Break-even ROAS Calculator
Find the lowest ROAS and the highest cost per order your Meta or Google Ads can have before they lose money, then check your real results against it.
- Margin per order
- 50.00 (50.0%)
- Break-even ROAS
- 2.00
- Break-even CPA
- 50.00
- Actual ROAS
- -
- Profit or loss after ads
- -
- ROAS for 10% profit
- 2.50
Add your revenue from ads to see if you are above or below break-even.
How the Calculator Works
- Margin per order = order value - product cost - shipping and fees - payment fee
- Break-even ROAS = order value / margin per order (the same as 1 / margin %)
- Break-even CPA = margin per order
- Actual ROAS = revenue from ads / ad spend
- Profit or loss = revenue x margin % - ad spend
- ROAS for a target profit = 1 / (margin % - target profit %)
Worked example
A store sells a product for 100.00. It costs 40.00 to make and 10.00 to ship and pack, so the margin is 50.00 per order (50.0%).
Break-even ROAS is 100.00 / 50.00 = 2.00, and the store can pay up to 50.00 in ads for each order.
It spends 1,000.00 on Meta Ads and gets 3,000.00 in sales: an actual ROAS of 3.00. Profit after ads is 3,000.00 x 50.0% - 1,000.00 = 500.00. To keep a 10% profit, it needs a ROAS of 2.50.
Limits of This Calculator
- It uses one average order value. If your products have very different margins, run it per product or category.
- It does not count returns, refunds, discounts, fixed overheads or staff costs, so real profit will be lower.
- It does not count repeat purchases. A customer who buys again later can make a lower first-order ROAS worth it.
- Revenue reported by ad platforms is attributed, not exact. Check it against the orders in your store.
ROAS Questions, Answered
What is ROAS?
ROAS (return on ad spend) is the revenue your ads bring in divided by what you spent on them. If you spend 1,000 and the ads bring in 3,000 of sales, your ROAS is 3.00 (often written 3x or 300%).
What is the difference between ROAS and ROI?
ROAS only compares revenue with ad spend. ROI compares profit with the total cost, so it also counts product cost, shipping, fees and other expenses. A campaign can show a high ROAS and still lose money if your margins are thin.
What is a good ROAS?
There is no single good number, because it depends on your margin. Break-even ROAS is 1 divided by your margin %. A store with a 50% margin breaks even at 2.00, while a store with a 20% margin needs 5.00 just to break even. Any ROAS above your break-even point is profit before other overheads.
Is ROAS in Meta Ads the same as in Google Ads?
The formula is the same, but each platform counts conversions its own way. Meta Ads by default credits a purchase within 7 days of a click or 1 day of a view, while Google Ads uses its own conversion window and attribution model. Both may claim the same sale, so adding them up can overstate your total return.
Why is ROAS in Ads Manager different from my Shopify sales?
Ads Manager reports purchases it attributes to your ads, including view-through and modelled conversions, while Shopify records actual orders with the last source it saw. Refunds, cancelled orders, blocked tracking and different time zones also make the numbers differ. Use your store's revenue for profit decisions.
What is break-even CPA?
Break-even CPA (cost per acquisition) is the most you can pay in ads for one order without losing money. It equals your profit margin per order before ads: order value minus product cost, shipping, fees and payment charges.
Want Ads That Stay Above Break-even?
TML plans and runs Meta Ads and ecommerce campaigns around your real margins, not just platform ROAS.