ROAS Calculator
Get your ROAS alongside the number most tools omit — the break-even ROAS your margin demands before ads make any real profit.
Written by Dorothy Ibrahim, 10+ years in banking & finance
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How we calculate this
This calculator computes your return on ad spend alongside the number most ROAS tools omit: your break-even ROAS, which is 1 ÷ gross margin. ROAS alone says nothing about profit — a "great" 3.0 ROAS loses money at a 30% margin and prints money at a 70% margin. Comparing your ROAS to the break-even your margin demands, and translating the gap into ad-attributable profit dollars, is what turns the metric into a decision.
The formulas
- ROAS
- revenue from ads ÷ ad spend
- Break-even ROAS
- 1 ÷ gross marginDerivation: an ad sale is profitable when revenue × margin ≥ spend, i.e. when revenue ÷ spend ≥ 1 ÷ margin. At 0% margin break-even is infinite — no ROAS is profitable.
- Ad-attributable profit
- revenue from ads × gross margin − ad spend
- MER (marketing efficiency ratio)
- total revenue (all channels) ÷ ad spendOptional — computed only when total revenue is supplied.
Worked example
- Say you spent $5,000 on ads that drove $15,000 of revenue, and your gross margin is 40%.
- ROAS = $15,000 ÷ $5,000 = 3.0.
- Break-even ROAS = 1 ÷ 0.40 = 2.5 — below 2.5, every ad dollar loses money at this margin.
- You are above break-even by 0.5, worth $15,000 × 40% − $5,000 = $1,000 of real ad profit.
- But 3.0 is still under 1.5 × break-even (3.75), so the tool flags it as "profitable before overhead only" — the ads cover their product costs but contribute thinly toward rent, salaries, and everything else.
Rates, benchmarks & sources
- Derived directly from the profit condition revenue × margin ≥ ad spend — authoritative logic, not an industry benchmark — Break-even ROAS = 1 ÷ gross margin (algebraic identity)
- Below break-even = losing money; break-even to 1.5× break-even = profitable before overhead only; above 1.5× = healthy — the 1.5× line is this tool’s convention for overhead headroom — Band construction (relative to break-even)
Figures current as of 2026-07-02. See our methodology & editorial standards for how constants are versioned and verified.
What this tool doesn’t model
- ROAS depends entirely on your ad platform’s attribution — platforms routinely over-credit themselves (view-through conversions, branded search), so platform-reported ROAS usually looks better than reality. MER is the sanity check.
- Uses one blended gross margin; if ad-driven products have different margins than your average, compute margin for the advertised products specifically.
- Measures gross ad economics only — it excludes overhead, shipping, refunds, and the cost of the team running the ads.
- Says nothing about repeat purchases: a below-break-even ROAS can still be rational if acquired customers return (that is an LTV:CAC question, not a ROAS question).
- Brand campaigns and prospecting campaigns behave differently; a blended ROAS across both can hide an unprofitable segment.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good ROAS?
There is no universal good ROAS — it depends entirely on your gross margin. Break-even ROAS is 1 ÷ margin: a 3.0 ROAS is losing money at a 30% margin (break-even 3.33) and comfortably profitable at a 70% margin (break-even 1.43). Judge your ROAS against the break-even your own margin demands, then look at the profit dollars it produces.
How is break-even ROAS derived from my margin?
An ad-driven sale is profitable when the gross profit it generates at least covers the ad spend: revenue × margin ≥ spend. Divide both sides by spend and by margin and you get revenue ÷ spend ≥ 1 ÷ margin — that is, ROAS must be at least 1 ÷ gross margin. At a 40% margin that is 2.5; at a 25% margin it is 4.0. This is algebra, not a rule of thumb.
What is the difference between ROAS, ROI, and MER?
ROAS is gross revenue from ads ÷ ad spend — no costs subtracted. ROI is profit-based — it measures profit relative to spend, so it already accounts for your costs. MER is total revenue across all channels ÷ ad spend, which sidesteps attribution games by measuring the whole business against the whole ad budget. None of them means profit until ROAS clears break-even ROAS = 1 ÷ margin.
My ROAS is above break-even — why does the tool still say caution?
Break-even ROAS only covers product costs and ad spend; it contributes nothing toward overhead — rent, salaries, software, your own pay. The tool treats the zone between break-even and 1.5 × break-even as "profitable before overhead only" (its own convention for headroom), because ads that barely clear break-even can still leave the business as a whole losing money.
Why does the tool show an infinite break-even at 0% margin?
If every sale carries zero gross margin, ad revenue can never cover ad spend no matter how large it gets — 1 ÷ 0 has no finite answer, so no ROAS is profitable. That result is a pricing or cost-of-goods problem, not an advertising problem: fix the margin first, then revisit the ad budget.
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themoneysheet provides educational estimates, not financial, tax, or legal advice. Figures use published rates and formulas current as of the date shown, but your situation may differ. Consult a qualified professional (CPA, attorney, or licensed advisor) before making financial decisions.