A break even ROAS calculator tells you the lowest return on ad spend you can run at without losing money: break-even ROAS = 1 ÷ your profit margin before ad spend.
At a 50% margin you break even at 2.00, at 33% you need 3.00, and anything above that line is profit.
Enter your price, product cost, shipping and fees above.
Below we explain the formula, show a worked example, and check real results from our archive against the line.
How to use the break-even ROAS calculator
Put in the average order value, then every cost that grows with each order: product cost (COGS), shipping and packaging, payment processing, and any app or marketplace fees taken per sale.
Leave out fixed costs like salaries and rent.
They matter for the business, but they don't change per order.
The calculator turns those numbers into a contribution margin, then into the ROAS you need just to cover costs.
If you only want to measure the ROAS you're getting now, use the ROAS calculator instead, and compare its result with this one.
The break-even ROAS formula (1 ÷ margin)
The formula has two steps:
- Margin = (price − variable costs) ÷ price
- Break-even ROAS = 1 ÷ margin, which is the same as price ÷ (price − variable costs)
Here's why it works. At break-even, the margin you earn on ad-driven sales exactly equals the ad spend.
So revenue × margin = spend, and revenue ÷ spend = 1 ÷ margin.
Worked example. You sell a $60 product. It costs $20 to make and $6 to ship.
Card processing at Stripe's standard US rate of 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction (as of November 2026) adds $2.04. Variable costs are $28.04, so you keep $31.96 per order.
- Margin = $31.96 ÷ $60 = 53.3%
- Break-even ROAS = 1 ÷ 0.533 = 1.88
So every $1 of ad spend has to bring back $1.88 in revenue before you make a cent.
Forget the fees and use only COGS and you'd get 1.50, which looks profitable while you're quietly losing money.
| Margin before ads | Break-even ROAS |
|---|---|
| 20% | 5.00 |
| 30% | 3.33 |
| 40% | 2.50 |
| 50% | 2.00 |
| 60% | 1.67 |
| 70% | 1.43 |
| 80% | 1.25 |
The curve is steep at the low end.
A drop from 30% to 20% margin pushes your break-even from 3.33 to 5.00, which is why discounts and free-shipping offers can wreck paid ads.
Target ROAS for profit
Breaking even isn't the goal. To build in a profit, subtract the profit margin you want from your margin first:
Target ROAS = 1 ÷ (margin − desired profit margin)
In the example, if you want 15% of revenue as profit after ads: 1 ÷ (0.533 − 0.15) = 2.61.
That's the number to give your media buyer, or to set as a target ROAS bid in Google or a minimum ROAS in Meta.
Three things to watch before you lock it in:
- Platform-reported ROAS isn't the same as real ROAS. Attribution overlaps between channels, so check total revenue ÷ total ad spend too. Our MER guide covers this.
- Repeat purchases change the math. If customers buy again, you can sometimes run below break-even on the first order. Do it on purpose, with real retention data, not hope.
- Returns and refunds cut your margin. Take them out before you calculate.
To see what's typical by platform, check our ROAS benchmarks.
Your own break-even line matters more than any average, though.
A 3.0 ROAS is great at a 60% margin and a loss at 25%.
For the difference between the two metrics, read ROAS vs ROI.
If you don't trust the revenue your ad platforms report, an attribution tool like Hyros (we earn a commission if you sign up through our link) tracks sales back to the ads that drove them.
It isn't for small accounts or single-channel stores, where the platform data plus a weekly MER check is usually enough.
Real results above and below break-even
The results in our archive show why ROAS only means something next to a margin.
These numbers are as reported by the people credited.
We don't know their exact margins unless they shared them.
- Profitable at a low ROAS. @runtraffic reported ROAS 1.36 and $9.7k profit in 15 days on an affiliate Google Ads campaign. Commission revenue has almost no cost of goods, so break-even sits close to 1.0 and a 1.36 still leaves room.
- Climbing past the line while scaling. @runtraffic also took a YouTube account from ROAS 0.76 to 1.51 while adding $682k in spend. At 0.76 nearly any product loses money. At 1.51 it depends on the margin: above break-even at 70%, below it at 50%.
- Near 1.0 on the first order. @AshvinMelwani reported ROAS 1.06 at a $58.96 CPA across 123 ads for Obvi, and ROAS 1.87 on $186k lifetime spend for another angle. Subscription and repeat-purchase brands often accept first-order ROAS in this range when lifetime value covers the gap.
- Comfortably above for most margins. @EcomRedneck reported ROAS 4.50 at an $8.43 cost per purchase on a new video testing campaign, and $100 spend turning into $410 in sales on a day-one product test, which works out to a 4.10 ROAS. Both clear break-even for any margin above about 25%.
- A bad day below it. The same account also shared an Ads Manager row at 0.50 ROAS on a bad day. One day under the line isn't a verdict. Judge on a full week or more.
If you're under your line, browse what raised ROAS for other advertisers, from new angles to budget changes.
If you'd rather hand it off, we can match you with a media buyer who works to your break-even number.