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Break-even ROAS calculator

Find out how much your ads have to sell before they start making you money

  • Your break-even and target ROAS in plain dollars
  • Whether your daily ad budget pays off
  • How many creatives your budget can test

What ROAS do your ads need to stop losing money, and to make the profit you want?

Try an example:

What the customer pays for one order

What one unit costs you to make or buy

Per order, if you pay for it

Store, marketplace and card fees, as a share of the price

As a share of the price, after ads

These are example numbers. Change them to yours or pick an example, and the result updates as you type.

Your result

To break even

2.00

  • Each $1 of ads must bring $2 in sales
  • Spend up to $20 on ads per sale

To keep 15% profit

2.86

  • Each $1 of ads must bring $2.86 in sales
  • Spend up to $14 on ads per sale

Check the ROAS in your ad account. Below 2.00, you lose money. Between 2.00 and 2.86, you earn less than you planned. Above 2.86, you hit your goal.

What to fix: Your margin leaves room for ads. Now the creative decides: test new hooks and photos, and keep the ones that sell.

Margin before ads: 50%

A lower cost per sale starts with ads people click. Make yours from one product photo.

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The math

How break-even ROAS works

ROAS is the sales your ads bring in divided by what you spent on them. Break-even ROAS is the point where those sales cover the ad spend and every other cost of the order.

  1. 1

    Find your profit per sale

    Take the price and subtract the product cost, shipping and fees. What is left is the most one sale can cost you in ads without a loss.

  2. 2

    Divide the price by it

    Break-even ROAS = price ÷ profit per sale before ads. A $40 product that leaves $20 after costs has a break-even ROAS of 2.00.

  3. 3

    Read it in dollars

    A break-even ROAS of 2.00 means each $1 of ads has to bring $2 in sales. Below that you lose money, above it you earn.

What to do with it

Your ROAS is below break-even. Now what?

Compare the number with the ROAS your ad account shows. If it is lower, there are three levers.

  1. 1

    Get cheaper clicks

    The ad itself decides what a click costs. Test new hooks, product photos and short videos, and keep the ones people stop scrolling for.

  2. 2

    Turn more clicks into sales

    If people click but do not buy, check that the ad and the product page show the same product, price and offer.

  3. 3

    Widen the margin

    A higher price, a bundle or a cheaper supplier lowers your break-even ROAS, so the same ads start making money.

Questions about break-even ROAS

What is break-even ROAS?

It is the return on ad spend at which your ads stop losing money. Break-even ROAS = price ÷ profit per sale before ads. At that ROAS the sales from your ads pay for the ads and every other cost of the order, with nothing left over.

What is a good ROAS?

There is no single good number, because it depends on your margin. Any ROAS above your break-even ROAS earns money. A product with a thin margin needs a much higher ROAS than one with a wide margin.

How is ROAS different from ROI?

ROAS compares sales with ad spend only. ROI compares profit with everything you spent. A ROAS of 3 can still lose money if the product costs and fees eat most of the price, which is why you need the break-even number.

How much should I spend on Facebook ads?

Start with a daily budget you can afford to lose while you test. In our internal study of small business owners, the typical daily budget among those who named one was about $25. The Budget payoff tab shows how many sales that budget must bring to pay for itself.

How many ad creatives should I test?

As many as your budget can give a fair test. A common rule is to spend about twice your most affordable cost per sale on each creative before you judge it. The Creative tests tab does this math for your budget and shows how many ads you can run at once.

Should I include ad platform fees in the calculator?

No. Put store, marketplace and card fees in the fees field. The ad spend itself is what ROAS measures, so it stays out of your costs.

Is the calculator free?

Yes. It runs in your browser, needs no sign-up and does not save what you type.

Know your number? Now make ads that beat it

Image and video ads from one product photo, ready for Meta, TikTok and Google

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