ROAS Calculator With Break-Even ROAS
Work out return on ad spend, the ROAS you need just to break even, and what your ads really leave in profit. Built for service businesses as well as online stores.
Free to use. No sign-up. Built by Uprise Digital.
ROAS calculator
Return on ad spend, and where you break even
Use real revenue if you have it. If you sell high-ticket services, estimate it from leads, close rate and job value.
Add fees and a profit target (optional)
Your ROAS
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Is your ROAS real, or just what the ad platform reports? We connect ad spend to signed jobs in your CRM, so ROAS reflects money in the bank.
Get a free ads auditWhat is ROAS?
ROAS, or return on ad spend, is the revenue your ads bring in for every dollar you spend on them. Spend $10,000, make $48,000, and your ROAS is 4.8x, or 480%.
On its own, ROAS says nothing about profit. A 3x ROAS is a great result for a business keeping 60 cents of every dollar, and a loss for one keeping 25 cents. That is why this calculator works out your break-even ROAS too.
- Formula
- Revenue from ads ÷ ad spend
- Break-even ROAS
- 1 ÷ gross margin
- Shown as
- A ratio (4.8x) or a percentage (480%)
- Judge it with
- Profit after ad spend and fees
The ROAS Formula
ROAS % = ROAS × 100
If $10,000 of Google Ads produced $48,000 in sales, ROAS = $48,000 ÷ $10,000 = 4.8x (480%). Every dollar of ad spend returned $4.80 in revenue.
How to Work Out Your Break-Even ROAS
Break-even ROAS is the point where the profit from your ad-driven sales exactly covers the ad spend. Below it, every sale the ads bring in loses money.
With fees: (ad spend + fees) ÷ gross margin ÷ ad spend
Gross margin is the share of each sale left after the direct cost of delivering it: materials, labour, subcontractors, cost of goods. A business on a 35% margin needs a ROAS of 1 ÷ 0.35 = 2.86x to break even. On a 20% margin it needs 5x.
| Gross margin | Break-even ROAS | Break-even ROAS % |
|---|---|---|
| 20% | 5.00x | 500% |
| 25% | 4.00x | 400% |
| 35% | 2.86x | 286% |
| 50% | 2.00x | 200% |
| 70% | 1.43x | 143% |
Target ROAS for a Profit Goal
Breaking even isn’t the goal. To keep a set share of revenue as net profit after ads and fees:
Target ROAS = revenue needed ÷ ad spend
With $10,000 of ads, no fees, a 35% gross margin and a 15% net profit target: $10,000 ÷ (0.35 − 0.15) = $50,000 in revenue, so a 5x ROAS.
ROAS for Service Businesses
Online stores see revenue in the ad platform. A law firm, builder or solar installer doesn’t: the ad produces an enquiry, and the revenue arrives weeks or months later, after quotes, consultations and contracts. So ROAS has to be built from your own numbers:
That is what the calculator’s Estimate from leads mode does. 60 leads, a 10% lead to sale rate and an $8,000 average job is $48,000 in revenue. On $10,000 of spend, a 4.8x ROAS.
Three things to get right when you do this:
- Use signed work, not quotes. Pipeline value flatters ROAS. Count revenue when the client signs.
- Match the time window to your sales cycle. Across our builder clients, lead to signed contract takes 6 to 18 months, so a 30-day ROAS will always look poor. Measure over a window that fits how long your clients take to decide.
- Track every lead to an outcome. Without a CRM that records which leads became clients, ROAS is a guess.
When it is measured properly, the numbers can be large. KGN Homes, a Melbourne custom builder, signed 3 contracts worth more than $5 million from $40,000 in ad spend, a 120x return on ad spend (read the case study).
ROAS vs ROI vs MER
| Metric | Formula | What it answers |
|---|---|---|
| ROAS | Revenue ÷ ad spend | Are the ads generating revenue efficiently? |
| ROI | (Profit − investment) ÷ investment | Did the whole investment make money? |
| MER (marketing efficiency ratio) | Total revenue ÷ total marketing spend | Is marketing as a whole paying off, across every channel? |
ROAS is the right number for comparing campaigns. ROI and MER are the right numbers for deciding the budget. For the cost side of that decision, including the sales time each lead takes, use our cost per sale calculator.
How to Use the ROAS Calculator
Four steps, under a minute, nothing to sign up for.
1
Enter your ad spend
Use the spend for one campaign, one channel or one month, as long as the revenue covers the same period.
2
Add revenue, or estimate it
Enter revenue directly, or switch to Estimate from leads and enter leads, lead to sale rate and average sale value.
3
Add your gross margin
This gives you break-even ROAS and the profit left after ad spend.
4
Add fees and a target
Optional: include agency and software fees, and a net profit goal to see the ROAS you need to hit it.
Get a Free Ads Audit
- Where your marketing stands: ads, website, tracking and how AI assistants describe you.
- Where the money leaks: the spend, pages and steps that cost you enquiries.
- Your first three moves, in priority order.
- You’ll speak with a specialist who runs campaigns, not a salesperson.
Find Out What Your Marketing Is Really Costing You
ROAS Questions, Answered
Divide the revenue your ads generated by what you spent on them. $48,000 in revenue from $10,000 of ad spend is a 4.8x ROAS, or 480%.
The ROAS at which the gross profit from your ad-driven sales exactly covers the ad spend. It is 1 divided by your gross margin, so a 35% margin breaks even at 2.86x.
Any ROAS above your break-even ROAS makes money, and how far above it is the margin of safety. A business with high margins can be very profitable at 2x; one on thin margins may need 5x or more.
No. ROAS compares revenue with ad spend. ROI compares profit with the whole investment, so it takes in the cost of delivering the work, fees and other costs.
Multiply by 100. A ROAS of 3.5x is 350%.
Multiply leads by your lead to sale rate and average sale value to get revenue, using signed work rather than quotes, and measure over a period that matches your sales cycle.
Standard ROAS uses ad spend only, but your break-even point should include fees. This calculator keeps ROAS standard and adds fees to the break-even and profit figures.
Target ROAS is a Google Ads bid strategy where you set the return you want and Google bids to hit it. It needs reliable conversion values, so it suits businesses that track revenue, not just enquiries.