Free ROAS Calculator
Do Your Ads Pay?
Return On Ad Spend, Break-Even ROAS And Ad Budget, Worked Out As You Type.
The fields hold example numbers. Replace them with yours: the result updates as you type.
What Did Your Ads Return?
Ad spend and the revenue it produced, for the same period.
What you paid the ad platform.
Sales that came from those ads.
Optional. What you keep of the price after the cost of delivering the sale.
ROAS: 4.00x (400%)
Every $1 of ad spend brought back $4 in revenue. At a 40% margin you need 2.50x to break even, so these ads made $600 after the cost of what you sold.
| Ad spend | $1,000 |
|---|---|
| Revenue from ads | $4,000 |
| ROAS | 4.00x (400%) |
| Break-even ROAS | 2.50x (250%) |
| Profit after ad spend | $600 |
Next: find the ROAS your business needs before ads make money.
What ROAS Do You Need?
The return at which ads stop losing money depends only on your margin.
Sell for 100, costs 60 to deliver: 40.
Optional. What one sale is worth, on average: shows the most a sale may cost.
Break-even ROAS: 2.50x (250%)
With a 40% margin, every $1 of ads has to bring back $2.50 in revenue before you make anything. Below that, each sale from ads loses money. On a $150 order, that means you can spend up to $60 to win the sale.
| Profit margin | 40% |
|---|---|
| Break-even ROAS | 2.50x (250%) |
| Average order value | $150 |
| Most you can pay for a sale | $60 |
Next: see the budget a revenue goal takes, and whether it clears break-even.
What Budget Hits Your Goal?
Work back from the revenue you want to the clicks and the budget it takes.
Per month, from ads.
What one sale is worth.
Your average, or a guess.
Clicks that buy or enquire.
Enquiries that become sales. 100 if the click buys.
Optional. Shows if the plan pays.
Budget needed: $10,000
To reach $30,000 in revenue you need 200 sales, which takes about 6,667 clicks at $1.50 each. That is a 3.00x return against the 2.50x you need to break even, leaving about $2,000 after ad spend.
| Sales needed | 200 |
|---|---|
| Clicks needed | 6,667 |
| Ad budget | $10,000 |
| Cost per sale | $50 |
| ROAS | 3.00x (300%) |
| Break-even ROAS | 2.50x (250%) |
| Profit after ad spend | $2,000 |
| Highest cost per click that still breaks even | $1.80 |
A plan is only as good as its click price and conversion rate. groas works on both for you: book a consultation and bring these numbers.
How To Use The Calculator
- 01
See What Your Ads Returned
Enter what you spent on ads and the revenue they produced. The calculator gives your ROAS as a multiple and a percentage.
- 02
Find The ROAS You Need
Enter your profit margin. The calculator shows the return at which ads stop losing money, and the most you can pay to win one sale.
- 03
Plan The Budget
Enter a revenue goal, your click price and your conversion rate. You get the clicks and the budget it takes, and whether that plan clears break-even.
The Formulas Behind It
| What you want | Formula | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ROAS | Revenue from ads ÷ ad spend | $4,000 ÷ $1,000 = 4.00x, or 400% |
| Break-even ROAS | 1 ÷ profit margin | 1 ÷ 0.40 = 2.50x |
| Most you can pay for a sale | Average order value × profit margin | $150 × 0.40 = $60 |
| Sales needed | Revenue goal ÷ average order value | $30,000 ÷ $150 = 200 |
| Clicks needed | Sales needed ÷ conversion rate | 200 ÷ 0.03 = 6,667 |
| Ad budget | Clicks needed × cost per click | 6,667 × $1.50 = $10,000 |
Break-Even ROAS By Profit Margin
The thinner your margin, the more revenue every dollar of ads has to bring back before you make anything.
| Profit margin | Break-even ROAS | As a percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | 10.00x | 1,000% |
| 15% | 6.67x | 666.7% |
| 20% | 5.00x | 500% |
| 25% | 4.00x | 400% |
| 30% | 3.33x | 333.3% |
| 40% | 2.50x | 250% |
| 50% | 2.00x | 200% |
| 60% | 1.67x | 166.7% |
| 75% | 1.33x | 133.3% |
What ROAS Does Not Tell You
- ROAS counts revenue, not profit. A 4x return makes money at a 40% margin and loses it at 20%, which is why break-even ROAS matters more than any single target.
- It only counts the sales the ad platform can see. Phone orders, in-store sales and purchases on another device are often missing, so real returns can be higher than reported.
- It looks at the first sale. A customer who buys again is worth more than the ROAS on their first order shows.
- It leaves out what the ads cost beyond the media: the people who run them and the creative. Add those to ad spend if you want the full picture.
- Each ad platform credits itself for a sale in its own way, so their ROAS figures do not add up across platforms.
FAQ
What ROAS is, how to work it out, and how to tell whether yours is good enough.
What is ROAS?
ROAS means return on ad spend: the revenue your ads produced divided by what they cost. A ROAS of 4x, also written 400%, means every $1 spent on ads brought back $4 in revenue.
How do I calculate ROAS?
Divide the revenue that came from your ads by the amount you spent on them, using the same period for both. $4,000 of revenue from $1,000 of ad spend is a ROAS of 4.00x. Multiply by 100 to write it as a percentage: 400%.
What is a good ROAS?
One that is above your break-even ROAS, and there is no single number that fits every business, because it depends on your margin. A business keeping 50% of each sale breaks even at 2x; one keeping 20% needs 5x. Work out your own break-even first, then judge your ads against it.
What is break-even ROAS?
The ROAS at which your ads neither make nor lose money. It is 1 divided by your profit margin: with a 40% margin, 1 ÷ 0.40 = 2.5, so you need $2.50 of revenue for every $1 of ads just to cover the cost of what you sold. Anything above that is profit.
How do I work out my profit margin?
Take the price of a sale, subtract what it costs you to deliver it (the product, shipping, payment fees, the labour on a job), and divide by the price. Selling for $100 something that costs $60 to deliver leaves $40, a 40% margin. Leave ad spend out: the calculator handles that part.
What is the difference between ROAS and ROI?
ROAS compares revenue with ad spend only. ROI compares profit with everything you invested, including the cost of goods and other expenses. ROAS tells you how hard your ad budget is working; ROI tells you whether the business made money. The break-even tab links the two for ads.
How much should I spend on ads?
Work backwards from the revenue you want. Divide the goal by your average order value to get the sales you need, divide those by your conversion rate to get clicks, and multiply by your cost per click. The budget planner tab does this and tells you whether the result is above break-even.
Why does my ad platform show a different ROAS?
Platforms count conversions their own way: which clicks or views get credit, over how many days, and with what value. The calculator uses the revenue and spend you type in, so it shows the return on your own books. If the two differ a lot, your conversion tracking is worth checking.
Want A Better Return On Your Ads?
Book a consultation: groas looks at your accounts and your numbers, and builds a plan and a fixed monthly fee around them. 7-day money-back guarantee.