Break-Even ROAS Calculator
Enter your selling price, cost of goods, and fees to find the ROAS where your ads stop losing money. Add a profit goal to get the target ROAS to run at, and check your actual ROAS against it.
Average order value per purchase.
Product cost per order.
Packaging, pick & pack, postage.
Processing, marketplace, or app fees.
Returns allowance, inserts, etc.
Target and actuals
Profit you want per order.
From ads, same period.
Same period.
Break-even ROAS
2.02×
$80 ÷ $39.60 contribution margin = 2.02× ROAS to break even
- Contribution margin
- $39.60 · 49.5%
- Break-even CPA
- $39.60
- Target ROAS for 20% profit
- 3.39×
- Your actual ROAS
- Add revenue and spend
Profit per order at different ROAS levels
Ad cost per order = price ÷ ROAS.
| ROAS | Ad cost per order | Profit per order | Profit margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1× | $80 | -$40.40 | -50.5% |
| 1.5× | $53.33 | -$13.73 | -17.2% |
| 2×break-even | $40 | -$0.40 | -0.5% |
| 2.5× | $32 | $7.60 | 9.5% |
| 3× | $26.67 | $12.93 | 16.2% |
| 4× | $20 | $19.60 | 24.5% |
| 5× | $16 | $23.60 | 29.5% |
| 6× | $13.33 | $26.27 | 32.8% |
Works for any product or service with a known price and cost per order. Free, instant, no sign-up.
How to calculate break-even ROAS
Start from what you keep on each order after variable costs. Break-even ROAS is the price divided by that margin; target ROAS adds the profit you want to earn.
Contribution margin
Margin = Price − COGS − Shipping − Fees
$80 − $30 − $8 − $2.40 = $39.60
What one order contributes before ad spend. This is also your break-even CPA.
Break-even ROAS
Break-even ROAS = Price ÷ Margin
$80 ÷ $39.60 = 2.02×
The return on ad spend at which the campaign makes exactly zero profit.
Target ROAS
Target = Price ÷ (Margin − Price × Profit %)
$80 ÷ ($39.60 − $16) = 3.39×
The ROAS to run at if you want to keep a set profit, here 20% of price, on every order.
Worked example
A product sells for $80, costs $30 to make, $8 to ship, and loses 3% to payment fees, leaving a $39.60 contribution margin. Ads break even at a 2.02× ROAS, which is the same as paying $39.60 per sale. To keep $16 of profit per order, you need a 3.39× ROAS. A campaign running at 3.0× is profitable but short of that goal.
Break-even ROAS vs target ROAS
ROAS, return on ad spend, is revenue divided by ad spend. It is the most quoted metric in paid media and the easiest to misread, because revenue is not profit. A 3× ROAS means $3 of revenue for every $1 of ads; whether that is a win depends entirely on what it costs you to deliver the $3.
Break-even ROAS is the line between profit and loss. Divide the selling price by the contribution margin and you get the ROAS at which ad spend exactly consumes the margin. Everything above it is profit on the first order; everything below it is a loss you are only justified in taking if customers come back.
Target ROAS is the number to actually run campaigns at. Decide how much profit you want to keep per order, subtract it from the margin, and the calculator gives the ROAS that delivers it. Use that as your campaign bid target and the break-even as the floor you never go under for long.
Costs to include
Cost of goods: what the product costs you per unit, landed.
Shipping and fulfillment: packaging, pick and pack, postage, and any 3PL fees.
Payment and platform fees: card processing, marketplace commission, app fees, as a share of price.
Returns and refunds: an allowance per order based on your return rate.
Leave out fixed costs such as rent, salaries, and software; they do not change per order.
How to improve ROAS
ROAS rises when the same spend produces more revenue: better creative, better audiences, and faster reallocation.
Refresh creative before it fatigues
Fresh hooks keep click-through and conversion rates high, which is where most ROAS decline begins.
AI Video AdsBuild from proven winners
Start campaigns from the creative, copy, and audience combinations that already beat your target.
AI Campaign BuilderTest at scale
Launch hundreds of variations to find the combinations that clear your target ROAS fastest.
Bulk Ad LaunchReallocate automatically
Move budget toward ad sets above target and away from the ones sliding toward break-even.
AI Media BuyerBreak-Even ROAS Calculator FAQ
Keep reading
Guides from the AdStellar blog that go deeper on this topic.
How to calculate ROAS for Facebook ads
The formula, the attribution caveats, and worked examples.
Read the guideWhat is a good ROAS for Facebook ads?
A practical benchmark guide that starts from your margin.
Read the guideFacebook ads ROAS benchmarks 2026
What good actually looks like by vertical and objective.
Read the guideHow to improve Facebook ad ROAS
A step-by-step guide to lifting return on ad spend.
Read the guideMore free tools
Run every campaign above break-even
AdStellar's AI media buyer watches ROAS around the clock, shifts budget toward the ad sets beating your target, and generates fresh creative before performance slips.