ROAS calculator
ROAS is revenue divided by ad spend — how many dollars come back for each dollar in. But raw ROAS means nothing without your breakeven: the ROAS at which a campaign stops losing money, which depends entirely on your profit margin. This calculator computes both.
Section A — ROAS
Enter revenue and ad spend to compute ROAS.
ROAS = Revenue ÷ Spend
example inputs — replace with your own numbers
Section B — Breakeven ROAS
Enter a gross profit margin under 100% to compute breakeven ROAS.
Breakeven ROAS = 1 ÷ margin · Target ROAS = 1 ÷ (margin − target)
example inputs — replace with your own numbers
How to read these numbers
How to use this honestly: pull revenue and spend for the same period and the same campaigns from your ad platform and your sales records — mixing time windows is the most common way businesses fool themselves about ROAS. Then compute breakeven from your real gross margin, because a 3x ROAS is excellent for a business with 60% margins and unprofitable for one at 25%. That single comparison — your ROAS against your breakeven, not against anyone else's number — is the only version of this metric that supports decisions.
Two cautions. First, platform-reported revenue depends on attribution settings, which vary and tend to be generous; when possible, sanity-check against actual sales. Second, ROAS measures the return on spend it can see — it doesn't capture new customers who buy again later, or people who saw an ad and purchased through another door. Treat it as a strong signal for comparing campaigns against each other and against your breakeven, not as the complete truth of what advertising contributes. For planning what you can afford to pay for a customer in the first place, use the CPC/CPA breakeven calculator alongside this one.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good ROAS?
There's no universal good number — a ROAS is only good relative to your breakeven, which is 1 divided by your gross profit margin. A business with thin margins needs a much higher ROAS than one with rich margins to make the same campaign worthwhile.
Why is my breakeven ROAS higher than 1x?
Because ad revenue isn't profit. If your gross margin is 40%, each dollar of revenue carries 40 cents of gross profit, so you need $2.50 of revenue per ad dollar (1 ÷ 0.40) just to cover the spend.
Should I use platform-reported ROAS or my own sales data?
Use both: platform numbers for comparing campaigns and creative against each other, your own sales records for judging the true health of the channel. When they disagree materially, attribution settings are usually the reason.