Break-even ROAS Calculator
Before you scale a campaign, know the return on ad spend that keeps you out of the red. Enter your order value and costs to get the break-even ROAS, ACOS, and the most you can pay per sale — all in your browser.
The most you can pay to acquire one order and still break even is $25.00 — your full gross profit. Anything less leaves a margin.
About this tool
Return on ad spend tells you how much revenue each advertising dollar brings back, but a healthy-looking ROAS means nothing until you know where break-even sits. Break-even ROAS is the point where an order's gross profit exactly covers the cost of the ad that won it — spend any more and the sale loses money. It depends entirely on your margins: a thin-margin product needs a much higher ROAS to survive than a high-margin one.
Enter your order value and the costs behind it and this calculator gives you the break-even ROAS, the equivalent ACOS, and the maximum you can pay to acquire a customer. Add a target profit margin to see the ROAS you actually need to grow, not just tread water. Everything runs locally in your browser. To turn a real export into per-product margins first, use the Profit Margin Report, or check the true cost of each sale with the Shopify Fee Calculator.
How to use it
- Enter your order economicsType your average order value, what the goods cost you, and any other per-order costs like shipping and payment fees.
- Read your break-even ROASThe calculator divides order value by gross profit to show the revenue you need per dollar of ad spend just to break even.
- Set a profit target (optional)Add a target profit margin to see the higher ROAS you need to hit so ads leave real profit, not just cover costs.
Frequently asked questions
- What is break-even ROAS?
- Break-even ROAS is the return on ad spend at which an order's gross profit exactly covers what you paid to acquire it — no profit, no loss. It's your order value divided by your gross profit per order. If a $50 order carries $20 of gross profit, you break even at a ROAS of 2.5: every $1 of ad spend must bring back $2.50 in revenue.
- How is it calculated?
- Gross profit per order is your average order value minus the cost of goods and any other variable costs (shipping, fulfilment, transaction fees). Break-even ROAS is order value ÷ gross profit. The inverse — gross profit ÷ order value — is your break-even ACOS, the share of revenue you can spend on ads before you start losing money.
- What's the difference between ROAS and ACOS?
- They're two views of the same number. ROAS (return on ad spend) is revenue per dollar spent — higher is better. ACOS (advertising cost of sales) is ad spend as a percentage of revenue — lower is better. A break-even ROAS of 2.5 is the same as a break-even ACOS of 40%.
- How do I use the target profit margin?
- Break-even only tells you where you stop losing money. Enter a target profit margin — say 15% — and the calculator raises the required ROAS so that, after ad spend, that share of revenue survives as profit. If the target is higher than your product can support, it flags that no ROAS can reach it.
- Does my data leave my browser?
- No. The whole calculation runs in your browser — nothing is sent anywhere. Want your real order costs and margins tracked automatically instead of estimating? ShopSheets syncs your Shopify orders straight into Google Sheets.
Your live store data in Google Sheets, one click away.
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