people use it for
- Checking whether a reported ROAS is profitable once product costs are included
- Setting a break-even ROAS target before a campaign launches
- Finding the maximum cost per acquisition a product can support
- Comparing campaigns with different order values on a like-for-like basis
- Reporting ad results to a client in profit terms rather than revenue
About this tool
What is ROAS?
Return on ad spend (ROAS) is the revenue a campaign generates for every unit of currency spent on advertising. It is calculated as ROAS = revenue from ads ÷ ad spend. A ROAS of 4, often written 4x or 400%, means each $1 of advertising brought in $4 of revenue.
Why ROAS alone can mislead
ROAS measures revenue, not profit. A 3x ROAS on a product with a 25% margin loses money, because $3 of revenue leaves only $0.75 of gross profit to pay back $1 of advertising. That is why this calculator asks for your gross margin and shows the break-even point next to the result.
Break-even ROAS
Break-even ROAS = 1 ÷ gross margin. At a 40% margin you need a ROAS of 2.5 just to cover the ad cost; at 25% you need 4.0. Anything above break-even is profit on the first order and anything below it is a loss.
| Gross margin | Break-even ROAS |
|---|---|
| 20% | 5.00x |
| 25% | 4.00x |
| 33% | 3.03x |
| 40% | 2.50x |
| 50% | 2.00x |
| 60% | 1.67x |
| 75% | 1.33x |
ROAS versus ROI
ROI compares profit with total cost: ROI = (gross profit − ad spend − other costs) ÷ (ad spend + other costs). ROAS is the quick in-platform metric; ROI is the one finance cares about. The calculator shows both, and lets you include agency fees or creative production as other costs.
Worked example
You spend $2,000 and the ads generate $9,000 from 120 orders at a 40% gross margin. ROAS is 4.5x against a break-even of 2.5x. Gross profit is $3,600, leaving $1,600 after the ad spend, an ROI of 80%. The average order is $75, so you could afford up to $30 per acquisition, and the actual CPA is $16.67.
What is a good ROAS?
There is no universal figure. A good ROAS sits comfortably above your own break-even, with enough headroom for returns, discounts and attribution error. Businesses with strong repeat purchase rates can accept a first-order ROAS near or even below break-even, because the customer lifetime value pays it back later.
Check your margin with the profit margin calculator, remove tax from gross figures with the VAT calculator, and plan the next campaign with the ad performance calculator. If you would like help improving the numbers, see our PPC and Google Ads management and digital marketing services.
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If you would rather someone did this properly for you, we offer Web Design Services and Website Development, SEO Services: Search Engine Optimization, AI Automation Agency.
Questions
Questions about this tool
The things clients actually want to know — costs, timelines, ownership and what happens after launch.
Divide the revenue generated by ads by the amount spent on those ads. 5,000 dollars of revenue from 1,000 dollars of spend is a ROAS of 5, also written 5x or 500%.
Break-even ROAS is the point at which gross profit exactly covers ad spend. Calculate it as 1 divided by your gross margin, so a 40% margin needs a ROAS of 2.5 to break even.
A good ROAS is any figure clearly above your own break-even. With a 50% margin that means above 2x, and with a 25% margin above 4x. Leave headroom for returns, discounts and attribution error.
No. ROAS divides revenue by ad spend. ROI divides profit by total cost, so it accounts for product costs, fees and other expenses as well as the ads.
Use revenue excluding tax, so that ROAS reflects money the business keeps. Tax collected on behalf of the government is not a return on your advertising.
Ad platforms use their own attribution windows and often count view-through conversions, while analytics tools usually credit the last click. Choose one source and report against it consistently.
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