Free ecommerce advertising calculator

Break-even ROAS Calculator

Enter your average order economics to calculate the minimum ROAS required to avoid losing money on acquisition.

Key benefits

  • Translate order economics into a transparent break-even ROAS.
  • See maximum cost per acquisition before profit falls below zero.
  • Add a target profit margin to calculate a safer target ROAS.

Frequently asked questions

What is break-even ROAS?

Break-even ROAS is the gross attributed revenue divided by ad spend at the point where the contribution left after the included variable costs is exactly zero. A result of 2.5x means the model needs $2.50 of gross attributed revenue for every $1.00 of acquisition spend to cover those costs.

How is break-even ROAS calculated?

The calculator subtracts the refund and discount allowance, product cost, fulfillment, payment fees, and other per-order variable costs from average order value. It then divides gross average order value by the positive contribution remaining before advertising.

Which costs should I include?

Include costs that change with each order: product and packaging cost, fulfillment, shipping paid by the business, payment processing, expected discounts and returns, and any other reliably attributable per-order fee. Keep fixed overhead in a broader profit model.

Why is the target ROAS higher than break-even ROAS?

Break-even reserves no profit after acquisition. Target ROAS first reserves the profit margin you entered, leaving less contribution available for ad spend. Dividing the same revenue by that smaller ad budget produces a higher target ROAS.

Why does the calculator say break-even is not achievable?

If product, fulfillment, payment, refund, discount, and other variable costs equal or exceed average order value, the order has no positive contribution before ads. No positive advertising budget can make that order break even under the submitted assumptions.

Should I optimize campaigns exactly to this number?

Treat the result as a planning threshold, not a guaranteed campaign target. Attribution windows, untracked sales, taxes, overhead, repeat purchase value, channel incrementality, and changes in product mix can all alter the ROAS your business actually needs.
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