Free tool

Break-even ROAS Calculator

ROAS is return on ad spend, the revenue your ads bring in divided by what you spend on them. Most accounts chase a target someone else picked. This tool finds yours. Enter your order value and margin, and see the number your ads must clear before a single order makes money.

Run your numbers

Average order value ($)

What a customer spends in a typical order, before any costs come out.

Gross margin (%)

Revenue minus the cost of the product, as a percent of revenue.

Shipping and fulfillment per order ($) (optional)

Pick, pack, and postage for a typical order. Leave blank to skip.

Payment processing (%) (optional)

What your payment provider takes, as a percent of the order. Leave blank to skip.

Profit goal (% of revenue)

The percent of ad-driven revenue you want to keep as profit.

Contribution margin per order

Waiting on order value and margin.

Break-even ROAS

Below this line, ads lose money. Above it, they earn.

Target ROAS for your profit goal

Enter a profit goal to see your target.

The math, in the open

Contribution margin per order = (order value × gross margin) - shipping and fulfillment - (order value × processing rate)
Break-even ROAS = order value ÷ contribution margin per order
Target ROAS = 1 ÷ (contribution margin rate - profit goal rate)

Percentages run as decimals, so 60% is 0.60. Everything computes in your browser from your inputs. Nothing is stored, and no benchmarks are baked in.

How to use this

Feed it real numbers, then set your floor

Pull average order value from your store or your accounting reports. Gross margin is revenue minus the cost of the product, expressed as a percent of revenue. Add shipping, fulfillment, and payment processing if you want the strict version of the answer. Stricter inputs make the output worth trusting.

Break-even ROAS is your floor. At that return, every ad dollar comes back as contribution margin and nothing more. Zero profit. Set your working target above the floor. Enter a profit goal, the percent of revenue you want to keep, and the calculator produces the target ROAS that gets you there. That number can go straight into Google and Meta as a bidding target.

Remember this is per-order math. It leaves out returns, repeat purchases, and overhead. Heavy returns mean you should trim the margin input. Strong repeat purchase means the first order can run closer to break-even. Treat the outputs as a floor and a starting target, not a verdict.

FAQ

Questions we hear about ROAS math

What counts as a good ROAS?

There is no universal good ROAS. The same return can be profitable for a store with strong margins and a money loser for a store with thin ones. Compare your results to your own break-even number, not to a screenshot from someone else's account. Your margin sets the bar.

Does break-even ROAS account for returns and repeat purchases?

This calculator runs per-order math. Returns lower your real margin, so if returns are heavy, lower the margin input to match. Repeat purchases work the other way. When customers reorder without new ad spend, you can afford to run closer to break-even on the first order.

Should I set my Google or Meta target ROAS to my break-even number?

No. Break-even is the floor, the point where an ad dollar returns exactly one dollar of contribution margin and zero profit. Set your working target above it. Enter a profit goal in the calculator, use the target ROAS it produces as your starting bid target, then adjust from live results.

Next step

You have the number. Now make the account clear it.

This calculator tells you what your ads must beat. It cannot tell you why the account keeps missing it. We can. Behind our audits sits $100M+ in managed spend and the same habit this page has, showing every formula. You leave with a dollar-weighted plan you keep, whether or not we work together.

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