Free tools/Paid media
Break-even ROAS calculator
Your ad platform reports ROAS. It has never seen your product cost, so it cannot tell you which ROAS is profitable. This does.
Fulfilment, payment processing, and average return cost if returns are material.
Profit at every ROAS
Where the line crosses zero is break-even. Everything left of it loses money, whatever the dashboard says.
Runs in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere, and nothing is stored.
How it works
Break-even ROAS = selling price divided by contribution margin per order, where contribution margin is what is left after product cost, shipping and fees. An $80 product costing $24 with $8 of fees leaves $48, so break-even is 80 divided by 48, or 1.67x.
This is the number your ad account cannot show you. Meta and Google know revenue and spend, which gives them ROAS, but your cost of goods lives in your own books. A 3x ROAS is a good month at a 60% margin and a loss at a 25% margin.
Profit after ad spend = revenue times contribution margin, minus spend. The chart plots that from 0.5x to 8x so you can see how far above break-even you are, rather than only whether you cleared it.
Put returns in the fees field if they matter. A 10% return rate on an $80 product is another $8 an order, and it is the most common reason a campaign that looks profitable in the dashboard is not profitable in the bank.
Worked example
An $80 product costs $24 to make, with $8 of shipping and payment fees. Contribution margin is $48, or 60%, so break-even ROAS is 80 divided by 48, which is 1.67x. A campaign spending $10,000 and returning $40,000 runs at 4.0x: $40,000 times 60% is $24,000 of contribution, minus $10,000 of spend, leaving $14,000 of profit. At a 25% margin break-even would be 4.0x and that same campaign would make nothing.
Common questions
What is break-even ROAS?
The return on ad spend at which revenue from ads exactly covers the goods, the fulfilment and the ads. Below it you are paying to lose money; above it every extra dollar of revenue adds profit.
Why can't my ad platform tell me this?
It does not know what your product costs you. Ad platforms see revenue and spend, which gives them ROAS, but contribution margin lives in your accounts. That is why this asks for price and cost separately.
Should I include shipping in the calculation?
Yes, along with payment processing and any other per-order cost you actually pay. Leaving them out is what makes a campaign look profitable on paper and not in the bank.
What about returns?
Add your average return cost per order to the fees field. In categories with high return rates, such as apparel, returns often move break-even ROAS more than shipping does.
Is a higher ROAS always better?
Not if you reach it by spending less. A campaign at 8x on $2,000 makes less money than one at 3x on $40,000, as long as 3x clears break-even. Profit is the number to maximize, not the ratio.
Related tools
Customer lifetime value calculator
LTV, the LTV to CAC ratio, and the month acquisition pays itself back.
Calculator
UTM builder
Build tagged links, and catch the mistakes that send traffic to Direct.
Builder
Engagement rate calculator
Both rates at once, by followers and by reach, plus what the engagement was made of.
CalculatorWant this math run on your account?
We run this math on client accounts before a dollar goes out, then buy the media against it.
See how we run paid mediaLast updated .