ROAS Calculator
Work out your return on ad spend — and the break-even ROAS your margin actually needs. Most calculators skip that second number, which is why they can tell you a loss looks like a win.
Your numbers
How to read the four numbers
| Number | Formula | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| ROAS | Revenue ÷ spend | How many rupees of revenue each rupee of spend produced. Revenue, not profit. |
| Break-even ROAS | 1 ÷ gross margin | The ROAS you need just to stand still. Set entirely by your margin, not by your ads. |
| ACoS | Spend ÷ revenue × 100 | The same relationship as a percentage. Marketplace sellers usually think in this. |
| Gross profit | (Revenue × margin) − spend − fee | The only one of the four that is actual money. |
Why most ROAS calculators mislead you
They do revenue ÷ spend and stop there.
That is arithmetic, not analysis. A 4x ROAS sounds excellent — and on a 20% margin it is a loss, because break-even is 5x. The advertiser celebrating a 4x is quietly funding their own growth out of capital.
| Your gross margin | Break-even ROAS | Is a 4x ROAS profitable? |
|---|---|---|
| 60% | 1.67x | Yes — comfortably |
| 50% | 2.00x | Yes |
| 35% | 2.86x | Yes |
| 25% | 4.00x | Exactly break-even. You worked for free. |
| 20% | 5.00x | No — this is a loss |
| 15% | 6.67x | No — a significant loss |
Same ROAS. Six different answers. This is why we will not publish a "good ROAS" benchmark, and why our explainer on what a good ROAS looks like refuses to give you one number.
A worked example
A D2C brand runs ₹50,000 of Meta spend in a month and attributes ₹2,00,000 of revenue.
- ROAS = 4.00x. The dashboard looks great and gets screenshotted.
- Gross margin is 35% after cost of goods, packaging and shipping.
- Break-even ROAS = 1 ÷ 0.35 = 2.86x. They are above it.
- Gross profit = (₹2,00,000 × 0.35) − ₹50,000 = ₹20,000.
- Add a ₹30,000 management fee and the month is ₹10,000 down.
The campaign was profitable. The engagement was not. Platform ROAS will never show you that, which is why the fee field on this calculator exists.
Three things this calculator cannot see
Worth stating plainly, because they are where ROAS analysis usually goes wrong.
- Attribution. The revenue figure comes from your platform, and platforms are generous to themselves. If conversion tracking is wrong, every number here is confidently wrong.
- Returns. In Indian D2C, especially on cash on delivery, returns can be substantial. Use revenue net of returns or your margin is fiction.
- Repeat purchase. A 2x ROAS on a first order can be excellent if the customer buys four times a year. Judge acquisition campaigns on lifetime value, not on the first transaction.
Where to go next
If ROAS is not the right metric for you — lead generation rather than e-commerce — use cost per lead and cost per acquisition instead. Conversion rate is usually the fastest lever on ROAS, and target ROAS bidding covers handing the target to the platform.
The full picture sits in the performance marketing guide. Our other free tools are the schema markup generator and the SERP snippet preview.
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate ROAS?
Divide the revenue generated by your ads by the amount you spent on those ads. Two lakh rupees of revenue from fifty thousand rupees of spend is a ROAS of four, usually written as 4x. It is a ratio, so it has no unit.
What is break-even ROAS?
Break-even ROAS is the return you need just to cover your costs, and it is set by your gross margin. Divide one by your margin expressed as a decimal. A twenty-five percent margin needs a ROAS of four to break even, so anything below four is losing money no matter how healthy it looks.
Is a 4x ROAS good?
It depends entirely on your margin. On a fifty percent margin, break-even is two, so four is strongly profitable. On a twenty percent margin, break-even is five, so four is a loss. This is why a ROAS figure quoted without a margin next to it tells you nothing.
What is the difference between ROAS and ACoS?
They are the same relationship inverted. ROAS is revenue divided by spend and is expressed as a multiple. ACoS is advertising cost of sale, which is spend divided by revenue expressed as a percentage. A 4x ROAS is a 25 percent ACoS.
Should management fees be included in ROAS?
Platform ROAS almost never includes them, which is why agency reporting can look better than your bank account. Include the management fee when you want the honest picture of profitability. This calculator lets you add it as an optional field for exactly that reason.
ROAS looks fine. Profit does not.
Send us the account and your margin. We will tell you whether the campaigns are actually making money — and which ones are not.