How to use the calculator
- Enter your ad spend for a campaign or period.
- Enter the revenue those ads brought in the same period.
- Add your gross margin to see profit after ads and your break-even ROAS.
The formulas
ROAS = revenue from ads ÷ ad spend
Break-even ROAS = 1 ÷ gross margin
Profit after ads = revenue × margin − ad spend
$5,000 of sales from $1,000 of ads is a ROAS of 5 (5x, or 500%). With a 40% margin, break-even ROAS is 1 ÷ 0.40 = 2.5, and profit after ads is $5,000 × 0.40 − $1,000 = $1,000.
Why ROAS alone can fool you
A ROAS of 3 looks healthy. But on a 25% margin, break-even is 4, so every sale loses money once the ads are paid for. Always read ROAS next to your margin.
| Gross margin | Break-even ROAS |
|---|---|
| 20% | 5.0 |
| 30% | 3.3 |
| 40% | 2.5 |
| 50% | 2.0 |
| 70% | 1.4 |
ROAS versus ROI
ROAS counts revenue against ad spend only. ROI counts profit against every cost: products, shipping, payment fees, tools and people. Use ROAS to compare campaigns quickly, and ROI to decide whether advertising pays at all.
Where the revenue number comes from
Ad platforms report the revenue they think they caused. Each one counts its own way, and two platforms often claim the same sale. Before you raise a budget, check the platform's number against revenue tied to visits in your own analytics.
For subscriptions, first-month revenue undersells a good campaign. Compare ad spend with what a customer pays over their lifetime as well.
Ways to raise ROAS
- Pause ads and audiences below break-even.
- Send each ad to the page that matches it, not the home page.
- Raise conversion rate or order value on the landing page; ROAS rises with both.
- Retarget visitors who showed intent, which usually returns more than cold audiences.
NoirTrack pulls in ad spend and ties revenue to the visit and campaign that brought it, so you see real ROAS per channel without trusting each platform's own count.