Break-Even ROAS Calculator (FREE TOOL)

Break-even ROAS = 1 / contribution margin, or order value / contribution per order. Both give the same number. Some people spell it "breakeven ROAS"; the formula is the same.

Worked example: an order is worth $50. The product costs $20, shipping costs $5 and payment and other fees come to $2.50. The order leaves $50 - $20 - $5 - $2.50 = $22.50, a contribution margin of 45%. Break-even ROAS is 50 / 22.50 = 2.22x, and break-even CPA is $22.50.

Now read a real ROAS against it. At 3x, every $1 of ad spend brings $3 of revenue, and 45% of that revenue is left after costs: $1.35. Take off the $1 you spent and you keep $0.35. At 2x, the same $1 brings $2, which keeps $0.90, so you lose $0.10 on every $1. The calculator does this sum for you when you type your current ROAS.

Gross margin is price minus product cost. On the $50 order above it is ($50 - $20) / $50 = 60%, and 1 / 60% is 1.67x. That number says a 2x campaign makes money. It does not: at 2x the real order loses $0.10 on every $1 of ad spend, because the $5 of shipping and $2.50 of fees still come out of each sale.

So the margin that goes under the line is contribution margin: what is left of an order after every cost that grows with each sale. Fixed costs such as rent and salaries stay out, because one more order does not change them. If you only know your price and product cost, the profit margin calculator works out your margins first. To see your current return on ad spend from spend and revenue, use the ROAS calculator.

At break-even ROAS the ads pay for themselves and nothing more. That is the floor under every campaign, not a goal. To keep a slice of revenue as profit, take that slice off your margin before you divide: target ROAS = 1 / (contribution margin - profit you want to keep).

On a 40% margin, break-even is 2.50x. To keep 10% of revenue as profit, you need 1 / (40% - 10%) = 3.33x. If you want more profit than the margin holds, no ROAS can deliver it.

Read the break-even next to a ROAS from the same source every time: the same ad account, the same attribution setting, the same dates. To check the cost of one order instead of the return on the whole budget, the CPA calculator compares your CPA with the same break-even line.

• The formula is break-even ROAS = order value / contribution per order, which is the same as 1 / contribution margin. No benchmark is used: the only inputs are your own numbers.
• Every figure on this page was worked out by hand first, then checked against the calculator's own code in 27 cases, including a ROAS exactly on break-even, costs as high as the order value, and text typed into a number field.
• Exactly on break-even counts as break-even, not as a loss. Negative numbers and text count as an empty field.
• Last checked: 5 October 2026.