Ads calculator

Break-even ROAS and CAC Calculator

Estimate how much you can spend to acquire an order, what ROAS breaks even, and whether a planned ad budget can support target profit.

Runs in your browser. No signup required. Estimates only. Ad platform reporting and attribution can vary.

Use this to sanity-check ad budgets. It is not advertising, financial, tax, legal, accounting, or business advice.

Order economics

Average order value

Product cost

Shipping cost paid by seller

Packaging cost

Return/refund allowance

Other variable cost

Fee assumptions

Platform fee percent

Payment fee percent

Fixed transaction fee

Repeat-purchase profit credit

Ad plan

Planned ad spend

Expected conversions/orders

Target profit/order after ads

Results

Estimated result only. ROAS depends on conversion value, attribution windows, tracking quality, refunds, and incrementality.

Ad economics breakdown

Formula

Assumptions and sources

ROAS here means revenue divided by ad spend. CPA here means ad spend divided by conversions. Google Ads documentation uses conversion value and cost to evaluate ROAS and defines average CPA as total conversion cost divided by conversions.

See the rate/source ledger for source notes.

Copy or export

How the break-even ROAS calculator works

The calculator estimates contribution before ads from average order value minus product cost, shipping, packaging, fees, returns, and other variable costs. That contribution becomes the maximum cost to acquire an order before the order stops breaking even.

ROAS and CAC formulas

Break-even max CAC = contribution before ads. Break-even ROAS = average order value / break-even max CAC. Projected CPA = planned ad spend / expected conversions.

Worked break-even ROAS example

If an order produces $75 of revenue and $30 of contribution before ads, maximum break-even acquisition cost is $30. Break-even ROAS is $75 divided by $30, or 2.5x. Requiring $5 profit after ads reduces allowable acquisition cost to $25 and raises target ROAS to 3.0x.

Platform-reported ROAS can differ from incremental business results because attribution windows, refunds, tax, shipping, repeat purchases, and view-through conversions may be handled differently.

Is break-even ROAS a good target?

It is a floor, not a healthy target. A sustainable target normally includes a profit buffer and conservative allowances for measurement error and returns.