01 / Profitability
ROI & ROAS Calculator
Enter what you spent, what the campaign returned and your gross margin. You get ROAS, gross profit, profit after ad spend, marketing ROI, CPA, CPL and the break-even ROAS your margin actually requires, so you can tell a campaign that looks good from one that makes money.
Your numbers
Everything is calculated in your browser as you type.
Results
ROAS
Revenue returned per unit of ad spend
Gross profit
Revenue × gross margin
Profit after ad spend
Gross profit − advertising spend
Marketing ROI
Profit after ad spend ÷ ad spend
CPA
Ad spend ÷ conversions
CPL
Ad spend ÷ leads (if supplied)
Break-even ROAS
The ROAS at which you stop losing money
Results show n/a when a required input is missing or a divisor is zero. Marketing ROI here is measured on gross profit after ad spend, not accounting net income.
02 / Definitions
What each number means
- ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
- Revenue divided by ad spend, expressed as a multiple. It ignores your cost of goods entirely, so a 5x ROAS can still be a loss-making campaign if your margin is thin.
- Gross profit
- Attributed revenue multiplied by your gross margin. This is the money actually available to cover advertising and everything else.
- Profit after ad spend
- Gross profit minus the media cost. If this is negative, the campaign consumed more margin than it produced.
- Marketing ROI
- Profit after ad spend divided by ad spend, as a percentage. 0% means you exactly broke even on media. This is a media-level return, not company net income. It excludes salaries, tooling, agency fees and overhead.
- CPA (Cost per Acquisition)
- Ad spend divided by the number of customers or conversions. The blended cost of buying one customer.
- Break-even ROAS
- One divided by your gross margin. At a 25% margin you need 4x ROAS just to stand still; at 60% you need about 1.67x. This is the single most useful number on the page.
03 / Formulas
How it is calculated
ROAS
attributed revenue ÷ advertising spend
Gross profit
attributed revenue × gross margin
Profit after ad spend
gross profit − advertising spend
Marketing ROI
(profit after ad spend ÷ advertising spend) × 100
CPA
advertising spend ÷ conversions
CPL
advertising spend ÷ leads
Break-even ROAS
1 ÷ gross margin (as a decimal)
A 40% margin becomes 0.4, so break-even ROAS is 2.5x.
04 / Worked example
A campaign that looks better than it is
A campaign spends AED 50,000 and is credited with AED 200,000 in revenue. Gross margin is 30%. There were 40 customers from 260 leads.
| Step | Working | Result |
|---|---|---|
| ROAS | 200,000 ÷ 50,000 | 4.00x |
| Gross profit | 200,000 × 0.30 | AED 60,000 |
| Profit after ad spend | 60,000 − 50,000 | AED 10,000 |
| Marketing ROI | (10,000 ÷ 50,000) × 100 | 20.0% |
| CPA | 50,000 ÷ 40 | AED 1,250 |
| CPL | 50,000 ÷ 260 | AED 192 |
| Break-even ROAS | 1 ÷ 0.30 | 3.33x |
A 4x ROAS sounds strong, but at a 30% margin break-even is 3.33x, so this campaign is only just profitable, clearing AED 10,000 on AED 50,000 of media. Report ROAS alone and it looks like a win. Report break-even ROAS alongside it and the real headroom is obvious.
05 / Interpretation
How to read the results
Compare ROAS against break-even, never against a benchmark
There is no universal “good ROAS”. A 2x ROAS is excellent at an 80% software margin and catastrophic at a 20% retail margin. The only benchmark that means anything is your own break-even.
Negative profit after ad spend is not always a stop signal
If you are deliberately buying first orders below margin and you know your repeat rate, a negative first-order result can still be sound. It only works if you actually track repeat purchase rate, otherwise it is just a loss.
CPA is only meaningful next to a value
A CPA of AED 1,250 is either good or terrible depending on what a customer is worth. Pair it with revenue per customer or lifetime value before drawing conclusions.
Attribution decides the top line
Attributed revenue is a modelling choice. Last-click, data-driven and platform-reported figures for the same campaign can differ substantially. Pick one model and hold it constant when comparing periods.
06 / Pitfalls
Common mistakes
Using revenue where margin belongs
Entering revenue as though it were profit inflates ROI dramatically. Gross margin must exclude cost of goods.
Mixing platform-reported and CRM revenue
Ad platforms count conversions their own way and will happily double-count across channels. Use one source for the whole calculation.
Treating marketing ROI as company profit
This figure sits above salaries, tooling and overhead. It is a media efficiency measure, not a P&L line.
Ignoring the time lag
If your sales cycle is 60 days, this month’s spend and this month’s revenue describe different cohorts. Match the windows or you are comparing unrelated numbers.
07 / FAQ
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between ROAS and ROI?
- ROAS compares revenue to ad spend and ignores your costs. ROI compares profit to ad spend. Two campaigns with identical ROAS can have opposite ROI if their margins differ, which is why this calculator shows both.
- What counts as a good ROAS?
- Whatever exceeds your break-even ROAS by enough to fund the rest of the business. Enter your gross margin above and the calculator tells you that threshold directly.
- Should I use gross margin or net margin?
- Gross margin: revenue minus cost of goods sold. Net margin already has advertising deducted, so using it here would subtract media cost twice.
- Why is a result showing a dash?
- A result shows n/a when a required input is empty or the divisor is zero. CPA needs a conversion count above zero; break-even ROAS needs a margin above zero.
- Is my data sent anywhere?
- No. Every calculation runs in your browser. Nothing is transmitted, stored or logged. The shareable link encodes the figures in the URL, so only share it if you are comfortable with the recipient seeing them.
08 / Related
Related calculators
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Open toolBuilt by Sofwane Sabeg
Need this measured properly across your whole account?
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These calculators are provided for planning and estimation. They run entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to a server, stored, or logged. Results depend on the accuracy of the figures you enter and on how your platforms attribute revenue. They are not financial, accounting or legal advice.